Up-to-dates

And here we are, beginning year 4 of our sped-up journey through musical history. Come the end of the first year of the project we’ll be done with 1953 even. Time passes!

The songs of January, 1953

A bunch of new songs on the US pop charts to kick off the year so let’s hear what it sounds like:

January, 1953 Top 20 Hits

“Because You’re Mine” – Mario Lanza
“Bye Bye Blues” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” – Perry Como
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Patti Page
“Even Now” – Eddie Fisher
“Glow Worm” – Mills Brothers
“Have You Heard” – Joni James
“Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” – Karen Chandler
“Hot Toddy” – Ralph Flanagan
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – Jimmy Boyd
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – Spike Jones
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Spike Jones
“It’s In The Book” – Johnny Standley
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Keep It A Secret” – Jo Stafford
“Lady Of Spain” – Eddie Fisher
“Mister Tap-Toe” – Doris Day
“My Baby’s Coming Home” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“Oh Happy Day” – Don Howard
“Oh Happy Day” – Four Knights
“Oh Happy Day” – Lawrence Welk / Larry Hooper
“Side By Side” – Kay Starr
“Takes Two To Tango” – Pearl Bailey
“Tell Me You’re Mine” – Gaylords
“The Doggie In The Window” – Patti Page
“Till I Waltz Again With You” – Teresa Brewer
“Trying” – Hilltoppers
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Joni James
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Patti Page
“Wishing Ring” – Joni James
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford

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

This month in history

The year starts with the sad news that Hank Williams passed away on New Year’s day while travelling to a concert in Charleston.

Here’s a live performance of one of his recent chart hits, “Cold Cold Heart”,

It was a great month for theatre however with Samuel Beckett’s play “Waiting for Godot” premiering in Paris. And Arthur Millers, “The Crucible” opening on Broadway.

Fear doesn’t travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory’s truth.

– Arthur Miller (1996)

An excellent piece in the NewYorker by Arthur Miller looks back at the era of McCarthyism that led him to write the play and is a great commentary on the passing of time and the perspective it brings.

What’d Sadie think?

Jimmy Boyd’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” held on to its number 1 spot through the first week of January so we’ve included that version, not the Spike Jones one, this week. It was then overtaken by Perry Como’s “Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” for the rest of the month which is a good ‘un.

Speaking of Spike Jones, he does a comedy of Pati Pages’s “I Went To Your Wedding” which just seems to be him laughing hysterically between singing the lyrics poorly. Terrible.

Two new versions of “Oh Happy Day” this month. When I think about it, the ability to record, press and distribute a new version of a popular song in the ’50s was quite impressive – its not as simple as it is in these digital days. Neither of these versions sound much happier than the original but the Four Knights has a great bass solo that makes it our favourite version.

Doris Day’s “Mister Tap-Toe” is a fun tune for the new year. And Karen Chandler’s “Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” is a lovely song but wouldn’t become a classic till it was covered decades later.

“Side By Side” by Kay Starr is our song of the month. Interestingly it was composed by Harry Woods who composed a number of hits including “Try a Little Tenderness” and composed his songs on piano, despite the fact that he was born without fingers on his left hand.

Speaking of classics, January 1953 saw the original version of “The Doggie In The Window” by Patti Page. Apparently her label, Mercury, had poor distribution in the United Kingdom so a recording of the song by Lita Roza was the one most widely heard in the UK, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1953. Making Roza the first British woman to have a number-one hit in the UK chart.

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

Merry Xmas from 1952! Yes, a third year of our sped up journey through time is coming to a close. Let’s see what the silly season has for us.

The songs of December, 1952

Looks like everyone has the Christmas classics from previous years in their record collection so only one holiday themed tune on the charts this month, though its a future classic:

December, 1952 Top 20 Hits

“Because You’re Mine” – Mario Lanza
“Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” – Perry Como
“Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” – Karen Chandler
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – Jimmy Boyd
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” – Spike Jones
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“It’s In The Book” – Johnny Standley
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Keep It A Secret” – Jo Stafford
“Lady Of Spain” – Eddie Fisher
“Lady Of Spain” – Les Paul
“My Baby’s Coming Home” – Les Paul & Mary Ford
“Oh Happy Day” – Don Howard
“Outside Of Heaven” – Eddie Fisher
“Takes Two To Tango” – Pearl Bailey
“Tell Me You’re Mine” – Gaylords
“The Glow-Worm” – Mills Brothers
“Till I Waltz Again With You” – Teresa Brewer
“Trying” – Hilltoppers
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Joni James
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Patti Page
“Wish You Were Here” – Eddie Fisher
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“You Belong To Me” – Patti Page
“Yours” – Vera Lynn

As well as the US pop charts we’re adding in a top 10 country & western chart for the month:

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

This month in history

Flicking through the pages of Billboard for December 1952 I found an advert for the opening of The Sands hotel – which famously became the haunt of the Rat Pack and made modern Las Vegas what it was.

Demolished in 1996, you can see a short film about the making of a virtual reality experience of The Sands below (sadly the VR experience has disappeared offline):

For another look at Xmas in 1952, here’s a film about “Xmas in the CanalZone” from the British Film Institute:

What’d Sadie think?

“Why Don’t You Believe Me” by Joni James was number 1 for the first 3 weeks of the month before being toppled by the brand new Xmas hit, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by Jimmy Boyd.

I actually included the Spike Jonze version on the playlist as I, wrongly, assumed that was the original but it wasn’t and only made it to number 7. In his version the vocal is by George Rock using the little boy voice used in Spike’s hit “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”.

The original was actually sung by a real 13 year old boy, Jimmy (music and lyrics by British songwriter Tommie Connor). Apparently Boyd’s record was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in Boston when it was released on the grounds that it mixed kissing with Christmas. After meeting them to “explain” the song, the ban was lifted. His original below:

“Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” by Perry Como is exactly the kind of song one would expect to hear at the Copa room at The Sands hotel. The two country versions, by Ray Price and Slim Willet…not so much so.

“My Baby’s Coming Home” by Les Paul & Mary Ford was nice – though it did have us wondering what their baby was coming home from..work, summer camp, Korea?

“Oh Happy Day” by Don Howard – did not sound happy, but was a nice tune.

“Till I Waltz Again With You”, by familiar face Teresa Brewer is a more grown-up sound from her (she’s 21 at this point) and is a nice song, but a shuffle not a waltz just to confuse things.

“Trying” by the Hilltoppers has some nice harmonies and is so 50’s all american. Apparently they took their name from the nickname of the Western Kentucky athletic teams and sport big W sweaters in most press shots I can find.

Jambalaya works better as a country song than as a pop song, but its far from my favourite Hank Williams tune even if it beats Jo Stafford’s version on the main charts.

Song of the country charts though has to be the other Hank’s (Snow), “The Girl Who Invented Kissing” which alas I can find nothing about online or even the lyrics – which need to be heard to be believed. So check out the full playlist on Youtube via this link and hear it for yourself.

And to round out the year, here’s the list of the top 30 tunes of 1952 from Billboard magazine, all of which have graced our charts over the past twelve weeks:

An exciting week as we hit November, 1952 – the month the UK launched its official charts. Let’s see how different they sound from the USA.

The songs of November, 1952

A trio of new songs and one version of a previous charting hit on the USA charts this month:

November, 1952 Top 20 Hits

“Because You’re Mine” – Mario Lanza
“Blue Violins” – Hugo Winterhalter
“Half As Much” – Rosemary Clooney
“Heart And Soul” – Four Aces
“High Noon” – Frankie Laine
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“I” – Don Cornell
“It’s In The Book” – Johnny Standley
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Keep It A Secret” – Jo Stafford
“Lady Of Spain” – Eddie Fisher
“Lady Of Spain” – Les Paul
“Meet Mister Callaghan” – Les Paul
“Outside Of Heaven” – Eddie Fisher
“Takes Two To Tango” – Pearl Bailey
“The Glow-Worm” – Mills Brothers
“Trying” – Hilltoppers
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Joni James
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Patti Page
“Wish You Were Here” – Eddie Fisher
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“You Belong To Me” – Patti Page
“Yours” – Vera Lynn

So yes, as we noted a few weeks back, the UK charts started in November 1952 and here we are. You can see the full chart detail for the w/c 14 November, 1952 here. But we’ve added the novel tunes from the top ten to this week’s playlist:

“Here In My Heart” – Al Martino
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“Somewhere Along The Way” – Nat ‘king’ Cole
“The Isle Of Innisfree” – Bing Crosby
“Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-po)” – Guy Mitchell
“Half As Much” – Rosemary Clooney
“Forget Me Not” – Vera Lynn
“High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)” – Frankie Laine
“Sugarbush” – Doris Day And Frankie Laine
“Blue Tango” – Ray Martin

For the same week there were only 3 songs crossing over with the USA charts but number of the songs had previously charted in across the Atlantic and its primarily American artists. The “British invasion” is still a decade away..

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

This month in history

It’s all about the UK Charts kicking off this month, so I’ll leave it to t the Official Charts Company:

The story of the UK’s Official Charts began back in November 1952, when the then publisher of the New Music Express Percy Dickins decided that he needed some method to encourage advertisers to his new music paper. Dickins compiled the very first charts by phoning around to a handful of his retailer friends, totting up the number of copies sold of their biggest sellers to create an aggregated chart.

As you’ll see, if you look at the first chart in full, that method meant there were multiple “equal” places. So the top 10 we used this month actually only gets to 8, because of double-ups on position 7 and 8.

You can read more here. Including a decade by decade story of how they changed.

What’d Sadie think?

In the USA we have the sightly bitter, “I Went To Your Wedding” by Patti Page in the top slot for the first two weeks. A good song but not one we’d elevate to those heights.

Then somehow the stand-up comedy track, “It’s In The Book” by Johnny Standley makes it to number 1 for a week. For us it did not get any funnier on second listening.

Patti Page enters the charts with another version of “Why Don’t You Believe Me” which isn’t bad at all. But Joni James, who had the original charting version, must have been fine with that when her own version made it to number 1 for the last week of November, 1952

It’s a good song yes, but in looking into it, most interestingly it looks like it has been covered at some point by nearly half the artists we’ve encountered on the charts so far this decade Vic Damone, Bing Crosby, Guy Lombardo, Dean Martin, Margaret Whiting… check it out.

As mentioned back in the May issue when it hit the USA charts, the first UK number one was “Here In My Heart” by Al Martino so here it is in our charts this week, still a good son.

“Somewhere Along The Way” by Nat King Cole, “Sugarbush” by Doris Day And Frankie Laine and “Blue Tango” by Ray Martin in the UK charts all also previously charted in the USA.

Leaving “The Isle Of Innisfree” by Bing Crosby, “Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-po)” by Guy Mitchell and “Forget Me Not” by Vera Lynn as the only songs we’ve not encountered. I didn’t bother to look (read: it’d take a bit of digging) to see if the Bing and Guy songs charted below the top 20 in the USA which seems likely. Vera Lynn is of course British so this is the sole novel contribution by the Brits to their own charts.

Though in fairness “The Isle Of Innisfree” was composed by Irish songwriter Dick Farrelly in 1950 and it was Bing who made it famous after it was on the sound track of the John Wayne film, “The Quiet Man”. A familiar and decent tune. Here’s the film trailer:

“Feet Up (Pat Him on the Po-Po)” is also a nice, but slightly oddly named and themed song. To quote the wiki:

The narrator of the song is a former lowlife who is reforming so he can set a good example for his newborn son, whom he loves. The title refers to the tradition of spanking a newborn baby just after birth, to ensure it draws breath.

This is probably a good time to begin teasing Sadie about how she was a breach birth and came out bruised purple bum first. 😉 Love you Sadie!

We’ll give song of the month though to Vera Lynn for “Forget Me Not” because its a great song and a welcome to the chart world for Great Britain!

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

We’re on the homeward stretch of 1952 which means our 3rd year of time travel is coming to an end. Let’s see what its sounding like.

The songs of October, 1952

A few nice new tracks on the charts this month:

October 1952 Top 20 Hits

“Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” – Vera Lynn
“Because You’re Mine” – Mario Lanza
“Because You’re Mine” – Nat King Cole
“Half As Much” – Rosemary Clooney
“Heart And Soul” – Four Aces
“High Noon” – Frankie Laine
“High Noon” – Tex Ritter
“Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” – Karen Chandler
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“I” – Don Cornell
“Indian Love Call” – Slim Whitman
“It’s In The Book” – Johnny Standley
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Lady Of Spain” – Eddie Fisher
“Meet Mister Callaghan” – Harry Grove Trio
“Meet Mister Callaghan” – Les Paul
“Outside Of Heaven” – Eddie Fisher
“Somewhere Along The Way” – Nat King Cole
“Takes Two To Tango” – Pearl Bailey
“The Glow-Worm” – Mills Brothers
“Trying” – Hilltoppers
“Why Don’t You Believe Me” – Joni James
“Wish You Were Here” – Eddie Fisher
“You Belong To Me” – Dean Martin
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“You Belong To Me” – Patti Page
“Yours” – Vera Lynn

But we’ll also drop in a top 10 from the R&B charts for the month:

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

This month in history

This month in 1952 Agatha Christie’s play “The Mousetrap” opened in London, which until Covid was still running nearly 70 years later, the longest running play of all time having had more than 28,000 performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPqpa3eCO-o

And in another, more low-brow, first on the 18th of October, 1952 the first issue of “Mad Magazine” was released.

And finally, Charlie Chaplin’s classic, Limelight was released – though it was heavily boycotted in the United States (due to suspicions Chaplin had communist associations) and failed commercially. Only for it to be re-released in the United States in 1972, which included its first screening in Los Angeles and allowed it to be entered into the 45th Academy Awards where Chaplin won his only competitive Oscar.

What’d Sadie think?

Jo Stafford’s “You Belong To Me” continued its number 1 one run from last month with another two weeks at the top before ceding it to Patti Page’s “I Went To Your Wedding”. Which must have been sweet for Ms. Page, as her own version of “You Belong To Me” never properly cracked the top 10 let alone the top spot.

We liked Mario Lanza’s version last month, but Nat King Cole’s “Because You’re Mine” is even better. Which we seem to be saying a lot about his version of chart hits lately.

Speaking of better, Rosemary Clooney’s “Half As Much” is sounding better every week is sticks around and we really rate it now. It’s one of those songs that sounds like it could be from a film and I look it up hoping to discover something to watch but it was not to be this time.

“It’s in the Book” by Johnny Standley turned out to be a comedy monologue in the manner of a revivalist preacher on the subject of Little Bo-Peep… and I thought pop today was random! Random but not that funny in this case.

“Takes Two To Tango” by Pearl Bailey is our favourite new song on the pop charts this month. Funny and sweet in equal measure.

Joni James’, “Why Don’t You Believe Me” is equally saccharine but if you’re in the mood its another lovely new tune.

Meanwhile on the R&B charts, My Song was the debut release by Johnny Ace and is a cracking song with a great sax solo.

Also great is “Juke”, a harmonica instrumental by Little Walter Jacobs which was released on 1952 but today is considered a blues standard.

“Goodbye Baby” by Little Caesar is an interesting duet but I don’t think its take on domestic violence is exactly necessary. Little Caesar is a pseudonym of Harry Caesar who a few years later would move from music to movies and was best known for his roles in The Longest Yard (1974) and A Few Good Men (1992).

The chart closes out with Lloyd Price’s” Restless Heart” and “Rock me all night long” by The Ravens which are both excellent.

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

Winter is approaching in September 1952 as summer feels tantalisingly close back here in 2021.

The songs of September, 1952

A nice grab bag of new tunes hit the charts this month. And for the first time it occurred to me it might be useful to indicate in the playlist which those are, so they are bolded below from now on:

September, 1952 Top 20 Hits

“Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” – Vera Lynn
“Because You’re Mine” – Mario Lanza
“Blue Tango” – Leroy Anderson
“Botch-A-Me” – Rosemary Clooney
“Delicado” – Percy Faith
“Half As Much” – Rosemary Clooney
“Here In My Heart” – Al Martino
“High Noon” – Frankie Laine
“High Noon” – Tex Ritter
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“Indian Love Call” – Slim Whitman
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Maybe” – Perry Como / Eddie Fisher
“Meet Mister Callaghan” – Harry Grove Trio
“Meet Mister Callaghan” – Les Paul
“Somewhere Along The Way” – Nat King Cole
“Sugarbush” – Doris Day And Frankie Laine
“Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me” – Les Paul & Mary Ford
“The Glow-Worm” – Mills Brothers
“Trying” – Hilltoppers
“Vanessa” – Hugo Winterhalter
“Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” – Johnnie Ray
“Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” – Nat King Cole
“Walkin’ To Missouri” – Sammy Kaye / Tony Russo / Glee Club
“Wish You Were Here” – Eddie Fisher
“You Belong To Me” – Dean Martin
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“You Belong To Me” – Patti Page
“You’ll Never Get Away” – Teresa Brewer / Don Cornell

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

This month in history

This month saw the premier of the “Adventures of Superman” on TV in the USA. With the classic “faster than a speeding bullet…” intro you can watch an episode with the man of steel himself below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ9KrNGnF6s

It was also the 13th Venice International Film Festival this month. Best Production Design went to the adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s, The Importance of Being Earnest which by all account is great and available to watch in full on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r6Vw4da6J8

A favourite play of mine so I’ll be sure to watch it soon as I’ve not before.

The Best Film gong went to French war film, Forbidden Games which you can watch the trailer for below:

What’d Sadie think?

Vera Lynn’s “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” eked out one more week at number 1 before being usurped by Jo Stafford’s “You Belong To Me” for the rest of September.

Mario Lanza’s new song on the charts, “Because You’re Mine” is a belting number as his so often are. The intro swell reminds me of the start of a 40’s movie for some reason, probably priming from thinking of movies in the history section though.

There’s quite a few instrumental numbers in the charts this month. Leroy Anderson’s “Blue Tango” is a nice piece that’s grown on us. He was described by some as, “one of the great American masters of light orchestral music.”

Which reminds me to recommend Primephonic to any classical lovers reading – its like Spotify but with a classical catalogue and interface that allows you to easily navigate by composer, work and performances.

“Meet Mister Callaghan” by the Harry Grove Trio also has a Les Paul version, but we went with their version because Mr Paul has enough airtime as it is. I can’t actually find anything about the Harry Grove Trio, but Sadie auditioned to make it a quartet as she sung along to the nice instrumental.

Never fear fans, Les Paul still features with, “Take Me In Your Arms And Hold Me” which is a new tune by him and Mary Ford and is one of our favourite songs by the pairing.

Tex Ritter’s version of “High Noon” that makes it to the charts this month trumps Frankie Lane’s version – its just even more cowboy – yeehaw!

Likewise fun is “The Glow-Worm” by the Mills Brothers. But not as catchy as Sammy Kaye’s “Walkin’ To Missouri” which is one of our favourite newbies of the month.

Also much liked is Dean Martin’s “You Belong To Me”, which benefits from Jo Stafford and Patti Page’s versions having warmed us up for it in previous months. Martin’s version is the best of the three though sorry Ms. Stafford and Page.

We end, fittingly, on our song of the month with the return of young Teresa Brewer doing a fast and fun duet, “You’ll Never Get Away”, with Don Cornell.

Rose, I love you, but don’t count your chickens.
Come dance with me.
I warn you that I’m no Boy Scout.
Relax awhile, come dance with me.
So don’t think that I’m easy pickin’.
The music’s so nice.
Rose, ’cause I just may some day pick up and pack out.
Oh, no you won’t. No, not a chance.
No arguments, shut up and dance.

“You’ll Never Get Away” – Teresa Brewer / Don Cornell

So, shut up and dance! or at least listen to this week’s full playlist on Youtube via this link.

It’s a busy weekend here in 2021 London so we’ll keep it snappy in this week’s dive back to August, 1952.

The songs of August, 1952

A few new tunes hit the charts this month which might raise an eyebrow back in 2021, but let’s have a look at the list before we get into that:

August, 1952 Top 20 Hits

“Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” – Eddy Howard
“Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” – Vera Lynn
“Blue Tango” – Leroy Anderson
“Botch-A-Me” – Rosemary Clooney
“Delicado” – Percy Faith
“Half As Much” – Rosemary Clooney
“Here In My Heart” – Al Martino
“High Noon” – Frankie Laine
“I Went To Your Wedding” – Patti Page
“I’m Yours” – Eddie Fisher
“Indian Love Call” – Slim Whitman
“Jambalaya” – Jo Stafford
“Kiss Of Fire” – Georgia Gibbs
“Kiss Of Fire” – Tony Martin
“Lover” – Peggy Lee
“Maybe” – Perry Como / Eddie Fisher
“Rock Of Gibraltar” – Frankie Laine
“Should I” – Four Aces
“Somewhere Along The Way” – Nat King Cole
“Sugarbush” – Doris Day And Frankie Laine
“Vanessa” – Hugo Winterhalter
“Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” – Johnnie Ray
“Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” – Nat King Cole
“Wish You Were Here” – Eddie Fisher
“You Belong To Me” – Jo Stafford
“You Belong To Me” – Patti Page

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

This month in history

As I’m saving my words this month, you might find the time to read an excellent article from the August, 1952 issue of The Atlantic – News and the Whole Truth.

Too much of our news is one-dimensional, when truth has three dimensions (or maybe more); we still have inadequate defenses against men who try to load the news with propaganda

Definitely a case of “there’s nothing new under the sun” here as the author explores the commercial and political influences on the role of journalists. It’s written in the era of McCarthyism which makes for an interesting historical comparison to more recent presidencies.

But this is only one of McCarthy’s many self-contradictions; who can keep track of them all? I have a stack of his speeches two feet thick on my office shelf; but when he says something that stirs a vague recollection that he once said something very different, I seldom have time to run through his speeches.

What’d Sadie think?

Vera Lynn’s “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” continues its run at the top, staying number 1 for all of August. Still not particularly sold on it but clearly the USA was in 1952.

Sadie was particularly into the music this week. She started dancing along on the sofa to “High Noon” by Frankie Laine. She’s definitely heard a lot of Frankie by now and like me has acquired a taste for his tunes.

She kept it up when a new Patti Page song dropped next, the excellent “I Went To Your Wedding”.

“Indian Love Call” by Slim Whitman is a tad problematic but has an interesting history when you dig into it. Originally a popular song from “Rose-Marie”, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical by Oscar Hammerstein that was the longest running that decade. It was turned into a number of films in the subsequent decades with various cover versions of “Indian Love Call” , which was key to the plot.

Slim Whitman’s version crossed over from the country charts to the pop charts in 1952 and grew him a mainstream audience as a result.

Speaking of cross overs, “Jambalaya” was originally a Hank Williams song that Jo Stafford brings to the pop charts. It’s pretty catchy but obviously a tad appropriative – the tune and title being based on a Cajun song “Grand Texas”.

“Wish You Were Here” by Eddie Fisher has definitely grown on us. But it’s Nat King Cole’s “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” that has wormed its way into our ears this weeken

Check it out along with the rest of the hits of August, 1952 via this link.