LET ME BE – THE TURTLES

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
04-Feb-66	17	New
11-Feb-66	11	+6	Biggest climber/Star rater
18-Feb-66	6	+5	Biggest climber/Star rater/Peak
25-Feb-66	8	-2
04-Mar-66	13	-5	Biggest faller
11-Mar-66	14	-1
18-Mar-66	14	0
25-Mar-66	15	-1
01-Apr-66	18	-3
08-Apr-66	18	0
15-Apr-66	20	-2

Written by: P.F. Sloan
Produced by: Dayton Burr ‘Bones’ Howe
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): Pye

Hit number for artist	1
Peak position	6
Weeks	11
Biggest climber awards	2
Star rater climbs	2
Biggest faller awards	1
Top 20 points	77
Overall Top 20 points ranking	=1304
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	4
Top 30 Points	187
Overall Top 30 points ranking	=1249
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	3

Annual ranking:

1966

56

Other chart success:

Canada	14
US	29

The song was the follow up to The Turtles’ first hit, ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ which was a cover of the Bob Dylan song and which peaked at 8 in the US.

Video:

Artist link: The Turtles

HAPPY TOGETHER – THE TURTLES

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
21-Apr-67	14	New
28-Apr-67	12	+2
05-May-67	9	+3
12-May-67	8	+1
19-May-67	3	+5	Biggest climber/Star rater/Peak
26-May-67	6	-3
02-Jun-67	8	-2
09-Jun-67	9	-1
16-Jun-67	11	-2
23-Jun-67	13	-2	Biggest faller
30-Jun-67	18	-5	Biggest faller

Written by: Alan Gordon & Garry Bonner
Produced by: Joe Wissert
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): London

Hit number for artist	2
Peak position	3
Weeks	11
Biggest climber awards	1
Star rater climbs	1
Biggest faller awards	2
Top 20 points	120
Overall Top 20 points ranking	=932
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	2
Top 30 Points	230
Overall Top 30 points ranking	=1005
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	=1

Annual ranking:

1967

41

Other chart success:

Australia	25
Austria	11
Belgium	8
Canada	2
Germany	11
Ireland	19
Netherlands	6
New Zealand	2
Norway	9
Sweden	20
UK	12
US	1
Zimbabwe	6

The two songwriters mentioned above were in a group called The Magicians when they wrote the track. They recorded a demo of it which was rejected by a number of bands, including The Vogues and The Tokens. One of the reasons given for it being rejected was the poor quality of the demo. However, The Turtles, who were looking to revive a flagging career, heard the demo and turned it into a US number 1 hit.

Video:

Artist link: The Turtles

ELENORE – THE TURTLES

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
20-Dec-68	20	New
27-Dec-68	15	+5	Biggest climber/Star rater
03-Jan-69	13	+2
10-Jan-69	8	+5	Biggest climber/Star rater
17-Jan-69	7	+1
24-Jan-69	6	+1	Peak
31-Jan-69	9	-3
07-Feb-69	13	-4
14-Feb-69	15	-2

Written by: Howard Kaylan, Mark Volman, Al Nichol, Jim Pons & John Barbata
Produced by: Chip Douglas
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): London

Hit number for artist	4
Peak position	6
Weeks	9
Biggest climber awards	0
Star rater climbs	2
Biggest faller awards	0
Top 20 points	83
Overall Top 20 points ranking	=1250
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	3
Top 30 Points	173
Overall Top 30 points ranking	=1333
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	4

Annual ranking:

1968	=124
1969	=59

Other chart success:

Australia	3
Belgium	20
Canada	4
Germany	32
Ireland	6
New Zealand	1
UK	7
US	6
Zimbabwe	5

‘Elenore’ was recorded as a kind of parody of their musical style on their big hit ‘Happy Together’ and was a bit of a kick back against their record label who kept asking them to produce a new ‘Happy Together’. The band regarded the lyrics as a bit slap-dash. The song was one of the first recorded to feature a Moog Synthesizer.

Video:

Artist link: The Turtles

THE TURTLES (US)

The band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Its roots go back to a high school band called The Nightriders which featured Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. They changed their name to the Crossfires before becoming The Tyrtles. The misspelling of Turtles was imitating the misspellings that The Byrds and The Beatles had used. However, they soon changed to The Turtles. Their first hit came with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ which got to number 8 of the US Hot 100 but subsequent releases didn’t fare too well until 1967’s ‘Happy Together’ which topped the charts in the US and gave them their first UK hit where it went to 12. They would go on to score a total of 17 Hot 100 hits and 3 UK hits. They would not manage any further US chart toppers, and ‘She’d Rather Be With Me’ would give them their best UK peak of 4. They would be 1 of 17 acts that would dislodge The Beatles from the US number 1 slot (if you exclude The Beatles replacing themselves at 1) as ‘Happy Together’ replaced ‘Penny Lane’ at 1.

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
04-Feb-1966	Let Me Be	6	11
21-Apr-1967	Happy Together	3	11
11-Aug-1967	She’d Rather Be With me	1 (2)	10
20-Dec-1968	Elenore	6	9
		Total hits	4
		Total weeks	41

Biggest climber awards	5
Star rater climbs	7
Biggest fallers	3
Weeks with oldest in the charts	0
Longest run in the charts (weeks)	11
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts	0
Biggest gap between hits (weeks)	61
Top 30 points ranking	167
Top 20 points ranking	=170
Top 30 points	820
Top 20 points	410

Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman sang backing vocals on the following T. Rex hit:

Date of entry	Song	Peak (Weeks at 1)	Weeks
30-Apr-1971	Hot Love	12	6
		Total hits	1
		Total Weeks	6

Total chart involvement for the band and its members:

Number of hits	5
Weeks	47
Number of No.1’s	1
Weeks at 1	2