'65 Love Affair

"'65 Love Affair" is a song performed by Paul Davis on his album "Cool Night." 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 in Billboard-Year End Chart, it placed at No. 39, and on Cashbox at No. 60.

This song marked Davis's first single release upon his defection from Bang Records to Arista. 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".

None of Davis's previous hits had been pop-oriented, opting for country roots or ballads instead. The format change proved to be quite marketable, with "'65 Love Affair" and "Cool Night", which were recorded at the same time, ranking higher on the Billboard Hot 100 than any other single in his decade-long career. In spite of this popular success, Davis was so disgusted with the commercialized result that after the completion of his two Arista hit singles, he opted out of his contract with that label, and, instead, signed with Razor & Tie Record Company.

Chart performance