If you want to understand the essence of 1960s pop music in its entirety, you only need to hear and absorb one song: Bobby Freeman's 1964 masterpiece, "C'mon and Swim".
This song is incredible. It has as its foundation a driving surf beat. In fact, parts of this track sound very much like surf music. But, hark! What is that I hear? Sam & Dave style soul horns? Okay, groovy combo.
The singer seems to be coming from a soul genre, too. And he is telling us how to do a dance move, just as you'd expect from Chubby Checker or Freddy Garrity (Freddie & the Dreamers).
But wait, that's not all! Over the surf drums and the horn section, is the wild, serpentine line of a double-time blues-derived lead guitar line that would become the mainstay of ... psychedelic music!
This track literally has the entire 1960s music scene packed into a single track. And Bobby Freeman did it ... in 1964!!
Oh yes ... in case you have trouble imagining the Swim dance step, just watch this:
