It’s June, 1960

It’s the wettest weekend on record in Auckland, 2023 and our much-looked-forward-to music festival has been cancelled… so let’s spend some time enjoying the sounds of June, 1960.

Songs of the month

[new] “A Rockin’ Good Way” – Dinah Washington & Brook Benton
[new] “Alley-Oop” – Dante & The Evergreens
[new] “Alley-Oop” – Hollywood Argyles
[new] “Another Sleepless Night” – Jimmy Clanton
[new] “Because They’re Young” – Duane Eddy
“Burning Bridges” – Jack Scott
“Cathy’s Clown” – Everly Brothers
“Cherry Pie” – Skip & Flip
“Cradle Of Love” – Johnny Preston
“Ding-A-Ling” – Bobby Rydell
“Doggin’ Around” – Jackie Wilson
[new] “Dutchman’s Gold” – Walter Brennan
“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” – Connie Francis
“Fame And Fortune” – Elvis Presley
“Good Timin'” – Jimmy Jones
“Greenfields” – Brothers Four
[new] “Happy-Go-Lucky Me” – Paul Evans
“Happy-Go-Lucky-Me” – Paul Evans
“He’ll Have To Stay” – Jeanne Black
[new] “I Really Don’t Want To Know” – Tommy Edwards
[new] “I’m Sorry” – Brenda Lee
[new] “Jealous Of You” – Connie Francis
[new] “Jump Over” – Freddy Cannon
“Let The Little Girl Dance” – Billy Bland
“Lonely Weekends” – Charlie Rich
“Love You So” – Ron Holden
[new] “Mack The Knife” – Ella Fitzgerald
“Mountain Of Love” – Harold Dorman
[new] “Mule Skinner Blues” – Fendermen
[new] “My Home Town” – Paul Anka
“Night” – Jackie Wilson
[new] “Only The Lonely” – Roy Orbison
“Paper Roses” – Anita Bryant
[new] “Please Help Me I’m Falling” – Hank Locklin
[new] “Runaround” – Fleetwoods
“Sink The Bismark” – Johnny Horton
“Sixteen Reasons” – Connie Stevens
“Stairway To Heaven” – Neil Sedaka
“Stuck On You” – Elvis Presley
“Swingin’ School” – Bobby Rydell
[new] “That’s All You Gotta Do” – Brenda Lee
“The Old Lamplighter” – Browns
[new] “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” – Bobby Darin
“Wonderful World” – Sam Cooke
“Young Emotions” – Ricky Nelson

[new] = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

We’ve been talking about television the whole of the 1950s here…but apparently down in New Zealand television was only introduced on June 1, 1960 as broadcasts started in Auckland on AKTV, Channel 2, at 7:30 pm and continued until 10:00 pm. The first program was an episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Not a TV show, but a film reel entitled, “The Māori Today (1960)” is below. It’s about as 1960 as you can imagine on that topic and several other fronts.

The history records mention lots of “famous person X” was born on this day. I don’t bother to cover them as they’re not relevant to life in the year we’re listening to. But sometimes early ife events are … such as on June 6 when Barbra Streisand, an 18-year-old Brooklynite, began a professional singing career by winning $50 in a talent contest at “The Lion”, a nightclub in Greenwich Village. Here she is the next year on the Jack Paar Show where she talks about this.

Then on June 16th “Psycho”, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins as the killer at the Bates Motel, had its premiere, at two cinemas in New York City.

What’d Sadie think?

The Everly Brothers’ “Cathy’s Clown” is number 1 for 3 weeks before Connie Francis grabs it with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool”.

Loved ’em

“Alley-Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles is about the main character fromthe V. T. Hamlin-created comic strip of the same name which started in 1932 and ran for four decades. I’ve never come across it before – apparently it was about a time travelling caveman, sounds great!

“I’m Sorry” is a classic by Brenda Lee who apparently recorded the song early in 1960, but her label, Decca Records, held it from release for several months out of concern that a 15-year-old girl was not mature enough to sing about unrequited love.

“Mack The Knife” by Ella Fitzgerald is a live version from a concert album record in Berlin, Fitzgerald improvised lyrics for “Mack the Knife” after forgetting the original lyrics. In recognition of this, she received the Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance (Single) and the Best Vocal Performance, Female (Album) at the 3rd Annual Grammy Awards.

“Only The Lonely” by Roy Orbison was was the first major hit for the singer. Apparently Orbison and Joe Melson wrote the song in early 1960 and y tried to sell it to Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers, who turned it down – lucky for Orbison’s career. In the recording engineer Bill Porter tried a different approach, “building the mix from the top down rather than from the bottom up, beginning with close-miked backing vocals in the foreground, and ending with the rhythm section soft in the background. This combination was to become Orbison’s trademark sound.”

“Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” by Bobby Darin is the most successful version of a song written in 1902 by Hughie Cannon. He wrote it when he was working as a bar pianist at Conrad Deidrich’s Saloon in Jackson, Michigan. Willard “Bill” Bailey, also a jazz musician, was a regular customer and friend, and one night told Cannon about his marriage to Sarah (née Siegrist). Cannon “was inspired to rattle off a ditty about Bailey’s irregular hours. Bailey thought the song was a scream [i.e. very good], and he brought home a dashed-off copy of the song to show Sarah. Sarah couldn’t see the humor…. [but] accepted without comment the picture it drew of her as a wife.”

Liked ’em
  • “A Rockin’ Good Way” – Dinah Washington & Brook Benton
  • “Another Sleepless Night” – Jimmy Clanton
  • “Because They’re Young” – Duane Eddy
  • “Happy-Go-Lucky Me” – Paul Evans
  • “I Really Don’t Want To Know” – Tommy Edwards
  • “Jealous Of You” – Connie Francis
  • “Jump Over” – Freddy Cannon
  • “Mule Skinner Blues” – Fendermen
  • “My Home Town” – Paul Anka
  • “Please Help Me I’m Falling” – Hank Locklin
  • “Runaround” – Fleetwoods
  • “That’s All You Gotta Do” – Brenda Lee

Leave ’em
  • “Dutchman’s Gold” – Walter Brennan

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.