Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

[daf]

This one came up as an answer in Eggheads yesterday - spooky!

[machotrouts]

A sweet little ditty about a bloke perving at schoolgirls. "LOVELY LOCOMOTION" is one of the weirder compliments in pop, though honestly not one of the worst. I could imagine telling it to, say, a coquettish Terminator. "MUCH TOO NICE TO REARRANGE", on the other hand, is a straight-up threat.

He also sang the theme song for the 1965 Sally Field television comedy Gidget.

[Ying Yang Twins voice] HEY BITCH

[daf]

Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?, its . . .

112.  Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight



From : 22 January – 18 February 1961
Weeks : 4
Flip side : I Gotta Know

The Story So Far :

Elvis' Christmas Album was released in October 1957, and recorded at Radio Recorders in Hollywood.

The original 1957 LP consisted of six popular Christmas songs, two traditional Christmas carols and four gospel songs which had been previously released on the EP Peace in the Valley, issued March 1957.

While most of the songs selected were traditional Christmas fare, such as "White Christmas" and "Silent Night", two new songs by regular suppliers of material for Presley were commissioned. One was "Santa Bring My Baby Back (to Me)" and the other was a blues-based rock and roll number, "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

Elvis had asked the pair to come up with another Christmas song during sessions for the album; within a few minutes, they had the song written and ready for recording. Originally titled "Christmas Blues", this slyly risqué number is given a full-throated treatment by Elvis who, aided by the gritty ensemble playing from his band, was determined to ensure that this Christmas album would not be easily ignored.  Much of the remaining program was performed in a more traditional manner appropriate to the solemnity of Christmas, although Elvis's innate sense of occasion shone through on his left-of-centre reading of Ernest Tubb's 1949 hit, "Blue Christmas".

The Bing Crosby holiday perennial "White Christmas," became the center of controversy upon the album's release, with calls by the song's composer Irving Berlin to have the song, and the entire album, banned from radio airplay. After hearing Presley's version of his song, which Berlin saw as a "profane parody of his cherished yuletide standard", he ordered his staff in New York to telephone radio stations across the United States, demanding the song be discontinued from radio play. While most US radio stations ignored Berlin's request, at least one disc jockey was fired for playing a song from the album, and most Canadian stations refused to play the album.

The controversy was, ironically, fueled by Elvis's performance of the song in a style mirroring the version by Clyde McPhatter's group, The Drifters, which had been a Top 10 hit in 1954 and 1955. Unlike Elvis's recording, however, their version attracted virtually no adverse reaction, and certainly no reported opposition from Irving Berlin.

Original 1957 copies of Elvis' Christmas Album were issued with a red booklet-like album cover featuring promotional photos from Elvis's third movie Jailhouse Rock. Even rarer than the cover and record itself is a gold foil price tag-shaped "gift giving" sticker attached to the shrink wrap, reading "TO __________, FROM _____________, ELVIS SINGS", followed by a list of the tracks. Original copies with the gold sticker intact on the shrink wrap have proven to be among the most valuable of Elvis's albums.

The holiday release stretched Presley's string of number-one albums to four and would become the best-selling Christmas album ever in the United States, with eventual sales of over 20 million worldwide. After the session, Moore and Black—drawing only modest weekly salaries, sharing in none of Presley's massive financial success—resigned. Though they were brought back on a per diem basis a few weeks later, it was clear that they had not been part of Presley's inner circle for some time.

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was written in 1926 by vaudevillians Lou Handman and Roy Turk with three verses, followed by a spoken bridge. They based the bridge on a line in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and "You know someone said that the world's a stage. And each must play a part" refers to "All the world's a stage" from William Shakespeare's As You Like It.

It was recorded several times in 1927 — first by Charles Hart, with successful versions by Vaughn De Leath, and Henry Burr. In 1950 the Blue Barron Orchestra version reached the top twenty on the US charts.

In the final months of his service in the United States Army, Elvis Presley began experimenting with new material in anticipation of his return to recording. His first recording session was scheduled for March 20, 1960, and RCA's Studio B had recently been equipped with a new three-track recorder. To improve the recording of Presley's voice, engineer Bill Porter had Telefunken U-47 microphones installed.

During the selection of material for the sessions, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, suggested "Are You Lonesome Tonight?". The favorite song of Parker's wife, Marie Mott, it was the only time he intervened in Presley's choice of repertoire. Presley returned to the studio with his band, consisting of Scotty Moore, drummer D. J. Fontana, pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Hank Garland, bassist Bobby Moore, percussionist Buddy Harman, and the Jordanaires, on April 3.

After the eight songs Parker needed for Elvis Is Back! were recorded, Presley moved on to his manager's request. At 4 am on April 4, the singer began recording "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", accompanied by acoustic guitar, drums, bass, and the backup group. He asked everyone else in the studio to leave the session, told Chet Atkins to turn the lights out, and performed the song with the spoken bridge. After the second take, Presley said to producer Steve Sholes, "Throw that tune out; I can't do it justice". Sholes told engineer Bill Porter to ignore Presley's order and asked the singer to do a new take, explaining that the Jordanaires had bumped into their microphone stand while recording in the dark. Presley performed the song once more, and that take became the master for the single.

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was not released for several months while RCA executives decided if the ballad reflected Presley's new style, but they and Parker ultimately decided to release the song. It became Presley's 15th chart-topping US single, it held the top position until January 9, 1961, and a month after its UK release it topped the UK Singles Chart. Three months after its release, the single had sales of two million copies worldwide.

The success of "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" made the song one of Presley's live staples. He performed it live for the first time on March 25, 1961, at a Bloch Arena benefit in Honolulu for the USS Arizona Memorial, one of Presley's four live performances between his return from the Army and his shift in career focus to acting.

A version of the song, recorded on August 26 1969 in Las Vegas, where Presley altered the words of the narration ("Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair") and laughed through the rest of the bridge like a daft wazzock, was released in 1980 as part of the Elvis Aron Presley box set. In 1982 this "Laughing Version" reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart.

Other Versions include :  The Original Carter Family (1936)  /  Al Jolson (1950)  /  Jaye P. Morgan (1959)  /  Rikki Henderson (1961)  /  Helen Shapiro (1962)  /  The Four Lads (1962)  /  Frank Sinatra (1962)  /  The Mills Brothers (1963)  / The Lettermen (1964)  /  Al Martino (1964)  /  Frank Fontaine (1965)  /  Pat Boone (1966)  /  Sven Hedlund (1967)  /  Peter Vee (1971)  /  Dottie West (1972)  /  Bobby Hachey (1972)  /  Donny Osmond (1973)  /  Johnny Farago (1976)  /  singing something simple . . . The Cliff Adams Singers (1976)  /  Merle Haggard (1977)  /  P.J. Proby (1978)  /  featuring the rarely heard introduction 'verse' : Vera Lynn (1979)  /  Timi Yuro (1982)  / Renée & Renato (1985)  /  The Gang Bang Band (1987)  /  Engelbert Humperdinck (1987)  /  Connie Francis (1989)  /  Bryan Ferry (1992)  /  Tiny Tim with The New Duncan Imperials (1996)  / Eilert Pilarm (1996)  /  Anne Murray (2002)  /  Barry Manilow (2006)  /  Angel Corpus Christi (2009)  /  José Feliciano (2012) / Hank Marvin (2017)  /  a lonely robot (2019)

On This Day :

25 January : Walt Disney's "101 Dalmatians" animated film, based on the novel by Dodie Smith is released
27 January : Gillian Gilbert, (New Order), born in Whalley Range, Manchester
31 January : Premiere of "The Misfits", the final movie for Clark Gable & Marilyn Monroe,
31 January : Ham the chimpanzee is 1st primate in space - aboard Mercury-Redstone 2
31 January : Lloyd Cole, (and the Commotions), born in Buxton, Derbyshire
12 February : USSR launches Venera 1 - desination Venus
13 February : Frank Sinatra launches Reprise label under Warner Bros Records
16 February : US satellite Explorer 9 is launched
16 February : Andy Taylor, (Duran Duran), born in Cullercoats, Northumberland

[purlieu]

The narration really makes me think of William Shatner.

[Satchmo Distel]

I have a vague memory of Elvis's Christmas Album being the best-selling album of the Fifties in the US but I cannot find any verification online. I might be confusing it with the album's cumulative sales up to the present day as it obviously keeps selling every Xmas.

[daf]

William Shatner

Beam Me Up Santa

[daf]

I have a vague memory of Elvis's Christmas Album being the best-selling album of the Fifties in the US but I cannot find any verification online.

Think it must be the South Pacific soundtrack - it sold like absolute gangbusters.

Couldn't find a list for the US but, as a rough guide, the top selling albums in the 50s for the UK were :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.    South Pacific  -  Original soundtrack  (1958)
2.    My Fair Lady  -  Original Broadway cast  (1958)
3.    Oklahoma!  -  Original soundtrack  (1956)
4.    Songs for Swingin' Lovers!  -  Frank Sinatra  (1956)
5.    West Side Story  -  Original Broadway cast  (1957)
6.    Showcase  -  Lonnie Donegan  (1956)
7.    Come Dance with Me!  -  Frank Sinatra  (1959)
8.    Elvis' Golden Records  -  Elvis Presley  (1958)
9.    My Fair Lady  -  Original London cast  (1959)   
10.  The King and I  -  Original soundtrack  (1956)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

However, Elvis does top the list of best selling christmas albums in the US - with three versions appearing separately in the chart :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.   Elvis' Christmas Album - 1970 Camden/Pickwick budget reissue of 1957 LP with altered track listing (Diamond : over 10 million sales)
15.  It's Christmas Time - 1985 re-titled reissue of 1970 budget edition of 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (3× Platinum)
27.  Elvis' Christmas Album - 1957 original release (3× Platinum)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[machotrouts]

Impressively sparse. Bet this must sound great to people who like to hear Elvis just plain old singing a song right all up in their lugs.

White Christmas? Worst song in any fucking form. Abject sonic misery.

Forgot to mention earlier, 'It's Now or Never' marked the point Elvis overtook Frankie Laine's number one tally and became the first artist to have 5 number ones. This song makes him the first artist to have 6 number ones. He will also be the first artist to have 7 number ones, 8 number ones, 9 number ones, 10 number ones, 11 number ones, 12 number ones, 13 number ones, 14 number ones, 15 number ones... 18 number ones, 19 number ones, 20 number ones, and 21 number ones. Not the first artist to have 16 number ones or 17 number ones. Fucked it for a bit there.

Elvis had asked the pair to come up with another Christmas song during sessions for the album; within a few minutes, they had the song written and ready for recording. Originally titled "Christmas Blues", this slyly risqué number is given a full-throated treatment by Elvis who, aided by the gritty ensemble playing from his band, was determined to ensure that this Christmas album would not be easily ignored.

Is it just me or does this bit not actually mention the song it's about? What slyly risqué number? What you on about. I want the slyly risqué number.

[daf]

Is it just me or does this bit not actually mention the song it's about? What slyly risqué number? What you on about. I want the slyly risqué number.

Ah, yes I see that reads a bit confusingly - the 'slyly risqué number' is "Santa Claus Is Back In Town".

Let me have another crack at sub-editing that section :

(Please cut out and paste this corrected version into your copybooks)
✂- - - - - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - - - - - ✂- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -✂

While most of the songs selected were traditional Christmas fare, such as "White Christmas" and "Silent Night", two new songs by regular suppliers of material for Presley were commissioned.

The first was "Santa Bring My Baby Back (to Me)", written by Aaron Schroeder and Claude Demetrius, and later covered by Mae West on her ear-boggling 1967 "Wild Christmas" album.

The second, originally titled "Christmas Blues", was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Elvis had asked the pair to come up with a Christmas song during sessions for the album; within a few minutes, they had the song written and ready for recording. This slyly risqué number, now re-titled as "Santa Claus Is Back In Town", was given a full-throated treatment by Elvis who, aided by the gritty ensemble playing from his band, was determined to ensure that this Christmas album would not be easily ignored. 

Much of the remaining program was performed in a more traditional manner appropriate to the solemnity of Christmas, although Elvis's innate sense of occasion shone through on his left-of-centre reading of Ernest Tubb's 1949 hit, "Blue Christmas".

✂- - - - - - - - - - - - -  - - - - - - - - - - - - ✂- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -✂

risqué bit :

Hang up your pretty stockings, turn off the light 
Santa Claus is comin' down your chimney tonight

[Pauline Walnuts]

However, Elvis does top the list of best selling christmas albums in the US - with three versions appearing separately in the chart :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1.   Elvis' Christmas Album - 1970 Camden/Pickwick budget reissue of 1957 LP with altered track listing (Diamond : over 10 million sales)
15.  It's Christmas Time - 1985 re-titled reissue of 1970 budget edition of 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (3× Platinum)
27.  Elvis' Christmas Album - 1957 original release (3× Platinum)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Last time I was in a record shop:

[daf]

Shiver Me Timbers!, its . . .

113.  Petula Clark - Sailor



From : 19 – 25 February 1961
Weeks : 1
Flip side : My Heart (Amor)

Sally Olwen Clark was born in Epsom, Surrey, England on 15 November 1932. Both of her parents were nurses there at Long Grove Hospital. Her mother was of Welsh ancestry and her father was English. Young Sally's stage name of Petula was invented by her father; he joked it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla.

During the Second World War, Clark lived with her sister at the home of their grandparents in Pontlottyn South Wales, in a small stone house with no electricity, no running water and a toilet at the bottom of the garden. Her grandparents spoke little English and Clark learned to speak Welsh. Her grandfather was a coal miner. Her first ever live audience was at the Colliers' Arms in Abercanaid, near Merthyr Tydfil.

In October 1942, the 9-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father. She was there trying to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas, but the broadcast was delayed by an air raid. During the bombing, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery theatre audience, and she volunteered a rendering of "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to an enthusiastic response.

In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the "Singing Sweetheart", she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill and Bernard Montgomery. Clark also became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple" and was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.

While performing at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1944, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her, at age 12, as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the General.  She worked with Anthony Newley in 'Vice Versa' (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in 'The Card' as well as 'I Know Where I'm Going!' - a Powell and Pressburger feature film now generally regarded as a masterpiece.

In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic". In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply 'Petula Clark'.

In 1947, Clark had recorded her first release, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy", for EMI and had recorded with vocalist Benny Lee on Decca. But because neither EMI nor Decca were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her father, teamed with producer Alan A. Freeman to form the Polygon record label in order to better control and facilitate her singing career.

She scored a number of major hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker" (#7 - 1954), "Majorca" (#12 - 1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (#7 - 1955) and "With All My Heart" (#4 - 1956). "The Little Shoemaker" was an international hit, reaching No. 1 in Australia, the first of many No. 1 records in her career.

In 1957, Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia where, despite her misgivings and a bad cold, she was received with acclaim. The following day she was invited to the office of Vogue Records to discuss a contract. It was there that she met her longtime publicist, collaborator and future husband, Claude Wolff.

In 1960, she embarked on a concert tour of France and Belgium with Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish, and establishing herself as a multi-lingual performer.

While Clark focused on her new career in France, she continued to achieve hit records in the UK into the early 1960s, developing a parallel career on both sides of the Channel. Her 1961 recording of "Sailor" became her first No.1 hit in the UK.

"Sailor" is the title of the English-language rendering of the 1959 schlager composition "Seemann (Deine Heimat ist das Meer)" originally written in German by Werner Scharfenberger and lyricist Fini Busch : featuring lyrics in English by Norman Newell (writing as David West).

Lyricist Norman Newell would recall that his publisher phoned him on a Friday requesting he write English lyrics for Lolita's hit "Sailor, Your Home Is The Sea ". Although Newell agreed to prepare the lyrics over the weekend the assignment slipped his mind until a messenger arrived Monday morning to pick up Newell's work. While the original German lyrics of the song had addressed a seafaring love object with an acceptance of his wanderlust, the lyrics written by Newell inverted this sentiment turning the song into a plea for the sailor to return.

The first recording of the English version of "Sailor" was made by Anne Shelton. The session for Shelton's version was arranged and conducted by Wally Stott and featured guitarist Big Jim Sullivan who'd also play on the version by Petula Clark.

Petula Clark recorded "Sailor" with her regular producer Alan A. Freeman who was assisted with the track's production by Tony Hatch, marking the first collaboration between Clark and her future hit making mentor. Clark, based in Paris since 1957, had been pitched "Sailor" by Hatch and orchestra leader Peter Knight while in London for a conference. In addition to the Peter Knight Orchestra and Chorus, the session personnel for Clark's recording of "Sailor" included guitarists Vic Flick and Big Jim Sullivan, and also Harry Pitch whose harmonica playing was a striking feature of the track.

When Petula Clark charted in her native UK with the English-language rendering of "Sailor" reaching #1 in February 1961 she ended a UK chart absence of almost three years. However, during those same three years Clark did enjoy a string of hit singles in France and she expediently rendered her UK hit "Sailor" with French-language lyrics - by Jean Broussolle - with the resultant track "Marin" becoming Clark's eighth French chart hit, its #2 peak - reached in May 1961 - matching Clark's previous best French charting that being with "Java Pour Petula" #2 in 1959.

Other Versions include : Caterina Valente (1960)  /  Jack Elliott (1961)  /  Anne Shelton (1961)  /  The Andrews Sisters (1961)  /  Jean Campbell (1961)  /  Manuela (1963)  /  Bobby Helms (1966)  /  Roger Williams (1965)  /  United Balls (1981) 

On This Day :

20 February : Percy Aldridge Grainger, composer/pianist, dies at 78

[Satchmo Distel]

Petula sporting the Viv Nicholson, Smiths cover hairstyle?

[purlieu]

Not much of a song, but seeing her name made me think "ah, this really is the '60s, then!"

[famethrowa]

A sweet little ditty about a bloke perving at schoolgirls. "LOVELY LOCOMOTION" is one of the weirder compliments in pop, though honestly not one of the worst.

Was"locomotion" some kind of tame and short lived sexual innuendo back in the Fixties?

[machotrouts]

Petula's in cracking nick these days for someone who became famous in the 1940s, isn't she? Think I proposed her for Strictly Come Dancing like a year or two ago. Still reckon she could do it.

This song is not in cracking nick at all. You certainly can't hear 'Downtown' on the horizon. It sounds like the last stale fart spluttering out the tail-end of a career, the dying breaths of a late entrant to the Vera Lynn generation. No surprise Anne Shelton did it first. Has no place whatsoever in the 1960s. Can we go back to Cliff Richard's modern youthful stylings please.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Petula sporting the Viv Nicholson, Smiths cover hairstyle?

That's quite the quizzical stare top My Auntie lookalike Petula's giving it on the picture, too. Back in them days, was the " who the fuck are you/ what the fuck is that ? " expression * really* considered a good look for a single sleeve ?

[EOLAN]

The ice cream van that covers our area has that as its bloody song and I hate it for that alone.

I think one of ours had the Bridge On The River Kwai theme. Enjoyed having an ice-cream van taking a tune associated with Japanese PoW camps.

[daf]

Mention Their Name in Sheboygan, its . . .

114.  Everly Brothers - Walk Right Back



From : 26 February – 18 March 18 1961
Weeks : 3
Double A-side : Everly Brothers - Ebony Eyes

Conventional rock critic wisdom often has it that after the Everly Brothers left the independent Cadence label for the newly emerging major Warner Brothers at the beginning of the 1960s, they never quite recaptured their early greatness. While the brothers' Cadence hits remain their most famous recordings, in fact there were many fine recordings during the pair's decade-long association with Warners, even if the big hits stopped flowing after 1962. And their Warners years could have hardly gotten off to a better start, their first single for the label ("Cathy's Clown") reaching  #1 in the spring of 1960. At the same time came their first LP for Warners, 'It's Everly Time', which reached #9 on the album charts.

'It's Everly Time' was an unusually strong, consistent record from a time when rock'n'roll albums were often hasty throwaways. The twelve-song set would maintain strong links with the country-pop-rockabilly fusion they'd perfected at Cadence, even as they moved toward somewhat fuller and more sophisticated arrangements.

Though Warner Brothers was based in Los Angeles, for the time being they continued to record in Nashville with top session players, laying down all dozen tracks over the course of five sessions in March 1960. Half of the songs were penned by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant - the team responsible for several of the brothers' biggest Cadence hits, such as "Bye Bye Love", "Wake Up Little Susie", and "Poor Jenny"

None of the Bryants' songs on It's Everly Time would become hits, though "Some Sweet Day", was later covered by Fairport Convention in a session for the BBC in 1968. While "Sleepless Nights" is one of the Everly Brothers' most exquisite romantic ballads, the Bryants' other efforts on the LP tended toward more forceful midtempo rock'n'roll, even adding a touch of the blues for the appropriately titled "Nashville Blues".

Some of the other tunes Don and Phil Everly covered for the album included the lilting but funky "What Kind of Girl Are You", a Ray Charles composition, "I Want You to Know" which had first appeared on a 1957 Fats Domino B-side, and "Carol Jane" written by their friend Dave Rich.

As the Everly Brothers seemed to have been granted a good deal of creative freedom in choosing and recording the material on 'It's Everly Time', and as both Don and Phil had begun to blossom into outstanding songwriters at Cadence, it's a little surprising that the album had just one original composition. But that one original, Don Everly's "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)", would become the most famous track on the record. Plucked for release as a single a few months later, it rose to #7 in the autumn of 1960.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

For their second Warners album, 'A Date with the Everly Brothers', the duo chose an eclectic assortment of originals from Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, covers of tunes by major rock'n'roll, blues, and country artists, both sides of their smash hit, "Cathy's Clown", and four of their own songs, including the moody ballad "That's Just Too Much", and "Sigh, Cry, Almost Die".

Aside from the Cathy's Clown B-side "Always It's You", Boudleaux and Felice Bryant supplied "Love Hurts", which was covered by Roy Orbison for the B-side "Running Scared";  "So How Come (No One Loves Me)" which was covered by The Beatles for the BBC in July 1963;  "Donna, Donna", and the ballad "A Change of Heart".

With several Warner Brothers hit albums and singles of the highest quality already to their credit, the Everly Brothers were indeed riding high at the end of 1960, now nothing could possibly go wrong!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Their third Warner album - 'Both Sides of an Evening' is usually cited as the place where the Everly Brothers' music and career started to go wrong.

Their relationship with their longtime producer and publisher, Wesley Rose, had fallen apart in late 1960 amid a conflict over copyrights, specifically their decision to record as a single an old Nacio Herb Brown/Arthur Freed song called "Temptation" that he didn't publish.

Cut off from their regular source of songs, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who were Rose-published composers, were left to their own devices as songwriters, with the complication that they were also signed to Rose and there were now pending lawsuits in the relationship. Finding potential hits in such circumstances, much less a dozen good songs at a time to record, was a serious challenge. Their answer was an album consisting of rhythm numbers on side one ("For Dancing") and slow ballads ("For Dreaming") on side two.

Most of the first side - apart from the unfortunate decision to record "Mention My Name in Sheboygan" - worked beautifully, their version of "Muskrat" even getting a kind of shimmering Bo Diddley-style "shave and a haircut" beat, and the duo even put a fresh (and unexpected rock) spin on the Al Jolson number "My Mammy".

Side two is where the wheels started coming off the wagon - thanks to the presence of "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo", "Now Is The Hour",  and "Little Old Lady". In some ways, Both Sides of an Evening was the duo's most ambitious and mature record to date, but the second half, though beautifully sung, just wasn't terribly exciting or of much interest to the teenagers that made up the vast bulk of their audience.

"Walk Right Back" was written by Sonny Curtis and was recorded by The Everly Brothers. Released between their second and third Warner albums in February 1961, it went to No. 7 in the US chart, and No. 1 in the UK for three weeks.

In an interview he did with Jim Liddane of the International Songwriters Association, Sonny Curtis said about the song:

Well, I wrote most of that one Sunday afternoon, while I was doing my basic training in California, just after I went in the army, although I had the guitar riff for a while, and then, Lady Luck stepped in. I never was much for guns, and still am not really into them, but out of 250 men in our unit in basic training, six of us fired expert, and I was one of the six!

Anyway, for firing expert, they gave me a three-day pass, and I went straight down to Hollywood, and the Crickets were there, and so were Don and Phil, who were doing some acting classes for movies — they had just signed for Warner Brothers. So, Jerry Allison (of the Crickets) told me to sing the song for Don — actually I had only one verse written — and Don called Phil down, and they worked out a gorgeous harmony part. So, they said, 'If you write another verse. we'll record it'.

Anyway, I went back to base, and wrote a second verse, and put it in the mail to them, and next morning, I got a letter from Jerry to tell me that the Everlys had already recorded the song before they got my letter — they had simply recorded the first verse twice! And that's the version that was released, and that's the version that was the hit!

The joke is that Perry Como and Andy Williams and a whole bunch of others including myself, recorded the song with the second verse included, but when Anne Murray did it in 1978, she just did the same as the Everlys, just the one verse — and that was a big hit all over again — so maybe the second verse was never meant to be!

The missing second verse :
These eyes of mine that gave you loving glances once before, change to shades of cloudy gray.
I want so very much to see you, just like before. I've got to know you're coming back to stay.
Please believe me when I say, 'It's great to hear from you,' but there's a lot of things a letter just can't say, oh, me.
Walk right back to me this minute ..."

Other Versions include :  Don Duke (1961)  /  The Hunters (1962)  /  Bobby Vee and The Ventures (1963)  /  Gary Lewis & The Playboys (1965)  /  The Tony Hatch Singers and Swingers (1967)  /  Lulu (1968)  /  Sonny Curtis (1968)  / Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell (1969)  /  Brian Hyland (1969)  /  Laurel Aitken (1969)  /  Chet Atkins (1971)  /  Harry Nilsson (1971)  /  Top of the Poppers (1973)  / Andy Williams (1973)  /  Perry Como (1973)  /  Val Doonican (1977)  /  Mud (1978)  /  Anne Murray (1978)  /  Suzanne Prentice (1980)  /  Ann Breen (1981)  /  Oscar & Debbie (1983)  /  Gene Rockwell & Joanna Field (1983)  /  Dana & Tony Stevens (1985)  /  The Organist Entertains : John Verkroost (1988)  /  Kirsty MacColl (1991)  /  Daniel O'Donnell & Mary Duff (1996)  /  Nanci Griffith (1998)  /  Mike Berry & The Outlaws (1998)  /  Pete Best and the The Pete Best Band (feat. Pete Best) (1999)  /  Foster & Allen (2004)  /  Corry Konings (2004)  /  John Sebastian & David Grisman (2007)  /  Ed Payne (2012)  /  The Matchstalk Men (2013)  /  Peter Williams (2013)  /  The Two Wieners (2016)  /  Andre Hendriks (2017)  /  Chris Hillman (2017)  /  Lorrie Morgan & Pam Tillis (2017) 

International Versions include :
Czech : "Píšu Pět" by Karel Gott (1980)
Danish : "Jeg er ensom dagen lang" by Jens & Peter (1975)
Norwegian : "Gå rett hjem" by Stein Ingebrigtsen, Dag Spantell (1978)
Swedish : "Du sa tack" by Mats Rådberg (1978)  /  Tonix (1979)  / Saints Orkester (1982) 
Dutch : "Stap voor stap" by Lindsay & André Hazes Jr. (2011)

"Ebony Eyes" was written by John D. Loudermilk, recorded in 1961 by The Everly Brothers, and released as a single together with "Walk Right Back", which reached No.8 on the US chart. The lyrics tell a young man's tragic story of losing his beloved fiancée in an airplane crash in dark, stormy weather conditions, conditions which remind him of his fiancée's "ebony eyes".

The single, a double A-side in the UK, reached No.1 in the UK Singles Chart on 2 March 1961 for 3 weeks, and was the ninth best-selling single of the calendar year 1961 in the U.K. "Ebony Eyes" was initially banned by the B.B.C. from airplay in the U.K. as its lyrics were considered too upsetting to play on the radio - aw, diddums!

Other Versions include :  Dickey Lee (1962)  /  Brendan O'Brien and The Dixies (1966)  /  The Calhoun Twins (1970)  /  Orion (1972)  /  Ann & Bryn Yemm (1980)  /  Tony Kerr (2012)

On This Day :

28 February : Barry McGuigan, boxer, born in Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland
1 March : Cellist Jacqueline du Pré's debut in Wigmore Hall
2 March : "13 Daughters" opens at 54th St Theater NYC for 28 performances
6 March : George Formby, Ukelele-banjo legend, turns out dead again, age 56
8 March : Thomas Beecham, English conductor, dies at 81
9 March : Soviet flight Sputnik 9 carries and returns from orbit a dog named Chernushka (Blackie), frogs and a guinea pig
15 March : South Africa withdraws from British Commonwealth
18 March : 6th Eurovision Song Contest: Jean-Claude Pascal for Luxembourg wins "Nous les amoureux" in Cannes

[purlieu]

Hurry up, Beatles.

[Satchmo Distel]

NME-only #1 time

[kalowski]

Hurry up, Beatles.

You'll be waiting a while. We're still in the first half of 1961.

[daf]

Hurry up, Beatles.

Sprouts first, then pudding!

[daf]

NME-only #1 time

Almost - Still one to go.

No peeking!

[daf]

Oops - ignore that!

[machotrouts]

Hate any pop song backstory along the lines of "ooh the song wasn't really written yet but we just loved the 20 seconds we had so much we just decided to release it as it is!!!!" Shut up and finish the job you hasty fucks. 'Walk Right Back' ends a minute in and then... walks right back to the first verse. It's like when spam Facebook pages try to monetize GIFs by posting a 20-second video of them looping instead of just uploading the actual GIF.

'Ebony Eyes', at least, is a finished song, or a finished monologue with a bit of singing either side of it at any rate. Nice to hear more teen vehicular carnage at #1.

Lots to say about the other 4 hours of songs too. 88 links in one post – is this a record so far? Guinness keeping tabs?

[daf]

Jiminy Cricket!, its . . .

115.  Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart



From : 19 March – 29 April 1961
Weeks : 6
Flip side : Tonight Is So Right For Love
bonus : G.I Blues movie version

The Story So Far :

On December 20 1957, Presley received his draft notice. He was granted a 60-day deferment to finish the forthcoming King Creole, in which $350,000 had already been invested by Paramount and producer Hal Wallis.

Hal Wallis acquired the rights to A Stone for Danny Fisher in February 1955 for $25,000, with the intention of giving the lead role of a New York boxer to either James Dean or Ben Gazzara. The role was originally written for Dean, but the project was cancelled after his death in 1955. In January 1957, following the success of an off-Broadway stage version of the story, Presley was suggested as a possible replacement. After negotiations were completed, the character of Fisher was changed from a boxer to a singer and the location was moved from New York to New Orleans.

Wallis selected Michael Curtiz, a noted director of the Hollywood studio system whose works included The Adventures of Robin Hood, Yankee Doodle Dandy and Casablanca. Curtiz decided to shoot the film in black and white for dramatic ambiance and to give the streets a film noir appearance. He also selected an experienced cast to support Presley, including Walther Matthau and Carolyn Jones, as well as Dolores Hart, Presley's co-star in the 1957 film 'Loving You'. Curtiz instructed Presley to lose fifteen pounds and shave his sideburns for the role, both of which he did.

During filming, Presley was constantly moved to avoid the crowds of fans who came to see him on location, which delayed the film-making. Wallis had rented a house for Presley's privacy, and a second one after one of his assistants noticed that the back of the houses in the block led to the back of the houses on the adjacent street. To escape from the crowds, Presley would climb to the roof of one house and cross over onto the roof of the other.

The film was released by Paramount Pictures on July 2, 1958, to both critical and commercial success. The critics were unanimous in their praise of Presley's performance. King Creole peaked at number five on the Variety box office earnings charts.

Presley, after seeing an early copy of the finished film, thanked Curtiz for giving him the opportunity to show his potential as an actor; he would later cite Danny Fisher as his favorite role of his acting career. Fourteen days after the completion of King Creole, Presley was officially inducted into the U.S. Army.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In March 1958, just as he was finally packing his bags for the Army, his fifth album 'Elvis' Golden Records' was released : a stunning collection of (non-album) singles and b-sides from 1956 and 1957, including "Hound Dog",  "Heartbreak Hotel", "Don't Be Cruel", "Jailhouse Rock", and "All Shook Up".

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In September 1958 RCA Victor released the soundtrack album for 'King Creole'. Recorded in four days at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, the bulk of the songs originated from the stable of writers contracted to Hill and Range, the publishing company jointly owned by Presley and Colonel Tom Parker: Fred Wise & Ben Weisman ("Crawfish",  "As Long as I Have You")  /  Aaron Schroeder ("Dixieland Rock",  "Young Dreams")  /  Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett ("New Orleans")  /  Sid Wayne and Abner Silver ("Lover Doll")

Conspicuous in their relatively limited contribution were Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had come to an impasse with the Colonel during the making of the previous film, Jailhouse Rock (1957), in which they had practically dominated the musical proceedings. Furious over mere songwriters having such easy access to Presley without going through Parker's "proper channels," the Colonel closed off their avenue to his prize client, especially since the duo had also tried to influence Presley's film direction, pitching him an idea to do a gritty adaptation of Nelson Algren's recent novel, A Walk on the Wild Side (1956).

The Colonel put the kibosh on such notions, although echoes of the concept remained in the film, and the pair still managed to place three songs on the soundtrack : "King Creole", "Steadfast, Loyal and True" and "Trouble".

The songs "Hard Headed Woman" and "Don't Ask Me Why" appeared as two sides of a single on July 10, 1958, to coincide with the release of the film.

"Wooden Heart", was "created" by Fred Wise, Ben Weisman, Kay Twomey and German bandleader Bert Kaempfert, based on a German folk song by Friedrich Silcher, "Muss i denn", originating from the Rems Valley in Württemberg, southwest Germany. It was performed by Elvis Presley in the film G.I. Blues.

"Wooden Heart" features several lines from the original folk song, written in the German Swabian dialect, as spoken in Württemberg. Marlene Dietrich recorded a version of the song sometime before 1958, pre-dating Presley, in the original German language, which appears as a B-side on a 1959 version of her single "Lili Marlene".

The Elvis version featured two parts in German, the first one is the first four lines of "Muss i' denn zum Städtele hinaus", whereas the second part appears towards the end and is based on a translation of the English version (therefore not appearing in the original German folk lyrics). This part being "Sei mir gut, sei mir gut, sei mir wie du wirklich sollst, wie du wirklich sollst..." ("Be good to me, be good to me, be to me how you really should, how you really should...").

Other Versions include :   Gus Backus (1960)  /  Joe Dowell (1961)  /  "Puusydän" by Kukonpojat (1961)  /  Bobby Stevens (1961)  /  "T'aimerai toujours" by Dalida (1962)  /  Kitty Wells (1962)  /  The Chordettes (1962)  / Cher (1965)  /  Hans Last (1966)  /  The Sandpipers (1967)  /  "Überall ist die Welt so wonderschön" by Bruce Low (1972)  /   Bobby Vinton (1975)  /  Vicky Leandros (1977)  /  Leroy Van Dyke (1978)   / Daniel O'Donnell (1988)  /  Nanci Griffith (1990)  /  Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1995)  /  The Brotherhood of St Gregory (2003)  /  Eilert Pilarm (2003)

On This Day :

21 March : Slim Jim Phantom, (Stray Cats), born in Brooklyn, New York
21 March : The Beatles' first appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool
25 March : "13 Daughters" closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 28 performances
25 March : "Gypsy" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 702 performances
3 April : "Happiest Girl in the World" opens at Martin Beck NYC for 97 performances
6 April : Rory Bremner, (The Commentators), born Roderick Keith Ogilvy Bremner in Edinburgh, Scotland
11 April : Trial of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes in World War II begins in Jerusalem, Israel
11 April : Bob Dylan makes his 1st appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village
12 April : Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)
13 April : "Carnival!" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 719 performances
14 April : Robert Carlyle, actor, born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland
15 April : "Music Man" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after a bum-numbing 1375 performances
21 April : The French army are revolting in Algeria
24 April : 17th century Swedish warship Vasa, which sunk on her maiden voyage in 1628, is salvaged
25 April : "Young Abe Lincoln" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 27 performances

[Satchmo Distel]

Pedantry alert: surely we know where Brooklyn, Jerusalem and Edinburgh are located?

[daf]

Other Versions include :

Brooklyn : Florida  /  Connecticut  /  Illinois  /  Indiana  /  Iowa  /  Maryland  /  Michigan  /  Missouri  /  Ohio /  Oregon  /  Wisconsin  /  Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada  /  Nova Scotia, Canada  /  Victoria, Australia  /  New South Wales, Australia  /  Tasmania   /  New Zealand  /  South Africa

Jerusalem : New Zealand   /  Lincolnshire, England  /  Maryland   / New York  /  Ohio  /  Rhode Island

Edinburgh : Australia  /  South Africa  /  Indiana  /  Ohio  /  Pennsylvania

[purlieu]

Elvis doing a German folk song. This thread never fails to surprise.

[machotrouts]

Feel like this one ought to have a "Laughing Version".