Here we are in March, 2022… about to hear what September, 1956 sounded like – let’s go!
The songs of September, 1956
“A House With Love In It” – Four Lads*
“A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl” – Teresa Brewer
“After The Lights Go Down Low” – Al Hibbler
“Allegheny Moon” – Patti Page
“Be-Bop-A-Lula” – Gene Vincent
“Born To Be With You” – Chordettes
“Canadian Sunset” – Andy Williams
“Canadian Sunset” – Hugo Winterhalter
“Chains Of Love” – Pat Boone
“Don’t Be Cruel” – Elvis Presley
“Fabulous Character” – Sarah Vaughan
“Friendly Persuasion” – Pat Boone*
“Glendora” – Perry Como
“Happiness Street” – Georgia Gibbs*
“Honky Tonk” – Bill Doggett
“Hound Dog” – Elvis Presley
“I Almost Lost My Mind” – Pat Boone
“I Want You I Need You I Love You” – Elvis Presley
“In The Middle Of The House” – Rusty Draper*
“In The Middle Of The House” – Vaughn Monroe*
“It Only Hurts For A Little While” – Ames Brothers
“Just Walkin’ In The Rain” – Johnnie Ray*
“Miracle Of Love” – Eileen Rodgers*
“Moonglow And Theme From Picnic” – Morris Stoloff
“More” – Perry Como
“My Prayer” – Platters
“On The Street Where You Live” – Vic Damone
“Rip It Up” – Little Richard*
“Soft Summer Breeze” – Eddie Heywood
“Someone Up There Likes Me” – Perry Como
“St. Theresa Of The Roses” – Billy Ward*
“That’s All There Is To That” – Nat King Cole And The Four Knights
“The Bus Stop Song” – Four Lads*
“The Flying Saucer” – Buchannan And Goodman
“The Fool” – Sanford Clark
“The Wayward Wind” – Gogi Grant
“The Wayward Wind” – Tex Ritter*
“Theme From Song For A Summer Night” – Mitch Miller
“Tonight I Belong To You” – Patience And Prudence
“Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera)” – Doris Day
“When My Dreamboat Comes Home” – Fats Domino
“When The White Lilacs Bloom Again” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra*
“When The White Lilacs Bloom Again” – Helmut Zacharias*
“You Don’t Know Me” – Jerry Vale
* = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
A month chocker full of history. (What this actually means is things that particularly interested me – things )
On September 6, US poet Richard Eberhart, reporting for The New York Times from San Francisco, publishes an article in the New York Times Book Review identifying Allen Ginsberg’s Howl as “the most remarkable poem of the young group” of poets becoming known as the leaders of the Beat Generation. A favourite, as I’ve mentioned before, so here’s a 1959 reading of the poem by Ginsberg:
The next day Iven C. Kincheloe flies the Bell X-2 test jet to a peak altitude of 126,200 ft (38,466 m), the first time a pilot has exceeded 100,000 ft (30,500 m). Here’s a news reel from that year about the plane:
And on September 9 Elvis Presley appears for the first time The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by a record audience of approximately 60 million viewers. Knowing what is coming, after previous TV performances, he is filmed only from the waist up.
On September 2, the first hard disk drive, IBM 350, part of IBM 305 RAMAC, is shipped. A video showing the gargantuan contraption is below:
And lastly, on the 25th the submarine transatlantic telephone cable between the United States and the United Kingdom is put into operation. Interesting to think how much further apart, practiclly, the world was before things like this were rolled out.
What’d Sadie think?
A week more at number 1 for The Platter’s, “My Prayer” before Elvis is back at number 1 again, this time with “Don’t Be Cruel”.
“A House With Love In It” by Four Lads kicks off our new songs. These are four cheesy lads…and this week we aren’t feeling it.
“Friendly Persuasion” by Pat Boone is from a Gary Cooper film, you can see the trailer below. A good month for Boone as his daughter, Debby, is also born. And not a bad song at that.
“Happiness Street” by Georgia Gibbs is a finger clickin’ affair. Maybe even a whistle-along one.
“In The Middle Of The House” by Vaughn Monroe is the second cover of the song in the charts. Apparently it was even more popular in the UK with a further 3 covers. It’s actually got us hooked after a few listens. Which should have been difficult for a song that’s about a train track running through a house…
“Just Walkin’ In The Rain” by Johnnie Ray is a decent cover of a 1953 release. It was written in 1952 by Johnny Bragg and Robert Riley, two prisoners at Tennessee State Prison in Nashville, after a comment made by Bragg as the pair crossed the courtyard while it was raining. Bragg allegedly said, “Here we are just walking in the rain, and wondering what the girls are doing.” Riley suggested that this would make a good basis for a song, and within a few minutes, Bragg had composed two verses. However, because Bragg was unable to read and write, he asked Riley to write the lyrics down in exchange for being credited as one of the song’s writers.
“Miracle Of Love” by Eileen Rodgers ain’t bad, but it also ain’t great.
“Rip It Up” is another great tune from Little Richard. Loving that sax part.
“St. Theresa Of The Roses” by Billy Ward isn’t much to write home about but apparently a cover by Malcolm Vaughan did particularly well in the UK. Its success was helped following a controversy involving the BBC when, in October 1956 Vaughan had been scheduled to appear on BBC TV’s Off The Record to promote the release of the song, but had the invitation withdrawn after a BBC committee decided that it was unsuitable for broadcast. The reason given was that “the lyric is contrary both to Roman Catholic doctrine and to Protestant sentiment.”
“The Bus Stop Song” by Four Lads is from a Marilyn Monroe song of the same name. And it’s better than the other song by the lads on the charts but that’s about it.
“The Wayward Wind” by Tex Ritter is a second cover of the song on the charts. And it just gets catchier the more we listen.
“When The White Lilacs Bloom Again” by Helmut Zacharias is a nice instrumental to close the new tunes on the charts.
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.