My Top 2000 Songs #1166: Hitchin' A Ride

Digging into the Guilty Pleasures file for this pure bubblegum one-hit wonder (not to be confused with the Green Day song of the same name). The 1969 single was recorded by Vanity Fare, a British pop band who'd found little commercial success otherwise, at least here in the US (I've got a hits collection of theirs and it's all perfectly inoffensive if entirely nondescript sunshine pop). It's got a killer hook in that insanely unforgettable recorder riff, the sort of thing I heard once on the radio as a kid and just never went away. Kind of the perfect AM radio single for the time, and if you don't like it there's something broken inside you.

Interestingly, the two outside songwriters who wrote the song, Mitch Murray and Peter Callander, are also responsible for two of the most absurdly wonderful bubblegum novelty tracks of the early 70s, "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" and "The Night Chicago Died" So we're talking Guilty Pleasure royalty here! Plus, bonus points for the rousing, surprisingly straight cover by The Replacements on one of the greatest live albums ever.

Another one:

2012 on the oldies circuit:

The Replacements:

Jack Reno country version: