The Beatles release Something backed with Come Together in the US
Apple Records issued the Beatles' double A-side single Something, backed with Come Together, across the United States on October 6, 1969 as Apple 2654, pulling the first two songs from that fall's Abbey Road.
It marked the first time a George Harrison composition took top billing on a Beatles single, and the pairing went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 that November.
October 6 at a Glance
Tap any event to jump straight to its full card below.
| Category | Event |
|---|---|
| 1969 | |
| release | The Beatles release Something backed with Come Together in the US |
| 1968 | |
| broadcast | Hey Jude makes its US TV debut on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour |
| release | Tony Bennett releases his first Christmas album, Snowfall |
| 1967 | |
| industry | Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder jam together at the BBC |
| industry | The Beatles finish Blue Jay Way with a final overdub |
| culture | San Francisco's Diggers stage the Death of the Hippie funeral |
| 1966 | |
| concert | Rolling Stones headline Birmingham Odeon with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds |
| 1964 | |
| concert | Miles Davis' new quintet plays the first Helsinki Jazz Festival |
| concert | Dave Brubeck Quartet debuts Unisphere at the same Helsinki festival |
| 1963 | |
| concert | The Beatles play two sold-out shows at Kirkcaldy's Carlton Cinema |
| 1962 | |
| concert | Gerry Mulligan Quartet plays the Paris Olympia for Norman Granz |
The Beatles release Something backed with Come Together in the US
Apple Records issued the Beatles' double A-side single Something, backed with Come Together, across the United States on October 6, 1969 as Apple 2654, pulling the first two songs from that fall's Abbey Road.
It marked the first time a George Harrison composition took top billing on a Beatles single, and the pairing went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 that November.
Hey Jude makes its US TV debut on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
CBS aired the Beatles' promotional film for Hey Jude on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the song's first American television appearance, about a month after its UK debut on Frost on Sunday.
Michael Lindsay-Hogg's film, shot at Twickenham with a studio audience singing along through the coda, reached millions of US viewers during the single's nine-week run at No. 1.
Tony Bennett releases his first Christmas album, Snowfall
Columbia Records released Tony Bennett's Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album on October 6, 1968, his first holiday record, arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon.
Rooted in the same jazz and easy listening tradition Bennett built his career on, the album later won a Grammy for Best Engineered Recording (Non-Classical) and became a seasonal standard, led by its title track.
Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder jam together at the BBC
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were at the BBC's Playhouse Theatre in London recording for the radio show Top Gear when 17-year-old Stevie Wonder, there for an interview, sat in on drums for an impromptu cover of his own song I Was Made to Love Her.
Mitch Mitchell had stepped out when Wonder took the kit, turning a routine session into a cross-genre jam that later surfaced officially on the Experience's BBC Sessions album.
The Beatles finish Blue Jay Way with a final overdub
The Beatles returned to Studio Two at EMI Studios to complete George Harrison's Blue Jay Way for Magical Mystery Tour, filling the last open track on the four-track tape with a cello and tambourine overdub.
Built from a single droning take, backward loops and Harrison's vocal run through a Leslie speaker, it stayed one of the group's most overtly psychedelic studio experiments.
San Francisco's Diggers stage the Death of the Hippie funeral
The Diggers led a mock funeral procession from the Psychedelic Shop through Haight-Ashbury to Buena Vista Park, mourning the invented death of Hippie as a label the media had turned into a costume.
The staged funeral was organizers' own symbolic close to the Summer of Love, urging the crowds who had flooded the neighborhood to carry the movement back to their own hometowns instead, the same message Scott McKenzie's San Francisco had broadcast to the country that summer.
Rolling Stones headline Birmingham Odeon with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds
The Rolling Stones played two shows at the Birmingham Odeon on their UK package tour, sharing the bill with Ike & Tina Turner and fellow British Invasion openers the Yardbirds.
The tour arrived just weeks after the Stones' single Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? hit the charts, the song that carried the night's headline set.
Miles Davis' new quintet plays the first Helsinki Jazz Festival
Miles Davis brought his new band, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, to Messuhalli in Helsinki for the inaugural Helsinki Jazz Festival, a concert Finnish broadcaster YLE recorded for radio.
The gig came only weeks after Shorter joined the band, catching Davis's celebrated jazz and easy listening quintet's exploratory chemistry forming in real time.
Dave Brubeck Quartet debuts Unisphere at the same Helsinki festival
Later on that same bill at Messuhalli, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Brubeck with Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello, performed their original composition Unisphere for the Helsinki Jazz Festival crowd.
Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck sharing one Finnish stage the same night made the festival's debut a genuine jazz summit, previewed here with the quartet's best-known tune, Take Five.
The Beatles play two sold-out shows at Kirkcaldy's Carlton Cinema
The Beatles performed two houses at the Carlton Cinema in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, each drawing roughly 1,500 fans during their autumn Scottish mini-tour, with support act Houston Wells and the Marksmen on the bill.
The Fife town left enough of a mark on John Lennon that he later wrote it into the White Album's Cry Baby Cry, and the band was touring that week behind the summer's UK hit She Loves You.
Gerry Mulligan Quartet plays the Paris Olympia for Norman Granz
The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan with Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow and Gus Johnson, played the Paris Olympia in a concert produced by Norman Granz and later issued on Pablo Records.
The set captured the quartet's cool jazz and easy listening interplay live in Europe, echoed here by Walkin' Shoes, one of the pianoless quartet's signature tunes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in 1960s music on October 6?
October 6 saw 11 verified music events across the decade.
They're headlined by the Beatles releasing the double A-side single Something/Come Together in the US in 1969, Jimi Hendrix jamming with a 17-year-old Stevie Wonder at the BBC in 1967, and the Rolling Stones headlining Birmingham's Odeon with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds in 1966.
When did the Beatles release Something and Come Together?
Apple Records released the Beatles' double A-side single Something, backed with Come Together, in the United States on October 6, 1969, as Apple 2654.
It was the first songs pulled from that fall's Abbey Road album.
What happened when Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder met at the BBC?
On October 6, 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience were recording for BBC radio's Top Gear at the Playhouse Theatre in London.
17-year-old Stevie Wonder, there for an interview, sat in on drums for an impromptu cover of his own song I Was Made to Love Her.
When did Hey Jude first air on US television?
CBS aired the Beatles' promotional film for Hey Jude on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on October 6, 1968.
It was the song's American television debut, about a month after the film's UK premiere on Frost on Sunday.
What was the Death of the Hippie funeral?
On October 6, 1967, San Francisco's Diggers led a mock funeral procession through Haight-Ashbury to Buena Vista Park, symbolically burying Hippie as a media-made label.
They urged the crowds who had flocked to the neighborhood to carry the counterculture back to their own hometowns.
When did the Rolling Stones play Birmingham with Ike & Tina Turner?
The Rolling Stones played two shows at the Birmingham Odeon on October 6, 1966, on their UK package tour.
They shared the bill with Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds.