Up-to-dates

We’re only half way through 2021, but we’re now officially 4 sped-up years through this project. After nearly a year of listening to the past we’re up to January, 1954 which gives us this pop chart:

The songs of January, 1954

“Changing Partners” – Bing Crosby
“Changing Partners” – Kay Starr
“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Christmas Dragnet” – Stan Freberg
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“Heart Of My Heart” – Don Cornell / Johnny Desmond / Alan Dale
“Heart Of My Heart” – Four Aces
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“Marie” – Four Tunes
“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Calvert
“Oh My Papa” – Eddie Fisher
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“Santa Baby” – Eartha Kitt
“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
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“What It Was Was Football” – Deacon Andy Griffith
“Woman” – Jose Ferrer
“You Alone” – Perry Como
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

A five week month but just six new songs so we’re going to throw in a top 10 chart from the end of January, 1954 from the United Kingdom:

“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Calvert
“Blowing Wild” – Frankie Laine
“Cloud Lucky Seven” – Guy Mitchell
“Chicka Boom” – Guy Mitchell
“Rags To Riches” – David Whitfield
“Let’s Have A Party” – Winifred Atwell
“Answer Me” – Frankie Laine
“The Happy Wanderer” – Obernkirchen Children’s Choir
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“Swedish Rhapsody” – Mantovani
“Ricochet” – Joan Regan With The Squadronaires
“The Creep” – Ken Mackintosh

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

January is Oscars award season. 1954 saw “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” go to Audrey Hepburn in the great “Roman Holiday”. You can watch the trailer below:

“Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” went to crooner Frank Sinatra for “From Here to Eternity”. You can see a nice slice of 1954 with him accepting the award below:

Spoiler alert: On January 4, some character called “Elvis Presley” recordeds his 1st demo for Sun Records at a recording studio in Memphis…

What’d Sadie think?

“Oh My Papa” by Eddie Fisher sticks to number 1 in the USA for all five weeks. It was also the number 1 in the UK so its definitely rocking the world.

We get a third version of “Changing Partners” this month, this time by Bing Crosby. It has an odd intro by a female singer before Bing chimes in. It’s a nice enough cover but works better for both the female voices who covered it.

Meanwhile Tony Martin’s cover of “Stranger In Paradise” provides a lovely version of the song.

“Secret Love” by Doris Day is all a bit saccharine and “Till Then” by Hilltoppers is also all a bit dull – the lesser of the new songs charting this month.

“The Jones Boy” by Mills Brothers is a bit of an oddity but quite a catchy ditty about a boy in love. Likewise Georgie Shaw’s “Till We Two Are One” is a sweet love song.

“What It Was Was Football” by (Deacon) Andy Griffith – apparently a classic comedy sketch it is a description of a college football game, as seen by a naive country preacher who attends the game by accident and is entirely puzzled by it. Definitely of its time.

“Woman” by Jose Ferrer was apparently released on a single with “Man” by Rosemary Clooney. Which makes the retrograde gender politics a bit more acceptable? Put that aside and its a fun wee tune.

This video (from the 1954 film “Red Garters”) isn’t that song, but I discovered it in searching for it and it just needs to be seen:

Meanwhile in the UK we have Frankie Laine doing his cowboy schtick with the entertaining “Blowing Wild”. But it’s his other track, “Answer Me” that hits us with the feels.

“Cloud Lucky Seven” by Guy Mitchell (as seen in the film above) is a bit wet. Luckily he redeems himself with the nonsense, but fun, “Chicka Boom”.

David Whitfield’s “Rags To Riches” cover doesn’t add much to the others but its fine. Actually its not a good chart for covers, “Ricochet” by Joan Regan With The Squadronaires is just not as good a version as Theresa Brewer’s. It’s interesting to see how songs are making it across the Atlantic as originals or covers though.

A few instrumental tracks on the chart. “Let’s Have A Party” by Winifred Atwell is a fun piece of honkytonk piano. “Swedish Rhapsody” by Mantovani is a fine 1903 tune by Hugo Alfvén. And “The Creep” by Ken Mackintosh is a finger clicking good time. While “The Happy Wanderer” by the Obernkirchen Children’s Choir is pure “Sound of Music” (but isn’t).

Composed by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller shortly after World War II the work is often mistaken for a German folk song, but it is an original composition.In 1953, a BBC radio broadcast of the choir’s winning performance at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod turned the song into an instant hit. It’ll get stuck in your head, just like it got stuck in the UK charts for 26 weeks.

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

It’s mid summer 2021 here in London but we’re diving back to Christmas 1953 for our music this week. If you’re in the southern hemisphere and celebrate a “mid-winter Xmas” in July, as some kiwis do, then this might be just the playlist for you.

The songs of December, 1953

“Changing Partners” – Kay Starr
“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Christmas Dragnet” – Stan Freberg
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“Heart Of My Heart” – Don Cornell / Johnny Desmond / Alan Dale
“Heart Of My Heart” – Four Aces
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Love Walked In” – Hilltoppers
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Calvert
“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Fisher
“Oh” – Pee Wee Hunt
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“Santa Baby” – Eartha Kitt
“St. George And The Dragonet” – Stan Freberg
“Stranger In Paradise” – Four Aces
“Stranger In Paradise” – Tony Bennett
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“To Be Alone” – Hilltoppers
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“You Alone” – Perry Como
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

Just two Xmas tunes on the main pop charts this week so we’ve supplemented it with some extra. I was going to add these tunes reviewed in an issue of Billboard this month:

But it was the first time I’d struggled to find tunes so we tried the “new this year” tunes from the Xmas advert we found last month:

And we were able to locate all of those to add. You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

TV is getting bigger and bigger as we progress through the ’50s – this christmas we’re treated to the Liberace Show. Apparently Liberace mostly bypassed radio before trying a television career, thinking radio unsuitable given his act’s dependency on the visual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp4LpRhiTZg

1953 was the second of Queen Elizabeth II’s christmas messages. In this year’s case the message was broadcast from Auckland, New Zealand, during the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s six-month royal tour of the Commonwealth.

She finished the broadcast with a note of sympathy to those affected by the Tangiwai disaster the night before. Which when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train – the locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people.

What’d Sadie think?

It’s been a long while since Tony Bennett was in rags, because “Rags To Riches” is number one for another four weeks throughout December, 1953.

The charts open with “Changing Partners” by Kay Starr, a new version of the song Patti Page launched last month that we liked. It’s a lovely version for sure.

“Heart Of My Heart” by Don Cornell is quite forgettable, though the harmonies are nice.

“Oh Mein Papa” by Eddie Calvert is likewise a bit schmaltzy but notable as Calvert’s version was the first UK number one hit recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London apparently.

“Stranger In Paradise” is classic Tony Bennett crooning and rather nice as our final new non-Xmas song of the week.

Yes, as we mentioned we had two Xmas tunes on the main billboard chart. “Christmas Dragnet” is Stan Freberg doing another spin on his Dragnet comedy tune – this one is actually funnier and a better story than the original.

Then we have the best festive song on our playlist this week, “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt. It’s a song “so sexy that when Eartha Kitt recorded it for the first time in 1953 it was banned in parts of the South” by all accounts. In a great wee interview with composer Phil Springer he estimates that it took him just 10 minutes to write the tune.

Gayla Peevy’s “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” is my favourite of the additional Xmas tunes – its absurd but amusing.

Jimmy Boyd had a hit last year with, “I saw mommy kissing santa clause” but “Santa got stuck in the Chimney” fails to excite in ’53 or 2021.

Gene Autry has a depressing “sequel” to his own hit, “Frosty the snow man” with “Where did my snowman Go?” which is ok but not on the same level of catchiness.

Then we have Rosemary Clooney’s – “Happy Christmas Little Friend” and Lu Ann Simms – “I Dreamt that I was Santa Clause”. The latter is the best of the pair just for being a bit odd.

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

As the Scovells arrive back from a summer break in Brighton here in 2021, we cast our ears back to November, 1953 to see how things are sounding…

The songs of November, 1953

“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Crying In The Chapel” – June Valli
“Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“In The Mission Of St. Augustine” – Sammy Kaye
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Love Walked In” – Hilltoppers
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“Marie” – Four Tunes
“My Love My Love” – Joni James
“No Other Love” – Perry Como
“Oh” – Pee Wee Hunt
“Pa-Paya Mama” – Perry Como
“Rachmaninoff The Eighteenth Variation” – William Kapell
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“St. George And The Dragonet” – Stan Freberg
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“The Story Of Three Loves” – Jerry Murad
“The Velvet Glove” – Henri Rene / Hugo Winterhalter
“To Be Alone” – Hilltoppers
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“You Alone” – Perry Como
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

We’ll supplement the main pop charts with a country chart this month, going hyper-specific via a chart from Nashville rather than countrywide:

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

November 1953 saw the release of the classic, “How to Marry a Millionaire” staring Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, and Lauren Bacall. It was notably the first shot in ultra-wide screen cinemascope, though was delayed so that e biblical epic film The Robe, deemed more family friendly, could be the first released. Here’s a slightly odd trailer announcing the format:

And a great scene from the film itself:

From pop to high-brow, November was the debut of (one of my favourite) composer’s, Dmitri Shostakovich’s, 4th String Quartet. Hear it below:

And of course, with only a month or so to Xmas, Billboard magazine is full of adverts for the tunes of the season. Some classics and some newbies – I for one can’t wait to hear “are my ears on straight?”…

What’d Sadie think?

Not quite from “Rags to Riches”, but from lower down the charts to four weeks at number one for Tony Bennett’s tune of the name.

A new tune from Patti Page is normally a good thing and indeed it is this time with a cynical wee love tune, “Changing Partners”. Apparently we should be hearing covers by all the usual suspects (Dinah Shore, Kay Starr and Bing Crosby) soon enough.

“Love Walked In” is a cover of a Gershwins song by the Hilltoppers and ain’t bad. Interestingly George composed the tune in 1930 but then Ira didn’t write the lyrics till 1937.

“Marie” by the Four Tunes is a lovely wee tune, and again from a couple of decades earlier – by Irving Berlin in this case. I assume 50s teens were just as annoyed as later generations to be told by their parents, “this is a cover of a song from when I was a kid you know!”.

“Pa-Paya Mama” is a disposable Perry Como tune with that their favourite problematic theme – falling in love with an “island girl”. Next! Oh wait, while we’re on Como he has another tune “You Alone” which is somewhat better later in the chart.

“Rachmaninoff The Eighteenth Variation” by William Kapell is Variation 18 from Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on Themes of Paganini” – presumedly the name was simplified for the pop charts. It’s a nice piece, which led me to find an interesting story tht links a few things in wikipedia:

“In 1939, Michel Fokine wrote to Rachmaninoff from Auckland, New Zealand, where he was touring, seeking the composer’s approval to use Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for his ballet Paganini, which he had almost finished choreographing. Fokine wanted to make a minor change to the score, involving the reuse of 12 earlier measures as a more theatrically effective introduction to the 18th Variation, which he wanted to play in the key of A major, rather than D♭ major. Rachmaninoff agreed to the extra measures, although he said A major would not work and asked that the 18th Variation be played in D major, to provide greater tension. He also wondered why Niccolò Paganini had been turned into a guitar player in Fokine’s scenario, but did not object. Paganini was premiered in 1939 by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.”

“That’s Amore” by Dean Martin… i’ll admit I was half expecting to research this song and find it wasn’t a Martin original but of course it is, and 1953 was it’s debut.

“That’s Amore was one of many songs from the early Fifties that helped rehabilitate Italy’s image as a land of magic and romance that had somehow been lured from its festive moorings by the glum fascist Benito Mussolini.”

Music critic, Joe Queenan

It’s amazing to think that at this point Dean Martin was more of a comedian than singer – the song was written for The Caddy. His comedy partner, Jerry Lewis purportedly “personally paid [song writers Warren and Brooks] $30,000 secretly in the hope that one would be a hit for Martin”. Worked a charm!

And onto the Nashville charts where “Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys” (yes, that name hasn’t aged well) tells the tale of “When Mexican Joe Met Jole Brown” which is a nice lyrical contry tune.

A slower, but lovely, number from Webb Pierce, “There Stands the Glass”. This eventually spent 12 weeks at number one on the main country charts. You can see hom back then singing it live on Grand Ole Oprey TV below:

“Let Me Be the One” was apparently Hank Locklin’s breakthrough song but it sounds a bit generic to our ears today.

“I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” has been lingering on the country charts since one of the Davis Sisters passed away as we mentioned a few weeks ago.

“Shake a Hand” by Red Foley is a different sound from him, which made sense when we looked it up and found out it was a cover of a hit from the R&B charts.

Meanwhile Tennessee Ernie Ford’s, “Kiss Me Big” is a lovely piece of proto-rock n roll. All sorts going down in Nashville.

Though “Satisfaction Guaranteed” by Carl Smith is as country as it can be. And

“T’ain’t Nice (to talk like that) by Bill Carlisle is pure hillbilly. Both nice.

Then we have “Forgive Me John” by Jean Shephard and Ferlin Husky which is a sequel of “Dear John”…which is such an ear-worm from previous mainstream charts its back in our head just recalling the name. According to wikipedia,

“The song was about a follow-up letter sent to John by his former sweetheart, who realized she had done wrong by marrying John’s brother Don and wants to return to him, and is willing to “undo the awful wrong I’ve done.” John reads the letter and decides he doesn’t want to “do him like he done me” and wishes them well and decides to reenlist.“

We end on a classic piece of country, “My Wasted Past” by Ernie Tubb which is a cracked tune.

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

Welcome back (in time) to October, 1953 – where its a five chart month so we have a bumper crop of new hits on the pop charts to explore:

The songs of October, 1953

“A Dear John Letter” – Jean Shepard / Ferlin Husky
“C’est Si Bon” – Eartha Kitt
“Crying In The Chapel” – June Valli
“Crying In The Chapel” – Orioles
“Crying In The Chapel” – Rex Allen
“Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“Hey Joe” – Frankie Laine
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“I’m Walking Behind You” – Eddie Fisher
“In The Mission Of St. Augustine” – Sammy Kaye
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Little Blue Riding Hood” – Stan Freberg
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“My Love My Love” – Joni James
“No Other Love” – Perry Como
“Oh!” – Pee Wee Hunt
“P.S. I Love You” – Hilltoppers
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Richochet” – Teresa Brewer
“St. George And The Dragonet” – Stan Freberg
“The Story Of Three Loves” – Jerry Murad
“The Velvet Glove” – Henri Rene / Hugo Winterhalter
“To Be Alone” – Hilltoppers
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“With These Hands” – Eddie Fisher
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

Some beef between chart toppers made it into the history books this month. On October 19, 1953 Julius La Rosa (currently charting for Sadie fave, “Eh Cumpari”) was fired on air by Arthur Godfrey (who we last saw on these charts in March, 1952). The latter was not only a singer but one of America’s top media personalities with multiple TV and radio shows.

Apparently Godfrey and LaRosa had a dispute in the fall of 1953 when LaRosa, the most popular of the singers who appeared regularly on Godfrey’s show – missed a dance lesson due to a family emergency.

On October 19, 1953, near the end of his morning radio show — deliberately waiting until after the television portion had ended — after lavishing praise on LaRosa in introducing the singer’s performance of “Manhattan”, Godfrey thanked him and then announced that this was LaRosa’s “swan song” with the show, adding, “He goes now, out on his own — as his own star — soon to be seen on his own programs, and I know you’ll wish him godspeed as much as I do”.

LaRosa, who apparently did not know what the phrase “swan song” meant, was incredulous when told he had just been fired. You can see him below in happier times, performing on the show.

What’d Sadie think?

“Vaya Con Dios” by Les Paul And Mary Ford manages to hold one for one more week, after two months at the top. But its swiftly deposed for the rest of the month by newcomer “St. George And The Dragonet” by Stan Freberg.

A very gentle start to the new entries on the charts with Sammy Kaye’s “In The Mission Of St. Augustine” with church bells chiming away no less. Its sweet but nothing great.

Things pick up the pace with “Istanbul Not Constantinople” by the Four Lads. The novelty song was apparently written on the 500th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans… I knew the riff but don’t think I had ever heard the whole thing. Definitely questionable lyrics in today’s world and not as funny as they’d like to think at the time.

But the charts were heavy with comedy this month. Stan Freberg pokes fun at McCarthyism with “Little Blue Riding Hood” where we hear the line, “Only the color has been changed to prevent an investigation.”. It’s a spoken word tale and quite funny at that.

Though the funniest song is Freberg’s other song, and number one hit – “St. George And The Dragonet”. The spoof combines the tale of “St. George and the Dragon” with the popular 1950s radio-TV series Dragnet, “only the needle should be changed…to protect the record”, whose theme is still on the chart. The man knows timing is key to a hit.

Then we’ve got a lovely tune by Eddie Fisher, “Many Times”. Which we have a “remastered” version of in the charts – it definitely helps tracks pop into the new millennium. I try and add the best quality version of a song I can, but i’ll admit some are iffy at best.

“Richochet” is classic Teresa Brewer – speedy sass. And an earworm to boot.

Then we’ve got a pair of instrumentals. Jerry Murad’s, “The Story Of Three Loves” – which is a relaxing harmonica instrumental for a summer evening. And “The Velvet Glove” by Hugo Winterhalter which is a very french sounding number and good for the same.

Our new tunes of the month end with “To Be Alone” by the Hilltoppers – which is just too much spoken word for me, and undelightfully cheesy. Pass!

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

We’re writing this from July 2021 as England play Italy for Euros 2020… we’ll know by time we finish writing this entry what the outcome was if the game proves as sufficiently distracting as the first 13 minutes have been. Meanwhile let’s see what September, 1953 sounds like as go back to a time before England last bought football home.

The songs of September, 1953

Half a dozen new songs on the main pop charts this week, and yes, another version of “Crying in the Chapel” was in there:

“A Dear John Letter” – Jean Shepard / Ferlin Husky
“Allez-Vous-En” – Kay Starr
“C’est Si Bon” – Eartha Kitt
“Crying In The Chapel” – Darrell Glenn
“Crying In The Chapel” – Hilltoppers
“Crying In The Chapel” – June Valli
“Crying In The Chapel” – Orioles
“Crying In The Chapel” – Rex Allen
“Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“Gambler’s Guitar” – Rusty Draper
“Hey Joe” – Frankie Laine
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“I’m Walking Behind You” – Eddie Fisher
“My Love My Love” – Joni James
“No Other Love” – Perry Como
“Oh!” – Pee Wee Hunt
“P.S. I Love You” – Hilltoppers
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Song From Moulin Rouge” – Percy Faith
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“With These Hands” – Eddie Fisher
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

Thinking it through, as the UK v Italy game plays on, this would have been an obvious week to include a UK top 10 but we make and listen to the chart on Saturdays normally so we’ve already missed the chance to do that. We have added a top 10 R&B chart from September instead:

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

An end of summer ’53 wedding for (at the time) U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island. You can see some of it below:

Meanwhile, last year, at the University of Chicago, Eugene Aserinsky, Nathaniel Kleitman, and William C. Dement, discovered phases of rapid eye movement during sleep, and connected these to dreaming. Their article revealing this was was published on September 10, 1953. You can learn about the stages of sleep here:

What’d Sadie think?

It’s another whole month at the top for “Vaya Con Dios” – and repetition and crowd wisdom has done its trick and it’s now our favourite Les Paul track. I can’t help but thinking “Crying in the Chapel” is the real number one, as with all the versions adding up it must have sold out everything else by far.

The Hilltoppers version doesn’t do much to differentiate itself but we now love the tune so there we go.

“Ebb Tide” by Frank Chacksfield starts off with a recording of seagulls and goes on to be a nice instrumental ode to the ocean, which makes us look forward to Sadie’s first seaside holiday this month.

“Eh Cumpari” by Julius Larosa is a novelty song and Sadie’s favourite this month. We should probably worry about her allegiances to England there as the tune is based on a traditional Italian song.

“Hey Joe” is different sound from Frankie Laine, which seems to be because it was originally a country chart hit for Carl Smith – not our favourite of his.

“I See The Moon” by the Mariners is a nice tune with some spoken word interludes. Interestingly, the group were a rarity, having two white and two African American members. They formed during World War II, in 1942 and toured military bases til the end of the war.

The last track on the pop charts is a classic piece of crooning from Tony Bennett, “Rags To Riches” – very nice.

Meanwhile on the R&B charts we start with “Shake a Hand” by Faye Adams which is a beltin’ tune and was apparently much covered at the time (you can read more here).

Then we have the Orioles great version of “Crying in the chapel” – which has already crossed over onto the mainstream charts as we know.

A lot of loving in the R&B charts this month with “Good Lovin'” by the Clovers. But it seems that was too much for some ’50s sensibilities as we also have “Too much Lovin'” by the Five Royales. The former is our pick on both levels.

It was just a more polite time. As evidenced by the fact we have “Please Love Me” by B B King and “Please Don’t Leave me” by Fats Domino…. Don’t worry Fats we won’t leave you, this was our favourite pleading tune this month.

But don’t think the manners got in the way of the hard drinking because then we also have Amos Milburn’s “One Scotch, Once Bourbon, One Beer” – which is nice, but feels like it should have been bawdier.

We round out the charts with “Honey Hush” by Big Joe Turner which is a fun tune with a great sax piece and also nice, “Get it” by The (not Five) Royals.

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

p.s. As for the result back in 2021…let’s stay here in 1953 shall we?

We’re whizzing through 1953 now so let’s see what’s on the charts while summer cracks on back in London, 2020.

August, 1953 Top 20 Hits

“A Dear John Letter” – Pat O’Day / Al Rawley
“Allez-Vous-En” – Kay Starr
“Anna” – Sylvano Mangano
“April In Portugal” – Les Baxter
“Butterflies” – Patti Page
“C’est Si Bon” – Eartha Kitt
“Crying In The Chapel” – Darrell Glenn
“Crying In The Chapel” – June Valli
“Crying In The Chapel” – Orioles
“Crying In The Chapel” – Rex Allen
“Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
“Gambler’s Guitar” – Rusty Draper
“Half A Photograph” – Kay Starr
“I’d Rather Die Young” – Hilltoppers
“I’m Walking Behind You” – Eddie Fisher
“My Love My Love” – Joni James
“No Other Love” – Perry Como
“Oh” – Pee Wee Hunt
“P.S. I Love You” – Hilltoppers
“Ruby” – Les Baxter
“Ruby” – Richard Hayman
“Song From Moulin Rouge” – Percy Faith
“Theme From Limelight” – Frank Chacksfield
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“With These Hands” – Eddie Fisher
“You You You” – Ames Brothers

Just 5 new songs so we’ll add in a country chart from the month:

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:

This month in history

The first Soviet test of a hydrogen bomb took place this month on August 12, 1953. Using a layer-cake design of fission and fusion fuels (uranium 235 and lithium-6 deuteride) it produced a yield of 400 kilotons. This yield was apparently about ten times more powerful than any previous Soviet tests and further fuelled the growing cold war.

Because apparently we hadn’t learnt our lesson from World War II – which was the topic of the film “From Here to Eternity”, starring Frank Sinatra, that was released this month in ’53.

The film was based on a 1951 novel by James Jones. In 2009, the author’s daughter, Kaylie Jones, revealed that her father had been compelled to make a number of pre-publication cuts, “removing some expletives and some gay sex passages”. I’m not sure if that’s why the trailer proclaims it is from “the most controversial novel” of our time, but there you go.

Speaking of sexuality, which we didn’t in the 1950’s, August 1953 saw the publication of Alfred Kinsey’s second work, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female”. As the NY Times wrote in an article about a 2004 movie on Kinsey, he “remains one of the most influential figures in American intellectual history. He’s certainly the only entomologist ever to be immortalized in a Cole Porter song.”.

The latter was news to me, here’s the lyrics:

According to the Kinsey Report, ev’ry average man you know
Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
When the temperature is low
But when the thermometer goes ‘way up
And the weather is sizzling hot
Mister, pants for romance is not

Cole Porter, “Too Damn Hot”

The song was, coincidentally, used in a 1953 film. Kinsey’s name was dropped and replaced with, “the latest report”.

What’d Sadie think?

“Vaya Con Dios” by Les Paul And Mary Ford is number 1 for all of August. We’ve never really warmed to their style but given the number of hits they’ve had in our first 3 years a number 1 seems deserved.

“A Dear John Letter” by Pat O’Day tells you everything you need to know from the title. It did make me wonder about the origin of the expression. I associate it with letters to men serving overseas and indeed wikipedia confirms this,

“It is commonly believed to have been coined by Americans during World War II. “John” was the most popular and common baby name for boys in America every single year from 1880 through 1923, making it a reasonable ‘placeholder’ name when denoting those of age for military service.”

The song itself isn’t bad, the spoken word interlude being the most notable. We’ll come back to this song in the country chart portion of today.

“Butterflies” isn’t my favourite Patti Page song, but the onomatopoeia of the flute part is nice.

I’m not sure if it is this version, or if it is just repetition, but the third version of “Crying In The Chapel” (by the Orioles) to make our playlists sounds pretty good to us. Again though, we’ll come back to this in a bit.

“Dragnet” is a version of the TV show’s theme by Ray Anthony and was probably great for fans of the ’50s cop show but isn’t much to someone unfamiliar.

Two generic love songs, “My Love My Love” by Joni James and “No Other Love” by Perry Como round out the new songs on the charts. Perry Como’s is the better of the two… cos Perry Como.

And then we’re back to “A Dear John Letter”, but the country version by Jean Shepard – it was originally a country song and her version is great and takes the pop version to the next level.

“Hey Joe” by Carl Smith is a fun, foot stomping, honky tonk song. Yee haw!

“I forget more than you’ll ever know” by The Davis (not actually) Sisters isn’t a bad song at all. Sadly they were in a car accident just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio this very month of August, 1953, in which Betty was instantly killed and Skeeter seriously injured.

Ok, so “Crying in the Chapel” doesn’t just get better by repetition, but as a country song. There’s two version (making six across pop and country charts!) and the Darrell Glenn is our favourite of them all.

“Rub-a-dub-dub” by Hank Thompson is so nonsense that it works. Whereas “Is Zat you Myrtle?” is so nonsense that my head hurts. Though lines like “i guess you better send that scallywag home” are definite ear worms.

Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link!

p.s. Football’s coming home. 😉