Category: Monthly

It’s a mild midwinter here in July, 2022 and we’re feeling reflective. It might be the weather or it might be that Sadie has just decided she’s ready for a big girl bed and is out of her cot.

It was just under 2 years ago we started on this journey through musical history. In that time we’ve moved from London to Auckland in the midst of a global pandemic, bought a house, started new jobs and managed to grow a nearly 2-year-old the size of a 3-year-old.

And along the way we’ve listened to 96 monthly charts, all the way from January 1950 to February, 1958 this week. We’re currently listening to music from 62 years before Sadie was born. But in another 2 years time, we’ll be listening to music from the late ’60s as we catch up at 4 times speed. She’ll be listening to music from when I was born (the late ’70s) when she’s 6. And then enjoying the sounds of my teenage years when she’s 10.

At which point we will have been doing this for a decade. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… 2 years in! There’s not an easy way of working out how many unique songs we’ve listened to – I’m kicking myself for not cutting the data that way – but it’ll be over a thousand at this point! Let’s hear the 19 new ones we have this week…

Songs of the month

“26 Miles” – Four Preps*
“April Love” – Pat Boone
“Are You Sincere” – Andy Williams*
“At The Hop” – Danny & The Juniors
“Bony Maronie” – Larry Williams
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” – Hollywood Flames
“Catch A Falling Star” – Perry Como*
“Click-Clack” – Dicky Doo And The Don’ts*
“Dede Dinah” – Frankie Avalon*
“Don’t Let Go” – Roy Hamilton
“Don’t” – Elvis Presley*
“Get A Job” – Silhouettes
“Great Balls Of Fire” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“I Beg Of You” – Elvis Presley*
“I’ll Come Running Back To You” – Sam Cooke*
“It’s Too Soon To Know” – Pat Boone*
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley
“Jo-Ann” – Playmates*
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Jimmie Rodgers
“La Dee Dah” – Billy And Lillie
“Liechensteiner Polka” – Will Glahe Orchestra
“Magic Moments” – Perry Como*
“March From The River Kwai And Colonel Bogey” – Mitch Miller Orchestra*
“Maybe” – Chantels*
“Oh Boy” – Crickets
“Oh Julie” – Crescendos
“Oh-Oh I’M Falling In Love Again” – Jimmie Rodgers*
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly
“Raunchy” – Bill Justis
“Raunchy” – Ernie Freeman
“Sail Along Silvery Moon” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Short Shorts” – Royal Teens*
“Silhouettes” – Rays
“Stood Up” – Ricky Nelson
“Sugartime” – Mcguire Sisters
“Sweet Little Sixteen” – Chuck Berry*
“The Stroll” – Diamonds
“This Little Girl Of Mine” – Everly Brothers*
“Waitin’ In School” – Ricky Nelson
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers
“Why Don’t They Understand” – George Hamilton Iv
“Witchcraft” – Frank Sinatra*
“You Are My Destiny” – Paul Anka*
“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke

* = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

On February the 4th, 1957, an antitrust lawsuit against United Fruit Company (UFC) by the U.S. Department of Justice ended after four years, as the company, which controlled the majority of “the world’s marketable supply of bananas” agreed that it would create a competing company.

Which makes for the end of a, very interesting, story I was totally unaware of it seems. For instance, the term “banana republic” was coined in 1901 by American author O. Henry in his book “Cabbages and Kings” to describe Honduras while its economy, people, and government were being exploited by the UFC. They were so dominant at one point they essentially blackmailed the government of Guatemala for $19 Million to buy their own country back… Enjoy that rabbit hole if you go down it!

Then on the 25th of the month philosopher Bertrand Russell (a personal hero, being a philosophy student myself) launched the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at their first public meeting. Only 3 days later, quite the turnaround for a design brief, Gerald Holtom unveiled the, now ubiquitous, “peace symbol” to be used by the organisation at a march from Trafalgar Square in London to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment facility at Aldermaston, Berkshire.

The vertical line in the center represents the flag semaphore signal for the letter D, and the downward lines on either side represent the semaphore signal for the letter N. “N” and “D”, for nuclear disarmament, enclosed in a circle. Holtom also described the symbol as representing despair, with the central lines forming a human with its hands questioning at its sides against the backdrop of a white Earth

And then in movie news we see that the classic, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” won best film at the 15th Golden Globe Awards. Trailer below and the “Colonel Bogey March” from the film is in our charts this week.

What’d Sadie think?

“At The Hop” by Danny & The Juniors stays number one for another three week this month before the Silhouettes, “Get A Job” takes it over. It’s not as great as the song it replaces in our view but it does have a brilliant sax solo which always pleases these ears as a some-time saxophonist.

Love ’em

A lot to love this month…

Perry Como’s classic “Catch A Falling Star” was apparently his last number 1 hit in the USA which feels like beginning of an end of a musical era right here. Apparently the song’s melody is based on a theme from Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture. So a classic in two ways.

The great “Magic Moments”, written by Burt Bacharach, was the b-side of this one and also charting this month.

Crooning definitely isn’t over though with Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” also new to the charts. The next year, at the inaugural Grammy Awards, Frank Sinatra was nominated for six Grammy awards, four of which were for this song. And we also have Paul Anka’s “You Are My Destiny” in a similar vibe charting.

“I’ll Come Running Back To You” is another great tune by Sam Cooke after his debut single “You Send Me” which we featured last month. His record label boss instructed arranger René Hall to duplicate the sound of “You Send Me”, which included overdubbing similar instrumentation and background singers and rushed this song out to capitalise on the debut’s success. The rush doesn’t show but the similarities do.

As mentioned in this week’s history we have movie theme, “March From The River Kwai And Colonel Bogey” by the Mitch Miller Orchestra in the charts and you have to love it for the classic whistling alone.

“Maybe” by the Chantels is a much covered song in more recent decades and it’s clear why, quite the tune!

“Short Shorts” by the Royal Teens is at once so ’50s but also exactly the kind of slightly risqué, but largely inoffensive, pop that teen idols have made for decades. According to the group, they coined the term in 1957, and hit on using it as a song theme and title that summer when they saw two girls in cutoffs leaving a local teen spot.

Speaking of teens, “Sweet Little Sixteen” is classic Chuck Berry and the first instance of a song about the phenomenon of fandom I have come across.

“This Little Girl Of Mine” by the Everly Brothers was originally released in ’55 by Ray Charles but didn’t appear to make it into our charts at the time – it’s a great version.

Like ’em

“26 Miles” – Four Preps

“Are You Sincere” – Andy Williams

“Don’t” – Elvis Presley

“I Beg Of You” – Elvis Presley

“It’s Too Soon To Know” – Pat Boone

“Jo-Ann” – Playmates

“Oh-Oh I’M Falling In Love Again” – Jimmie Rodgers

Leave ’em

“Click-Clack” – Dicky Doo And The Don’ts
“Dede Dinah” – Frankie Avalon

And thats it for another week, now go enjoy the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

A new year is upon us in our journey through musical history. What does 1958 hold for us? Let’s find out…

Songs of the month

“All The Way” – Frank Sinatra
“April Love” – Pat Boone
“At The Hop” – Danny And The Juniors
“Be-Bop Baby” – Ricky Nelson
“Bony Maronie” – Larry Williams
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” – Hollywood Flames
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis
“Don’t Let Go” – Roy Hamilton*
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan And The Troubadors
“Get A Job” – Silhouettes*
“Great Balls Of Fire” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“I’m Available” – Margie Rayburn
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley
“Jingle Bell Rock” – Bobby Helms
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Jimmie Rodgers
“La Dee Dah” – Billy And Lillie*
“Liechensteiner Polka” – Will Glahe Orchestra
“Little Bitty Pretty One” – Thurston Harris
“Melodie D’Amour” – Ames Brothers
“My Special Angel” – Bobby Helms
“Oh Boy” – Crickets
“Oh Julie” – Crescendos*
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly
“Raunchy” – Bill Justis
“Raunchy” – Ernie Freeman
“Rock & Roll Music” – Chuck Berry
“Sail Along Silvery Moon” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra*
“Silhouettes” – Rays
“Stood Up” – Ricky Nelson*
“Sugartime” – Mcguire Sisters*
“Tear Drops” – Lee Andrews And The Hearts
“The Stoll” – Diamonds
“The Story Of My Life” – Marty Robbins
“The Stroll” – Diamonds*
“Waitin’ In School” – Ricky Nelson*
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers
“Why Don’t They Understand” – George Hamilton Iv
“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke

And let’s see what the top 10 looked like across the Atlantic in the UK:

“Great Balls Of Fire” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“Ma He’s Making Eyes At Me” – Johnny Otis And His Orchestra With Marie Adams*
“Wake Up Little Susie” – The Everly Brothers
“My Special Angel” – Malcolm Vaughan
“All The Way” – Frank Sinatra
“I Love You Baby” – Paul Anka*
“Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl In Town)” – Jackie Wilson*
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Frankie Vaughan

* = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

On January the 1st the European Economic Community (EEC), the forerunner to the European Union, came into being as an economic and cooperative union between Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany. Some footage from their first council below:

And then on the 4th a party led by Edmund Hillary became the first to reach the South Pole overland since Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated journey in 1912. Despite the success, Hillary was criticised for allegedly putting adventure ahead of the expedition’s scientific aims. Earlier, in October 1957, driving modified Ferguson farm tractors, the Kiwis headed south to establish food and fuel depots for the British crossing party. Then, against the instructions of the British Ross Sea Committee, they went ‘hell-bent for the Pole – God willing and crevasses permitting’.

On the 31st, having been beaten by the USSR’s Sputnik four months earlier, the United States launched a satellite into orbit for the first time, as Explorer 1 was sent up from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on a Jupiter-C rocket.

What’d Sadie think?

For the whole month of January, the Xmas number 1, “At The Hop” by Danny And The Juniors occupied the top spot.

Love ’em

The best song of the month is definitely “Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl In Town)” by Jackie Wilson and it comes to us from the UK charts. It was released a few months ago (…1957) in the USA but only made it as high as 62 so we didn’t hear it, whereas it made it to number in the UK. The song was enough of a success that one of the writers Berry Gordy was able to fund the launch of… Motown Records. I am familiar with the song because of its re-release in 1986, when UK TV show Arena used it to soundtrack a claymation animation which sent the song to number 1 for four weeks.

The other two great songs this month are Paul Anka’s “I Love You Baby” and the Diamonds with “The Stroll”.

Like ’em

“Don’t Let Go” – Roy Hamilton

“Get A Job” – Silhouettes

“La Dee Dah” – Billy And Lillie

“Stood Up” – Ricky Nelson

“Waitin’ In School” – Ricky Nelson

“Ma He’s Making Eyes At Me” – Johnny Otis And His Orchestra With Marie Adams

Lose ’em

“Oh Julie” – Crescendos

“Sail Along Silvery Moon” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Sugartime” – Mcguire Sisters

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

It’s already the end of 1957 in our journey. That’s eight years of music in just under 2 years. Which means that Sadie’s 2nd birthday is coming up in a bit over a month. Before we get ahead of ourselves though let’s listen to the songs of December, 1957…

Songs of the month

“All The Way” – Frank Sinatra
“Alone” – Shepherd Sisters
“April Love” – Pat Boone
“At The Hop” – Danny And The Juniors*
“Be-Bop Baby” – Ricky Nelson
“Bonie Moronie” – Larry Williams*
“Buzz Buzz Buzz” – Hollywood Flames*
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis
“Could This Be Magic” – Dubs
“Diana” – Paul Anka
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan And The Troubadors
“Great Balls Of Fire” – Jerry Lee Lewis*
“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” – Tune Weavers
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Hula Love” – Buddy Knox & Rhythm Orchids
“I’m Available” – Margie Rayburn
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley
“Jingle Bell Rock” – Bobby Helms*
“Just Born” – Perry Como
“Keep A Knockin’” – Little Richard
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – Jimmie Rodgers*
“Liechenstein Polka” – Will Glahe Orchestra*
“Little Bitty Pretty One” – Thurston Harris
“Lotta Lovin’” – Gene Vincent
“Melodie D’Amour” – Ames Brothers
“My Special Angel” – Bobby Helms
“Oh Boy” – Crickets*
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly
“Raunchy” – Bill Justis
“Raunchy” – Ernie Freeman
“Rock & Roll Music” – Chuck Berry
“Silhouettes” – Rays
“Tammy” – Debbie Reynolds
“Tear Drops” – Lee Andrews And The Hearts*
“The Joker” – Billy Myles*
“Till” – Roger Williams
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers
“Why Don’t They Understand” – George Hamilton Iv*
“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke

Dec 1957 Fascination Jane Morgan 1st No. 1

* = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

On the 1st of the month Buddy Holly and the Crickets debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. Here he is performing, “Oh Boy” which is new to our charts this month.

Then on December 8 CBS broadcasts “The Sound of Jazz”, live from NYC: an all-star program featuring swing era and contemporary jazz artists, including Count Basie, Red Allen, Ben Webster;, Thelonious Monk, and Gerry Mulligan. A particularly highlight is the collaboration of Billie Holiday and Lester Young on “Fine and Mellow” which you can see here:

On December 18th the world’s 1st full scale nuclear power plant begins to generate electricity at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania. A doco on this below:

And then, just as he’s topping the charts on the regular, on 20th December Elvis Presley is given his draft notice to join US Army for National Service.

What’d Sadie think?

A mix of number 1s this month. Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock” holds on for 1 more week before “You Send Me” by Sam Cooke occupies it for 3 weeks, then lastly Pat Boone gets a week with “April Love”.

And because it’s the end of the year we have to notice that new song for the month, “At The Hop” by Danny And The Juniors, was the Xmas number 1 on the first chart of the new year. And a rocking end to a year in which rock & roll seems to have truly come of age it is too.

With no sign of Bing Crosby’s “White Xmas”, are the 50’s really coming to a close? Or is it just everyone had a copy by this point?

“Bonie Moronie” by R&B singer and song writer, Larry Williams is a great tune with a brill horn section.

Likewise, “Buzz Buzz Buzz” by the Hollywood Flames is a fun song. Apparently the group were usually billed as The Hollywood Flames, but also recorded as The Turks, The Jets, and The Sounds…

“Great Balls Of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis is of course brilliant. It’s not number 1 yet but the song sold one million copies in its first 10 days of release in the United State, one of the fastest selling singles ever. It featured in the 1957 “rock and roll” film, Jamboree which sounds very meta:

Its story is about a boy and girl, Pete Porter and Honey Wynn, who become overnight sensations as a romantic singing duo who run into trouble when their squabbling managers, try to turn them into solo acts.

You can see Jerry Lee Lewis perform in it below:

“Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms is our only Xmas tune of the charts, but its a debut of a classic so we can’t complain. Apparently there’s quite some dispute over who authored the song, Bobby Helms isn’t credited with it but claims to have done most of it.

“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” by Jimmie Rodgers is a great cover of a great song. It was originally released in 1950 by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays of The Weavers – we’ve had it in our charts from 1951 before in fact. I think this is the first instance of a song from a previous chart being covered – we really are moving through time!

“Liechenstein Polka” by Will Glahe Orchestra is an accordion tune so we’ll just be moving right along…

“Oh Boy” by (Billy Holly and) The Crickets is of course great. Something about contracts meant that it was just released under The Crickets name.

And then there’s three quite average new songs to round it out, “Tear Drops” by Lee Andrews And The Hearts, “The Joker” by Billy Myles and George Hamilton IV’s “Why Don’t They Understand”. But with so many other great tunes we can hardly complain.

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

It’s the last week of June here in 2022 and we’re passed the shortest day of the year. We’ve also managed to skip an email again. This time because, for the first time, we didn’t get to listen to the playlist on the weekend. Sadie had too much of an active social life last weekend, so we waited till the end of the week to listen to the tunes. As a result you can find October, 1957 on the blog and we’ll dive into November, 1957 now…

Songs of the month

“All The Way” – Frank Sinatra*
“Alone” – Shepherd Sisters*
“April Love” – Pat Boone*
“Be-Bop Baby” – Ricky Nelson
“Black Slacks” – Joe Bennett And The Sparkletones
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis
“Could This Be Magic” – Dubs*
“Deep Purple” – Billy Ward
“Diana” – Paul Anka
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan
“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” – Tune Weavers
“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” – Ricky Nelson*
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Hula Baby” – Buddy Knox & Rhythm Orchids

“I’m Available” – Margie Rayburn*
“In The Middle Of An Island” – Tony Bennett
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley
“Just Between You And Me” – Chordettes
“Just Born” – Perry Como*
“Keep A Knockin’” – Little Richard
“Little Bitty Pretty One” – Thurston Harris*

“Lotta Lovin’” – Gene Vincent
“Melodie D’Amour” – Ames Brothers*
“Mr. Lee” – Bobbettes
“My One Sin” – Four Coins*
“My Special Angel” – Bobby Helms*
“Peanuts” – Little Joe And The Thrillers
“Peggy Sue” – Buddy Holly*
“Rainbow” – Russ Hamilton
“Raunchy” – Bill Justis*
“Raunchy” – Ernie Freeman*
“Remember You’Re Mine” – Pat Boone
“Rock & Roll Music” – Chuck Berry*
“Send For Me” – Nat King Cole
“Silhouettes” – Rays*
“Stardust” – Billy Ward
“Tammy” – Debbie Reynolds
“That’ll Be The Day” – Crickets
“Till” – Roger Williams*
“Treat Me Nice” – Elvis Presley*
“Wait And See” – Fats Domino*
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers
“White Silver Sands” – Don Rondo
“Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke*

* = New to the chart this week.

You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.

This month in history

On November 3rd the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard, a mostly-Siberian husky, the 1st animal in space. His story in the video below:

On November 16th BBC’s 1st pop music show, the “Six-Five Special”, is broadcast from the tiny 2i’s Coffee Bar in London. Six-Five Special was the BBC’s first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. The title was derived from its broadcast time, as it aired at 6:05 on Saturday evening. It began immediately after the abolition of the Toddlers’ Truce, which we covered a few weeks back, in which programming ceased between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. so that children could be put to bed.

The 2i’s Coffee Bar was a coffeehouse on Old Compton Street in Soho, London, that was open from 1956 to 1970. It played a formative role in the emergence of Britain’s skiffle and rock and roll music culture in the late 1950s, and several major stars including Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard were first discovered performing there. We’ve yet to discover them in our charts…

On November 22nd the Miles Davis Quintet debuts at Carnegie Hall in NYC. No recording of that but we have a colorised version of a performance on french TV in Paris the next month… that set though?!

What’d Sadie think?

The classic “Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers manages a second week at the top of the charts after making it there the last week of October. But then its back to Elvis dominating, with Jailhouse Rock, released last month, nabbing the top spot for the rest of November.

Love ’em

“Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly is the most classic of the new songs this month. Apparently the song was originally entitled “Cindy Lou”, after Holly’s niece. The title was later changed to “Peggy Sue” in reference to Peggy Sue Gerron, the girlfriend (and future wife) of Jerry Allison, the drummer for the Crickets, after the couple had temporarily broken up

A whole bunch of other new songs this month – pre-xmas releases perhaps? Either way a bunch of other great tunes:

“Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” – Ricky Nelson

“Little Bitty Pretty One” – Thurston Harris

“Rock & Roll Music” – Chuck Berry

“You Send Me” – Sam Cooke

Like ’em

“All The Way” – Frank Sinatra

“April Love” – Pat Boone

“Could This Be Magic” – Dubs

“Just Born” – Perry Como

“Melodie D’Amour” – Ames Brothers

“My Special Angel” – Bobby Helms

“Raunchy” – Bill Justis

“Silhouettes” – Rays

“Treat Me Nice” – Elvis Presley

“Wait And See” – Fats Domino

Lose ’em

“Alone” – Shepherd Sisters

“I’m Available” – Margie Rayburn

“Till” – Roger Williams

“My One Sin” – Four Coins

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

It’s feeling decidedly wintery, for Auckland, here in June, 1957. Let’s escape back to the comforting cool vibes of October, 1957…

The songs of October, 1957

“Be-Bop Baby” – Ricky Nelson*
“Black Slacks” – Joe Bennett And The Sparkletones*
“Bye Bye Love” – Everly Brothers
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis
“Deep Purple” – Billy Ward*
“Diana” – Paul Anka
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan And The Troubadors
“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” – Tune Weavers
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Hula Love” – Buddy Knox & Rhythm Orchids
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” – Billy Williams
“In The Middle Of An Island” – Tony Bennett
“It’s Not For Me To Say” – Johnny Mathis
“Jailhouse Rock” – Elvis Presley*
“Just Between You And Me” – Chordettes*
“Keep A Knockin’” – Little Richard*
“Lotta Lovin’” – Gene Vincent
“Love Letters In The Sand” – Pat Boone
“Love Me To Pieces” – Jill Corey
“Mr. Lee” – Bobbettes
“Peanuts” – Little Joe And The Thrillers*
“Rainbow” – Russ Hamilton
“Remember You’Re Mine” – Pat Boone
“Searchin’” – Coasters
“Send For Me” – Nat King Cole
“Short Fat Fannie” – Larry Williams
“Stardust” – Billy Ward
“Tammy” – Debbie Reynolds
“Teddy Bear” – Elvis Presley
“That’ll Be The Day” – Crickets
“There’s A Gold Mine In The Sky” – Pat Boone
“Wake Up Little Susie” – Everly Brothers*
“Whispering Bells” – Dell-Vikings
“White Silver Sands” – Don Rondo
“Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“You’re My One And Only Love” – Rick Nelson

* = New to the chart this week.

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

This month in history

The first man-made object into space, Sputnik, was  launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It orbited for three weeks before its batteries ran out. The satellite then silently continued to orbit the planet for two months before it fell back into the atmosphere on the 4th of January 1958.

And then in other signs the world was looking up (see what i did there), on October 3 Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl and Other Poems” is ruled not obscene.

Finally, the theme song is in the charts for the first time this month with the launch, on October 17, of “Jailhouse Rock” starring Elvis Presley

.

What’d Sadie think?

After Elvis tunes dominating for whole months at a time we have 3 different number 1s this month. Firstly “Tammy” by Debbie Reynolds hangs on for a week before Jimmie Rodgers’ “Honeycomb” nabs it for 2 weeks, which is then ousted by the Everly Brothers, “Wake Up Little Susie”.

Love ’em

“Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley is the stand out track of the moment for sure. Thinking we might have to watch the movie finally.

“Wake Up Little Susie” by the Everly Brothers is also a personal favourite. And yet I still never quite got the theme – “the song is written from the point of view of a high school boy to his girlfriend, Susie. In the song, the two go out on a date to a cinema (perhaps a drive-in), only to fall asleep during the movie. They do not wake up until 4 o’clock in the morning, well after her 10 o’clock curfew.”. Somehow missed they were at the movies…

“Keep A Knockin’” by Little Richard is another iconic early rock’n’roll song but apparently goes as far back as 1928 in other styles.

“Be-Bop Baby” by Ricky Nelson rounds out our favourites for the month.

Like ’em

“Black Slacks” – Joe Bennett And The Sparkletones

“Just Between You And Me” – Chordettes

“Peanuts” – Little Joe And The Thrillers

Lose ’em

“Deep Purple” – Billy Ward

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

It’s September, 1957 in our trip through time…which for a minute was sounding exactly like August, 1957. An administrative glitch in my pre-prepared playlists meant I had doubled-up somehow. Annoyingly only noticed at the end of building the playlist. Anyway, enough of 2022’s problems…back in time we go!

The songs of September, 1957

“And That Reminds Me” – Della Reese*
“Around The World” – Mantovani
“Bye Bye Love” – Everly Brothers
“Chances Are” – Johnny Mathis*
“Diana” – Paul Anka
“Fascination” – Jane Morgan*
“Flying Saucer 2Nd” – Buchanan And Goodman
“Goody Goody” – Frankie Lymon & Teenagers
“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” – Tune Weavers*
“Honeycomb” – Jimmie Rodgers
“Hula Love” – Buddy Knox & Rhythm Orchids*
“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” – Billy Williams
“In The Middle Of An Island” – Tony Bennett
“It’S Not For Me To Say” – Johnny Mathis
“Jenny Jenny” – Little Richard
“Lotta Lovin’” – Gene Vincent*
“Love Letters In The Sand” – Pat Boone
“Love Me To Pieces” – Jill Corey
“Mr. Lee” – Bobbettes
“Old Cape Cod” – Patti Page
“Rainbow” – Russ Hamilton
“Remember You’Re Mine” – Pat Boone
“Searchin’” – Coasters
“Send For Me” – Nat King Cole
“Shangri-La” – Four Coins
“Short Fat Fannie” – Larry Williams
“So Rare” – Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra
“Stardust” – Billy Ward
“Tammy” – Ames Brothers*
“Tammy” – Debbie Reynolds
“Teddy Bear” – Elvis Presley
“That’Ll Be The Day” – Crickets
“The Flying Saucer” – Buchanan & Goodman
“There’s A Gold Mine In The Sky” – Pat Boone*
“To The Aisle” – Five Satins
“Whispering Bells” – Dell-Vikings
“White Silver Sands” – Don Rondo
“Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On” – Jerry Lee Lewis
“Wonderful Wonderful” – Johnny Mathis
“You’re My One And Only Love” – Rick Nelson*

* = New to the chart this week.

We’ve thrown in a top 10 R&B chart from the month, but the cross-over now means only 2 songs are novel.

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

This month in history

On September 5th Beat classic, “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac is published by Viking Press in New York. Here’s him reading some passages:

In a “spoiler alert” , on September 6th Elvis records “White Christmas”, “Silent Night” & “Here Comes Santa Claus” – I’d say we are fairly sure of seeing them in the charts in a few weeks.

And on September 26 Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins’ musical “West Side Story” premieres at the Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 732 performances, wins 2 Tony Awards. A composite of clips from the the original run is below:

What’d Sadie think?

Elvis is pushed out of the top spot by Debbie Reynold’s “Tammy” which takes it for the full month. We added that song last month so its actually a cover by the Ames Brothers we have in our playlist this week.

The song is from 1957 film “Tammy and the Bachelor” which starred Debbie Reynolds, you can see her singing it in the film below. The Ames Brothers version actually featured across the film credits and it’s a bit sappy and a bit alright.

“And That Reminds Me” by Della Reese ain’t a bad tune either. Apparently the music was based on the Italian instrumental, “Concerto d’autunno,” by Camillo Bargoni and was first a pop song named “Autumn Concerto” by Flo Sandons the previous year.

“Chances Are” by Johnny Mathis is kind of forgettable. But what’s not forgettable, once you know it, is that Mathis is still kicking around at 86 and has sold over 400 million records worldwide to date, making him the third-biggest selling artist of the 20th century after Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

“Fascination” was a popular waltz song from 1904 that became a pop hit for Jane Morgan more than half a century later. There’s not a lot of songs with an accordion that pique our interest and this is no exception.

“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” was the only major hit for the Tune Weavers and its kind of catchy.

“Hula Love” by Buddy Knox & the Rhythm Orchids is…problematic from title through to lyrics so we’ll just be dancing (not the hula) quickly onto the next new song…

“Lotta Lovin’” by Gene Vincent sees him doing a passable Elvis, it’s actually quite a fun song. We give it a little, rather than a lotta lovin’ though.

“There’s A Gold Mine In The Sky” is yet another chart hit for Pat Boone. To date, nothing of his has really hit it out of the ball park for us. But who are we to judge his numbers, he was the second-biggest charting artist of the late 1950s, behind only Elvis Presley. And there’s a reason why it seems like he’s been in the charts non-stop for a time… Until the 2010s, Boone held the Billboard record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the charts with one or more songs each week.

“You’re My One And Only Love” meanwhile is the first hit for Ricky Nelson at age 17. From age eight he had starred alongside his family in the radio and television series “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”. You can see him playing in that show below:

“Farther up the Road” by the most excellently named “Bobby Blue Bland” is a tune and a half. It is, by all accounts, an early influential Texas shuffle and features guitar playing that represents the transition from the 1940s blues style to the 1960s blues-rock style.

And we end on a high with “Think” by the Five Royals which will have you clapping, or snapping, along with it.

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