Category: Monthly

A weekend celebrating my birthday here in 2022, but we still found time to zip back to 1956 to hear what April of that year sounded like…

The songs of April, 1956

“A Tear Fell” – Teresa Brewer
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry
“Blue Suede Shoes” – Carl Perkins
“Blue Suede Shoes” – Elvis Presley*
“Bo Weevil” – Teresa Brewer
“Eddie My Love” – Chordettes
“Eddie My Love” – Fontane Sisters
“Eddie My Love” – Teen Queens
“Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis Presley
“Hot Diggity” – Perry Como
“I Was The One” – Elvis Presley
“I’ll Be Home” – Pat Boone
“Innamorata” – Dean Martin
“Ivory Tower” – Cathy Carr*
“Ivory Tower” – Otis Williams*
“Juke Box Baby” – Perry Como
“Lisbon Antigua” – Nelson Riddle
“Long Tall Sally” – Little Richard*
“Lovely One” – Four Voices*
“Magic Touch” – Platters*
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin
“Molly-O” – Dick Jacobs*
“Moonglow And Theme From Picnic” – George Cates Orchestra*
“Moonglow And Theme From Picnic” – Morris Stoloff*
“Moritat” – Dick Hyman Trio
“Mr. Wonderful” – Peggy Lee
“No Not Much” – Four Lads
“Poor People Of Paris” – Les Baxter
“Poor People Of Paris” – Russ Morgan
“R-O-C-K” – Bill Haley & The Comets*
“Rock & Roll Waltz” – Kay Starr
“Rock Island Line” – Lonnie Donegan*
“See You Later Alligator” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“The Great Pretender” – Platters
“Theme From Man With The Golden Arm” – Richard Maltby Orchestra*
“To You My Love” – Nick Noble
“Tutti Frutti” – Pat Boone
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Diamonds
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Gale Storm
“Wild Cherry” – Don Cherry*

* = 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

He’s already got multiple songs in the chart after debuting just a couple of months ago, so with his star in ascendence in April, 1956, aged just 21, Elvis Presley signed a three-picture contract with Paramount Pictures. His first film, “Love me Tender” would come out in November.

A regular on these charts for a number of years, Nat King Cole, has his concert in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, interrupted by three Ku Klux Klan members, who push Cole from his piano stool. All are later tried and convicted, but Cole would never again perform in his home state.

Back in 2021 we’re big fans of “PoolTogether”, which is the crypto version of “Premium Bonds” which the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harold Macmillan, launched in the United Kingdom this month in 1956.

And finally in April, US actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, in a civil ceremony at the Prince’s Palace of Monaco. See footage below:

What’d Sadie think?

We don’t love it, but the people of 1956 did as “Poor People Of Paris” by Les Baxter is at number 1 for the whole month.

Elvis Presley comes along with a cover of the already great “Blue Suede Shoes” and nails it of course. It’s only at this point I wonder – with covers so common in the 1950s, did people hang out hoping their favourite acts would cover a song they liked before they bought it? I think we’d need an actual time machine to answer that one.

Here’s Elvis performing Blue Suede Shoes on (colourised) TV that year.

“Ivory Tower” by Otis Williams has a certain charm to it. But it’s nothing against “Long Tall Sally” by Little Richard which is really rockin’ with a particularly great sax piece. The latter reached number one on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, staying at the top for six of 19 weeks, while peaking at number six on the pop charts we’re listening to this week.

“Lovely One” by Four Voices and “Molly-O” by Dick Jacobs are both a tad boring. And “Magic Touch” by the Platters is not their best effort of late. Nor is “R-O-C-K” by Bill Haley & The Comets who have been blowing up the charts of late.

“Moonglow And Theme From Picnic” is a romantic medley of a song from 1933 and 1955 by Morris Stoloff which featured in the 1956 movie, Picnic starring William Holden and Kim Novak.

“Man With The Golden Arm” is another film starring Kim Novak, this time alongside Frank Sinatra. It recounts the story of a drug addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. The theme song is by Richard Maltby … and for an instrumental it has got some kick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_37-0ScCbw

“Rock Island Line” is a folk song from 1929 by Lonnie Donegan and is a fun number.

Lastly, a weird one, “Wild Cherry” by Don Cherry. The lyrics go, “cherry, one day you’ll be mine…” – is he singing about himself? We assume not but it’s a confusing one for sure if you overthink it.

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

A three day weekend here in 2021 to commemorate Waitangi Day in New Zealand. So plenty of time to enjoy the sounds of March, 1956…

The songs of March, 1956

“11th Hour Melody” – Al Hibbler*
“A Tear Fell” – Teresa Brewer*
“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts
“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper
“Ask Me” – Nat King Cole*
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry
“Band Of Gold” – Kit Carson
“Blue Suede Shoes” – Carl Perkins*
“Bo Weevil” – Teresa Brewer*
“Chain Gang” – Bobby Scott
“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher
“Eddie My Love” – Chordettes*
“Eddie My Love” – Fontane Sisters*
“Eddie My Love” – Teen Queens*
“Go On With The Wedding” – Patti Page
“He” – Al Hibbler
“Heartbreak Hotel” – Elvis Presley*
“Hot Diggity” – Perry Como*
“I Was The One” – Elvis Presley*
“I’ll Be Home” – Pat Boone
“Innamorata” – Jerry Vale*
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dream Weavers
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Jo Stafford
“Juke Box Baby” – Perry Como*
“Lipstick And Candy And Rubbersole Shoes” – Julius Larosa*
“Lisbon Antigua” – Mitch Miller*
“Lisbon Antigua” – Nelson Riddle
“Lullaby Of Birdland” – Blue Stars
“Mack The Knife” – Louis Armstrong*
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin
“Moritat” – Dick Hyman Trio
“Mr. Wonderful” – Peggy Lee*
“Ninety Nine Years” – Guy Mitchell
“No Not Much” – Four Lads
“Poor People Of Paris” – Les Baxter
“Poor People Of Paris” – Russ Morgan*
“Rock & Roll Waltz” – Kay Starr
“See You Later Alligator” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“Seven Days” – Crew-Cuts
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm
“The Great Pretender” – Platters
“The Tender Trap” – Frank Sinatra
“Theme From A Threepenny Opera” – Richard Hayman & Jan August
“To You My Love” – Nick Noble*
“Tutti Frutti” – Pat Boone
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Diamonds*
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Gale Storm*



* = New to the chart this week.

A good selection of new songs on the main charts but its a long weekend so let’s throw in a top 10 R&B chart as well:



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

This month in history

The 9th of March, 1956 was a sad day in New Zealand when “Opo the friendly dolphin” was found dead in Hokianga harbour after entertaining beach goers for a year. For some reason his is a story that has stuck around in the decades since and I remember seeing the statue made for him as a child.

It’s always interesting leafing through (err clicking through?) the relevant issues of Billboard magazine as I write each month up. I thought this article about how stage actors were flocking to do work on this new fangled TV thing was interesting – in particular how many were doing TV on Sunday as that was their day off from the stage…

Speaking of TV, this month saw the movie King Kong aired in New York. What’s interesting about this is the movie is from 1933. It has already been revived at the Cinema a few years earlier, and after a very popular run across a week on TV they cancelled plans to show it on other TV stations across the USA and instead brought it back to the cinema for the 3rd time in two decades. Who needs remakes?

What’d Sadie think?

The semi-ironic “Rock & Roll Waltz” by Kay Starr had grown on us and made it to number 1 for 3 weeks in March, 1956. With the remaining two going to “Poor People Of Paris” by Les Baxter which doesn’t grab us as much.

Interesting to see the growing amount of cross-over between R&B charts and the mainstream with “Why Do Fools Fall in love” by the Teenagers, “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, “Great Pretender” by The Platters, “Eddie, My Love” by the Teen Queens all in both lists.

Love ’em

The big news for the month of course is Elvis Presley hitting the top charts with “Heartbreak Hotel”. And what an excellent debut it is.

Coincidentally, also on the charts is the original version of “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, a great tune even before Elvis covered it later this year.

The other real classics this month are Louis Armstrong’s “Mack The Knife” and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love” by the Diamonds. Great tunes!

But then we also liked,

“Eddie My Love” by Teen Queens

“Lipstick And Candy And Rubbersole Shoes” by Julius Larosa

“Drown in my own tears” by Ray Charles

“Bo Weevil” by Fats Domino

Like ’em

“11th Hour Melody” – Al Hibbler

“A Tear Fell” – Teresa Brewer

“Ask Me” – Nat King Cole

“Bo Weevil” – Teresa Brewer

“I Was The One” – Elvis Presley

“Innamorata” – Jerry Vale

“Juke Box Baby” – Perry Como

“Mr. Wonderful” – Peggy Lee

“Poor People Of Paris” – Russ Morgan

“Don’t Blame it on Me” by Fats Domino

“Ain’t that lovin’ you, baby?” by Jimmy Reed

“Devil or Angel” by The Clovers

“Hey, Doll Baby” by The Clovers

Leave ’em

“Hot Diggity” – Perry Como

“Lisbon Antigua” – Mitch Miller

“To You My Love” – Nick Noble

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

We’re nearly in month synchronicity as we find ourselves listening to the sounds of February, 1956 on the last day of January back here in 2022. Let’s see what it sounds like…

The songs of February, 1956

“A Woman In Love” – Frankie Laine
“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts
“April In Paris” – Count Basie
“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper
“Autumn Leaves” – Roger Williams
“Band Of Gold” – Kit Carson
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry
“Chain Gang” – Bobby Scott
“Cry Me A River” – Julie London
“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher
“Go On With The Wedding” – Patti Page
“Great Pretender” – Platters
“He” – Al Hibbler
“He” – Mcguire Sisters
“I Hear You Knocking” – Gale Storm
“I’ll Be Home” – Pat Boone
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dream Weavers
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Jo Stafford
“Lisbon Antigua” – Nelson Riddle
“Love And Marriage” – Frank Sinatra
“Lullaby Of Birdland” – Blue Stars
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Gale Storm
“Moments To Remember” – Four Lads
“Moritat” – Dick Hyman Trio
“Ninety Nine Years” – Guy Mitchell
“No Not Much” – Four Lads
“Only You” – Hilltoppers
“Only You” – Platters
“Poor People Of Paris” – Les Baxter
“Rock & Roll Waltz” – Kay Starr
“See You Later Alligator” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“Seven Days” – Crew-Cuts
“Seven Days” – Dorothy Collins
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Speedoo” – Cadillacs
“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm
“Teenage Prayer” – Gloria Mann
“The Great Pretender” – Platters
“The Tender Trap” – Frank Sinatra
“Tutti Frutti” – Little Richard
“Tutti Frutti” – Pat Boone
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” – Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers

* = 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

On February 11, 1956 British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean appear in the Soviet Union, five years after vanishing from the UK. The “Cambridge Five” spies would live on in infamy for the next half century and more…

Not yet high enough for it to appear on our playlists but this was also the month that Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with “Heartbreak Hotel”.

It’s a literary kind of month with one of my favourite authors, Michel Houellebecq, being born on the 26th of February.

And then on the 27th Poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath meet for the first time, in Cambridge, UK at the St. Botolph’s Review launch party. It was held in the meeting-room of the University’s Women’s Union, a venue which had assured the magazine editors a large female attendance and was described by Hughes thus: “all drank, more women than men, we left the place smashed, windows out, polished floor like a dirt-track.” Quite the party then!

And at the Golden Globes, “Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical” went to the musical, “Guys and Dolls”.

What’d Sadie think?

Two weeks at the top for Dean Martin’s excellent “Memories Are Made Of This” before two weeks for the truly great, “The Great Pretender” by the Platters.

“April In Paris” is a great jazz classic from the album of the same name by Count Basie.

“Chain Gang” by Bobby Scott is not the song of the same name, from 1960, that most people will know. It’s kind of weirdly catchy but nothing as good as the latter.

“Go On With The Wedding” is a classic Patti Page and has a nice sway to it.

“Lullaby Of Birdland” by the Blue Stars is one of those, fairly rare, songs with nothing about them online. It’s a nice jazzy number to ‘baddum baddum’ along to.

“Moritat” by Dick Hyman Trio is apparently, the “Theme from The Threepenny Opera” and is a whistled “mack the knife”? It’s a nice listen.

“Ninety Nine Years” by Guy Mitchell is mostly notable for the lyrics,

“Ninety nine years in the penitentiary
Ninety nine years, baby, baby, wait for me
Around twenty fifty five
Well get together dead or alive”

We’ll take another listen in 2055. Actually maybe a few times before as its rather catchy in a weird James Bond-esque way.

“No Not Much” by the Four Lads is an ironic love song. Apparently it was subsequently frequently covered, including in 1969 when in the Vogues’ version the lyric line: “Like a ten-cent soda doesn’t cost a dime”, was replaced by the lyric: “Like the song I’m singing doesn’t mean a rhyme,” because the former lyric line was considered outdated. Inflation… something 2022 knows about. It’s a bit dull in this version.

“Poor People Of Paris” is the english language version of a french song by Les Baxter, that was popularised originally by Edith Piaf. It’s yet another song with a whistle in it.

“See You Later Alligator” by Bill Haley & The Comets is a rock ‘n’ roll version of an R&B song originally by Bobby Charles. It is is what it is, quite fun of course.

“Haley’s arrangement of the song is faster-paced than Guidry’s original, and in particular the addition of a two-four beat changed the song from a rhythm and blues “shuffle” to rock and roll. “

“Seven Days” by the Crew-Cuts is one of two versions charting and its a another nice cut from the Crew.

Oh gosh, Pat Boone what did you do to Little Richard’s classic “Tutti Frutti”? Well what he did was introduce it to mainstream USA in a very insipid form. Pass! His other song on the charts is “I’ll Be Home”

“Why Do Fools Fall In Love” by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers is the original and reached number 1 on the R&B charts before it charted in the pop charts, and yeah its great. The origin story is interesting, though the original name (still a lyric in the song) wouldn’t have aged as well,

“In late 1955, The Teenagers (at that time calling themselves The Premiers) auditioned a song called “Why do Birds Sing So Gay?” for George Goldner, recording producer and owner of Gee Records. Herman Santiago, tenor of the group, had written the song based on a line from some love letters given to the guys by a tenant in bassist Sherman Garnes’ apartment building.“

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

Hey folks, it’s been a while! 2 whole weeks, or 2 months depending on what time scale you’re using. Quite forgot to send out the email from December, 1955 – alas these things don’t send themselves it turns out. (Apparently the hard bit is copying from the blog to substack to email you all…)

Anyway, Xmas was a big month for new music – so you can click here to go see that post and listen to the playlist. Before finding your way to January of 1956…

The songs of January, 1956

“A Woman In Love” – Four Aces
“All At Once You Love Her” – Perry Como
“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts
“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper
“Autumn Leaves” – Roger Williams
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry
“Band Of Gold” – Kit Carson
“Burn That Candle” – Bill Haley & The Comets
“Cry Me A River” – Julie London
“Daddy O” – Fontane Sisters
“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher
“He” – Al Hibbler
“He” – Mcguire Sisters
“I Hear You Knocking” – Gale Storm
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dream Weavers
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Jo Stafford
“Lisbon Antigua” – Nelson Riddle*
“Love And Marriage” – Frank Sinatra
“Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” – Four Aces
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Gale Storm
“Moments To Remember” – Four Lads
“Nuttin’ For Christmas” – Art Mooney Orchestra
“Nuttin’ For Christmas” – Joe Ward
“Only You” – Hilltoppers
“Only You” – Platters
“Rock & Roll Waltz” – Kay Starr*
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm
“Teenage Prayer” – Gloria Mann*
“The Great Pretender” – Platters
“The Shifting Whispering Sands” – Randy Draper
“The Tender Trap” – Frank Sinatra*
“White Christmas” – Bing Crosby

* = New to the chart this week.

A quiet month for new releases after a massive Xmas, so we’ll add an R&B chart from the month to our mix:

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

This month in history

A quiet month until… on January 28 Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on US national television on The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show. Watch it below:

And then on January 31st we see English children’s writer A. A. Milne pass away aged 74 and John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon, English singer born on the same day. Probably not a case of reincarnation? It’ll be a couple of decades before we hear from Lydon in the form of the Sex Pistols.

What’d Sadie think?

Still a huge hit in our house, “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford stays at number 1 for another week before “Memories Are Made Of This” by Dean Martin rules the roost for the rest of the month.

“Lisbon Antigua” by Nelson Riddle is based on a Portuguese popular song that was originally written in 1937. It’s chill.

“Rock & Roll Waltz” by Kay Starr is yet more evidence that the expression was popular before the musical style because this ain’t rock. It’s kinda fun though.

“Teenage Prayer” is another version of the song, this time by Gloria Mann and we like her style

“The Tender Trap” by Frank Sinatra -was written for the 1955 film The Tender Trap, where it was introduced by Debbie Reynolds and Sinatra, who each sing the song separately. It’s sometimes hard to have an opinion on songs that are so part of the fabric of music history – there’s reasons why they are. And this belter is no different.

“Tutti Frutti” was Little Richard’s first major hit record and a major influence on the upcoming rock ‘n’ roll onslaught. And yeah, it’s great.

“Combining elements of boogie, gospel and blues, the song introduced several of rock music’s most characteristic musical features, including its loud volume and vocal style emphasizing power, and its distinctive beat and rhythm. The beat has its roots in boogie-woogie, but Richard departed from its shuffle rhythm and introduced a new distinctive rock beat. He reinforced the new rock rhythm with a two-handed approach, playing patterns with his right hand, with the rhythm typically popping out in the piano’s high register. The song’s new rhythm became the basis for the standard rock beat, which was later consolidated by Chuck Berry.”

“Poor Me” by Fats Domino isn’t a song about how his hit “ain’t that a shame” got covered and made famous by Pat Boone…but it could be. Good tune but not as great as the latter.

“Hands Off” by Jay McShann is notable as the last single to hit number one on the R&B chart without making the Billboard pop charts until 1976. It’s OK but not great, so maybe that’s why!

“Seven Days” by Clyde McPhatter and Steamboat by the The Drifters are both great songs. As is the way with R&B hits of the time, unless they crossed over, there’s not much more info on them online alas.

“Speedo” by The Cadillacs tells the story of a man who acquired the nickname “Speedo” because, when it comes to his pursuit of pretty girls, “he don’t believe in wastin’ time” and “he don’t never take it slow”. Oh boy…

To round it out, “Witchcraft” by the Spiders and “Feel So Good” by Shirley & Lee both have great sax parts and you know how much we love that. A great way to end this week’s chart.

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

And here we are only beginning 2022, whilst finishing 1955 in our musical journey through time. Let’s see what it sounds like…

The songs of December, 1955

“A Woman In Love” – Four Aces*
“All At Once You Love Her” – Perry Como*
“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts*
“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper*
“At My Front Door” – Pat Boone
“Autumn Leaves” – Roger Williams
“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry*
“Black Denim Trousers” – Cheers
“Burn That Candle” – Bill Haley & The Comets*
“C’est La Vie” – Sarah Vaughan*
“Croce Di Oro” – Patti Page
“Cry Me A River” – Julie London*
“Daddy-O” – Fontane Sisters
“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher*
“Forgive My Heart” – Nat King Cole*
“He” – Al Hibbler
“He” – Mcguire Sisters
“I Hear You Knocking” – Gale Storm
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dream Weavers
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Jo Stafford*
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Snooky Lanson*
“Love And Marriage” – Frank Sinatra
“Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” – Four Aces
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Dean Martin*
“Memories Are Made Of This” – Gale Storm*
“Memories Of You” – Four Coins*
“Moments To Remember” – Four Lads
“My Bonnie Lassie” – Ames Brothers
“My Boy Flat-Top” – Dorothy Collins*
“No Arms Can Ever Hold You” – Georgie Shaw*
“No Other Arms” – Pat Boone*
“Nuttin’ For Christmas” – Art Mooney Orchestra*
“Nuttin’ For Christmas” – Joe Ward*
“Only You” – Hilltoppers
“Only You” – Platters
“Pepper-Hot Baby” – Jaye P. Morgan
“Shifting Whispering Sands” – Billy Vaughn Orchestra
“Shifting Whispering Sands” – Randy Draper
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford
“Suddenly There’s A Valley” – Gogi Grant
“Suddenly There’s A Valley” – Jo Stafford
“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm*
“The Great Pretender” – Platters*
“The Yellow Rose Of Texas” – Johnny Desmond
“The Yellow Rose Of Texas” – Mitch Miller
“White Christmas” – Bing Crosby
“You Are My Love” – Joni James

* = New to the chart this week.

A big chart (the data I have now goes deeper than the top 20 for each month) but let’s supplement it with a top 10 from the UK for the month:

“Rock Around The Clock” – Bill Haley And His Comets
“Christmas Alphabet” – Dickie Valentine
“Love Is A Many Splendored” – The Four Aces
“Let’s Have A Ding Dong” – Winifred Atwell
“Twenty Tiny Fingers” – Stargazers
“Meet Me On The Corner” – Max Bygraves
“Ain’t That A Shame” – Pat Boone
“The Yellow Rose Of Texas” – Mitch Miller
“Suddenly There’s A Valley” – Die Petula Clark
“Hernando’s Hideaway” – Johnston Brothers

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

This month in history

A big month in history as the world tries to cram some achievements into the year before 1956…

On December 1 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, Rosa Parks refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger and is arrested, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott and eventually the desegregation of transport.

On the 8th the Council of Europe adopts the iconic flag design we now know as the European Union flag.

Saturday morning sleep-ins are made easier for parents across the USA when the first Saturday morning cartoon series is shown on U.S. television: The Mighty Mouse Playhouse. See the intro below:

On Xmas eve in his Christmas radio-message, aired by Vatican radio, Pope Pius XII asks for the banishment of the nuclear weapons. The speech is relayed also by Radio Moscow (except, unsurprisingly enough, for the part where the pope confirms the condemnation of communism)

Then on Xmas day, after being on radio since 1932, the Royal Christmas Message is broadcast on British television for the first time. Oddly, in sound only. Broadcast live from her study at Sandringham the theme was the opportunities arising from membership of the Commonwealth of Nations.

We must adventure on if we are to make the world a better place. All my peoples of the Commonwealth and Empire have their part to play in this voyage of discovery. We travel all together, just as the Maori tribes sailed all together into the mysterious South Pacific to find New Zealand.

Queen Elisabeth II – Xmas Message 1955

To round out the year, General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one biiiiiillion dollars in one year.

What’d Sadie think?

We like it a lot and it appears the USA did too because “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford is top of the charts for 5 weeks, including the coveted Xmas number 1 spot.

Love ’em

“C’est La Vie” is a lovely song by Sarah Vaughan and was apparently the most successful version of it. As is “Memories Are Made Of This” by Dean Martin.

“Cry Me A River” by Julie London is a classic written by Arthur Hamilton. Apparently he actually coined the phrase. At one point he was worried, “that listeners would hear a reference to the Crimea”. No worries there Arthur…

“Nuttin’ For Christmas” – Joe Ward wouldn’t make the love ’em list if it wasn’t Xmas, but it is and it’s a fun song.

“Another notable version was performed by Stan Freberg. Freberg’s version adds a humorous coda when a man in an outfit resembling Santa Claus’s enters through the fireplace and reveals himself to be a robber; the singer directs the robber to the family’s valuables, and both join in the closing refrain.“

The same goes for “Christmas Alphabet” by Dickie Valentine but it doesn’t appear to have any comedy versions recorded of it.

We seem to be hitting peak ’50s classics in the middle of the decade. “The Great Pretender” by Platters is just an outstanding song. Buck Ram, the manager of The Platters said that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a follow up to the success of “Only You”…wow!

“Ain’t That A Shame” by Pat Boone is a cover of a Fats Domino original, which ain’t as good but is still a hit for sure.

Like ’em

“A Woman In Love” – Four Aces

“All At Once You Love Her” – Perry Como

“Angels In The Sky” – Crew-Cuts

“Band Of Gold” – Don Cherry

“Burn That Candle” – Bill Haley & The Comets

“Dungaree Doll” – Eddie Fisher

“Forgive My Heart” – Nat King Cole

“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Snooky Lanson

“Teenage Prayer” – Gale Storm

“Twenty Tiny Fingers” – Stargazers

Lose ’em

“Are You Satisfied” – Rusty Draper

“Memories Of You” – Four Coins

“My Boy Flat-Top” – Dorothy Collins

“No Arms Can Ever Hold You” – Georgie Shaw

“Let’s Have A Ding Dong” – Winifred Atwell

“Meet Me On The Corner” – Max Bygraves

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

It’s back to work in January 2022, so let’s escape back to 1955 to hear what the November charts have to offer….

The songs of November, 1955

“Ain’t That A Shame” – Pat Boone
“At My Front Door” – Eldorados
“At My Front Door” – Pat Boone
“Autumn Leaves” – Roger Williams
“Black Denim Trousers” – Cheers
“Croce Di Oro” – Patti Page*
“Daddy-O” – Fontane Sisters*
“He” – Al Hibbler
“He” – Mcguire Sisters
“I Hear You Knocking” – Gale Storm
“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dreamweavers*
“Love And Marriage” – Frank Sinatra*
“Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” – Four Aces
“Moments To Remember” – Four Lads
“My Bonnie Lassie” – Ames Brothers
“Only You” – Hilltoppers*
“Only You” – Platters
“Pepper-Hot Baby” – Jaye P. Morgan*
“Seventeen” – Boyd Bennett
“Seventeen” – Fontane Sisters
“Sixteen Tons” – Tennessee Ernie Ford*
“Someone You Love” – Nat King Cole
“Suddenly There’s A Valley” – Gogi Grant
“Suddenly There’s A Valley” – Jo Stafford
“The Bible Tells Me So” – Don Cornell
“The Longest Walk” – Jaye P. Morgan
“The Shifting Whispering Sands” – Billy Vaughn
“The Shifting Whispering Sands” – Randy Draper
“The Yellow Rose Of Texas” – Johnny Desmond
“The Yellow Rose Of Texas” – Mitch Miller
“Tina Marie” – Perry Como
“Wake The Town And Tell The People” – Les Baxter
“You Are My Love” – Joni James
“Young Abe Lincoln” – Don Cornell*

* = New to the chart this week.

We’ll supplement the fairly limited number of new songs with a top 10 R&B chart from the month:

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

This month in history

Not a great start to the month, with November 1 being the “official” start date of the Vietnam war. It will be a number of years before we can trace its impact through music and popular culture here.

My original picture of the 50s came from “Happy Days”, a ’70s TV show take on life in the decade. Another impactful imagining of it came from the ’80s film “Back to the Future”. According to that film on November 5, 1955, “Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown, a physics professor at Hill Valley University, was standing on his toilet seat attempting to hang a clock in his bathroom, when he slipped and slammed his head on the side of the sink. Upon regaining consciousness Brown reported having ‘a revelation, a picture, a picture in my head.’” …yes he fictionally invented the time machine at the centre of that film.

Fittingly the film transports the central character back to the ’50s where he plays Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” 3 years before its release in 1958. I’m no Marty McFly so we’ll have to wait a year in real time for it to appear in our charts.

Back in the real 1955… we heard he recorded his first single a few months ago and now on the 22nd Colonel Tom Parker signs Elvis Presley to RCA Records.

What’d Sadie think?

It’s a split month at the top of the charts with “Autumn Leaves” by Roger Williams there for a week before “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” by the Four Aces taking it out for the remainder.

Love it

“Love And Marriage” – Frank Sinatra. Couldn’t have told you Sinatra’s was the original but there you go and what a great version and song it is.

“Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford seems to be the version I recall being played when I was a young lad. It’s not the first version, that was fro 1947, but its apparently the most famous. Such a great sing-a-long.

Like it

“Croce Di Oro” – Patti Page

“Only You” – Hilltoppers

“Pepper-Hot Baby” – Jaye P. Morgan

“Young Abe Lincoln” – Don Cornell

Thirty Days – Chuck Berry

Feel So Good – Shirley & Lee

Don’t stat me talkin’ – Sonny Boy Williamson

All Around the World – Little Willie John

Everyday – Count Basie

“Daddy-O” – Fontane Sisters

Greenbacks – Ray Charles

Lose it

“It’s Almost Tomorrow” – Dreamweavers

I hear you Knockin’ – Smily Lewis
Hands Off – J McShann

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