Xmas comes early for those who time travel. It’s only October in 2021 but here at 4xlife we’re listening to the sounds of December, 1954…
The songs of December, 1954
“Bazoom I Need Your Lovin'” – Cheers
“Cara Mia” – David Whitfield
“Count Your Blessing” – Eddie Fisher
“Count Your Blessings” – Ames Brothers
“Dim All The Lights” – Bill Haley And His Comets
“Earth Angel” – Penguins*
“Hajji Baba” – Nat King Cole
“Hearts Of Stone” – Champs*
“Hearts Of Stone” – Fontane Sisters*
“Hey There” – Rosemary Clooney
“Hold My Hand” – Don Cornell
“Home For The Holidays” – Perry Como*
“I Need You Now” – Eddie Fisher
“If I Give My Heart To You” – Doris Day
“Let Me Go Lover” – Teresa Brewer*
“Let Me Go Lover” – Joan Weber*
“Let Me Go Lover” – Patti Page*
“Make Yourself Comfortable” – Sarah Vaughan
“Mambo Italiano” – Rosemary Clooney
“Melody Of Love” – Billy Vaughn And His Orchestra*
“Melody Of Love” – David Carroll And His Orchestra*
“Mr Sandman” – Chordettes
“Mr Sandman” – Four Aces
“Muskrat Ramble” – Mcguire Sisters
“My Baby Don’t Love Me No More” – Dejohn Sisters*
“Open Up Your Heart” – Cowboy Church Sunday School*
“Papa Loves Mambo” – Perry Como
“Runaround” – Three Chuckles
“Santo Natale” – David Whitfield*
“Shake Rattle And Roll” – Bill Haley And His Comets
“Sincerely” – Mcguire Sisters*
“Teach Me Tonight” – Decastro Sisters
“That’s All I Want From You” – Jaye P Morgan*
“The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane” – Ames Brothers
“This Ole House” – Rosemary Clooney
“White Christmas” – Bing Crosby
“Wither Thou Goest” – Les Paul & Mary Ford
* = New to the chart this week.
A few new songs but we’ll also see what Xmas sounded like across the pond in the UK with a top 10 from there:
“Santo Natale” – David Whitfield
“I Still Believe” – Ronnie Hilton
“This Ole House”- Rosemary Clooney
“No One But You”- Billy Eckstine
“Let’s Get Together No 1” – Big Ben Banjo Band
“The Finger Of Suspicion”- Dickie Valentine With The Stargazers
“My Son My Son” – Vera Lynn
“Rain Rain Rain” – Frankie Laine And The Four Lads
“Heartbeat” – Ruby Murray
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
On December 4th The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, USA, but it wasn’t actually called Burger King, though it did innovate the “flame grilled” technique they still used today. You can see more on this here:
Meanwhile on December 10, US Air Force Lt Col John Stapp travels at 632 mph in a rocket sled at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. I hope he hadn’t eaten a whopper before hand by the looks of the experience…
And lastly on December 12 we had the live transmission of the BBC’s adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, starring Peter Cushing, on UK television which you can watch in fuzzy-vision below:
What’d Sadie think?
We have “Mr Sandman” by the Chordettes at number one sport for the whole month, including the coveted “Xmas Number ” as announced in the first week of January’s chart.
The highest Xmas tune to chart was was Perry Como’s “home for the holidays”, one of our new tunes of the month.
“Earth Angel” by the Penguins is the first new song we encounter. Their only breakout hit it eventually sold 10 million copies. Apparently the song was going to be overdubbed with additional instrumentation when it was released as a B-side but the original demo version became an unexpected hit. For me this sounds like your prototypical ’50s tune and its a lovely one for sure.
“Hearts Of Stone” – Fontane Sisters is the second new R&B cross-over on the main charts this month. A great tune with a belting sax part.
“Home For The Holidays” by Perry Como is our first Xmas song of the charts and a new one for 1954. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Perry Como Xmas tune and lovely that is. We’ll pull this one out properly again in a month back in 2021.
Teresa Brewer’s version of “Let Me Go Lover” is one of 3 that appear on the chart ths month. The Joan Weber version is the original but we went with the Brewer version because we consistently like her songs. This is much more slowpaced than her regular numbers but is still great.
“Melody Of Love” is an instrumental by Billy Vaughn And His Orchestra and is oh so chill and perfect if you’re in the mood for such.
“My Baby Don’t Love Me No More” is an original by the Dejohn Sisters and a fun break-up tune. It was also covered by the Mcguire Sisters who chart with “Sincerely” instead – its a little bit…sincere? The Moonglows original version made it to number 1 on the R&B charts.
The amazingly named “Cowboy Church Sunday School” version of “Open Up Your Heart” …. Apparently when it is played at normal speed, 45 rpm, the vocal sounds unnaturally high. When played at 33⅓ rpm the vocal sounds more natural. This was done deliberately (as a song would normally we recorded and played back at 45pm for a single) by Stuart Hamblen’s wife and adult daughters, so that when played at 45rpm it sounds as if it is being sung by children.
The version in the playlist is the “sped up” version as this seems to be the most prevalent online and how most people will have heard it at the time. It’s like a sermon by the chipmunks and frankly not great. You can hear the song at the 33rpm speed and the actual adult voices here:
“Santo Natale” by David Whitfield is our second Xmas tune of the December charts and its not bad, we’ll throw it on this year’s Xmas playlist for sure.
“That’s All I Want From You” is by Jaye P Morgan. Who is no relation to JP Morgan the bank. If she was a 2021 R&B performer you’d assume it was some kind of homage/reference but no. The song itself has something nice going on in the rhythm layer and it’ll probably grow on us after a few listens.
That Christmas classic, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby is back yet again. But in 1954 we get a new version for the musical of same name – you can see trailer for this below:
There’s always less information on the UK chart hits at this stage, so all we can do is comment on their relative merits according to our listen.
“I Still Believe” by Ronnie Hilton is one of those songs that will have you swaying along and wishing you were holding someone tight on a dance floor.
Billy Eckstine’s “No One But You” is also slow but in a snorefest kind of way, moving on!
“Let’s Get Together No 1” was a hit for one hit-wonder “Big Ben Banjo Band”, whose name is too good. Alas the greatness stops and ends there, the song is a fairly average instrumental.
Dickie Valentine With The Stargazers give us a nice number with “The Finger Of Suspicion”.
“My Son My Son” was eventually a number 1 for Vera Lynn, and surprisingly her only UK number one hit on the official chart as most of her hits were before charts started in the country. It’s not bad at all, but not number 1 in our ears.
“Rain Rain Rain” by Frankie Laine And The Four Lads picks up the pace, which has been notably lacking on the UK charts compared with the R&B influenced USA charts this week. It’s a good ‘un.
“Heartbeat” by Ruby Murray ends the charts on a nice upbeat note that should have you singing along by the second.
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.