It’s feeling decidedly wintery, for Auckland, here in June, 1957. Let’s escape back to the comforting cool vibes of October, 1957…
The songs of October, 1957
“Be-Bop Baby” – Ricky Nelson*
“Black Slacks” – Joe Bennett And The Sparkletones*
“Bye Bye Love” – Everly Brothers
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis
“Deep Purple” – Billy Ward*
“Diana” – Paul Anka
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan And The Troubadors
“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” – Tune Weavers
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Hula Love” – Buddy Knox & Rhythm Orchids
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” – Billy Williams
“In The Middle Of An Island” – Tony Bennett
“It’s Not For Me To Say” – Johnny Mathis
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley*
“Just Between You And Me” – Chordettes*
“Keep A Knockin'” – Little Richard*
“Lotta Lovin'” – Gene Vincent
“Love Letters In The Sand” – Pat Boone
“Love Me To Pieces” – Jill Corey
“Mr. Lee” – Bobbettes
“Peanuts” – Little Joe And The Thrillers*
“Rainbow” – Russ Hamilton
“Remember You’Re Mine” – Pat Boone
“Searchin'” – Coasters
“Send For Me” – Nat King Cole
“Short Fat Fannie” – Larry Williams
“Stardust” – Billy Ward
“Tammy” – Debbie Reynolds
“Teddy Bear” – Elvis Presley
“That’ll Be The Day” – Crickets
“There’s A Gold Mine In The Sky” – Pat Boone
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers*
“Whispering Bells” – Dell-Vikings
“White Silver Sands” – Don Rondo
“Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“You’re My One And Only Love” – Rick Nelson
* = 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
The first man-made object into space, Sputnik, was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It orbited for three weeks before its batteries ran out. The satellite then silently continued to orbit the planet for two months before it fell back into the atmosphere on the 4th of January 1958.
And then in other signs the world was looking up (see what i did there), on October 3 Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl and Other Poems” is ruled not obscene.
Finally, the theme song is in the charts for the first time this month with the launch, on October 17, of “Jailhouse Rock” starring Elvis Presley
.
What’d Sadie think?
After Elvis tunes dominating for whole months at a time we have 3 different number 1s this month. Firstly “Tammy” by Debbie Reynolds hangs on for a week before Jimmie Rodgers’ “Honeycomb” nabs it for 2 weeks, which is then ousted by the Everly Brothers, “Wake Up Little Susie”.
Love ’em
“Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley is the stand out track of the moment for sure. Thinking we might have to watch the movie finally.
“Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers is also a personal favourite. And yet I still never quite got the theme – “the song is written from the point of view of a high school boy to his girlfriend, Susie. In the song, the two go out on a date to a cinema (perhaps a drive-in), only to fall asleep during the movie. They do not wake up until 4 o’clock in the morning, well after her 10 o’clock curfew.”. Somehow missed they were at the movies…
“Keep A Knockin'” by Little Richard is another iconic early rock’n’roll song but apparently goes as far back as 1928 in other styles.
“Be-Bop Baby” by Ricky Nelson rounds out our favourites for the month.
Like ’em
“Black Slacks” – Joe Bennett And The Sparkletones
“Just Between You And Me” – Chordettes
“Peanuts” – Little Joe And The Thrillers
Lose ’em
“Deep Purple” – Billy Ward
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.