In our weird accelerated trip through time we’ve made it to the middle of 1951, while we’ve barely stepped into January back in 2020. Let’s see what July, 1951 sounds like!
The songs of July, 1951
We’re sticking to the core pop charts this month and highlighting the new versions of songs that have popped on the past couple of weeks.
July, 1951 Top 20 Hits
“Be My Love” – Mario Lanza “Because Of You” – Tony Bennett “Because” – Mario Lanza “Come On-A My House” – Rosemary Clooney “Detour” – Patti Page “How High The Moon” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “I Get Ideas” – Tony Martin “I Won’t Cry Anymore” – Tony Bennett “I’m In Love Again” – Henri Rene / April Stevens “Jezebel” – Frankie Laine “Josephine” – Les Paul “Longing For You” – Vic Damone “Mister And Mississippi” – Dennis Day “Mister And Mississippi” – Patti Page “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Patti Page “My Truly Truly Fair” – Guy Mitchell “My Truly Truly Fair” – Vic Damone “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Vaughn Monroe “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Weavers / Terry Gilkyson “Rose Rose I Love You” – Frankie Laine “Shanghai” – Doris Day “Sound Off” – Vaughn Monroe “Sweet Violets” – Dinah Shore “The Loveliest Night Of The Year” – Mario Lanza “Too Young” – Nat King Cole
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
Mario Lanza’s “The Loveliest Night Of The Year” has been on the charts for a few weeks. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed its credited in the playlist to the soundtrack of “The Great Caruso” a 1951 film about Italian tenor Enrico Caruso.
Caruso was one of the first major singing talents to be commercially recorded, making 247 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920, and turning himself a global star in the process.
Verdict was at the time that there were very few voices at the time that could come close to Caruso’s to play him on screen but that Lanzo did a pretty decent job. You can make up your own mind in the clips below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToErRzTvbsE
What’d Sadie think?
Nat King Cole’s “Too Young” for 3 weeks of the month before “Come on-a my house” grates it way to the top spot. Fingers crossed its a V shaped ascent and descent because I’ve already had enough of that one!
We already knew 1951 has a diversity problem but when you’ve got Tony (Martin) vs Tony (Bennett) battling it out on the charts… you have to pick a side. Bennett’s “I Won’t Cry Anymore” is the winner for me.
Then you’ve got Vic Damone (“Longing For You”) vs Vic Damone (“My Truly Truly Fair”) where the former would be our pick.
And finally there’s greedy Patti Page with “Detour”, “Mockin’ Bird Hill” and “Mister And Mississippi” all charting. The latter is a bonafide ear-worm and a great sing-a-long so it gets the points.
What’s missing is a decent duet – 1950 got us addicted to them so here’s hoping that August brings us one.
It’s probably because we dove deep into “The Great Caruso” but Mario Lanza’s two songs are our chart jams of the month. So let’s end it on another with his version of “Ave Maria” from the film. Then enjoy this month’s playlist till next week!
It’s the holiday break here in London town and we’re hoping a bleak 2020 turns to a bright 2021. We also hope you all saw in the new year in a suitable, if probably different, fashion. But let’s jump back to June, 1951 and see what it sounds like there.
The songs of June, 1951
We’ll keep it compact on account of the holiday so here’s the top twenty songs across the weeks that made up June, 1951:
June, 1951 Top 20 Hits
“Be My Love” – Mario Lanza “Because Of You” – Tony Bennett “Come On-A My House” – Rosemary Clooney “How High The Moon” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “I Apologize” – Billy Eckstine “I Get Ideas” – Tony Martin “I Like The Wide Open Spaces” – Arthur Godfrey / Laurie Anders “I’M In Love Again” – Henri Rene / April Stevens “Jezebel” – Frankie Laine “Josephine” – Les Paul “Mister And Mississippi” – Dennis Day “Mister And Mississippi” – Patti Page “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Patti Page “My Truly Truly Fair” – Guy Mitchell “My Truly Truly Fair” – Vic Damone “Old Soldiers Never Die” – Vaughn Monroe “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Burl Ives “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Vaughn Monroe “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Weavers / Terry Gilkyson “Rose Rose I Love You” – Frankie Laine “Sound Off” – Vaughn Monroe “Sweet Violets” – Dinah Shore “The Loveliest Night Of The Year” – Mario Lanza “The Syncopated Clock” – Leroy Anderson “Too Young” – Nat King Cole “Unless” – Eddie Fisher “Unless” – Guy Mitchell “When You And I Were Young Maggie Blues” – Bing & Gary Crosby
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
Reading the pages of Billboard this month the hot topic was the first commercial TV broadcasts in colour. They trialled a range of shows and you really need to read the “reviews” to understand just how revolutionary colour was, yet how mundane the problems and technicalities were.
I’ve included the full review of the cooking show (right hand column in the first image and then subsequent) so you can enjoy such comments as, “the fried chicken certainly was lent enchantment”.
Billboard review of Colour TV broadcast from June 1951.
And if anything else was happening in June 1951 apart from the realisation that red nail polish was distracting during cooking shows… I don’t know about it!
What’d Sadie think?
Two number ones this month, Les Paul & Mary Ford hang on for two more weeks with “How High the Moon” after dominating May and then the much better “Too Young” by Nat King Cole hits the top spot for two.
“Jezebel” by Frankie Laine is the song that’s grown on me the most after a few weeks in the charts. And “Because Of You” by Tony Bennett is my fave new piece of schmaltz.
But its “Come On-A My House” by Rosemary Clooney that has the interesting back story this month.
It was written by Ross Bagdasarian and his cousin, Armenian-American Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan in summer 1939 but wasn’t performed publicly till it was incorporated into an off-Broadway musical, “The Son”. The melody is based on an Armenian folk song and references Armenian hospitality customs.
Bagdasarian wasn’t a name I recognised but apparently he is the creator of “Alvin and the Chipmunks” who we’ll come across in a few years. Clooney, who made the song popular with her 1951 cover, admitted she hated the song despite the number of records it sold. In fact she only sung it under duress, threatened with being fired, and claims she could hear the anger in her voice from being forced to sing it in the final recording. Personally I can’t, but it definitely does grate a little…
I also noted in Billboard that Vic Damone, who has been in our charts a number of times over the past year, has made the cross-over to the big screen in “Rich, Young and Pretty”. His song charting this month, “My Truly Truly Fair” wasn’t bad, but what is really fun is this song and dance number from the film, “How D’Ya Like Your Eggs in the Morning”.
You can find all of the song & dance numbers from the film on Youtube if you enjoyed that as much as us. In the meanwhile, Happy New Year and enjoy the hits of June, 1951!
While it’s a merry Christmas, lockdown be damned, back here in 2020; it is May, 1951 in our quest through the hit parades of the past. Let’s see what they have for us, shall we?
The songs of May, 1951
A small crop of new songs make it into the top 20 this month. But it does seems like, thus far, 1951 has less of 3, or even 4, versions of a song in the charts simultaneously. Perhaps that was a 1950 thing, not a 1950’s thing. We’ll see!
May, 1951 Top 20 Hits
“Aba Daba Honeymoon” – Debbie Reynolds / Carleton Carpenter “Be My Love” – Mario Lanza “How High The Moon” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “I Apologize” – Billy Eckstine “I Like The Wide Open Spaces” – Arthur Godfrey / Laurie Anders “If” – Perry Como “Jezebel” – Frankie Laine “Mister And Mississippi” – Patti Page “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Patti Page “Moonlight Bay” – Bing & Gary Crosby “My Truly Truly Fair” – Guy Mitchell “Old Soldiers Never Die” – Vaughn Monroe “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Vaughn Monroe “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Weavers / Terry Gilkyson “Rose Rose I Love You” – Frankie Laine “Sound Off” – Vaughn Monroe “Sparrow In The Tree Top” – Guy Mitchell “The Loveliest Night Of The Year” – Mario Lanza “The Syncopated Clock” – Leroy Anderson “Too Young” – Nat King Cole “Unless” – Eddie Fisher “Unless” – Guy Mitchell “When You And I Were Young Maggie Blues” – Big & Gary Crosby “Would I Love You” – Patti Page
I’ve supplemented the pop charts with a top 10 R&B chart from the month. For the first time we have a cross-over hit – “How High The Moon” by Les Paul & Mary Ford appears on both. There’s also an instrumental cover of previous pop hit “Tennessee Waltz Blues” but more on that soon.
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
Let’s dive into some art history this month. In May, 1951 the “9th Street Art Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture” was held in New York on the eponymous street. The exhibition is notable as the debut of Abstract Expressionism, which became the first American visual art movement with international influence.
Jackson Pollock is probably the most recognisable name, but in all over 70 artists exhibited in an attempt to get them, then largely unknowns, attention by way of volume. You can read plenty more on it here.
I found an article on the, often overlooked, women of the 9th Street exhibition rather interesting. And you can see an old film, with some artists from the show, reminiscing about it below:
And then, writing this after young Sadie had a somewhat restless night, here’s a very appropriate Peanuts comicstrip from May 18, 1951.
What’d Sadie think?
As mentioned, “How High The Moon” by Les Paul and Mary Ford is on both the pop and R&B chart this month. It’s actually number 1 all throughout May on the main charts. It’s grown on me.
But it’s the other cross-over, an instrumental version of “Tennessee Waltz Blues” by the awesomely named Stick McGhee, that is one of my favourites of the month. (Apparently Stick’s nickname comes from when he used a stick to push a wagon carrying his older brother Brownie McGhee, who had contracted polio.)
Problematic tune of the month is “I Like The Wide Open Spaces” by Arthur Godfrey & Laurie Anders with its lyrics about “super chiefs” but that aside its a niece western tune.
It’s a month for singing about American geography with “Mister and Mississippi” by Patti Page which is a rather evocative story of growing up in the west:
My cradle was the river My school a river boat My teacher was a gambler The slickest one afloat My teacher was a gambler The slickest one afloat He taught me not to gamble on a petticoat
“Mister and Mississippi” by Patti Page
Speaking of Patti Page, we have her version of “Mocking bird hill” this month which is definitely a better cover than Les Paul’s from previously.
With the Korean War still raging, songs of war seem to be in vogue so Vaughn Monroe, of “On Top of Old Smokey” from last month, has “Old Soldiers Never Die” charting. A classic piece of American Exceptionalism it really doesn’t sit well with me…
On the seventh day of December In the year of forty-one The free world met disaster At the hands of the Rising Sun
“Old Soldiers Never Die” by Vaughn Monroe
Come on… Let’s skip quickly onto the R&B charts. Where we find my song of the month, “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. It’s often credited as the first rock ‘n’ roll song and comes with a great story about how the sound came about,
“the bass amplifier fell off the car. And when we got in the studio, the woofer had burst; the cone had burst. So I stuck the newspaper and some sack paper in it, and that’s where we got that sound”.
Also great are, Percy Mayfield’s “Lost Love” and Charles Brown’s “Black Night”. The latter balances out the bombastic war lyrics of “Old Soldiers Never Die” with a sadder, timely, tale of woe,
My mother has the trouble My father has it too Brother’s in Korea And I don’t know just what to do
“Black Night” by Charles Brown
Piano Red’s “Reds Boogie” is a great proto-rock sound as is the double-entendre laden “Sixty Minute Men” by The Dominoes. So go ahead and listen to this month’s playlist via this link now!
As we write this here in 2020 family christmases have been cancelled across the UK and disputes over fisheries are likely to scupper a Brexit deal…so let’s escape back to April, 1951 shall we?
The songs of April, 1950
A nice crop of new songs this month makes for a great playlist. Easter was in the last week of March that year so Peter Cottontail had already hopped off and away.
April, 1951 Top 20 Hits
“Aba Daba Honeymoon” – Debbie Reynolds / Carleton Carpenter “Be My Love” – Mario Lanza “Beautiful Brown Eyes” – Rosemary Clooney “Bring Back The Thrill” – Eddie Fisher “How High The Moon” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “I Apologize” – Billy Eckstine “If” – Perry Como “Jezebel” – Frankie Laine “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Les Paul & Mary Ford “Mockin’ Bird Hill” – Patti Page “Moonlight Bay” – Bing & Gary Crosby “My Heart Cries For You” – Guy Mitchell “On Top Of Old Smokey” – Weavers / Terry Gilkyson “September Song” – Stan Kenton / Orchestra “Sound Off” – Vaughn Monroe “Sparrow In The Tree Top” – Bing Crosby / Andrews Sisters “Sparrow In The Tree Top” – Guy Mitchell “Tennessee Waltz” – Patti Page “The Hot Canary” – Florian Zabach “The Loveliest Night Of The Year” – Mario Lanza “The Syncopated Clock” – Leroy Anderson “Too Young” – Nat King Cole “When You And I Were Young Maggie Blues” – Bing & Gary Crosby “Would I Love You” – Doris Day / Harry James “Would I Love You” – Patti Page “You’re Just In Love” – Perry Como / Fontane Sisters
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
A picture tells a thousand words and a trailer for a film from 1951… can be very amusing at least. And in April 1951 “The Thing From Another World” from director Howard Hawkes is released. I have a thing for classic era films and Hawkes is a favourite, especially when he directs Cary Grant in “His Girl Friday”. I’ve not seen “The Thing” but apparently its from a novella by sci-fi pioneer John W. Campbell and it looks kitsch enough that I’m going to have to seek it out.
From science fiction to science – April 1951 was the month of Operation Greenhouse, a nuclear weapon testing programme by the USA. Conducted at the new Pacific Proving Ground, on islands of the Enewetak Atoll, the April 7 explosion is known for an image taken of those viewing featuring numerous VIPs wearing safety goggles sitting on Adirondack chairs while being illuminated by the flash of the detonation. Oh my!
VIP observers sitting on the patio of the Officer’s Beach Club on Parry Island are illuminated by the 81 kiloton Dog test, part of Operation Greenhouse, at Enewetak Atoll, April 8, 1951.
A fascinating 1951 government film about how necessary and “awesome” this all was can be watched below:
What’d Sadie think?
The number 1 for the month was split between two songs, Perry Como’s “If” and newcomer, “How High the Moon” by Les Paul and Mary Ford. I don’t rate it myself but clearly the masses did. It was also to be the last month Tennessee Waltz was to chart in the top 20, with it slipping to last place. After countless versions and months in the charts I’m not too sad to see it go.
Sadie has become a real little dancer and “Aba Daba Honeymoon” really got her going. It’s also a massive ear-worm, after the repetition of a few weeks in the charts, so we’re now gibbering like the titular chimps around this house.
Mario Lanza’s “Be My Love” is now also a favourite after a few chartings and I can see why it was his first million-seller. It’s melodramatic as all heck, but then we were listening to the Sound of Music directly before so obviously we were primed for cheese. (Why? Because it turns out neither Emily or I knew the words to “Do Re Mi” properly which was not apparent till we found ourselves trying to sing it to Sadie.)
It’s been a while since we’ve had a song that sounds like it comes straight off the soundtrack for a cowboy film, so its up to Frankie Laine’s “Jezebel” (actually an old testament story) to deliver. And you can even see Laine deliver it in a TV performance below:
Bing Crosby has three songs in the charts, two of which are duets with his son Gary – “Moonlight Bay” and “When You And I Were Young Maggie Blues”. Both feature excellent father-son banter.
“i’ve been requested to sing an old time song”
“well you’re the man to sing it dad”
“don’t be cheeky theres 3 very clever lads at home waiting to replace you”
Bing and Gary Crosby banter.
As well as both having great bants, they’re both fun tunes. And what I didn’t realise till now is Gary was only 18 at the time. His voice sounds much more mature and I’m a fan of his almost scat like rapid delivery in contrast to his father’s saloon drawl.
The other Bing Crosby song is “Sparrow In The Tree Top” with the Andrew Sisters which is another excellent duet.
“Sound off” by Vaughan Monroe is terrible but notable as a military themed song released while we were in the thick of the Korean War. The song inspired a film of the same name released the next year with Mickey Rooney. I’m also slightly sad I can’t find a version of this Spike Jones song, advertising in an April ’51 issue of Billboard, to round out the theme…
And lastly, “Too Young” by Nat King Cole is a tale of young love that just sounds (thematically and sonically) quintessentially 1950s. So enjoy that, and the rest of the playlist till next we meet!
It’s already March of 1951 in our journey through the music of the ages while back in 2020 it’s December and Xmas is just a couple of weeks away. Here at 4x Life HQ (aka The Scovell’s) we’re busy trimming the tree and wrapping presents for Sadie’s first visit from Santa. So this is a trimmed down, best of, episode.
The songs of March, 1951
Easter must be around the corner in 1951 because Gene Autry’s “Petter Cottontail” is on the charts. It’s actually grown on me since last year (3-months) ago. Give it another whirl yourself while listening to the rest of the hits of March, 1951.
March, 1951 Top 20 Hits
A Penny A Kiss A Penny A Hug, Tony Martin / Dinah Shore Aba Daba Honeymoon, Debbie Reynolds / Carleton Carpenter Be My Love, Mario Lanza Beautiful Brown Eyes, Rosemary Clooney Bring Back The Thrill, Eddie Fisher How High The Moon, Les Paul & Mary Ford I Apologize, Billy Eckstine I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat, Mel Blanc If, Perry Como It Is No Secret, Bill Kenny Jet, Nat King Cole Mockin’ Bird Hill, Les Paul & Mary Ford Mockin’ Bird Hill, Patti Page My Heart Cries For You, Dinah Shore My Heart Cries For You, Guy Mitchell On Top Of Old Smokey, Weavers / Terry Gilkyson Peter Cottontail, Gene Autry So Long, Weavers / Gordon Jenkins Sparrow In The Tree Top, Bing Crosby / Andrews Sisters Sparrow In The Tree Top, Guy Mitchell Tennessee Waltz, Guy Lombardo / Kenny Gardner Tennessee Waltz, Les Paul & Mary Ford Tennessee Waltz, Patti Page The Hot Canary, Florian Zabach The Roving Kind, Guy Michell The Syncopated Clock, Leroy Anderson Would I Love You, Patti Page You’re Just In Love, Perry Como / Fontane Sisters
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
What’d Sadie think?
Perry Como’s “If” started 6 weeks at number 1 in March, 1951 but our number 1 for the month is “On Top of Old Smokey” by the Weavers. I’m afraid to say I don’t think I’ve ever heard the original till now, only knowing the ’60s parody, “On Top of Spaghetti” which features in many an American summercamp film.
We’ll leave you to make your own picks for March and jump back to 1950 to present our “best of” the hits from the year below. We went back through the year and selected our favourite 20 tunes. One thing we instantly realise is just how much we loved the duets in our first year!
4x Life Top 20 hits of 1950
“Slipping Around” Margaret Whiting w/ Jimmy Wakely “Music, Music, Music” – Teresa Brewer “Charley, My Boy” – Jimmy Dorsey “Dearie” – Ray Bolger & Ethel Merman “I Said My Pajamas (and Put On My Pray’rs)” – Tony Martin & Fran Warren “Saturday Night Fish Fry” – Louis Jordan “Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You Think” – Guy Lombardo ”Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep, Go To Sleep” – Mary Martin & Arthur Godfrey “With my eyes wide open i’m dreaming” – Patti Page “If I knew you were comin’ (I’d have baked a cake)” – Eileen Barton “Valencia” – Tony Martin “Sam’s Song” – Bing & Gary Crosby Joe Liggins – “Pink Champagne” “Bewitched” – Doris Day “La vie en rose” – Tony Martin “Harbour Lights” – Sammy Kaye “Bonaparte’s Retreat” – Kay Starr “Please Send Me Someone to Love” – Percy Mayfield “The Thing” – Phil Harris “Blue Smoke” – Pixie Williams
It’s February 1951 in our adventure through the charts of the past and cowboy chic is as on the rise as it is in 2020.
The songs of February, 1951
Xmas is now a couple of months behind us so the novelty tunes have fallen off the charts and a number of new songs are here to see us through the first (2020) or the last (1951) month of winter in the northern hemisphere.
February, 1951 Top 20 Hits
A BUSHEL AND A PECK, Perry Como / Betty Hutton A PENNY A KISS A PENNY A HUG, Tony Martin / Dinah Shore ABA DABA HONEYMOON, Debbie Reynolds / Carleton Carpenter BE MY LOVE, Mario Lanza BRING BACK THE THRILL, Eddie Fisher HARBOUR LIGHTS, Guy Lombardo / Kenny Gardner HARBOUR LIGHTS, Sammy Kaye / Tony Alamo / Kaydets I APOLOGIZE, Billy Eckstine I STILL FEEL THE SAME ABOUT YOU, Georgia Gibbs I TAUT I TAW A PUDDY TAT, Mel Blanc IF, Perry Como MOCKIN’ BIRD HILL, Les Paul & Mary Ford MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU, Dinah Shore MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU, Guy Mitchell MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU, Jimmy Wakely MY HEART CRIES FOR YOU, Vic Damone NEVERTHELESS, Mills Brothers SO LONG, Weavers / Gordon Jenkins TENNESSEE WALTZ, Guy Lombardo / Kenny Gardner TENNESSEE WALTZ, Les Paul & Mary Ford TENNESSEE WALTZ, Patti Page THE ROVING KIND, Guy Mitchell THE ROVING KIND, Weavers THE THING, Phil Harris WOULD I LOVE YOU, Patti Page YOU’RE JUST IN LOVE, Perry Como / Fontane Sisters ZING ZING ZOOM ZOOM, Perry Como
For a reason that will become clear soon, we’re supplementing the pop charts with a top 10 country chart this week:
You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
Down a rabbit hole we go this month thanks to an advert in an issue of Billboard Magazine from February. You can read it for yourselves below but in essence it documents the growing popularity of mechanical horse rides for kids.
Wait… did we read that right?! They were originally designed as weight loss devices for adults? It would seem so.
In fact, as the Atlantic recounts in, “The brief history of a widely mocked electric horse in the White House” there’s a rich history of mechanical horses for adult exercise. President Calvin Coolidge notoriously had one in the White House during his term in the 1920s for some years after the secret service made him give up riding real horses.
Coolidge’s electric exercise horse.
His model was designed by the cereal pioneer, John Harvey Kellogg, who attested to its ability to keep riders trim. This wasn’t actually his biggest bullshit, that was left for his promotion of circumcision to stop the evils of masturbation. A whole other story you’ll need to google for yourselves readers!
When the mechanical horse was discovered it became a point of mockery, including in a poem that was read out on the floor of the House of Representatives,
“‘Twould not be very strange, indeed/If history should repeat,’/And discovery of the White House steed/Should encompass Cal’s defeat.”
It was a a couple of years later that they would be repurposed for children, where at least the claims that they provided a minute of entertainment that would “satisfy the kids” is true.
In a history of the Memphis Metal Manufacturing company, who are credited in the Billboard article as the manufacturer of some of the first rides for kids, they recount this transition, “It began when the owner of the first Memphis supermarkets, Mr. Fred Montesi, had asked my father to make a machine similar to one at the gym that he could use at home,” said the owner of the company. “So we put a 55 metal drum with a motor on it and one of the guys said ‘You know this kind of simulates a horse.’ Then they cut down metal and welded a horse’s head and they put on a tail. That was the design.”
This article from Billboard has a great showcase of the various rides available as the category exploded in the early 1950s. And here’s a video of a young lad in the ’80s riding an original 1950 model from the company:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA7hpbez7pg
Within just a few years shopping streets and malls across the west were littered with rides of all sorts, from horses – fuelling a fad for cowboy costumes – through to a spaceships in tandem with the growing interest in science fiction.
What of Harry Saltzman who Billboard credited as a pioneer in this space? Well it turns out that horse rides were just a side-project for him, albeit a profitable one, his main pursuit was producing films. He, in early 1961, excited by reading the James Bond novel Goldfinger, made a bid to land the film rights to the character and would go on to produce them for two decades.
What’d Sadie think?
Another month of Patti Page’s Tennessee Waltz dominating the number 1 position but it’s Tony Martin and Dinah Shore’s duet, “A penny a kiss, a penny a hug” that is my number 1 for the month. And it got the Sadie smile of approval too.
I’m gonna save a penny Every time we kiss goodnight. And honey when we’re married We can own a bungalow.
“A Penny a Kiss, a Penny a Hug”
Contrition seems to be the theme for the month, “I apologise” by Billy Eckstine and his outstanding voice for one, and “I feel the same about you” by Georgia Gibbs for another.
Guy Mitchell’s “The Roving Kind”, one of two versions of the song charting in February, is less contrition and more commiseration though in a tale of what a song from six decades later would called a ‘gold digger’.
I took her for some fish and chips and treated her so fine And hardly did I realize she was the rovin’ kind I kissed her lips, I missed her lips and found to my surprise She was nothin’ but a pirate ship rigged up in a dis-guy-eye-ise
“The Roving Kind”, Guy Mitchell
Les Paul’s “Mocking Bird Hill, Tra la la” has his trademark distinctive guitar work and is one of two songs featuring “tweedle dee dee dee” in the lyrics. Because yes, did I say novelty songs were behind us? Xmas ones certainly, but now charing is Mel Blanc’s “I taut I saw a puddy tat” song portraying the relationship between Tweety and Sylvester – star of the Warner Bros. cartoons popular since the 1940s. Here’s the same song set to 3D animation in 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuGJdWcj4O8
Boogie is, oddly, word of the month on the country charts with Tennessee Ernie Ford’s, “Shotgun Boogie” and Hank Snow’s, “Rhumba Boogie” both charting. The former is my favourite of the boogies. But Hank Snow needn’t worry as he managed to have 3 songs in the charts and one of the others, “I’m movin’ on” is great.
Its Hank Williams “Moanin’ the Blues” that is my pick of the country charts for the month. And yes, I’m fairly sure that its obligatory to spell “-ing” words as “-in'” in 1950’s song titles.
And there we are for February 1951. Let’s end on a reminder that Easter is on its way as another new novelty songs, Sonny the Bunny, starts its campaign for song of the season in Billboard Magazine…
