It’s February, 1954 in our journey through the pop music of the ages; 23 years to the month before I was born and 66 before Sadie was. Let’s see what it sounds like…
The songs of February, 1954
We’ll stick to the main pop charts this month where we have 8 new tracks:
“Bell Bottom Blues” – Teresa Brewer
“Changing Partners” – Bing Crosby
“Changing Partners” – Kay Starr
“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Cross Over The Bridge” – Patti Page
“Cuddle Me” – Ronnie Gaylord
“Darktown Strutters’ Ball” – Lou Monte
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“From The Vine Came The Grape” – Gaylords
“From The Vine Came The Grape” – Hilltoppers
“Heart Of My Heart” – Don Cornell / Johnny Desmond / Alan Dale
“Heart Of My Heart” – Four Aces
“I Get So Lonely” – Four Knights
“Make Love To Me” – Jo Stafford
“Oh My Papa” – Eddie Fisher
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“Secret Love” – Doris Day
“Stranger In Paradise” – Four Aces
“Stranger In Paradise” – Tony Bennett
“Stranger In Paradise” – Tony Martin
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“The Jones Boy” – Mills Brothers
“Till Then” – Hilltoppers
“Till We Two Are One” – Georgie Shaw
“What It Was Was Football” – Deacon Andy Griffith
“Woman” – Jose Ferrer
“Young At Heart” – Frank Sinatra
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
Premiering this month was The Secret Storm, a sitcom that ran for twenty years. I always find old episodes of TV shows give some good context for year so below is one from 1955, the earliest I could find. The story follows the Ames family, a prominent clan in the fictional Northeastern United States town of Woodbridge (eventually identified as being located in New York). The Ames family consisted of Peter, his wife Ellen, and their three children: Susan, Jerry, and Amy. However, Ellen was killed in the first episode and subsequent stories focused on Peter raising his three children.
The first Church of Scientology also opened this month in 1954. You can hear the founder L. Ron Hubbard speaking below:
What’d Sadie think?
It was a battle of love for the top spot this month; between “Secret Love” by Doris Day and “Make Love To Me” by Jo Stafford. Each took a week at the top in turn and then switched it out.
A new track from Teresa Brewer, “Bell Bottom Blues” kicks off the charts. This really got Sadie dancing and the rest of us rather liked it to.
I got the bell bottom blues
“Bell Bottom Blues” – Teresa Brewer
‘Cause my sweetie is a sailor
And he’s sailin’ somewhere on the sea
I got the bell bottom blues
‘Cause I’m craxy ’bout a sailor
And I don’t know when he’s comin’ back to me
Then we had “Cross Over The Bridge” by Patti Page, who always has something in the charts these days. Published in 1945 the song didn’t become popular till Patti, and a spate of other versions came out in 1954. It was worth waiting for.
“Darktown Strutters’ Ball” by Lou Monte is another historied song, a popular jazz standard from 1917. It’s a bit of fun.
“Cuddle Me” by Ronnie Gaylord has Sadie dancing and clapping (in time no less! all this music is paying off…) Ronnie was Ronald L. Fredianelli, a member of The Gaylords who have another tune in the chart. He apparently began to perform as a solo singer after entering military service in the 1950s.
“From The Vine Came The Grape” is that song by The Gaylords, but we have a version by the Hilltoppers. It’s a nice song, notable for a verse sung in Italian.
“I Get So Lonely” by the Four Knights isn’t bad. The biggest version of a song that was covered lots in 1954 apparently. Bing Crosby did a version – so well done the Knights for outdoing the crooner.
“Make Love To Me” by Jo Stafford is one of those titles that exposes the shift in language since the 1950s. It’s a sweet love song anyway.
We close out on Frank Sinatra’s classic “Young At Heart”. The song was such a hit that a movie that Sinatra was filming at the same time with Doris Day, was renamed to match the song title, and the song was included in the opening and closing credits of the movie. The trailer for the film is below:
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link!