A three day weekend here in 2021 to commemorate Waitangi Day in New Zealand. So plenty of time to enjoy the sounds of March, 1956…
The songs of March, 1956
“11th Hour Melody” – Al Hibbler*
“A Tear Fell” – Teresa Brewer*
“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts
“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper
“Ask Me” – Nat King Cole*
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry
“Band Of Gold” – Kit Carson
“Blue Suede Shoes” – Carl Perkins*
“Bo Weevil” – Teresa Brewer*
“Chain Gang” – Bobby Scott
“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher
“Eddie My Love” – Chordettes*
“Eddie My Love” – Fontane Sisters*
“Eddie My Love” – Teen Queens*
“Go On With The Wedding” – Patti Page
“He” – Al Hibbler
“Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis Presley*
“Hot Diggity” – Perry Como*
“I Was The One” – Elvis Presley*
“I’ll Be Home” – Pat Boone
“Innamorata” – Jerry Vale*
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dream Weavers
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Jo Stafford
“Juke Box Baby” – Perry Como*
“Lipstick And Candy And Rubbersole Shoes” – Julius Larosa*
“Lisbon Antigua” – Mitch Miller*
“Lisbon Antigua” – Nelson Riddle
“Lullaby Of Birdland” – Blue Stars
“Mack The Knife” – Louis Armstrong*
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin
“Moritat” – Dick Hyman Trio
“Mr. Wonderful” – Peggy Lee*
“Ninety Nine Years” – Guy Mitchell
“No Not Much” – Four Lads
“Poor People Of Paris” – Les Baxter
“Poor People Of Paris” – Russ Morgan*
“Rock & Roll Waltz” – Kay Starr
“See You Later Alligator” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“Seven Days” – Crew-Cuts
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm
“The Great Pretender” – Platters
“The Tender Trap” – Frank Sinatra
“Theme From A Threepenny Opera” – Richard Hayman & Jan August
“To You My Love” – Nick Noble*
“Tutti Frutti” – Pat Boone
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Diamonds*
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Gale Storm*
* = New to the chart this week.
A good selection of new songs on the main charts but its a long weekend so let’s throw in a top 10 R&B chart as well:
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
The 9th of March, 1956 was a sad day in New Zealand when “Opo the friendly dolphin” was found dead in Hokianga harbour after entertaining beach goers for a year. For some reason his is a story that has stuck around in the decades since and I remember seeing the statue made for him as a child.
It’s always interesting leafing through (err clicking through?) the relevant issues of Billboard magazine as I write each month up. I thought this article about how stage actors were flocking to do work on this new fangled TV thing was interesting – in particular how many were doing TV on Sunday as that was their day off from the stage…
Speaking of TV, this month saw the movie King Kong aired in New York. What’s interesting about this is the movie is from 1933. It has already been revived at the Cinema a few years earlier, and after a very popular run across a week on TV they cancelled plans to show it on other TV stations across the USA and instead brought it back to the cinema for the 3rd time in two decades. Who needs remakes?
What’d Sadie think?
The semi-ironic “Rock & Roll Waltz” by Kay Starr had grown on us and made it to number 1 for 3 weeks in March, 1956. With the remaining two going to “Poor People Of Paris” by Les Baxter which doesn’t grab us as much.
Interesting to see the growing amount of cross-over between R&B charts and the mainstream with “Why Do Fools Fall in love” by the Teenagers, “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, “Great Pretender” by The Platters, “Eddie, My Love” by the Teen Queens all in both lists.
Love ’em
The big news for the month of course is Elvis Presley hitting the top charts with “Heartbreak Hotel”. And what an excellent debut it is.
Coincidentally, also on the charts is the original version of “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, a great tune even before Elvis covered it later this year.
The other real classics this month are Louis Armstrong’s “Mack The Knife” and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” by the Diamonds. Great tunes!
But then we also liked,
“Eddie My Love” by Teen Queens
“Lipstick And Candy And Rubbersole Shoes” by Julius Larosa
“Drown in my own tears” by Ray Charles
“Bo Weevil” by Fats Domino
Like ’em
“11th Hour Melody” – Al Hibbler
“A Tear Fell” – Teresa Brewer
“Ask Me” – Nat King Cole
“Bo Weevil” – Teresa Brewer
“I Was The One” – Elvis Presley
“Innamorata” – Jerry Vale
“Juke Box Baby” – Perry Como
“Mr. Wonderful” – Peggy Lee
“Poor People Of Paris” – Russ Morgan
“Don’t Blame it on Me” by Fats Domino
“Ain’t that lovin’ you, baby?” by Jimmy Reed
“Devil or Angel” by The Clovers
“Hey, Doll Baby” by The Clovers
Leave ’em
“Hot Diggity” – Perry Como
“Lisbon Antigua” – Mitch Miller
“To You My Love” – Nick Noble
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.