It’s a busy moving weekend here in 2021 for the Scovells so we’ll keep our trip back to May, 1954 bright and breezy. First up the top hits from the pop charts:
The songs of May, 1954
“A Girl A Girl” – Eddie Fisher
“Answer Me My Love” – Nat King Cole
“Crazy ‘Bout You Baby” – Crew Cuts
“Cross Over The Bridge” – Patti Page
“Cuddle Me” – Ronnie Gaylord
“Here” – Tony Martin
“Hernando’s Hideaway” – Archie Bleyer
“I Get So Lonely” – Four Knights
“I Really Don’t Want To Know” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“I Understand” – Four Tunes
“If You Love Me” – Kay Starr
“Isle Of Capri” – Gaylords
“Isle Of Capri” – Jackie Lee
“Jilted” – Teresa Brewer
“Little Things Mean A Lot” – Kitty Kallen
“Make Love To Me” – Jo Stafford
“Poor Butterfly” – Hilltoppers
“Secret Love” – Doris Day
“The Happy Wanderer” – Frank Weir
“The Happy Wanderer” – Henri Rene
“The Man Upstairs” – Kay Starr
“The Man With The Banjo” – Ames Brothers
“There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight” – Tony Bennett
“Three Coins In The Fountain” – Four Aces
“Wanted” – Perry Como
“Young At Heart” – Frank Sinatra
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
As an amateur runner the story of Roger Bannister running the first sub-four minute mile, at the Iffley Road track in Oxford has always intrigued me. It happened on the 6th of May in 1954 and here’s the story direct from the man himself as he narrates footage of the race:
Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic on the 17th in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregated schools are unconstitutional, which you can see more of in the film below:
What’d Sadie think?
Perry Como’s “Wanted” is at number 1 for the whole month of May in 1954. The man sure has dominated the charts in our first four years.
“Crazy ‘Bout You Baby” by the Crew Cuts sounds like it might be a song by an ’90s R&B group on paper. But actually the Crew Cuts were a Canadian vocal quartet named after the then popular crew cut haircut. Although this, their first hit, was written by the band themselves, they apparently quickly became specialists in cover recordings of originally-R&B songs so maybe the name makes sense on many levels. It’s a fun ditty for sure. We can’t go on without a photo of the band:
It’s all about quartets with the new songs this week. Next up is “I Understand” by the Four Tunes who were a black pop vocal quartet. This track was written by Pat Best in the band. We’re so used to covers and songs by songwriters at this point I’m surprised to get two songs in a row penned by the band. This one’s a little lethargic for us this week.
“Three Coins In The Fountain” by the Four Aces makes it three quartets. The song apparently received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1955, written for the film of the same name it refers to the act of throwing a coin into the Trevi Fountain in Rome while making a wish. Its got the stirring strings of a film tune but isn’t notable otherwise. You can see a trailer below:
“Hernando’s Hideaway” by Archie Bleyer meanwhile is from the musical “The Pajama Game”, The song itself is about a fictional invitation-only nightclub of the same name where lovers can meet for secret rendezvous. It’s absolutely ridiculous but consequently rather fun.
To round it out we have “Isle Of Capri” by Jackie Lee and his Orchestra, with some mean keys, and another version of “The Happy Wanderer”, this time by Henri Rene – which you can’t help singing along to. Let me hear it….”valderi, valdera….valderi, valdera-ha-ha-ha”
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.