For the background on this blog series, see this post.
All sorts of melodies, unchained and otherwise, make up an uneven weeks of debuts on the 1950s charts.
May 14, 1955: This week’s #1 songs show one of the curiosities of the pre-Hot 100 chart system. If you happen to research the hits of May, 1955, you will see that “Unchained Melody” by Les Baxter, “Dance with Me Henry (Wallflower)” by Georgia Gibbs, and “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Pérez Prado all reached #1. Only the fine print tells you that just one of these songs was ever the best-selling record in the nation.
Georgia Gibbs topped the Juke Box chart on May 14, and Les Baxter topped the Jockey chart. Neither song reached #1 on any other chart. So, kids played “Dance with Me Henry,” the DJs played “Unchained Melody,” and consumers bought more copies of “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” than any other record. Which is the most legitimate hit? The DJs’ playlists often involved politics and prejudice. Five cents for the jukebox was not much of an investment to make in a song. Plunking down the full price for one’s own copy of a single strikes me as the most sincere form of support for a song, so I think Pérez Prado can already claim to have the biggest hit in the nation this week.
The week’s debuts are among the most significant ever. First, June Valli brings us the fourth version of “Unchained Melody” to grace the Best Sellers. The other three are much higher, with Baxter at #2, Hibbler at #5, and Hamilton at #9. June is in fact a One-Week Wonder at #29; she doesn’t hit either of the other charts at all. She will be back with another Top 40 hit in 1960, and anyone who has heard an old Chiquita Banana commercial knows her voice.
Now that the charts are consolidated and artists get a period of time when they can promote a hit undistracted by cover competition, you have to wonder just how big the Les Baxter version of “Unchained Melody” would have been, had there been no drain on its sales. The Righteous Brothers version, still ten years away, with a resurgence in 1990, is proof of the song’s strength, no matter who sings it. Look for my version at iTunes shortly.
The other debut is really a re-entry that has taken a year to chart again. Recorded on April 12, 1954 and released on May 10 of that year, the single, Decca 29124, has been gathering dust after selling a reported 18,000 copies and charting at #23 for one week on May 29, 1954. In the meantime, the author of the song’s guitar solo has fallen down a set of stairs and died (on June 17, 1954), and an actor, Glenn Ford, has swiped the record from his son Peter’s collection to show the honchos of his next movie what kids are listening to. The film is The Blackboard Jungle, and the song is “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets.
In other news, Eddie Fisher debuts on the Jockey chart with “Heart,” from Damn Yankees, which also gives us “Whatever Lola Wants.” The Jockeys will give Eddie the #6 slot eventually, while sales will peak at #15.
May 19, 1956: This “Heartbreak Hotel” thing is starting to get old, but here we have Elvis atop all four charts again.
Talk about stagnation: the Best Sellers chart has no debuts, with a number of songs flipping and flopping but not dropping. Over at the Top 100, one Top 40 debut of note is “A Little Love Can Go a Long, Long Way” by the Dream Weavers featuring Wade Buff. This single is a One-Week Wonder, but the Dream Weavers can console themselves with memories of their previous Top Ten hit, “It’s Almost Tomorrow.”
May 20, 1957: Between the 1956 and 1957 charts, Elvis has 8 #1 spots. Not bad work.
Unlike 1956, we have some interesting 1957 debuts this week. First up is “Start Movin’ (In My Direction)” by an actor who is branching out, Sal Mineo. Sal will chart four songs (two as Best Seller flips), and this one will reach the Top Ten, but don’t let all that success lull you into believing that Sal sings well. He’s no Caruso, more like a Fabian.
An iconic group hits the charts for the first time this week. The Coasters debut “Young Blood,” with “Searchin’” as its flip, this week. Both songs will reach the Top 100 Top Ten, but in the fourth week on the Best Sellers chart, the record will flip, and “Searchin’” will be considered the A-side for the remainder of the run.
May 19, 1958: The Everly Brothers have made the #1 spots all theirs, as “All I Have to Do Is Dream” is the consensus #1 now.
As for debuts, the Best Sellers give us “High Sign” by the Diamonds, which will creep into the Top 40 on two charts for one week each; the mildly creepy “Teacher, Teacher” by Johnny Mathis, the intense “Rumble” by Link Wray, already a Top 40 hit on the Top 100, and, at an encouraging #18, “Secretly” by Jimmie Rodgers. Its flip is the future One-Week Wonder “Make Me a Miracle.”
May 18, 1959: Wilbert Harrison dashes the hopes of several potential #1 hits by leaping from #6 to the pinnacle. He will get two weeks at the top, and none of the songs he jumped will get there (barring the song he replaced, The Happy Organ”).
I’ll list all of the debuts, which can be noted for their lackluster qualities: “Lonely for You,” a future #24 peak for One-Hit Wonder Gary Stites; “Someone,” a future #35 underperformer for Johnny Mathis; and “I’ve Come of Age,” a future #28 hit, based on a melody from Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony, by One-Hit Wonder Billy Storm. As I said, there’s nothing amazing here, unless “hard-to-find” equals “amazing” in your world. In mine, it just means “annoying.”
For your listening pleasure, it’s time to celebrate the “Unchained Melody” phenomenon. All five of the hit versions, for your edification. I chose the stereo mix of the Righteous Brothers version.
For Wednesday, I’ll bring you the postponed discussion of a piano player many of us know by name—only. See you then!
Les Baxter and His Orchestra, Unchained Melody
Al Hibbler, Unchained Melody
Roy Hamilton, Unchained Melody
June Valli, Unchained Melody
Righteous Brothers, Unchained Melody
Showing posts with label Les Baxter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Les Baxter. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
1950s Chart Meltdown, Week 7, and Fools in Love
For the background on this blog series, see this post.
For Valentine’s Day, it’s appropriate that Frankie Lymon’s first hit, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” would debut around that holiday. A couple of One-Hit Wonders round out a fairly routine week across the charts.
February 12, 1955: It’s a quiet week, but the “Sincerely” era begins on the Best Sellers chart, where the McGuire Sisters reach #1 to start a six-week run there. They replace the Fontane Sisters, who are now atop the Juke Box chart with “Hearts of Stone.” “Sincerely” is also the darling of the Disc Jockeys, and the McGuires will owe their eventual 10-week #1 total for this song to radio alone.
The few debuts this week include a One-Hit Wonder, Lenny Dee, with his instrumental “Plantation Boogie.” Two “Earth Angel” versions (Crew-Cuts and Penguins) finally climb onto the Juke Box chart, and a third, by Gloria Mann, debuts on the Best Sellers.
February 18, 1956: Juke Box operators and patrons still love Dean Martin’s “Memories Are Made of This,” at #1 for the fourth week on that chart. There is fragmentation at the other top spots: Kay Starr reaches the Best Seller #1 slot with “Rock and Roll Waltz.” The Platters enjoy their first week at #1 on both the Top 100 and the Disc Jockey charts.
Speaking of Dean Martin, if you want the most up-to-date word on the man, you should scoot on over to this blog: ilovedinomartin, run by Dino Martin Peters. Apart from keeping track of new releases and events, the blog simply provides amazing entertainment.
There is a smash debut this week, “Poor People of Paris” by Les Baxter, His Chorus and Orchestra. It’s an instrumental with some la-la vocalization, and its title is incorrect. The song is French in origin, and when it was described by transatlantic phone, the man on the American side heard the title as “Les Pauvres Gens” (Poor People), when it was actually “Pauvre Jean” (Poor John). Whatever the title, Baxter’s hit debuts in the Top Ten on the Best Sellers chart, and at #25 on the Top 100. The Disc Jockeys drive it into the Top Ten as well, but it’s still a week away from a low-level debut on the Juke Box chart.
An iconic debut: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, which steps into the fray at #15 on the Best Sellers chart. There’s no radio or juke box action, so it’s not a Top 40 hit on the Top 100 yet.
February 16, 1957: While Elvis Presley collects a second week at #1 on the Best Sellers with “Too Much,” he doesn’t do that well elsewhere. Tab Hunter’s version of “Young Love” tops the Top 100 and the Disc Jockey charts, and on the latter, Hunter replaces Sonny James’s original “Young Love.” On the Juke Box chart, Guy Mitchell hangs on to log a tenth week at #1 with “Singing the Blues.”
While last week brought “Marianne” to radio in both the Terry Gilkyson and the Hilltoppers versions, this is the first week as Best Sellers for both recordings. There, Gilkyson outpaces the Hilltoppers by 14 spots, but on the Top 100, the Hilltoppers win by four places.
On the Best Sellers chart, Guy Mitchell debuts with “Knee Deep in the Blues,” and it is listed there with its flip, “Take Me Back Baby.” However, because the flip charted independently and reached only #47, it doesn’t appear at all in the Top 40 book.
In the tradition of cowboy songs, Fess Parker and Bill Hayes, who competed previously with versions of “Ballad of Davy Crockett,” now lock horns over “Wringle Wrangle.” Hayes won round one, but Parker will take this battle.
Jazzy female singer Chris Connor scores her only Top 40 hit, reaching that level for the first time on the Top 100 with “I Miss You So.” While she will spend just three weeks at #40 or higher, the song will linger on the Top 100 for a total of 28 weeks.
Betty Johnson, who charted in December with “I Dreamed” and has been in the Top Ten on the Jockey chart for a little while, just now debuts on the Juke Box chart. A year and a week from now, she will give us one of the strangest Top 40 hits ever. I’ll bring you that one when the time is right.
February 17, 1958: “Don’t” by Elvis Presley remains atop the Best Sellers chart, but “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors logs its seventh week at #1 on the Top 100. The Jockeys have made “Sugartime” by the McGuire Sisters #1 on their chart, but they will peak no higher than #5 on the two sales charts, so perhaps the song was not as big a #1 as it would seem.
Two very radio-friendly songs make their Best Sellers debut this week—but they’re a couple of weeks away from their Jockey debut. “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” by the Four Preps and “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra are uncharacteristic sales-only hits for these artists. That could have happened in part because the Jockey list is sluggish and almost static this week.
February 16, 1959: Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” logs a second week at #1. A notable debut is by a One-Hit Wonder: Thomas Wayne with the DeLons, who will take “Tragedy” into the Top Ten. Thomas Wayne Perkins is the brother of Luther Perkins, of Johnny Cash fame. Other than that, it’s an extremely quiet week on the Hot 100, as far as significant debuts go.
For your listening pleasure, give these One-Hit Wonders a spin. Lenny Dee, who recorded “Plantation Boogie” (Decca 29360), was born Leonard DeStoppelaire in Chicago. He played one of those big-sounding organs that are either used as solo instruments or not at all, because they overpower every other instrument within ten miles.
Thomas Wayne recorded “Tragedy” (Fernwood 109) with the DeLons. A Mississippi native, he died in an auto accident in 1971, at the age of 31. His brother, Luther, died at age 40 in 1968 when he fell asleep while smoking. Luther was Johnny Cash’s lead guitarist, the originator of the clicking guitar so prevalent on the Cash hits.
And for those who can’t get enough, or will get too much, of Valentine’s Day, here are the Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon as well.
Wednesday, the biggest hit-making bandleader of all time. See you then!
Lenny Dee, Plantation Boogie
Thomas Wayne with the DeLons, Tragedy
The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon, Why Do Fools Fall in Love
For Valentine’s Day, it’s appropriate that Frankie Lymon’s first hit, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” would debut around that holiday. A couple of One-Hit Wonders round out a fairly routine week across the charts.
February 12, 1955: It’s a quiet week, but the “Sincerely” era begins on the Best Sellers chart, where the McGuire Sisters reach #1 to start a six-week run there. They replace the Fontane Sisters, who are now atop the Juke Box chart with “Hearts of Stone.” “Sincerely” is also the darling of the Disc Jockeys, and the McGuires will owe their eventual 10-week #1 total for this song to radio alone.
The few debuts this week include a One-Hit Wonder, Lenny Dee, with his instrumental “Plantation Boogie.” Two “Earth Angel” versions (Crew-Cuts and Penguins) finally climb onto the Juke Box chart, and a third, by Gloria Mann, debuts on the Best Sellers.
February 18, 1956: Juke Box operators and patrons still love Dean Martin’s “Memories Are Made of This,” at #1 for the fourth week on that chart. There is fragmentation at the other top spots: Kay Starr reaches the Best Seller #1 slot with “Rock and Roll Waltz.” The Platters enjoy their first week at #1 on both the Top 100 and the Disc Jockey charts.
Speaking of Dean Martin, if you want the most up-to-date word on the man, you should scoot on over to this blog: ilovedinomartin, run by Dino Martin Peters. Apart from keeping track of new releases and events, the blog simply provides amazing entertainment.
There is a smash debut this week, “Poor People of Paris” by Les Baxter, His Chorus and Orchestra. It’s an instrumental with some la-la vocalization, and its title is incorrect. The song is French in origin, and when it was described by transatlantic phone, the man on the American side heard the title as “Les Pauvres Gens” (Poor People), when it was actually “Pauvre Jean” (Poor John). Whatever the title, Baxter’s hit debuts in the Top Ten on the Best Sellers chart, and at #25 on the Top 100. The Disc Jockeys drive it into the Top Ten as well, but it’s still a week away from a low-level debut on the Juke Box chart.
An iconic debut: “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, which steps into the fray at #15 on the Best Sellers chart. There’s no radio or juke box action, so it’s not a Top 40 hit on the Top 100 yet.
February 16, 1957: While Elvis Presley collects a second week at #1 on the Best Sellers with “Too Much,” he doesn’t do that well elsewhere. Tab Hunter’s version of “Young Love” tops the Top 100 and the Disc Jockey charts, and on the latter, Hunter replaces Sonny James’s original “Young Love.” On the Juke Box chart, Guy Mitchell hangs on to log a tenth week at #1 with “Singing the Blues.”
While last week brought “Marianne” to radio in both the Terry Gilkyson and the Hilltoppers versions, this is the first week as Best Sellers for both recordings. There, Gilkyson outpaces the Hilltoppers by 14 spots, but on the Top 100, the Hilltoppers win by four places.
On the Best Sellers chart, Guy Mitchell debuts with “Knee Deep in the Blues,” and it is listed there with its flip, “Take Me Back Baby.” However, because the flip charted independently and reached only #47, it doesn’t appear at all in the Top 40 book.
In the tradition of cowboy songs, Fess Parker and Bill Hayes, who competed previously with versions of “Ballad of Davy Crockett,” now lock horns over “Wringle Wrangle.” Hayes won round one, but Parker will take this battle.
Jazzy female singer Chris Connor scores her only Top 40 hit, reaching that level for the first time on the Top 100 with “I Miss You So.” While she will spend just three weeks at #40 or higher, the song will linger on the Top 100 for a total of 28 weeks.
Betty Johnson, who charted in December with “I Dreamed” and has been in the Top Ten on the Jockey chart for a little while, just now debuts on the Juke Box chart. A year and a week from now, she will give us one of the strangest Top 40 hits ever. I’ll bring you that one when the time is right.
February 17, 1958: “Don’t” by Elvis Presley remains atop the Best Sellers chart, but “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors logs its seventh week at #1 on the Top 100. The Jockeys have made “Sugartime” by the McGuire Sisters #1 on their chart, but they will peak no higher than #5 on the two sales charts, so perhaps the song was not as big a #1 as it would seem.
Two very radio-friendly songs make their Best Sellers debut this week—but they’re a couple of weeks away from their Jockey debut. “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” by the Four Preps and “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra are uncharacteristic sales-only hits for these artists. That could have happened in part because the Jockey list is sluggish and almost static this week.
February 16, 1959: Lloyd Price’s “Stagger Lee” logs a second week at #1. A notable debut is by a One-Hit Wonder: Thomas Wayne with the DeLons, who will take “Tragedy” into the Top Ten. Thomas Wayne Perkins is the brother of Luther Perkins, of Johnny Cash fame. Other than that, it’s an extremely quiet week on the Hot 100, as far as significant debuts go.
For your listening pleasure, give these One-Hit Wonders a spin. Lenny Dee, who recorded “Plantation Boogie” (Decca 29360), was born Leonard DeStoppelaire in Chicago. He played one of those big-sounding organs that are either used as solo instruments or not at all, because they overpower every other instrument within ten miles.
Thomas Wayne recorded “Tragedy” (Fernwood 109) with the DeLons. A Mississippi native, he died in an auto accident in 1971, at the age of 31. His brother, Luther, died at age 40 in 1968 when he fell asleep while smoking. Luther was Johnny Cash’s lead guitarist, the originator of the clicking guitar so prevalent on the Cash hits.
And for those who can’t get enough, or will get too much, of Valentine’s Day, here are the Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon as well.
Wednesday, the biggest hit-making bandleader of all time. See you then!
Lenny Dee, Plantation Boogie
Thomas Wayne with the DeLons, Tragedy
The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon, Why Do Fools Fall in Love
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