Comments: 13

• Curt from NycWhat is it with me and songs like this?
  It actually popped into my head about an hour ago so I listened to it . The string arrangement incapacitates me every time. And nobody can ever do justice to the lyrics like Oliver.
  I think by the end of the 60s we just needed a rest.
  I can see songs! Meaning, when I hear a song that moved me emotionally, I see the places that I was when listening to it on the radio. I also listen to music in a different way than others. From the back first. Most people listen from the front. (The lyrics and melody.)
  You remember the words, I remember the strings and the 3/4 time of the guitar. “And run if you will to the top of the hill.” The music that’s going on in that section just twists my insides in a knot. It happened again today . I haven’t heard that song in 45 years easy.
  I think I’m the only one I ever met that responds to music like I do
• Spencer Benedict from Lombard, IlThis song is very mellow and peaceful ; an ideal tone if you happen to hear it while under stress.
  I also have to agree with the commenter from Toronto, OH, it is kind of melancholy.
  The song was on the charts in the fall of 1969-it was in the fourth grade then.
  Everytime i hear it today, it reminds me of an innocent, much more relaxed time when the biggest concern in the world was forgetting my homework.
  When the song comes on the radio, it makes me long for a time will never come again.
• Donna M Freeman from Hayesville, NcI met "Oliver" at the Brockton Fair in MA when a teenager and had a mad crush on him. My mom and I saw him walking in the park and she asked if he would meet me and sat across from us for lunch. A great memory for me as the fairgrounds close after 150 yrs. I presently live in the mountains of NC and had no idea he was born and later lived in NC. Awesome memorable performer.
• Steve From Dallas from Dallas TxOliver (William (Bill) Oliver Swofford) was a friend of mine whom I met in 1982 after his fame had cooled and he was doing college tours. His wife at the time (Maggie) was a booking agent and I met them through a mutual friend. I first met Bill at Texas Christian University during a performance as part of a tour. We got to be friends and one year he took me to the Dallas Guitar Show and picked out a guitar he thought might be good for me. I still hav it in my music room and think of him whenever I see it hanging on its rack. He left Dallas and he and Maggie divorced SS few years later and I lost direct contact, although our mutual friend told me he left music and became successful in commercial real estate on the East coast. He died of leukemia in his ‘50’s and is buried in Laureland Cemetaty in Dallas. I have visited his grave a few times.
• John Hawken from Plymouth Devon UkLovely song for my loving an beautiful awesome sister passed an my friend Jean passed away 18 February 2019. Your Kindness & love light a room always forever giving of yourself felt so proud to call you my sister one amazing lady XXXXX
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyFifty years ago today on September 14th, 1969, "Jean" by Oliver peaked at #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
  That week's Adult Contemporary Tracks Top 10 chart was:
  At #1. Jean by Oliver
  #2. I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Tom Jones
  #3. This Girl Is A Woman Now by Gary Puckett And The Union Gap
  #4. Hurt So Bad by The Lettermen
  #5. A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash
  #6. Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good) by Neil Diamond
  #7. Put A Little Love In Your Heart by Jackie DeShannon
  #8. Keem-O-Sabe by The Electric Indian
  #9. Everybody's Talkin' by Nilsson
  #10. Daddy's Little Man by O.C. Smith
  
• Babbling Babette from Tulsa OkIn 1969, I was trying to be a hippy or "flower girl" as some used to say. And I loved this song & Oliver. As we used to say, it was "groovy." haaa How corny! Anyway, my brother bought the single & the LP it was on. He was 18 and would cry listening to this on his stereo. Can ya imagine??!! The big football star. Well, I loved it, but never got mushy over it. I had a crush on Oliver for a while. Then he faded away and no one ever knew what happened to him. Then much later, he was forgotten. Anyone know whatever happened to Oliver?
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 22nd 1969, the 45-minute weekly series 'The Music Scene' had its debut on the ABC-TV network...
  Oliver performed "Jean"; at the time the song was at position #7 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart...
  The premiere show was hosted by comedian David Steinberg and other musical performers were Tom Jones, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Three Dog Night, and Buck Owens & the Buckaroos...
  The show lasted for one season with a total of 17 episodes.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 4th, 1970 Oliver performed "Jean" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
  He also performed two more songs on the show; "Good Morning Sunshine", which peaked at #3 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart and "Sunday Mornin'", it reached #35...
  R.I.P. Mr. Sullivan (1901 - 1974).
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 13th 1969, Oliver performed "Jean" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
  Four months earlier on August 10th it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on September 28th it peaked at #2 (for 2 weeks) and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100...
  The two weeks it was at #2, the #1 record was "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies...
  But on September 14th, 1969 it reached #1 (for 4 weeks) on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
  May William Oliver Swofford R.I.P. (1945 - 2000).
• Camille from Toronto, OhThis song always seemed kind of melancholy to me; never really cared for it.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyThis was nominated for Best Song at the 1969 Academy Awards {Lost to "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from the movie "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid"}!!!
• Guy from Woodinville, WaAs a 15-year old kid, I really liked this song. Great combination of lyrics and melody. Listening to it now, he over-emotes, but still, a very nice song.

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