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1960s Music & Lifestyles

WALLS is written in a format I’d discovered worked well in distilling complicated political eras when I wrote Suspect Red. The novel spans a momentous year of increasing friction between the United States and Soviet Russia that leads up to the communists’ cunning scheme for the Berlin Wall. Each chapter covers a month’s time and opens with news headlines, photos, and quotes from those real-life four weeks. Adding a factual photo essay created a powerful backdrop of historical context, that punctuates without interrupting a fast-paced plot and the harrowing conundrums facing my teenage characters.

Those chapter-opening primary documents are potent, quick-hit revelations of what life was like in the divided city of Berlin (and the United States) in 1960-61. The images are so striking and the information eye-opening. So, I don’t want to dilute their impact here! But here are a playlist of songs and a few links by category to drop you into the era:

Top song hits of 1960 and 1961 (when I could, I’ve found American Bandstand videos so you can see dancing too)

Let’s Do the Twist: youtu.be/pHGXwQeUk7M

Teen Angel youtu.be/22oY2CuNCO4

Are You Lonesome Tonight? youtu.be/LF5u7b8pAYQ

Stay youtu.be/o1Z_hskvz1M

Will You Love Me Tomorrow youtu.be/PAxb1vnb520

Stand By Me youtu.be/TYDkQgKgghc

O Dio Mio youtu.be/2f01-Oy0C6E

Runaway youtu.be/wSWMJxbxj7c

Cathy’s Clown youtu.be/z3-E9JebDtU

Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool youtu.be/8a5imvoRZ7E

All I Could Do is Cry youtu.be/8sMb7QP78Vw