It was an old piece of shit bought from a guy who had a bunch of them in his garage.  And, of course, it only got worse-looking as people vented their wrath at songs they didn’t like by hurling empty kegs at it.  But it dependably worked and was dependably loud and the A.D.'s loved it.  The names of the songs as written on the little white tags were often playful, ie “Too Many Heartaches” became “Too Many Hard-Ons,” which, in turn, became “Too Many Hards-On” after a dispute over the plural of “hard-on” arose.  The decision was that if it’s “courts-martial,” it should be “hards-on.” 

There was an almost total monopoly of black music on the jukebox.  The suppliers of the records were Pinto and Y. Bear, with the occasional contribution made by someone else.  No one was interested in Frankie Avalon or Bobby Rydell or even Elvis, who seemed artistically in the dumper by this time.  And there was certainly never any folk music on it.  The demand was for exuberant, kick-ass r&b, or slow, sweet doo wop.  That was the collective taste.  This applied also to the bands who appeared at A.D.  The brothers danced in the living room to the Flamingos, the Five Royales, Billy and Lily, Joey Dee and the Starlighters, and Red Prysock, the great tenor sax player.  Not to leave out the perennially popular Lonnie Youngblood and Carl Holmes.  Chuck Berry almost played once, but, well, he spent the night with a Mt. Holyoke girl after his show at Amherst the  previous evening, and never showed up until the Sunday afternoon party was long over.

So here is a list of songs that would have been on the jukebox during the 1960-1961 school year.  You can find most of these on Napster, freely available for you to experience in their soulful totality.
(Scroll for Playlist)

Golden Teardrops – the Flamingos

Do You Love Me – the Contours

Baby Don’t Do It – the 5 Royales

Say Man – Bo Diddley

Ooh Poo Pah Doo – Jesse Hill

Think – James Brown

All I Could Do Was Cry – Bobby Marchan

Finger Poppin’ Time – the Midnighters

The Twist – the Midnighters

Georgia on my Mind – Ray Charles

Shoppin’ for Clothes – the Coasters

Shop Around – the Miracles

Valerie – the Starlights

There’s a Moon Out Tonight – the Capris

Blue Moon – the Marcels

You Can’t Sit Down (Parts 1 & 2) – Phil Upchurch Combo

Mother-In-Law – Ernie K. Doe

Rama Lama Ding Dong – the Edsels

Drown in My Own Tears (live) – Ray Charles

Shout (Parts 1 & 2) – the Isely Brothers

Plus some jazz:

Poinciana – Ahmad Jamal  (the live, late-fifties version)

So What – Miles (Kind of Blue)

Solea – Miles (Sketches of Spain)

My Favorite Things – John Coltrane

Moanin’ – Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers

I Remember Clifford – Jazztet (Meet the Jazztet)

Fables of Faubus – Charles Mingus

This Here – Cannonball Adderley Quintet (In San Francisco)

Peace Piece – Bill Evans Trio (Live at the Village Vanguard)