’65 Love Affair’ by Paul Davis

Released in 1981, the song hit #6 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982. It stayed 20 weeks in the chart, and on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart, it placed at No. 39.

This song marked Davis's second single release upon his defection from Bang Records to Arista, the first being "Cool Night". The style of "'65 Love Affair" was reminiscent of such blue-eyed soul groups as Hall & Oates, a vein that Davis had not explored before. Davis had originally titled the song "'55 Love Affair", but Arista felt that some modernization was needed to target an audience whose teenage years had occurred in the 1960s. In addition, Arista pointed out the fact that Davis was only 7 years old in 1955, too young for any meaningful "love affair".

Davis' previous hits had been country-oriented or ballads. The format change to pop proved to be quite marketable. "'65 Love Affair" and "Cool Night", which were recorded at the same time, ranked first and third in terms of his Hot 100 peaks ("I Go Crazy" ranked second). In spite of this popular success, Davis was so disgusted with the commercialized result that he opted out of his contract with Arista and signed with Razor & Tie Record Company.

#6 back in 1981 - how about today?