We’re on cyclone watch here in Auckland of 2023 – so much for summer! Let’s escape back to August, 1960 to hear what it sounds like….
Songs of the month
“A Rockin’ Good Way” – Dinah Washington & Brook Benton
[new] “A Woman A Friend A Lover” – Jackie Wilson
[new] “All My Love” – Jackie Wilson
“Alley-Oop” – Dante & The Evergreens
“Because They’re Young” – Duane Eddy
“Don’t Come Knockin’” – Fats Domino
[new] “Dreamin’” – Johnny Burnette
“Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” – Connie Francis
“Feels So Fine” – Johnny Preston
[new] “Feels So Good” – Johnny Preston
“Finger Poppin’ Time” – Hank Ballard
[new] “Hello Young Lovers” – Paul Anka
[new] “Hot Rod Lincoln” – Johnny Bond
“I’m Sorry” – Brenda Lee
“Image Of A Girl” – Safaris
[new] “In My Little Corner Of The World” – Anita Bryant
“It’s Now Or Never” – Elvis Presley
“Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” – Brian Hyland
“Josephine” – Bill Black’s Combo
[new] “Kiddio” – Brook Benton
“Look For A Star” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Look For A Star” – Garry Miles
[new] “Look For A Star” – Gary Miles
“Look For A Star” – Gary Mills
“Mission Bell” – Donnie Brooks
“Mule Skinner Blues” – Fendermen
[new] “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own” – Connie Francis
“My Home Town” – Paul Anka
[new] “Never On Sunday” – Don Costa Orchestra
“Only The Lonely” – Roy Orbison
[new] “Over The Rainbow” – Demensions
“Please Help Me I’m Falling” – Hank Locklin
“Question” – Lloyd Price
[new] “Ta Ta” – Clyde Mcphatter
“Tell Laura I Love Her” – Ray Peterson
“That’s All You Gotta Do” – Brenda Lee
[new] “The Twist” – Chubby Checker
[new] “Theme From The Apartment” – Ferrante & Teicher
“This Bitter Earth” – Dinah Washington
“Trouble In Paradise” – Crests
[new] “Volare” – Bobby Rydell
[new] “Walk Don’t Run” – Ventures
“Walking To New Orleans” – Fats Domino
“When Will I Be Loved” – Everly Brothers
[new] “Yogi” – Ivy Three
[new] = New to the chart this week.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
This month in history
On August 4 the NASA test pilot Joseph A. Walker became the fastest man in history as he flew a North American X-15 at a speed of 2,196 miles per hour (3,534 km/h), breaking a record set in 1956 by Milburn Apt, who had been killed while flying a Bell X-2.
On the 18th the first photograph ever from a spy satellite was taken, after the launch of the American Discoverer 14 at 12:15 pm PDT, and showed a Soviet airfield at Mys Shmidta. With 3,000 feet (910 m) of film, the satellite took more pictures than all 24 of the U-2 spy plane flights put together, and revealed the existence, not previously known to the U.S., of 64 airfields and 26 missile bases. Apparently the satellites had to eject the camera film after taking the photos and it was then retrieved. Pre-digital eh!
The 1960 Summer Olympics opened in Rome on the 25th, with a record 5,348 athletes from 83 nations competing. Cross-country champion Giancarlo Peris lit the Olympic flame after Italy’s President Giovanni Gronchi declared the Games of the 17th Olympiad open.
What’d Sadie think?
Another week at number 1 for the great “I’m Sorry” by Brenda Lee before “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland gets a week there. But its “It’s Now Or Never” by Elvis Presley that sticks it out for the last two weeks of August, 1960.
Loved ’em
“A Woman A Friend A Lover” by Jackie Wilson was apparently number 1 for some time in the R&B charts and crosses over into the mainstream well. Jackie Wilson is one of those names I knew from one song before this project, but now I’m a real fan.
“Hot Rod Lincoln” is a remake of a 1955 tune by Johnny Bond and is a fun story song.
“Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Bryan Hyland is of course a catchy classic.
At a time when bikini bathing suits were still seen as too risqué to be mainstream, the song prompted a sudden takeoff in bikini sales… The early 1960s saw a slew of surf movies and other film and television productions that rapidly built on the song’s momentum.
“Kiddio” by Brook Benton was originally released in 1957 but this version is the most well known and most excellent.
And then there’s Chubby Checker’s classic “The Twist” – I didn’t realise this wasn’t the original, and that it was in fact released in 1958 as a b-side to Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, “Teardrops on Your Letter”. They lucked out in not having it come to fame through their version it appears…
The song became popular on a Baltimore television dance show hosted by local DJ Buddy Deane; Deane recommended the song to Dick Clark, host of the national American Bandstand. When the song proved popular with his audience, Clark attempted to book Ballard to perform on the show. Ballard was unavailable, and Clark searched for a local artist to record the song. He settled on Checker, whose voice was very similar to Ballard’s. Exposure for the song on American Bandstand and on The Dick Clark Saturday Night Show helped propel the song to the top of the American charts
Liked ’em
- “All My Love” – Jackie Wilson
- “Dreamin’” – Johnny Burnette
- “Feels So Good” – Johnny Preston
- “Hello Young Lovers” – Paul Anka
- “In My Little Corner Of The World” – Anita Bryant
- “Look For A Star” – Gary Miles
- “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own” – Connie Francis
- “Over The Rainbow” – Demensions
- “Ta Ta” – Clyde Mcphatter
- “Theme From The Apartment” – Ferrante & Teicher
- “Volare” – Bobby Rydell
- “Walk Don’t Run” – Ventures
Leave ’em
- “Never On Sunday” – Don Costa Orchestra
- “Yogi” – Ivy Three
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.
