Finally some sunshine here in 2023 as we hit mid-May. Let’s zip back to September, 1961 to hear what it sounded like…
Songs of the month
[new] “A Little Bit Of Soap” – Jarmels
“Amor” – Ben E. King
“As If I Didn’t Know” – Adam Wade
[new] “Big Cold Wind” – Pat Boone
[new] “Bless You” – Tony Orlando
[new] “Bristol Stomp” – Dovells
“Crying” – Roy Orbison
“Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour” – Lonnie Donegan
“Don’t Bet Money Honey” – Linda Scott
[new] “Frankie And Johnny” – Brook Benton
[new] “His Latest Flame” – Elvis Presley
[new] “Hit The Road Jack” – Ray Charles
“Hurt” – Timi Yuro
“I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven” – Tex Ritter
“I Fall To Pieces” – Patsy Cline
“I Just Don’t Understand” – Ann-Margaret
“I Like It Like That” – Chris Kenner
[new] “I’ll Never Smile Again” – Platters
“I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” – Eddie Hodges
[new] “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” – Ike And Tina Turner
“Last Night” – Mar-Keys
[new] “Let Me Belong To You” – Brian Hyland
“Let The Four Winds Blow” – Fats Domino
[new] “Let’s Get Together” – Hayley Mills
“Little Sister” – Elvis Presley
[new] “Mexico” – Bob Moore
“Michael” – Highwaymen
[new] “Missing You” – Ray Peterson
[new] “More Money For You And Me” – Four Preps
“My True Story” – Jive Five
[new] “Nag” – Halos
[new] “One Track Mind” – Bobby Lewis
“Pretty Little Angel Eyes” – Curtis Lee
“School Is Out” – Gary Us Bonds
“Sea Of Heartbreak” – Don Gibson
“Take Good Care Of My Baby” – Bobby Vee
[new] “The Astronaut” – Jose Jimenez
[new] “The Mountain’s High” – Dick And Deedee
[new] “This Time” – Troy Shondell
“Tossin’ And Turnin'” – Bobby Lewis
[new] “When We Get Married” – Dreamlovers
“Who Put The Bomp” – Barry Mann
“Without You” – Johnny Tillotson
“Wooden Heart” – Joe Dowell
“You Don’t Know What You’ve Got” – Ral Donner
[new] “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby” – Bobby Darin
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On September 6 a secured telephone line between the White House in Washington, D.C., and the Admiralty House in London, was set up in order for the U.S. president and the British prime minister to communicate directly, in real time, with their conversations scrambled. President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan would use the line for the first time in October.
On september 12 all 77 people on Air France Flight 2005 were killed when the Caravelle jet crashed in fog on the approach to Rabat in Morocco at the end of its flight from France. Which I raise as not a specifically interesting air crash but one of many I have read of in the past few years of reading monthly histories. I’m not sure how people braved it back then, the late ’50s early ’60s seemed to have significant crash on the regular. As the graph below shows – things have improved markedly.
On September 24th Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color premiered on NBC, with “An Adventure in Color”, introduced by Walt Disney himself, who in turn introduced Professor Ludwig Von Drake, the first animated Disney character created for television. The show was credited with doubling the sale of colour television sets within its first year, as well as presenting educational and informative programming.
What’d Sadie think?
Two weeks a piece for “Michael” by the Highwaymen “Take Good Care Of My Baby” by Bobby Vee at the top of the charts for the month.
Loved ’em
- “A Little Bit Of Soap” – Jarmels
- “Bristol Stomp” – Dovells
- “Hit The Road Jack” – Ray Charles
- “Nag” – Halos
- “One Track Mind” – Bobby Lewis
- “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby” – Bobby Darin
Liked ’em
- “Big Cold Wind” – Pat Boone
- “Bless You” – Tony Orlando
- “Frankie And Johnny” – Brook Benton
- “His Latest Flame” – Elvis Presley
- “I’ll Never Smile Again” – Platters
- “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” – Ike And Tina Turner
- “Let’s Get Together” – Hayley Mills
- “Mexico” – Bob Moore
- “Missing You” – Ray Peterson
- “The Mountain’s High” – Dick And Deedee
- “This Time” – Troy Shondell
- “When We Get Married” – Dreamlovers
Leave ’em
- “Let Me Belong To You” – Brian Hyland
- “More Money For You And Me” – Four Preps
- “The Astronaut” – Jose Jimenez
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.