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The Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 1 - The 50s

Started by daf, March 10, 2019, 03:16:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic


purlieu

Quote from: daf on May 19, 2019, 02:00:00 PM
71.  Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now


Cor, that's properly good. One of those great '50s / '60s ballads with a ton of chord changes that just ramp up the emotion. Great stuff.

Quote from: daf on May 20, 2019, 02:00:00 PM
72.  Vic Damone - On The Street Where You Live


Mm, this is a step back. Not an especially terrible song, but frankly it's a bit like one of those Britpop songs that somehow struggled into the chart in 1999.

Quote from: daf on May 21, 2019, 02:00:00 PM
73.  Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream


Ooh, I thought this was a bit later than 1958. The Everly Brothers are a group I associate with a slightly more modern era, which highlights how quickly we're progressing with this.

daf

First came across "Acuff-Rose'  on the publishing credits to Elvis Costello's Almost Blue LP.

With him being the King of cryptic wordplays, I was convinced it was a rude anagram planted by the "Sunday's Best" hit-maker for his own amusement - it MUST have been - I mean who would have a name like Acuff?

machotrouts

Beautiful song, and the earliest #1 I knew for sure I loved before this thread started. I always figured, if I made a "favourite #1s" ranking, this would be my one token 1950s inclusion (though this thread has introduced me to more competition than I expected). All the more striking for being momentarily tied at the top with Vic Damone – his song sounding about a decade behind its time, this sounding about a decade ahead of its time.

Usually considered a double A-side with Claudette, isn't it? They're both listed on the Official Charts site. Not that Claudette is doing any of the heavy lifting here – I think that's the first time I've been disappointed that a song has turned out more lively and up-tempo than I expected. Give me more lovely swoony proto-jangle you fucking cunts

Dr Rock

Bloody love the Everly Bros. Many early Beatles songs are clearly emulations of the Everlies.

DrGreggles


It should be on the "If you don't like this, you don't like music" thread.

Joint best so far with Frankie Lymon, and both records influenced not just The Beatles but also Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, etc. The Everly Brothers are crucial because up to then I think group harmony singing was associated with black music or barber shops (or Glee Clubs, Four Freshmen in the US), but this was proof that two white guys could do it.

Another interesting feature of this record is that just starts with one note before the vocals; no messing with intros.

daf

Roll over Jedward, and tell The Proclaimers the News!, its . . .

74.  The Kalin Twins - When



From : 17 August – 20 September 1958
Weeks : 5
Flip side :  Three O'Clock Thrill
bonus  : TV performance

QuoteThe Kalin Twins (born February 16, 1934) were a pop music recording and songwriting duo, comprising twin brothers Harold Kalin and Herbert Kalin, known affectionately as "Hal and Herbie.

The twins were born in Port Jervis, New York. Originally discovered by Clint Ballard, Jr., the writer of "Good Timin'" for Jimmy Jones, and "I'm Alive" for The Hollies, the sibling duo had a couple of early recording flops including "Jumpin' Jack".

However, in 1958, after searching through piles of writers' demo tapes, their management discovered the song called "When", written by Paul Evans and Jack Reardon. It topped the UK Singles Chart on 13 September 1958, got to Number 5 in their U.S. homeland, and sold over two million copies in the process.

The Kalin's were the first set of twins to reach number one in the UK as a duo. They were supported by Cliff Richard on their only UK tour. Their next single, "Forget Me Not", reached Number 12 in the US Billboard chart later in 1958, but later waxings including "Oh! My Goodness" (1959), "Cool" (1959),  "Sweet Sugar Lips" (1959), and  "Chicken Thief" (1960) failed to hit the spot, and they never troubled the charts again.

Eventually, the brothers returned to their day jobs, with each pursuing college degrees. They did not perform again until 1977, when a mutual friend booked them to appear at his new nightclub. Sometimes they performed with their younger sibling, Jack, and thus appeared as "The Kalin Brothers".

In 1989, their one-time support act, Cliff Richard, invited them to play at his Wembley Stadium 'The Event' concerts, as part of a sequence paying homage to the 1950s television pop show, Oh Boy!

Harold "Hal" Kalin died on August 24, 2005, as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash, aged 71.
Herbert "Herbie" Kalin died July 21, 2006 from a heart attack, aged 72.

Quote"When" was written by Jack Reardon and Paul Evans and published in 1958.

The biggest hit version was recorded by The Kalin Twins in 1958 - remaining in the UK Pop Parade for eighteen weeks, five of which were at Number One. They had no further UK chart entries.

Other versions include : Die James Brothers (1958)  and  Showaddywaddy (a UK #3 in 1977)

On This Day :
Quote17 August : Belinda Carlisle, (The GoGo's), born in Hollywood, California
17 August : Sting's favourite book - "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov published
22 August : Great Britain performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
27 August : USSR launches Sputnik 3 with two dogs aboard (one to drive & the other to hold the map)
29 August : George Harrison joins The Quarrymen
29 August : Lenny Henry, comedian, born in Dudley, Worcestershire
29 August : Michael Jackson, singer, born in Gary, Indiana
29 August : Cliff Richard and the Drifters release single "Move It"
5 September : "Doctor Zhivago" novel by Boris Pasternak published
5 September : "The Huckleberry Hound Show" by Hanna-Barbera featuring Yogi Bear premieres on US TV
6 September : 'Buster Bloodvessel', (Bad Manners), born Douglas Trendle in Hackney, London
11 September : Mick Talbot, (Style Council), born in Wimbledon, London
13 September : 'Bobby Davro', comedian, born Robert Christopher Nankeville in Ashford, Middlesex
16 September : Neville Southall, goalie, born in Llandudno, Wales

famethrowa

Quote from: Dr Rock on May 21, 2019, 08:23:51 PM
Bloody love the Everly Bros. Many early Beatles songs are clearly emulations of the Everlies.

I think they were the originators of the dual-lead vocal idea; where both voices have equal importance and the "main melody" could belong to either. Or were they just following someone else? Anyway, it's been used by the Fabs, Bee Gees, Simon & Garfunkel and the Finn brothers, to name just a few.

I played a few shows with an old L.A. session guy, who played on a recording in the 70's where they hired Don Everly for backing vocals. He got talking to Don and asked about some of the old songs, but Don would only refer to his old duo as "the act" and couldn't even bring himself to say his brother's name. Sad, really

purlieu


daf



machotrouts

I'm not fully satisfied that this song earns its castanets.

daf

TWANNNNGG!!!, its . . .

75.  Connie Francis - Stupid Cupid



From : 21 September – 1 November 1958
Weeks : 6
Flip side : Carolina Moon

QuoteFollowing the success of "Who's Sorry Now?", and after the relative failure in the US of the follow-up singles "I'm Sorry I Made You Cry" and "Heartaches", "Stupid Cupid" restored momentum to Francis' chart career. In 1959, she gained two gold records for a double-sided hit: "Lipstick on Your Collar" / "Frankie".

Francis traveled to London in August 1959 to record an Italian album at the EMI Studios at Abbey Road, London. Entitled Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites, the album remained in the charts for 81 weeks, peaking at #4. To this day, it is still Francis' most successful album. "Mama," the single taken from the album, was a #2 hit in the UK.

Following this success, Francis recorded seven more albums of "favorites" between 1960 and 1964, including Jewish, German, and Irish, among others, and continued to record singles, including : "Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart", "Where the Boys Are" , and "When the Boy in Your Arms (Is the Boy in Your Heart)" in 1961, and "Second Hand Love", and her third US number 1, "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" in 1962.

Thanks to 'The British Invasion' led by The Dave Clark Five and The Brumbeats, Francis' chart success began to wane after 1963. She had her final top-ten hit, "Vacation", in 1962, and her last top-40 entry in 1964 with "Be Anything (but Be Mine)".

In late 1969, Francis' contract with MGM Records ran out and she decided not to commit herself any further to her longtime record company, weary from almost 15 years of uninterrupted recording, live appearances, television and motion picture work, and travelling. From 1970 until 1973, Francis lived in semi-retirement, appearing only occasionally as a special guest on TV shows.

In 1973, Francis returned to the recording studio, cutting "The Answer : (Should I) Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree?", the answer song to "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" by Tony Orlando & Dawn.

While appearing at the Westbury Music Fair in New York, on November 8, 1974, Francis was raped at the Jericho Turnpike Howard Johnson's Lodge in Jericho, New York, and nearly suffocated under the weight of a heavy mattress the culprit had thrown upon her. She subsequently sued the motel chain for failing to provide adequate security and reportedly won a $2.5 million judgment. During the years after the incident, Francis went into depression, taking as many as 50 Darvon pills a day and rarely leaving her home in Essex Fells, New Jersey.

In 1978, Francis returned to the recording studio to cut an album titled 'Who's Happy Now?' featuring a disco version of "Where the Boys Are". She recorded this song also in Japanese, Italian, and Spanish, as she had done before with her original 1960 version.

In 1981, further tragedy struck Francis when her brother, George Franconero, Jr.,  was murdered by Mafia hitmen. Despite this, she took up live performing again. Francis' newfound success was short-lived, though, as she was diagnosed with manic depression, which brought her career to a stop for a further four years, during which she was committed to a total of 17 hospitals.

In 1989, Connie Francis resumed her recording and performing career again. For Malaco Records, Francis recorded a double album entitled Where the Hits Are, containing re-recordings of 18 of her biggest hits, as well as six classics of yesteryear Francis had always wanted to record songs such as "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" and "Torn Between Two Lovers".

In 1996, With Love To Buddy, a tribute album of songs made famous by the late Buddy Holly, was released. It remains Francis' last original release.

At 80 years old, she currently campaigns to secure a total revamp of the conditions that exist in most mental hospitals.

Quote"Stupid Cupid" was written by Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka.

After almost three years of failure, Connie Francis finally had a hit in the spring of 1958 with a rock ballad version of the standard "Who's Sorry Now?" Unfortunately, her next pair of singles were less successful. Francis recalls: "I knew I had to come up with a hit on the third record. It was crucial. I listened to every publisher's song in New York, but nothing was hitting me."

Eventually Don Kirshner of Aldon Music had Greenfield and Sedaka, who were staff writers for Aldon, visit Francis at her home to pitch their songs, but she and close friend Bobby Darin argued that the slow, dense ballads they were offering didn't appeal to the teenager market.

Francis asked if they had something faster and more bouncy, so Greenfield asked Sedaka to play "Stupid Cupid", an uptempo number intended for the Shepherd Sisters. Sedaka objected that Francis, a "classy lady", would be insulted to be pitched such a puerile song; but Greenfield dismissed Sedaka's objection, saying, "What have we got to lose, she hates everything we wrote, doesn't she? Play it already!" After hearing only a few lines Francis recalls: "I started jumping up and down and I said, 'That's it! You guys got my next record!'"

Other versions include : Maureen Evans (1958)  /  Neil Sedaka (1959)  /  Peppino Di Capri e i suoi Rockers  (1959)  /  "Sexie Hexy"  by Danny Mann in Germany (1958)  /  "Estúpido Cupido" by Celly Campelo in Brazil (1959)  / "Tuttu juttu" by Arja Koriseva in Finland (1990)  / Jo Wyatt from The Minipops (#1 in France in 1982)

Quote"Carolina Moon" was written by Joe Burke and Benny Davis in 1924. The song was first recorded in 1928 by American crooner Gene Austin whose version charted for 14 weeks, seven of them at #1. It was recorded by Connie Francis in June 1958: as with her breakthrough hit "Who's Sorry Now?", "Carolina Moon" was recommended to Francis by her father.

Other versions include :  Ben Selvin (1929)  /  Annette Hanshaw (1929)  /  Perry Como (1949)  /   The Chordettes (1951)  /  The Lonious Monk (1952)

A 'Double A side' in the UK (with "Carolina Moon" usually getting listed first - probably for alphabetical reasons), I think it's likely most people were buying the single on the strength of "Stupid Cupid".

On This Day :
Quote22 September : Joan Jett, (The Blackhearts), born in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania
22 September : Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor, born in Lajatico, Italy
23 September : Danielle Dax, (Lemon Kittens), born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex
2 October : Marie Stopes, birth control pioneer, dies age 77
4 October : Anneka Rice, (Treasure Hunt), born in Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, Wales
11 October :"Goldilocks" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 161 performances
11 October : First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television sports programme 'Grandstand'
14 October : Thomas Dolby, Keyboard Boffin, born Thomas Morgan Robertson in London
16 October : First broadcast of the long-running BBC Television children's programme 'Blue Peter'
16 October : Benjamin Britten's "Nocturne" premieres
19 October : Mike Hawthorn becomes the first British racing driver to win the Formula One World Championship, and immediately announced his retirement.
21 October : The first life peers, including the first female peers, enter the House of Lords.
20 October : Mark King, (Level 42) born in Cowes, Isle of Wight
27 October : Simon Le Bon, (Duran Duran), born in Bushey Le Hertfordshire
28 October : The State Opening of Parliament is broadcast on television for the first time - narrated by Mr. Cholmondley-Warner.
28 October : Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli elected Pope, taking name Chicago John XXIII

machotrouts

Sent Stupid Cupid to my brain and thought "Well, I suppose this is fun, objectively speaking. TWANNNNG. Quite. Analysis suggests I like it." Then I sent it to my heart and it spat back out "actually no it's a bit of a fucking nuisance. TWANNNNG? Give ower." 5/10

purlieu



daf

You Win Again, its . . .

76.  Tommy Edwards - All In The Game



From : 2 – 22 November 1958
Weeks : 3
Flip side : Please Love Me Forever

QuoteThomas Jefferson Edwards was born on October 15, 1922, in Henrico County and was the son of Thomas Jefferson Edwards and Buena Vista Williams Edwards. In 1928 the family moved to Henrico County, where Edwards attended the Virginia Randolph Training School. For approximately a year beginning in October 1939 he sang and played piano on his own fifteen-minute radio show that aired twice weekly on WRNL.

By 1943 Edwards had moved to New York City. Lodging at the Harlem YMCA, he peddled his songs in the Tin Pan Alley district and on Broadway. By April of that year Edwards was performing in nightclubs and lounges in the Northeast and Midwest.

In 1946 the Deep River Boys,  and Bill Samuels and the Cats "N" Jammer Three covered Edwards's amusingly risqué "That Chick's Too Young to Fry". Samuels's quartet released Edwards's raunchy "My Bicycle Tillie" that autumn.

By August 1947 Edwards had formed the Tommy Edwards Trio. By early in 1949 he had signed a four-year deal with National Records, and his trio released a debut recording, "Up in the Alley." The ensuing recordings did not chart, and he and the label parted ways.

Resuming his solo career, Edwards signed with Signature Records in September 1950. Although that venture proved unproductive, his songwriting paid off again when Tony Bennett released the swinging "One Lie Leads to Another." Edwards appeared on the television talent-search programs The Show Goes On and Songs for Sale, where his comic "Paging Mister Jackson" won first prize. The country music star Red Foley soon recorded the tune. Edwards then pitched "All Over Again" to MGM Records. Impressed by his voice, executives offered him a contract, and on November 30 he went into the recording studio.

When "Once There Lived a Fool" debuted early in 1951, reviewers noted a similarity to Nat King Cole. In July "The Morningside of the Mountain" hit number twenty-four on Billboard's retail chart. By then Edwards had also recorded his original version of "It's All in the Game" based on "Melody in A Major", composed decades earlier by Charles Gates Dawes, later vice president of the United States under Calvin Coolidge from 1925 to 1929.

During 1952 Edwards appeared on television, performed with the Les Paul and Mary Ford stage show, and traveled with the Woody Herman Orchestra, the Mills Brothers, and Dinah Washington in a Caravan of Stars tour that stopped in Norfolk and Richmond. "Please Mr. Sun" and "You Win Again" proved popular, but these and other of Edwards's recordings lost out to more-successful versions by Doris Day, Johnny Ray, and Hank Williams. Although picked as one of the most promising newer male vocalists in February 1953, his career had stalled by May 1954.

Edwards made no recordings for MGM between September 1955 and June 1958. Often broke, he relied on loans from friends in the music business. MGM had marketed him as a black crooner similar to the label's "Sepia Sinatra," Billy Eckstine, but the lushly orchestrated songs selected for him were of uneven quality.

Edwards reportedly had only pocket change and MGM was preparing to drop him when in 1958 the label opted to reprise "It's All in the Game" as a beat-ballad. The arrangement melded perfectly with his romantic tenor. Captivating teenagers and young adults alike, the recording spent six weeks at number one on Billboard, topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and eventually sold 3.5 million copies. Edwards received his gold record on Your Hit Parade and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, hailed his return as the year's biggest comeback. During the next two years Edwards charted thirteen other songs; three made the Top 20 and two others the Top 30. He toured extensively, starred at least twice on Bandstand, and was invited on several occasions to appear on Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show.

His last chart hit was in 1960, and, admitting that rock and roll was not his style, became increasingly out of step with music trends. His final single, released in 1966, was "I Cried, I Cried" backed with the appropriately titled "I Must Be Doing Something Wrong".

In reduced circumstances and drinking heavily, Edwards died of cirrhosis of the liver on October 23, 1969, in his Henrico County home at only 47 years old. His grave in the Quioccasin Baptist Church Cemetery remained unmarked until 2008.

QuoteIn 1951, Carl Sigman composed the lyrics to an 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major" written by Charles G. Dawes, later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. (It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President).

Dawes, a Chicago bank president and amateur pianist and flautist, composed "Melody in A Major" in 1911 in a single sitting at his lakeshore home in Evanston. He played it for a friend, the violinist Francis MacMillen, who took Dawes's sheet music to a publisher. The tune, often dubbed "Dawes's Melody", was a favorite of violinist Fritz Kreisler, who used it as his closing number, and in the 1940s it was picked up by musicians such as Tommy Dorsey.

In summer 1951, the songwriter Carl Sigman had an idea for a song, and Dawes's "Melody" struck him as suitable for his sentimental lyrics. Dawes had died in April of that year. It was recorded that year by Dinah Shore, Sammy Kaye, Carmen Cavallaro, and Tommy Edwards.

A jazz/traditional pop arrangement was recorded by Louis Armstrong and arranger Gordon Jenkins would in 1956 produce a version with Nat King Cole.

In 1958, Edwards had only one session left on his MGM contract. Stereophonic sound recording was becoming viable and it was decided to cut a stereo version of "Game" with a rock and roll arrangement. The single was a hit, reaching number one in both the US and UK Singles Chart.

Other Versions include :  Cliff Richard (1963)  /  The Four Tops (1970)  /  Van Morrison (1979)  /  Merle Haggard (1984) 

On This Day :
Quote8 November : Terry Lee Miall, (Adam & The Ants drummer 1980-82) born in London
10 November : Donald Campbell driving Bluebird K7 sets the world water speed record at 248.62 mph
11 November : "La Plume de Ma Tante" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 835 performances
22 November : Jamie Lee Curtis, actress, born in Los Angeles, California

Dr Rock

As the text says, the only number one song to have been co-written by a US vice-president.

machotrouts

Note that it specifically says the only #1 single in the US. Mike Pence, of course, co-wrote "Mi Chico Latino" for Geri Halliwell, which failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

It saddens me that Pence's song is so much better than this one, but you can't argue with historical facts.

purlieu


daf

There's a MOOSE! - LOOSE! - Aboot This HOOSE!, its . . .

77.  Lord Rockingham's XI - Hoots Mon



From : 23 November – 13 December 1958
Weeks : 3
Flip side : Blue Train

QuoteLord Rockingham's XI was a group of British session musicians, led by Harry Robinson (1932–1996), who had a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1958 with "Hoots Mon".

The group was created to perform as the resident band on the pop TV programme Oh Boy!, which was produced by Jack Good, and shown nationally on Britain's ITV network during 1958/59. Good had previously produced Six-Five Special for the BBC Television, but wanted to drop the sport and public-service content from this show, and concentrate on the music. The BBC would not accept this, so Good resigned.

ABC allowed Good to make two pilot all-music shows, which were only broadcast in the Midlands. These pilots were successful, so the programme was given a national ITV slot on Saturday evenings, from 6.00pm – 6.30pm, in direct competition with 6.5 Special, but starting slightly earlier. The hosts were Tony Hall, a jazz record producer and critic, and Jimmy Henney, and the artists covered a broad spectrum of music including ballads, jazz, skiffle and rock and roll.

Each week Oh Boy! (broadcast live from the Hackney Empire) featured resident artists plus a selection of special guests. The residents included Cuddly Dudley, Cliff Richard & the Drifters  (Later to become the Shadows), Marty Wilde, and the Dallas Boys. Guests included Billy Fury, Tony Sheridan, Shirley Bassey and Lonnie Donegan; with occasional US stars, such as the Inkspots, Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee supported by the singing and dancing of The Vernons Girls, The Dallas Boys and Neville Taylor's Cutters.

The solo artists were supported by a specially created house band Lord Rockingham's XI, who were fronted by Harry Robinson and also included jazz baritone saxophonist (later writer/broadcaster) Benny Green, and organist Cherry Wainer. Other members were Wainer's husband Don Storer (drums), Reg Weller (percussion), Red Price (tenor sax), Rex Morris (tenor sax), Cyril Reubens (baritone sax), Ronnie Black (double bass), Bernie Taylor (guitar), Eric Ford (guitar).

In addition to backing singers such as Marty Wilde and Cuddly Dudley, they recorded several novelty rock instrumentals for Decca Records, the first being "Fried Onions", which failed to chart in the UK but did slip into the US Billboard charts for a week at No. 96.

The second single, Robinson's "Hoots Mon", a rocked-up version of the traditional Scottish song "A Hundred Pipers", featuring cod Scotticisms like "Hoots mon, there's a moose loose aboot this hoose!", rose up the charts supported by weekly TV exposure, and stayed at number one for three weeks.

Following a legal case brought by descendants of the real Lord Rockingham, which was settled out of court, the group toured and made several less successful follow-ups, including "Wee Tom" (#16, 1959). They disbanded with the end of the TV show in 1959, although the name was revived for a couple of albums in the 1960s.

QuoteBorn Henry MacLeod Robertson, 19 November 1932, Harry Robinson started working occasionally as an arranger for Decca Records, before becoming the musical director for Tommy Steele. He explained that in the late 1950s he began using the name Robinson, as well as Robertson, in his professional activities:

"It was whilst working at Decca that I had to change my name. This was because the cheque that they paid me with was made out to HARRY ROBINSON and not Robertson. It would have been a nightmare to try and change it and the bank would have been difficult, so out of laziness I suppose I opened an account in the name of Robinson. And that's how Harry Robinson came about..."

Robertson was the musical director of the British television pop music programmes, Six-Five Special (1957 BBC) and Oh Boy! (1959 ITV). He was responsible for writing and producing the pop song "Hoots Mon" by Lord Rockingham's XI, which stayed at Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in 1958.

He arranged and conducted the stage shows, Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1960) and Maggie May (1964) and also co-wrote the West End hit musical Elvis. Robinson was the conductor for the United Kingdom entry in the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest. He also wrote highly acclaimed string arrangements for English folk singers, such as Nick Drake and Sandy Denny.

In 1968, he wrote the theme tune for a TV series, Journey to the Unknown, produced by Hammer Film Productions.

Harry Robertson died in London in 1996.

Quote"Hoots Mon" was written by Harry Robinson, and performed by Lord Rockingham's XI. It was a number-one hit single for three weeks in 1958 on the UK Singles Chart. It is based on the old Scottish folk song "A Hundred Pipers". It was also one of the first rock and roll songs to feature the Hammond organ, which would become popular in rock and roll music the following year with Dave "Baby" Cortez's "The Happy Organ".

The record is mostly instrumental, punctuated by four stereotypical Scottish phrases:

    "Och aye", an exclamation meaning "Oh yes."
    "Hoots mon", an interjection usually meaning "Hey man!"
    "There's a moose loose aboot this hoose" ("There's a mouse loose about this house")
    "It's a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht." ("It's a fine, bright moonlit night").

The song was revived by Bad Manners, and was also used in a commercial for Maynards Wine Gums with the line "There's a moose loose aboot this hoose" changed to "There's juice loose aboot this hoose".

On This Day :
Quote28 November : David Van Day, (Dollar), born in Brighton, Sussex
30 November : During the live broadcast of the Armchair Theatre play 'Underground' on ITV, actor Gareth Jones has a fatal heart attack between scenes.
1 December : "Flower Drum Song" opens at St James Theater NYC for 602 performances
5 December : The Preston Bypass, the UK's first motorway, is opened by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
6 December : Nick Park, 'Wallace & Gromit' animator, born in Preston, Lancashire

machotrouts

Everybody sing along now! AAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAaaaaaaaa

Pranet

I have listened to all the Lord Rockingham's XI  songs linked to in that post and I quite liked them.

Dr Rock

It was in my house growing up, my dad bought it in 1958. I liked it too.

purlieu


daf

Hooray For Harold Lloyd!, its . . .

78.  Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe



From : 14 December 1958 – 17 January 1959
Weeks : 5
Flip side : I'll Try
Bonus : TV Performance

QuoteBorn Harold Lloyd Jenkins  on 1 September 1, 1933, in Friars Point, in Coahoma County, in northwestern Mississippi. The Jenkins family were of Welsh descent, and was named by his great-uncle, after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas, when Jenkins was 10 years old. In Helena, Jenkins formed his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers, and had his own local radio show every Saturday morning.

After his discharge from the Army, he again pursued a music career. After hearing Elvis Presley's song, "Mystery Train," he began writing rock 'n' roll material. As a matter of course, he headed for the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and worked with Sam Phillips, owner and founder of the legendary Sun Studios—where Presley and other early rock stars had been discovered—to get the "right" sound.

Jenkins felt that his real name was not marketable. He changed to his show-business name in 1957, but Harold Lloyd Jenkins would always remain his legal name. Looking at a road map, he spotted Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas. His professional name thus became "Conway Twitty."

Instead of playing rockabilly like some of the other Sun discoveries, he tried his hand at the style that had come to be called Rock and Roll. For more than a year, he was unable to score a hit, when his fortunes suddenly changed in 1958, while he was with MGM Records. An Ohio radio station played the flip side of Twitty's single "I'll Try," a song called "It's Only Make Believe." The song was written by Conway and drummer, Jack Nance. It soon became popular in Ohio, and gradually reached the top of the national charts.

For a brief period in Twitty's early career, especially in the case of "It's Only Make Believe," many believed that this previously unknown singer was actually Elvis Presley recording under a different name. The record took nearly one year in all to reach the top spot in the charts. It went on to sell over eight million records and to reach Number 1 in 21 different nations. Twitty would also enjoy success with a Rock and/or Roll version of "Danny Boy" and "Lonely Blue Boy."

Twitty dented the UK charts a further four times :
"The Story Of My Love" (#30 - 1959)  / "Mona Lisa" (#5 - 1959)  /  "Is A Blue Bird Blue" (#43 - 1960) /  "C'est Si Bon" (#40 - 1961)

Twitty began his country career in 1965, but Country DJs refused to play his first few country albums because he was too well known as a rock singer. He finally broke free from the rock stereotype in 1968, with his first Number 1 country song, "Next In Line." Then, in 1970, Twitty recorded and released "Hello Darlin'", a major country hit. His growling, personalized, and occasionally raunchy style was a big hit with country fans eager for a sound with more edge than Nashville was producing in those days.

Twitty also produced some of the finest country duets on record. In 1971, he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone", followed by "Lead Me On", also in 1971, "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man", in 1973, and "As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone", in 1974.

In 1978, Twitty issued the single "The Grandest Lady of Them All" honouring the Grand Ole Opry, peaking at number 16, it was the first time since 1967 that a single of his failed to reach the top ten. Twitty soon reinvented his image with a new hairstyle, changing from the slicked-back pompadour style to the curlier style he would keep the rest of his life; by the late 1970s, Twitty had shifted his musical arrangements into a country pop style he would maintain for the rest of his career.

Twitty lived for many years in Hendersonville, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, where he built a country music entertainment complex called Twitty City at a cost of over $3.5 million. Opened in 1982, it was a popular tourist stop throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s.

On June 4, 1993, Twitty became ill while performing at the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri. He collapsed and was rushed to a hospital. He was rushed into surgery but died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, in the early hours of the following morning at Cox South Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 59. 

Shortly before his death, he had recorded an appropriately titled new album, "Final Touches". He was buried at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee, in a red granite vault, under his birth name, "Harold L. Jenkins".

Quote"It's Only Make Believe" was written by Jack Nance and Conway Twitty, and produced by MGM Records' Jim Vienneau, released by Twitty as a single in July 1958. The single topped both U.S. and the UK Singles Chart, and was Twitty's only #1 single on the pop charts of either country.  Twitty wrote his part of the song while sitting on a fire escape outside his hotel room, to escape the summer heat, in Hamilton, Ontario.

Other Versions Include :
The Hollies (1963)  /  Billy Fury (1964)  /  Glen Campbell (1970)  /  Screamin' Jay Hawkins (1972)  /
Child (1978)  /  Ivo Linna and Rock Hotel (1986)  /  Brian May (1998)  /  Misfits (2003)

On This Day :
Quote14 December : Mike Scott, (The Waterboys), born in Edinburgh, Scotland
14 December : "Spider" Stacy, (The Pogues), born Peter Richard Stacy in Eastbourne, England
17 December : Mike Mills, (REM), born in Orange County, California
19 December : Limahl, (Kajagoogoo), born Christopher Hamill in Pemberton, Wigan, Lancashire
21 December : Charles de Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st President of 5th Rep of France
1 January : Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista flees Cuba for the Dominican Republic
6 January : Kathy Sledge, (Sister Sledge), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
12 January : American record company Motown is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records
14 January : Chas Smash, (Madness), born Cathal Joseph Smyth was born in Fitzrovia, London
15 January : Tyne Tees Television, the ITV franchise for North East England, goes on air.
16 January : Sade, (Smooth Operator), born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria
17 January : "Say, Darling" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 332 performances
17 January : Susanna Hoffs, (Bangles), born in Los Angeles, California

purlieu

Conway Twitty. That's the best he could come up with looking at a map.

Johnboy

Cumberland Gap and That'll be the Day are highlights for me so far