As the Scovells arrive back from a summer break in Brighton here in 2021, we cast our ears back to November, 1953 to see how things are sounding…
The songs of November, 1953
“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Crying In The Chapel” – June Valli
“Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“In The Mission Of St. Augustine” – Sammy Kaye
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Love Walked In” – Hilltoppers
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“Marie” – Four Tunes
“My Love My Love” – Joni James
“No Other Love” – Perry Como
“Oh” – Pee Wee Hunt
“Pa-Paya Mama” – Perry Como
“Rachmaninoff The Eighteenth Variation” – William Kapell
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“St. George And The Dragonet” – Stan Freberg
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“The Story Of Three Loves” – Jerry Murad
“The Velvet Glove” – Henri Rene / Hugo Winterhalter
“To Be Alone” – Hilltoppers
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“You Alone” – Perry Como
“You You You” – Ames Brothers
We’ll supplement the main pop charts with a country chart this month, going hyper-specific via a chart from Nashville rather than countrywide:
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
November 1953 saw the release of the classic, “How to Marry a Millionaire” staring Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall. It was notably the first shot in ultra-wide screen cinemascope, though was delayed so that e biblical epic film The Robe, deemed more family friendly, could be the first released. Here’s a slightly odd trailer announcing the format:
And a great scene from the film itself:
From pop to high-brow, November was the debut of (one of my favourite) composer’s, Dmitri Shostakovich’s, 4th String Quartet. Hear it below:
And of course, with only a month or so to Xmas, Billboard magazine is full of adverts for the tunes of the season. Some classics and some newbies – I for one can’t wait to hear “are my ears on straight?”…
What’d Sadie think?
Not quite from “Rags to Riches”, but from lower down the charts to four weeks at number one for Tony Bennett’s tune of the name.
A new tune from Patti Page is normally a good thing and indeed it is this time with a cynical wee love tune, “Changing Partners”. Apparently we should be hearing covers by all the usual suspects (Dinah Shore, Kay Starr and Bing Crosby) soon enough.
“Love Walked In” is a cover of a Gershwins song by the Hilltoppers and ain’t bad. Interestingly George composed the tune in 1930 but then Ira didn’t write the lyrics till 1937.
“Marie” by the Four Tunes is a lovely wee tune, and again from a couple of decades earlier – by Irving Berlin in this case. I assume 50s teens were just as annoyed as later generations to be told by their parents, “this is a cover of a song from when I was a kid you know!”.
“Pa-Paya Mama” is a disposable Perry Como tune with that their favourite problematic theme – falling in love with an “island girl”. Next! Oh wait, while we’re on Como he has another tune “You Alone” which is somewhat better later in the chart.
“Rachmaninoff The Eighteenth Variation” by William Kapell is Variation 18 from Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on Themes of Paganini” – presumedly the name was simplified for the pop charts. It’s a nice piece, which led me to find an interesting story tht links a few things in wikipedia:
“In 1939, Michel Fokine wrote to Rachmaninoff from Auckland, New Zealand, where he was touring, seeking the composer’s approval to use Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for his ballet Paganini, which he had almost finished choreographing. Fokine wanted to make a minor change to the score, involving the reuse of 12 earlier measures as a more theatrically effective introduction to the 18th Variation, which he wanted to play in the key of A major, rather than Dâ™ major. Rachmaninoff agreed to the extra measures, although he said A major would not work and asked that the 18th Variation be played in D major, to provide greater tension. He also wondered why Niccolò Paganini had been turned into a guitar player in Fokine’s scenario, but did not object. Paganini was premiered in 1939 by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.”
“That’s Amore” by Dean Martin… i’ll admit I was half expecting to research this song and find it wasn’t a Martin original but of course it is, and 1953 was it’s debut.
“That’s Amore was one of many songs from the early Fifties that helped rehabilitate Italy’s image as a land of magic and romance that had somehow been lured from its festive moorings by the glum fascist Benito Mussolini.”
Music critic, Joe Queenan
It’s amazing to think that at this point Dean Martin was more of a comedian than singer – the song was written for The Caddy. His comedy partner, Jerry Lewis purportedly “personally paid [song writers Warren and Brooks] $30,000 secretly in the hope that one would be a hit for Martin”. Worked a charm!
And onto the Nashville charts where “Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys” (yes, that name hasn’t aged well) tells the tale of “When Mexican Joe Met Jole Brown” which is a nice lyrical contry tune.
A slower, but lovely, number from Webb Pierce, “There Stands the Glass”. This eventually spent 12 weeks at number one on the main country charts. You can see hom back then singing it live on Grand Ole Oprey TV below:
“Let Me Be the One” was apparently Hank Locklin’s breakthrough song but it sounds a bit generic to our ears today.
“I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” has been lingering on the country charts since one of the Davis Sisters passed away as we mentioned a few weeks ago.
“Shake a Hand” by Red Foley is a different sound from him, which made sense when we looked it up and found out it was a cover of a hit from the R&B charts.
Meanwhile Tennessee Ernie Ford’s, “Kiss Me Big” is a lovely piece of proto-rock n roll. All sorts going down in Nashville.
Though “Satisfaction Guaranteed” by Carl Smith is as country as it can be. And
“T’ain’t Nice (to talk like that) by Bill Carlisle is pure hillbilly. Both nice.
Then we have “Forgive Me John” by Jean Shephard and Ferlin Husky which is a sequel of “Dear John”…which is such an ear-worm from previous mainstream charts its back in our head just recalling the name. According to wikipedia,
“The song was about a follow-up letter sent to John by his former sweetheart, who realized she had done wrong by marrying John’s brother Don and wants to return to him, and is willing to “undo the awful wrong I’ve done.” John reads the letter and decides he doesn’t want to “do him like he done me” and wishes them well and decides to reenlist.“
We end on a classic piece of country, “My Wasted Past” by Ernie Tubb which is a cracked tune.
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.