SINGAPORE 60's: ANDY's POP MUSIC INFLUENCE IS A PERSONAL MUSIC, MEMORY TRAIL. BLOGGER DOES NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO VIDEOS, AUDIO TRACKS AND IMAGES. THEY ARE UPLOADED FOR FUN, EDUCATIONAL, ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES AND HAVE BEEN CREDITED. BLOG IS NOT SPONSORED NOR ADVERTORIAL IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. INFORM BLOGGER OF COPYRIGHT ISSUES AND POST WILL BE DELETED IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT COPY THE POSTS; GET PERMISSION N CREDIT ME IF YOU DO. ANDY LIM LA (NOVEMBER, 2008) -
(新加坡六十年代安迪的流行音乐影响力), SUDI MAMPIR !
It was more than 4.3 million views on 1st September 2025. In less than a month the blog acquired another 100,000 views to achieve 4.4 million plus views.
+PLUS Views
On 22nd September 2025.
The Impossible Dream
Reaching 4.4 Million Plus Views. Now That's
A Lot Of Readers For A Singapore Music Blog!
Lulu, Elvis Presley, The Platters, Charlize Theron, Papas and Mamas,
Tom Jones, The Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, The Shadows,
Paul McCartney, Babra Streisand, Dionne Warwick.
Check them and others on this music blog! Four point four million plus views cannot be wrong!
Do you know our guest stars above?
Is there a mistake somewhere regarding these stars?
The hard copy newspapers that we read used to be slotted under solid main doors at our shophouse, so being the first to wake up while waiting for the school bus at twilight morn, I would be the first to receive it and flip through the pages. Literally, "first-hand news".
Sometimes if I opened the door and waited for the copy to arrive I would meet the polite Indian gentleman handing me one.
"Hello! Good morning!" he would usually announce himself in his usual polite and gentle tone. "You going to school huh? Must study hard!" in impeccable English. Checking his load on the two wheeler, he had newspapers in English, Chinese and possibly in Malay and Tamil too.
Some people, especially seniors, still read their
news from the papers; delivered to their homes:
landed-property or apartments.
"Thank you sir!" I would answer, "You have a great morning too!"
That's how we got our news delivered then.
Now for the surprise.
You think it's not happening today? Yes it is! We still get our newspapers delivered by the vendor, direct to our home. But I hardly meet him because he delivers his papers at about five or six in the morning and I was told that most of his clientele are seniors.
Then again we are living in a brave new 2024 world and many people are reading their news from media outlets on the Internet and like the term hard-copy news is being read on-line. With a touch of the fingers, news pieces appear on the smart phones that we carry.
So I have been told I am backward and out of touch. Hmm! 😊
How do you read your news? Do tell and why?
A newspaper vendor delivering a copy
The Rolling Stones with their composition, 'Yesterday's Papers', sang:"Living a life of constant change, Every day means the turn of a page, Yesterday's papers are such bad news, Same thing applies to me and you..."
How the news is read today.
Rolling Stones: 'Yesterday's Papers'
YouTube video from: Wolfierouz
'Get Your Paper' [The Newspaper Song]
By Eddie Fisher.
YouTube Video from: Eddie Fisher - Topic
Hiroshi Deguchi Shares His Papers with Sakura.
Hiroshi Deguchi and the late Sakura
who passed away not too long ago.
Lying down on my side on the floor, I open the newspaper with my head on my arm. This is the way I read the newspaper delivered to home every morning. But before that, I had to fight over reading the paper first with my dog Sakura and won.
Andy Young
Hiroshi Deguchi, Thanks Hiroshi for your very humorous and cute experience. Apparently Sakura is still in your thoughts... and the connection is still strong. Appreciate your photograph too. Just shows how close you and family are with Sakura. You bring life to the blog too with your stories. ARIGATO GOZAIMAZU.
Harry Cheok, with his black and white batik shirt,
at the Chinese Swimming Club in 2022.
Harry Cheok won the Johnny Lion of Singapore Competition in the 60s with his group, Willy's Jokers. I have known him for some years now. Harry has kindly allowed me to post his videos when he was on stage at the Chinese Swimming Club. But he wasn't singing the late Mr. Lion's favourites.
If you noticed the date, he is still performing today. Being a retired business person, he has time to spare and jams with his guitar group. I love his flamboyant style and cute personality. Watch the ladies at the bar and see their reaction. Harry is also an accomplished ukulele player and guitarist.
The local folks would say, "He can *gelek well!" Like Mick Jagger.
Thanks Harry for your friendship and sparing the videos.
Can you guess the songs he is singing?
NB:
*gelek = shimmy and shake.
Johnny Lion was a singer from Holland who was accompanied by the Dutch guitar group, The Jumping Jewels. They were very popular in the 60s and 70s and Johnny and the J.Js. have appeared in Singapore.
It's an anonymous letter from 'Matsam' but boy oh boy, one of the best written by anyone since this blog started. Just read on... But thanks Matsam for the vibrant words and phrases. You made my day.
"I was 9 years old and saw the report in the Straits Times Singapore, the next day. It was full of screaming crowds, hysterical girls fainting and carried away to ambulances and the cops joining the free fray.
My parents went ballistic, said this wretched pop music and evil personified Rolling Stones who could send people mad was a sign of the end times. I was told not to listen to corrupting pop music ever!
Well that sent me listening to all the pop I could clandestinely listen on the radio when my folks weren’t around. Nothing tastes better than stolen fruit.
Cut to the present, I’m 67, and my wife literally dances with rage, when I turn on the music loud in the house everyday. And I saw the Stones on YouTube last week when they released their new album!"
Andrew Watt – production, backing vocals, percussion.
Disclaimer:
The new Rolling Stones video on this post is a reply to Matsam's letter when he personally mentioned the new song 'Angry' in his message. The YouTube video posted, which belongs to the Rolling Stones [Polydor], will be deleted immediately if it contravenes Copyright Laws. Thank you.
Here's an autographed photograph of The Rolling Stones when they were very young. I must thank Jimmy Appudurai-Chua for this blog gift. He explained:
"I met them at the Hotel Singapura in the 60s in Singapore. It was Bill Wyman who brought me in to meet all of them, as I befriended him, while he was posting some mail to his family...
The autographs included Brian Jones and Andrew Oldham. Brian and Bill were the most friendly of the lot, although the whole band was very nice to everyone... I will never forget the day."
Charlie Robert Watts, famed 'Rolling Stones' drummer had passed away aged 80. He had been with the group since its inception. According to the media he was a private person and usually very quiet, avoided the limelight before and after performances.
''The classic Stones sound is built primarily on Keith Richard's endless variations of the three chord trick... occasionally shaded by country stylings... from vocalist Mick Jagger's construct functional melodies, to carry lyrics often infused with primitive sexuality, driven on a metronomic dance beat by drummer Charlie Watts. [Paul Du Noyer - The Story of Rock n Roll]''
RIP Charlie. Singapore sends condolences to the family.
Let the drums roll on, up there with Don Everly who had just left the music world.
The Stones were in Singapore in 1965 playing to a full Badminton Stadium during Chap Go May. Check out the story below.
Someone wrote to me. Andy let's have more pictures and fewer words. That was quite a request. More pictures mean I have to steal from all over the Internet because words are all I have to steal your heart away.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel Madison Square Garden 2009: The Sound Of Silence.
So for once in my life, here's a posting without too many words, showing the pop stars of the 60s as they are today, or even older. Below the five superstar pictures are books about them. To be honest, I have read only three books, the rather dated one about the Ultimate Cliff by Peter Lewry and Nigel Goodall (1996), the Rolling Stones by Steve Appleford (2010) and the Tom Jones biography by Sean Smith (2015).
Book Biographies
The one about Tom Jones by Sean Smith (2015) is a quick and fast dash about Mr Jones, his beginnings, his songs and social life and his ever faithful wife Linda (she's a wonderful lady indeed) who even refused to meet neighbour Robbie Williams, although they lived in a gated and cocooned community. So to my good friend who prefers pictures, here's to you, sir.
NB: I am currently into a recently written, Paul Simon The Life (2018), truly a mastermind and intellectual who composed lyrics (Sound of Silence, Bridge Over... The Boxer) that are so unique and truthful of his own life. He'll be 78 this October. Robert Hilburn, a pure writer, depicts him honestly and without fictitious asides. "Somewhere in your early thirties, you start noticing that the garment of your youth is becoming frayed. What do you do then? It's a crucial time. Some people make it through Dylan, McCartney, the Stones. But a lot of others don't Ch 13, p 212)." Disclaimer: This post does not promote nor criticize any book. Photographs have been taken directly from the internet using Google Search.
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