It’s a mild midwinter here in July, 2022 and we’re feeling reflective. It might be the weather or it might be that Sadie has just decided she’s ready for a big girl bed and is out of her cot.
It was just under 2 years ago we started on this journey through musical history. In that time we’ve moved from London to Auckland in the midst of a global pandemic, bought a house, started new jobs and managed to grow a nearly 2-year-old the size of a 3-year-old.
And along the way we’ve listened to 96 monthly charts, all the way from January 1950 to February, 1958 this week. We’re currently listening to music from 62 years before Sadie was born. But in another 2 years time, we’ll be listening to music from the late ’60s as we catch up at 4 times speed. She’ll be listening to music from when I was born (the late ’70s) when she’s 6. And then enjoying the sounds of my teenage years when she’s 10.
At which point we will have been doing this for a decade. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… 2 years in! There’s not an easy way of working out how many unique songs we’ve listened to – I’m kicking myself for not cutting the data that way – but it’ll be over a thousand at this point! Let’s hear the 19 new ones we have this week…
Songs of the month
“26 Miles” – Four Preps*
“April Love” – Pat Boone
“Are You Sincere” – Andy Williams*
“At The Hop” – Danny & The Juniors
“Bony Maronie” – Larry Williams
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” – Hollywood Flames
“Catch A Falling Star” – Perry Como*
“Click-Clack” – Dicky Doo And The Don’ts*
“Dede Dinah” – Frankie Avalon*
“Don’t Let Go” – Roy Hamilton
“Don’t” – Elvis Presley*
“Get A Job” – Silhouettes
“Great Balls Of Fire” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“I Beg Of You” – Elvis Presley*
“I’ll Come Running Back To You” – Sam Cooke*
“It’s Too Soon To Know” – Pat Boone*
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley
“Jo-Ann” – Playmates*
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Jimmie Rodgers
“La Dee Dah” – Billy And Lillie
“Liechensteiner Polka” – Will Glahe Orchestra
“Magic Moments” – Perry Como*
“March From The River Kwai And Colonel Bogey” – Mitch Miller Orchestra*
“Maybe” – Chantels*
“Oh Boy” – Crickets
“Oh Julie” – Crescendos
“Oh-Oh I’M Falling In Love Again” – Jimmie Rodgers*
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly
“Raunchy” – Bill Justis
“Raunchy” – Ernie Freeman
“Sail Along Silvery Moon” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Short Shorts” – Royal Teens*
“Silhouettes” – Rays
“Stood Up” – Ricky Nelson
“Sugartime” – Mcguire Sisters
“Sweet Little Sixteen” – Chuck Berry*
“The Stroll” – Diamonds
“This Little Girl Of Mine” – Everly Brothers*
“Waitin’ In School” – Ricky Nelson
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers
“Why Don’t They Understand” – George Hamilton Iv
“Witchcraft” – Frank Sinatra*
“You Are My Destiny” – Paul Anka*
“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke
* = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On February the 4th, 1957, an antitrust lawsuit against United Fruit Company (UFC) by the U.S. Department of Justice ended after four years, as the company, which controlled the majority of “the world’s marketable supply of bananas” agreed that it would create a competing company.
Which makes for the end of a, very interesting, story I was totally unaware of it seems. For instance, the term “banana republic” was coined in 1901 by American author O. Henry in his book “Cabbages and Kings” to describe Honduras while its economy, people, and government were being exploited by the UFC. They were so dominant at one point they essentially blackmailed the government of Guatemala for $19 Million to buy their own country back… Enjoy that rabbit hole if you go down it!
Then on the 25th of the month philosopher Bertrand Russell (a personal hero, being a philosophy student myself) launched the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at their first public meeting. Only 3 days later, quite the turnaround for a design brief, Gerald Holtom unveiled the, now ubiquitous, “peace symbol” to be used by the organisation at a march from Trafalgar Square in London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment facility at Aldermaston, Berkshire.
The vertical line in the center represents the flag semaphore signal for the letter D, and the downward lines on either side represent the semaphore signal for the letter N. “N” and “D”, for nuclear disarmament, enclosed in a circle. Holtom also described the symbol as representing despair, with the central lines forming a human with its hands questioning at its sides against the backdrop of a white Earth
And then in movie news we see that the classic, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” won best film at the 15th Golden Globe Awards. Trailer below and the “Colonel Bogey March” from the film is in our charts this week.
What’d Sadie think?
“At The Hop” by Danny & The Juniors stays number one for another three week this month before the Silhouettes, “Get A Job” takes it over. It’s not as great as the song it replaces in our view but it does have a brilliant sax solo which always pleases these ears as a some-time saxophonist.
Love ’em
A lot to love this month…
Perry Como’s classic “Catch A Falling Star” was apparently his last number 1 hit in the USA which feels like beginning of an end of a musical era right here. Apparently the song’s melody is based on a theme from Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture. So a classic in two ways.
The great “Magic Moments”, written by Burt Bacharach, was the b-side of this one and also charting this month.
Crooning definitely isn’t over though with Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” also new to the charts. The next year, at the inaugural Grammy Awards, Frank Sinatra was nominated for six Grammy awards, four of which were for this song. And we also have Paul Anka’s “You Are My Destiny” in a similar vibe charting.
“I’ll Come Running Back To You” is another great tune by Sam Cooke after his debut single “You Send Me” which we featured last month. His record label boss instructed arranger René Hall to duplicate the sound of “You Send Me”, which included overdubbing similar instrumentation and background singers and rushed this song out to capitalise on the debut’s success. The rush doesn’t show but the similarities do.
As mentioned in this week’s history we have movie theme, “March From The River Kwai And Colonel Bogey” by the Mitch Miller Orchestra in the charts and you have to love it for the classic whistling alone.
“Maybe” by the Chantels is a much covered song in more recent decades and it’s clear why, quite the tune!
“Short Shorts” by the Royal Teens is at once so ’50s but also exactly the kind of slightly risqué, but largely inoffensive, pop that teen idols have made for decades. According to the group, they coined the term in 1957, and hit on using it as a song theme and title that summer when they saw two girls in cutoffs leaving a local teen spot.
Speaking of teens, “Sweet Little Sixteen” is classic Chuck Berry and the first instance of a song about the phenomenon of fandom I have come across.
“This Little Girl Of Mine” by the Everly Brothers was originally released in ’55 by Ray Charles but didn’t appear to make it into our charts at the time – it’s a great version.
Like ’em
“26 Miles” – Four Preps
“Are You Sincere” – Andy Williams
“Don’t” – Elvis Presley
“I Beg Of You” – Elvis Presley
“It’s Too Soon To Know” – Pat Boone
“Jo-Ann” – Playmates
“Oh-Oh I’M Falling In Love Again” – Jimmie Rodgers
Leave ’em
“Click-Clack” – Dicky Doo And The Don’ts
“Dede Dinah” – Frankie Avalon
And thats it for another week, now go enjoy the full playlist on Youtube via this link.