“Johnny Remember Me” by John Leyton
John Leyton’s song “Johnny Remember Me” was released in 1961. The song fit into the popular genre of the time known as “death ditties.” These death-pop songs, as popular as the bell-bottom craze of the 1960s, incorporated horrific love-and-loss storylines in pop music, which youths enjoyed. The phenomenon concerned the expurgators. (Would those critics have also outlawed Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”?) The BBC has banned “Johnny Remember Me.” Nonetheless, it peaked at No. 1 on the UK singles chart and sold more than 500,000 copies. Artist — one; censors — zero.
Johnny Remember Me By John Leyton
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