1965 Top Ten Songs: You Were on My Mind (#8)

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It’s hard to believe that some of these songs have been around for 60 years. We say they’re “timeless,” so that means they’ve been around long enough to make us feel that way. Putting a number on them, though — “Hey, this was released in 1965!” — just sounds out of whack. (And if you think this is bad, wait until next month when you see all the songs turning 50 years old!) But it was a great time for music of so many diverse sounds, which I guess helps contribute to their longevity. Here’s today’s song. #8: You Were on My Mind - We Five Yes, I have a prejudice towards this song. It was written by the future Sylvia Tyson, the one-time wife of Ian Tyson and half of Ian & Sylvia. I LOVE Sylvia’s description of how she wrote this: “I wrote it in the bathtub. That was the only place I could go to get away from the cockroaches.” Thank you, cockroaches! Since Ian & Sylvia were folkies, it makes sense that the successful covers of this song would come from folk-based groups. The biggest success in the U.S. was by We Five, a San Francisco quintet that was fronted by John Stewart’s brother Michael. (John Stewart was the man who wrote “Daydream Believer” as well as being a member of the Kingston Trio.) In England, Chrispian St. Peters (who later had the hit “Pied Piper”) had a hit with it. Barry McGuire also covered it on his Eve of Destruction album. The chorus that We Five used was different from what Sylvia originally wrote, although she has sole songwriter credit. The other two covers use the altered lyrics as well (there’s no “I’ve got troubles, whoa, whoa” in the Ian & Sylvia version). It’s like “City of New Orleans”: everyone uses the same “weird chord” with the lyrics “gone 500 miles” because Arlo Guthrie stuck it in his version, but it wasn’t in Steve Goodman’s original. Like anyone cares. This is simply a great folk-rock song. You Were on My Mind Written by Sylvia Fricker Recorded by We Five From You Were on My Mind, 1965 I got troubles: