Sunday, September 06, 2015

Election Singapore and Pop Hits From 60s-70s (An Update: 2020)

Election Day 2020.
This post has been revived to keep up with the coming General Election on 10 July, 2020. This unique polling time will happen during the turbulence of a Corona Virus pandemic where more than 10 million people are suffering from it and about 500,000 have passed away so far.  

The image below shows Dawn Tan, CNA producer during nomination day on 1st July, 2020, anchoring the programme on TV.

This addition to an old post has been done on an iPhone so there is no typing and alignment accuracy.
An appropriate song surely for 2020 General Election: Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me by MAC Davis.

PAST YEARS’ ELECTIONS AND POP HITS CONNECTION

Election Day 2015
 The Singapore Parliamentary General Election 2015 will be held on Friday, 11th September. Election fever is high as many people are gearing towards the big day to vote.  Green fields are packed nightly as the crowds throng to these open areas to listen to what candidates for this season are going to rant, chant, promise or present during these hustings.

 I am not qualified to write about any election topic since I'm no poli-tikus (Malay: political rat or the coffee-shop humbug; an endearment actually). What I have done for this posting was to connect the Singapore General Election results between 1960's and 1970's with song hits in the same period using four simple tables taken from Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 Singles of 1965, 1968, 1972 and 1976.

1965
Singapore left the Federation of Malaya and became an independent and sovereign nation on 9th August 1965. The Barisan Sosialis boycotted the first session of parliament and on 8th October 1966 announced the resignation of all its nine members, leaving the People's Action Party (PAP) with a monopoly. 

 (image from Mun Chor Seng above: monochrome TV showing Pasir Panjang Constituency where PAP candidate Othman Wok had highest votes).
August 7"I'm Henry VIII, I Am"Herman's Hermits
August 14"I Got You Babe"Sonny & Cher
August 21
August 28
September 4"Help!"The Beatles
September 11
September 18

Now let's look at the top tunes for 9th August. Herman (Peter Noone) was at the top of the hit parade, while Mr. LKY couldn't have been singing, "I'm Harry the First, I am," because he had a lot to do then.  Our new MPs in 1965 could have been echoing, "I Got you Babe," when they took over the whole of parliament that year. Jubilation! So were Sonny and Cher.
"Help!" was another top tune n 1965. Did The Beatles movie help in the song's success? Or did it help to sell marijuana?  "A hell of a lot of pot was being smoked while we were making the film. That helped make it a lot of fun," remarked Ringo Starr. 

 In Singapore it was otherwise because a total ban and tough stand on marijuana (ganja) and drugs by the anti-narcotics bureau, under the direction of the government, kept the island clean. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (1967) and "Yellow Submarine" (1966) were banned. Was "Help"?
April 13"Honey"Bobby Goldsboro
April 20
April 27
May 4
May 11
May 18"Tighten Up"Archie Bell & the Drells
May 25
June 1"Mrs. Robinson"Simon & Garfunkel
June 8
June 15
1968
Singapore held its first general election as an independent nation on 13th April 1968, with the PAP taking all parliamentary seats in 58 constituencies and garnering 84.4 percent of total votes cast. 

 Garnering all the parliamentary seats was a winning gold for the People's Action Party with a pot of honey as the prize. By coincidence, on the hit parade, Goldsboro's "Honey" hit gold too, for five consecutive weeks.  This song is still a personal favourite. Some friends considered the song too boring. Like in parliament; who's going to debate with whom?
While sensuous Mrs Robinson became as popular on record with Simon n Garfunkel and won Grammy Awards, the movie, The Graduate won Academy Awards as well.  When the film was shown in Singapore, the hot topic was its "sexiness". Middle-aged Bancroft pulled up her skirt, revealed her legs and showed them to a young under-grad. And it was sexy? Well, it happened in the last century. Made Dustin Hoffman a super star.

 Who's Archie Bell?

 1972
Five opposition parties – the Barisan Sosialis, the Workers’ Party, the People’s Front, the United National Front and Pertubohan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) – contested the next general election held on 2nd September 1972.

 The ruling PAP campaigned on its record of effective government and repeated its success by again taking all 65 parliamentary seats, representing 69.02 percent of total votes cast. Did Parliament House whisper, "Baby don't get hooked on me." Mac Davis did.
September 2"Alone Again (Naturally)"Gilbert O'Sullivan
September 9
September 16"Black and White"Three Dog Night
September 23"Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me"Mac Davis
September 30
October 7
October 14"Ben"Michael Jackson
October 21"My Ding-a-Ling"Chuck Berry
October 28
On the same September 2nd, O'Sullivan made his hit. I still prefer his other song, "Clair" but then "Alone Again, (Naturally)" was appropriate. Like the MPs in 1972 who were alone again, naturally, won all seats.  The hit songs those years seemed to have been mysteriously reflecting the MPs battle cries.

If you look at the chart above, Three Dog Night came afterwards with Black and White. I love it with its simple rhythmic and repetitive lyrics.  Like a lot of advertisement jingles the message delivers. But Berry's, *"My Ding-A-Ling" is extremely naughty. On the other hand MJ's "Ben" is a real tear-jerker. Even today, it hits the heart like a ton of cement.
I
These songs were my choices but by September 1972 and in my own personal interest I decided to get serious with my studies. With two other selected candidates I left for New Zealand in February 1973, under a Colombo Plan Scholarship. 

 How appropriate the song because the course we attended had students from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Fiji and NZ:

 The ink is black, the page is white 
Together we learn to read and write 
A child is black, a child is white 
The whole world looks upon the sight 
A beautiful sight.

In NZ three other hits from 1972 stayed glued in my mind, even up till today because these songs were played practically every day and every where in Wellington. Beautiful Sunday, Me and Mrs Jones, Killing Me Softly With His Song and Mother and Child Reunion. Only Roberta Flack's Killing Me is a '73 song.
1976
After I came home from Kiwiland it was election time again and another winning streak for the ruling folks. The PAP repeated its success in the 1976 general election held on 23rd December when it won all 53 seats uncontested, thus sweeping all 69 parliamentary seats. The party’s share of the popular vote increased to 72.4 percent.  By then I was involved in my work with young adults and hardly had time for political chats and popular songs.
November 13"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"Rod Stewart
November 20
November 27
December 4
December 11
December 18
December 25
Coming back to the number one song in December that year, Stewart's hit could have mimicked the joyous atmosphere during an evening's celebration by the ruling party (if they had one that evening) and, "Tonight's the night, gonna be alright!" Like the dominant Stewart with his only pop hit those seven weeks (see chart), the same political group held the fort for another four years.

 The following general election after 1976 was on 23 December, 1980 and beyond the period of this blog and its pop song coverage.

 So there you are dear readers. If you remember a song to connect with a particular election year and an incident you remember, do write in. Especially if it was between 1960 and 1980.
On the evening of 11th September 2015, you will sing with a special joy because, that night's "the night" when the results are out and everything's "gonna be alright" for the next five years. Hopefully!

So please vote wisely on 9/11. Remember once you vote there is no, "Lagi sekali (one more time)".
“This above all: to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” 
- William Shakespeare, 'Hamlet'
Sources:

 You Tube Video by: J.K.elley

 Images: Google and Mun Chor Seng (copyrights).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1965

*NB: It is possible that some of the above songs were banned in Singapore those years and would not have been played on air. Let me know.

 An original article.

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SLIP NOTE
NEWS FLASH
11th September, 2015.

Polling Day Today:

9/11 and those eligible are going to cast their votes today. Lines of people who wish to go early were ready with their identity cards or passports and polling slips this morning as the special stations all over the island were opened at 8.00 am to receive the more than 2.4 million Singaporeans.

Election Results:

The outcome of the GE2015 will be made known after 8.00 pm tonight on local TV and other media outlets.  Check it out.

 Latest News:
12.09.2015.

 The ruling pop group hits the right notes and won the Award again by winning most of the seats in the Singapore Parliamentary Elections 2015. Congratulations to the People's Action Party and PM Lee Hsien Loong.
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