FOR SUBSCRIBERS JANUARY 30, 2024

Was 1968 the Grammys’ best year ever?

9 songs, 26 min 18 sec

By Lindsay Zoladz

In 1968 the Beatles won their first and only album of the year Grammy for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”  PA Images, via Getty Images

Dear listeners,

The 66th annual Grammy Awards take place on Sunday, and this year’s lineup of performers is pretty exceptional. I mean, Joni Mitchell is performing! For the first time ever at the Grammys! I could really just stop there, but Billy Joel, Billie Eilish, SZA, U2, Olivia Rodrigo, Burna Boy, Luke Combs, Dua Lipa, Travis Scott and more are scheduled to grace the stage. Will Joel and Eilish take this opportunity to start a supergroup called the Billies? Will SZA and U2 start an all-caps collaborative side project called SUZA2? Will Travis Scott meet Joni Mitchell, and if so, what will they talk about? The possibilities of this year’s ceremony are endless, and a little weird.

To kick off Grammy week, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at another exceptional-if-slightly-odd year in Grammy history: the 10th annual ceremony, which took place on Feb. 29, 1968 and honored the music of 1967.

The Grammys, infamously, do not always get it right. Sometimes their slights are laughably egregious (like when Metallica lost the 1989 award for best hard rock/heavy metal recording to … Jethro Tull); other times, they play things annoyingly safe (see: Beyoncé’s last three losses for album of the year). But just as a broken clock is right twice a day, sometimes justice actually is served at the Grammys. And 1968 was one of those years.

Consider that album of the year went to a release that pushed the format forward into the future, and one that’s still often (and rightly) mentioned in lists of the greatest albums of all time. Some incredibly worthy artists won their first-ever Grammys that year: Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin and Tammy Wynette. Many of the songs and artists awarded have — gasp — actually stood the test of time.

Today’s playlist is culled entirely from the winners of the 10th annual Grammys. Feed your meter, inflate that beautiful balloon and prepare to hop in a time machine ready to take you up, up and away.

Listen along while you read.

1. The Beatles: “Lovely Rita”

In perhaps one of the least disputable album of the year wins of all time, the trophy went to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” — the only time the Beatles won that particular award. (They had lost the two previous years, to two different Frank Sinatra albums.) “Sgt. Pepper’s” won three other Grammys that night, for engineering, album art and the first and only statue for best contemporary album, a rather confusingly titled honor that would eventually be renamed best pop vocal album.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

2. Bobbie Gentry: “Ode to Billie Joe”

In 1967, the smoky-voiced newcomer Bobbie Gentry took the music world by storm with her sparsely arranged, sharply penned “Ode to Billie Joe,” which topped the Hot 100 for four weeks (ousting the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love”). On Grammy night, “Ode to Billie Joe” picked up three trophies, and Gentry was crowned best new artist — making her the first country act and the first woman ever to win that award.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

3. Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash: “Jackson”

The rather verbosely named award for best country & western performance duet, trio or group (vocal or instrumental) went to “Jackson,” that still-crackling instant classic recorded by Johnny Cash and his soon-to-be wife, June Carter.

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4. Aretha Franklin: “Respect”

The Recording Academy put some much-deserved respect on Aretha Franklin’s name, awarding her both best R&B recording and best R&B solo vocal performance, female.

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5. Sam & Dave: “Soul Man”

The duo Sam & Dave netted a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2019, but its first and only competitive Grammy was for “Soul Man,” which won best R&B group performance at the 10th ceremony. For what it’s worth, that is one more Grammy than the Blues Brothers have won.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

6. Glen Campbell: “Gentle on My Mind”

The country star Glen Campbell’s cover of the wistful John Hartford folk tune “Gentle on My Mind” helped him cross over into the mainstream. The song won a total of four Grammys at the 1968 ceremony: three country awards for Campbell’s version, and best folk performance for Hartford’s original.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

7. Tammy Wynette: “I Don’t Wanna Play House”

Regular readers of this newsletter know I’m a big fan of Tammy Wynette — see: my Wynette playlist from last year — so I’m pleased to report that Wynette won her first Grammy in 1968, when the gorgeously sung “I Don’t Wanna Play House” was awarded best country & western solo vocal performance, female, an award she’d win again two years later for “Stand by Your Man.”

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

8. Elvis Presley: “Crying in the Chapel”

Elvis Presley first recorded this cover of Darrell Glenn’s country-gospel standard in 1960. When it was finally released in 1965, it reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 (a rarity for a gospel hymn) and briefly reignited the King’s then-flagging pop career. The song was then included on his 1967 album “How Great Thou Art,” which netted him his first Grammy, in the now-defunct category of best sacred performance.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

9. The 5th Dimension: “Up, Up and Away”

The 5th Dimension’s sunshine-pop anthem “Up, Up and Away” won a whopping six Grammys at the 1968 ceremony, including the top honors of record and song of the year. While those wins might not hold up immaculately in retrospect — personally, I would have awarded record to either Franklin’s “Respect” or the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” and song to Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne,” which wasn’t even nominated — they also provide an enduring snapshot of the sound of the late 1960s as it was recognized in real time.

 Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

Pass the biscuits, please,

Lindsay

The Amplifier Playlist

“Was 1968 the Grammys’ Best Year Ever?” track list
Track 1: The Beatles, “Lovely Rita”
Track 2: Bobbie Gentry, “Ode to Billie Joe”
Track 3: Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash, “Jackson”
Track 4: Aretha Franklin, “Respect”
Track 5: Sam & Dave, “Soul Man”
Track 6: Glen Campbell, “Gentle on My Mind”
Track 7: Tammy Wynette, “I Don’t Wanna Play House”
Track 8: Elvis Presley, “Crying in the Chapel”
Track 9: The 5th Dimension, “Up, Up and Away”

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Have feedback? Ideas for a playlist? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at theamplifier@nytimes.com.