Busy times in 2021 so we’re a couple of days late in this week’s email. The point of this project has always been to listen and enjoy the music from the month in history with Sadie – which we do every weekend. But now back to May, 1955…
The songs of May, 1955
“A Blossom Fell” – Nat King Cole & The Four Knights
“Ballad Of Davy Crocket” – Fess Parker
“Ballad Of Davy Crockett” – Bill Hayes
“Ballad Of Davy Crockett” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Ballad Of Davy Crockett” – Voices Of Walter Schumann
“Blue Star” – Felicia Sanders
“Boom Boom Boomerang” – Decastro Singers
“Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” – Alan Dale
“Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” – Prez Prado
“Dance With Me Henry” – Georgia Gibbs
“Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup / The Sand And The Sea” – Nat King Cole
“Don’t Be Angry” – Crew-Cuts
“Don’t Be Angry” – Nappy Brown
“Heart” – Eddie Fisher
“Heart” – Four Aces
“Hey Mr. Banjo” – Sunnysiders
“Honey-Babe” – Art Mooney Orchestra
“How Important Can It Be” – Joni James
“It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie” – Somethin’ Smith & The Redheads
“Ko Ko Mo” – Perry Como
“Learnin’ The Blues” – Frank Sinatra
“Love Me Or Leave Me” – Sammy Davis Jr.
“Melody Of Love” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Melody Of Love” – Four Aces
“Most Of All / The Door Is Still Open To My Heart” – Don Cornell
“Open Up Your Heart” – Cowboy Church Sunday School
“Plantation Boogie” – Lenny Dee
“Play Me Hearts And Flowers” – Johnny Desmond
“Pledging My Love / How Important Can It Be” – Teresa Brewer
“Rock Around The Clock” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“Sincerely” – Mcguire Sisters
“The Breeze And I” – Caterina Valente
“The Crazy Otto” – Johnny Maddox
“Tweedlee Dee” – Georgia Gibbs
“Two Hearts” – Pat Boone
“Unchained Melody” – Al Hibbler
“Unchained Melody” – June Valli
“Unchained Melody” – Les Baxter
“Unchained Melody” – Roy Hamilton
“Whatever Lola Wants” – Sarah Vaughan
* = New to the chart this week.
And we’ll supplement this with a top 10 R&B chart from the month:
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
West Germany becomes a sovereign country recognized by Western foreign countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States on May the 5th. Probably not to celebrate, but that month in Berlin police put on a fascinating display:
Speaking of shows, on May the 9th Jim Henson introduces the earliest version of Kermit the Frog in the premiere of his puppet show Sam and Friends on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. Here’s a clip from one episode of that show:
What’d Sadie think?
It’s catchy but we don’t need 4 versions of “Ballad Of Davy Crockett”, but Bill Hayes is still ruling the roost in May, 1955 with 4 weeks at the top.
Love ’em
We’ll do short form wrap-up of the songs but we can’t let the appearance of “Rock Around The Clock” by Bill Haley & The Comets go without remarking that it was the first rock and roll record to reach #1 on the US charts. Whatever you think of it, its notable and influential in bringing both the sounnd of rock, and it’s nomenclature, to the mainstream.
And of course it was the theme for Happy Days for the first two seasons:
Which was a favourite show of mine in the ’80s. Admittedly I think I thought it was a show _made_ in the ’50s not made _about_ the ’50s in the ’70s. It’s all very different looking back!
“A Blossom Fell” – Nat King Cole & The Four Knights
“Boom Boom Boomerang” – Decastro Singers
“Learnin’ The Blues” – Frank Sinatra
“Love Me Or Leave Me” – Sammy Davis Jr.
“Unchained Melody” – June Valli
“Unchained Melody” – Ray Hamilton
“Whatcha Gonna Do” – The Drifters
“I’m a Man” – Bo Diddly
“I gotta a woman” – Ray Charles
Like ’em
“Blue Star” – Felicia Sanders
“Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White” – Alan Dale
“Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup / The Sand And The Sea” – Nat King Cole
“Heart” – Eddie Fisher
“Most Of All / The Door Is Still Open To My Heart” – Don Cornell
“Don’t be Angry” – Nappy Brown
“Flip Flop and Fly” – Joe Turner
“My Babe” – Little Walter
“That’s all i need” – Lavern Baker
“The Wall Flower” – Etta James
Lose ’em
“Ballad Of Davy Crockett” – Voices Of Walter Schumann
“Hey Mr. Banjo” – Sunnysiders
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below.