It’s a belated summer here in Auckland of 2023, as we zip back to hear how 1961 sounded…
Songs of the month
“A Thousand Stars” – Kathy Young & The Innocents
[new] “Angel Baby” – Rosie & Originals
“Angel Baby” – Rosie & The Originals
“Are You Lonesome Tonight” – Elvis Presley
“Baby Oh Baby” – Shells
“Blue Tango” – Bill Black’s Combo
[new] “C’est Si Bon” – Conway Twitty
“Calcutta” – Lawrence Welk
[new] “Calendar Girl” – Neil Sedaka
“Corinna Corinna” – Ray Peterson
[new] “Emotions” – Brenda Lee
“Exodus” – Ferrante & Teicher
[new] “Gee Whiz” – Innocents
“He Will Break Your Heart” – Jerry Butler
[new] “I Count The Tears” – Drifters
[new] “I’m Hurtin'” – Roy Orbison
[new] “It’s Now Or Never” – Elvis Presley
“Last Date” – Floyd Cramer
“Lonely Teenager” – Dion
[new] “Lovey Dovey” – Buddy Knox
“Many Tears Ago” – Connie Francis
[new] “My Empty Arms” – Jackie Wilson
“My Girl Josephine” – Fats Domino
[new] “My Last Date With You” – Skeeter Davis
“North To Alaska” – Johnny Horton
[new] “Once In A While” – Chimes
[new] “Pepe” – Duane Eddy
“Perfidia” – Ventures
“Rubber Ball” – Bobby Vee
“Ruby” – Ray Charles
“Sailor” – Lolita
[new] “Shop Around” – Miracles
“Sway” – Bobby Rydell
[new] “The Hoochi Coochi Coo” – Hank Ballard
[new] “There She Goes” – Jerry Wallace
[new] “There’s A Moon Out Tonight” – Capris
[new] “Wheels” – String-A-Longs
[new] “Where The Boys Are” – Connie Francis
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” – Shirelles
“Wings Of A Dove” – Ferlin Husky
“Wonderland By Night” – Anita Bryant
“Wonderland By Night” – Bert Kaempfert
“Wonderland By Night” – Louis Prima
[new] “You Are The Only One” – Ricky Nelson
“You’re Sixteen” – Johnny Burnette
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
Some history
On the first day of the new year the British farthing coin, used since the 13th century, and worth 1/4 of a penny, ceased to be legal tender.
And then Australia became the second nation to permit the sale of the birth control pill, and the first to allow the Scherer oral contraceptive, with brand name of Anovlar. The G.D. Searle pill Enovid had been permitted in the United States in May 1960. An amusing video from Australia of 1961 on the topic of “should tbe bikini be banned?” feels like an appropriate accompaniment to this one step forward…
On January 5th “Mister Ed”, one of the first “fantasy sitcoms” on American television, premiered as a syndicated TV program and would be picked up by the CBS network beginning on October 1. The show ran for five years, ending on February 6, 1966. But was still screening in NZ in the 1980s as I remember it as a child…
Then on the 20th John F. Kennedy took the oath of office as the 35th president of the United States. For the first time, the event was shown on color television, pioneered by the NBC network.
Finally, to end the month, Ham, a 17 kg male chimpanzee, was rocketed into space from Cape Canaveral aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, thereby becoming the first hominid in space. During the powered phase of the flight, the thrust of the propulsion system was considerably higher than planned. The over-acceleration of the launch vehicle coupled with the velocity of the escape rocket caused the spacecraft to attain a higher altitude and a longer range than planned. However, spacecraft recovery was unaffected. Ham appeared to be in good physiological condition, but sometime later when he was shown the spacecraft it was visually apparent that he had no further interest in cooperating with the space flight program…
What’d Sadie think?
Three weeks at number 1 for “Wonderland By Night” by Bert Kaempfert then the last week goes to “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles.
Loved ’em
Sadie was a particular fan of our first song on the loved ’em list this week, she heard it and asked for her little angel mouse doll to play with as she sang along.
- “Angel Baby” – Rosie & Originals
- “C’est Si Bon” – Conway Twitty
- “Calendar Girl” – Neil Sedaka
- “I Count The Tears” – Drifters
- “It’s Now Or Never” – Elvis Presley
Liked ’em
- “Emotions” – Brenda Lee
- “Gee Whiz” – Innocents
- “I’m Hurtin'” – Roy Orbison
- “Lovey Dovey” – Buddy Knox
- “Once In A While” – Chimes
- “Shop Around” – Miracles
- “The Hoochi Coochi Coo” – Hank Ballard
- “There She Goes” – Jerry Wallace
- “There’s A Moon Out Tonight” – Capris
- “Wheels” – String-A-Longs
- “Where The Boys Are” – Connie Francis
- “You Are The Only One” – Ricky Nelson
Leave ’em
- “My Empty Arms” – Jackie Wilson
- “My Last Date With You” – Skeeter Davis
- “Pepe” – Duane Eddy
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.