Not a classic batch, as you say, oops! Clarence, Buddy, Gary US Bonds, Petula and Shirley are OK, the rest I don't know, but in terms of songs Nature Boy is magnificent in the Nat King Cole or George Benson versions, and Climb Every Mountain is total showstopper goosebumps for me in The Sound Of Music original motion picture soundtrack. The best "Nun" song of all time, unless we restrict it to actual nuns (and that's Dominique, then) :)

'San Antonio Rose' is the best of those I know from that section! I find Cramer's piano playing charming in general and the addition of the organ on this one gives it a bit of an edge.

 

A big favourite of mine is coming up in the next batch :dance:

A really strong upper half today but 2 classics that have to go at the top, and "Let's Twist Again" gets the win just for it's joyous timelessness.

 

9 Chubby Checker Let's Twist Again An unusual song in that it doesn't really have a verse; just chorus, spoken bits and sax solo, but a brilliant timeless party anthem

9 John Leyton Johnny Remember Me 124th #1: about a man being haunted by his dead lady-friend, and it is genuinely spookily beautiful with Lissa Gray's echoey vocals

8 Don Gibson Sea Of Heartbreak Only Top 40 for this American country singer and a very beautiful sincerely sung ballad with a lovely melody and arrangement

8 Sam Cooke Cupid Another great song which I actually knew first from the Amy Winehouse cover - as usual Sam delivers it with brilliant flair

8 Gene Vincent With Sounds Incorporated I'm Going Home (To See My Baby) Last hit for Gene with a new band after his other wasn't allowed to work in the UK, and a great rock number that builds to a frenzy

7 Bobby Angelo And The Tuxedos Baby Sittin' Only solo hit for Mick Avory who will be in The Kinks: a textbook twangy relentless rock 'n' roll number here, and it's great

7 Bobby Vee How Many Tears? Again a fun catchy song from Bobby and the production is rich with strings, multitracking and the "yum diddy yum" backing

6 Jan And Dean Heart And Soul This is the piece that everyone learns to do as a piano duet at school so I struggle to take it entirely seriously, but it's a nice song

6 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen Someday (You'll Be Sorry) A very nice, really vibrant, jazzy number with ample trumpet, sax and clarinet action happening over each other and a nice melody

5 The Brook Brothers Ain't Gonna Wash For A Week A quirky and charming hit from them, but not on the same level as "War Paint" and think this is more prone to becoming irritating

4 Tommy Steele Writing On The Wall The whistling reminds me of "Singing The Blues", but it's nowhere near as memorable a song; inoffensive but nothing special

3 Johnny Burnette Girls "Big ones small ones as long as they're girls" - the protagonist very much has a one track mind but the production's quite nice

2 Lonnie Donegan Michael Row The Boat/Lumbered There's a better version of "Michael" coming - this one just doesn't really do that much for me and "Lumbered" is quite a silly song

2 Dorothy Squires And Russ Conway Say It With Flowers Last saw her back in 1953 with a version of "I'm Walking Behind You" which I really enjoyed but this lifeless ballad is not enjoyable

1 Anthony Newley What Kind Of Fool Am I? Most of his hits aren't great but he's really surpassed himself here doing a big wailing crooner number - the vocals are hideous

 

 

 

1961 Group 11:

 

#1458 02/09/1961 The Springfields Breakaway 31 46-37-39-36-{31}-33-37-41->8

#1459 09/09/1961 Elvis Presley Wild In The Country/I Feel So Bad 4 17-{4}-4-5-6-8-10-14-22-34-31-49->12

#1460 09/09/1961 The Shadows Kon-Tiki 1 24-7-5-4-{1}-3-3-10-21-19-39R(2)-37->12

#1461 09/09/1961 Terry Lightfoot And His New Orleans Jazzmen True Love 33 42-{33}-40-46->4

#1462 09/09/1961 The Highwaymen Michael 1 47-19-17-7-3-{1}-2-3-11-15-20-22-31-50->14

#1463 09/09/1961 Billy Fury Jealousy 2 50-24-12-6-{2}-4-4-5-17-18-21-30->12

#1464 16/09/1961 Del Shannon Hats Off To Larry 6 20-13-13-9-9-7-{6}-12-17-23-27-44->12

#1465 16/09/1961 Connie Francis Together 6 32-15-10-8-{6}-9-12-19-26-29-46->11

#1466 16/09/1961 Eden Kane Get Lost 10 35-19-12-{10}-11-12-13-20-33-41-50->11

#1467 16/09/1961 Cleo Laine You'll Answer To Me 5 36-20-8-7-7-{5}-7-6-11-12-19-18-40->13

#1468 16/09/1961 Duane Eddy Drivin' Home 30 37-33-{30}-48->4

#1469 16/09/1961 The Viscounts Who Put The Bomp 21 49-41-25-24-24-23-{21}-33-42-39->10

#1470 23/09/1961 Roy Orbison Cryin' 25 42-27-28-29-{25}-25-30-27-33->9

#1471 23/09/1961 Harry Belafonte And Odetta Hole In The Bucket 32 44-{32}-41R(2)-34-36-43-37-47->8

 

'Let's Twist Again' is such a feel good rock n roll classic!

Let's Twist Again, Johnny Remember Me and Baby Sittin' were all records of the week for me and a couple more lower down your list which only got the award as there were few new entries on those weeks.

And it's 4 wins from 4 hits for Roy - "Crying" is one of my absolute favourites of his - amazing that neither this nor the 90s KD Lang duet version made the Top 10.

 

9 Roy Orbison Cryin' More heartbreak and angst from him but a fantastic song - is there anything more emotionally powerful than this wailing chorus?

8 Billy Fury Jealousy Billy's only Top 2 hit - has a very dramatic, slightly dark and cinematic feel with the staccato violins and he performs it very well

8 The Shadows Kon-Tiki 126th #1: their 2nd #1 without Cliff and doesn't have the unique brilliance of "Apache" but another great tune very well arranged

7 The Springfields Breakaway First hit for the British folk pop trio and it's great - catchy and bouncy but also very sweet with a sincerity and tenderness to it

7 Elvis Presley Wild In The Country/I Feel So Bad Don't think either of these are so well remembered but the first is a gentle and sincere ballad and the second a good rocky number

7 The Viscounts Who Put The Bomp Well this is a bop (she bop, she bop) for sure - an incredibly catchy cover of a doo wop song which I'm bouncing to as I write

6 Cleo Laine You'll Answer To Me The only Top 40 hit for this English jazz singer and actress - it's a classy song very nicely arranged, and her vocals are like velvet

6 Duane Eddy Drivin' Home Different from most of Duane's hits as it's very much piano and saxophone led with the guitar in the background - nice number

5 Del Shannon Hats Off To Larry This is good but I can't help feeling like it has all the same elements as "Runaway" including the slow build, falsetto and musitron

5 Eden Kane Get Lost I do enjoy the way he croaks "geeeet lost!" but his vocals remain a bit scratchy throughout: a pretty nice song all in all though

4 The Highwaymen Michael 127th #1: better than Lonnie's for sure and has a gerat atmosphere to it, but I can't get too excited about any version of the song

4 Terry Lightfoot And His New Orleans Jazzmen True Love A jazzed up version of this song which I've already said I don't like all that much, but this rendition is actually pretty nice

3 Connie Francis Together Connie's starting to lose me a bit with these dreary ballads; it feels a bit faltering, and I'm always sceptical about a spoken verse

3 Harry Belafonte And Odetta Hole In The Bucket Last hit for Harry and a live version of this children's song - it's actually very sweetly done but doesn't bear too many listens

 

 

1961 Group 12:

 

#1472 23/09/1961 Ral Donner You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It) 25 50-36-40-30-32-28-{25}-30-30-32->10

#1473 30/09/1961 Helen Shapiro Walkin' Back To Happiness 1 26-12-2-{1}-1-1-2-2-3-4-7-4-9-16-13-23-23-28-43->19

#1474 30/09/1961 Frank Sinatra Granada 15 34-17-17-{15}-20-29-28-43->8

#1475 30/09/1961 Eddie Hodges I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door 37 38-43-40-{37}-37-49->6

#1476 30/09/1961 Laurie Johnson Orchestra Sucu Sucu 9 41-26-13-13-{9}-9-12-10-16-15-21-36->12

#1477 30/09/1961 The Temperance Seven Hard Hearted Hannah 28 47-34-{28}-28->4

#1478 07/10/1961 John Leyton Wild Wind 2 25-12-6-{2}-2-5-8-12-17-27->10

#1479 07/10/1961 The Everly Brothers Muskrat/Don't Blame Me 20 29-21-{20}-26-40-50->6

#1480 07/10/1961 Charlie Drake My Boomerang Won't Come Back 14 36-18-17-15-15-16-{14}-20-26-34-39->11

#1481 07/10/1961 Tony Orlando Bless You 5 37-20-11-8-{5}-10-9-11-20-30-44->11

#1482 07/10/1961 Ben E King Amor 38 {38}-46-39-49->4

#1483 07/10/1961 Nina And Frederik Sucu Sucu 23 42-33-29-32-{23}-29-34-25-27-49-28-31-49->13

#1484 07/10/1961 Ted Heath Orchestra Sucu Sucu 36 50-38-{36}-41-47R(2)->5

#1485 14/10/1961 Mike Berry With The Outlaws A Tribute To Buddy Holly 24 39-30-{24}-24-25-42->6

 

Johnny Remember Me is top notch classic and still hauntingly fab. Loved it then love it now. Lets Twist Again a massive tune then and in 1975 too. Still fun. Cupid is a great song but still prefer his fan Johnny Nash's reggae version. Sea Of Heartbreak and How Many Tears are good and i also dont rate What Kind Of Fool. The rest i dont know....

 

Cryin is classic in any version but Don Mclean's chart topping cover is even better than Roy's. Jealousy is a goodie kon Tiki too and Dusty in any guise is fine by me! Wild In The Country a bit too dull for me dad bought that one for mum though. Who Put The Bomp is great fun and Hats Off To Larry still sounds upbeat. Michael I can live without but it was widely known at the time snd i liked it then. Hole In My Bucket very much a whimsicsl kiddie fave and im still fond of it but yeah once in a blue moon is enough :D

'Johnny Remember Me' is one of my favourite 60s #1s :wub: I love how spooky it is too - with the subject in the song being haunted by his dead lover, plus the charging Joe Meek production and eerie female backing vocals provide such a dark atmosphere. I like the Bronski Beat/Marc Almond medley that includes it as well, although nothing quite touches the original.

Helen didn't win with "You Don't Know" despite me giving it a 9 as it came up against "Stand By Me", but she does win with the follow up even though it only gets an 8.

 

8 Helen Shapiro Walkin' Back To Happiness 128th #1: it's a fantastically catchy and excellently performed pop song, though doesn't quite have the brilliance of "You Don't Know"

7 John Leyton Wild Wind The follow up to "Johnny Remember Me" and the backing vocals play the part of the wind this time; it's another really good tune

7 Ral Donner You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It) Only hit for this American rock 'n' roll star who drew Elvis comparisons and you can see why; a strong well delivered number here

6 Frank Sinatra Granada 7 years since Frankie Laine had a hit with this; this is a good version of the dramatic song which suits Frank's authoritative vocals

6 The Everly Brothers Muskrat/Don't Blame Me Decent double A: "Muskrat" is an uptempo number with fun use of instruments; "Don't Blame Me" more like a Connie slow ballad

6 Tony Orlando Bless You This is before he had his biggest success with the backing group Dawn; it's a good tune and sweet song endearingly performed

5 Laurie Johnson Orchestra Sucu Sucu A Bolivian song and this version was used for the TV series "Top Secret"; all in all a nice, very Latin flavoured, instrumental

5 Ben E King Amor Certainly no "Stand By Me" but a nice, quite simple melody fleshed out by the Latin flavoured production led by the piano

5 The Temperance Seven Hard Hearted Hannah Their chart fortunes really went South with this one even though it's decent and quite amusing, but very similar to their other hits

4 Mike Berry With The Outlaws A Tribute To Buddy Holly I can't love this kind of mourning song but this is quite a well done one and a decent track; first of half a dozen hits for Mike

4 Nina And Frederik Sucu Sucu The only sung version of the 3 listed here - quite a fun song but fairly lightweight and actually has more impact as an instrumental

3 Eddie Hodges I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door An American child actor and singer who left showbusiness as an adult; quite a cathy song but the brash young voice just grates

2 Ted Heath Orchestra Sucu Sucu Last of 9 Top 40s for Ted, all of which have been reworkings of other songs - mostly fairly boring ones, and this is no exception

1 Charlie Drake My Boomerang Won't Come Back Also his last Top 40 mercifully - a longer than necessary comedy song about a boomerang that I can't say I get at all

 

 

 

1961 Group 13:

 

#1486 14/10/1961 Bobby Darin You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby 10 48-31-16-{10}-14-15-18-19-28-38-45->11

#1487 21/10/1961 Cliff Richard When The Girl In Your Arms Is The Girl In Your Heart 3 22-4-{3}-3-4-6-8-12-18-17-28-27-32-46-42->15

#1488 21/10/1961 Karl Denver Mexicali Rose 8 26-11-{8}-9-11-14-14-14-24-36-48->11

#1489 21/10/1961 Hayley Mills Let's Get Together 17 40-35-32-21-19-{17}-21-24-32-39-47->11

#1490 21/10/1961 Ray Charles Hit The Road Jack 6 45-19-7-{6}-13-10-12-17-22-37-39-48->12

#1491 28/10/1961 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Take Five 6 27-16-8-{6}-9-9-8-13-20-24-26-38-36-35-47->15

#1492 28/10/1961 Jimmy Dean Big Bad John 2 31-14-4-3-{2}-3-3-6-8-12-14-25-48->13

#1493 28/10/1961 Bobby Vee Take Good Care Of My Baby 3 38-18-13-7-5-5-4-{3}-3-8-12-16-29-34-46-50->16

#1494 28/10/1961 Adam Faith The Time Has Come 4 39-13-7-5-{4}-7-6-9-13-27-30-35-44-49->14

#1495 28/10/1961 Shane Fenton And The Fentones I'm A Moody Guy 22 40-31-{22}-24-24-24-25-34->8

#1496 28/10/1961 Dick And Deedee The Mountain's High 37 44-{37}-40->3

#1497 04/11/1961 Elvis Presley His Latest Flame/Little Sisters 1 4-{1}-1-1-1-2-5-10-13-15-24-28-39->13

#1498 04/11/1961 Dion Runaround Sue 11 36-20-16-15-{11}-13-15-22-31->9

#1499 04/11/1961 Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band Stars And Stripes Forever/Creole Jazz 22 39-31-{22}-26-28-26-26-35-38-40->10

 

'Cryin' is a heartfelt track that my mum first introduced to me in the past decade. I think it might have been the Don one tbh but Roy's isn't bad either.

It's going to be the first ever triple 9 score here - all would normally be worthy daily winners. Very hard to choose a winner but I think I will go with "Take Five" just because it is such a definitive record within its genre.

 

9 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Take Five The biggest selling jazz song of all time worldwide and probably the only big hit in 5:4 time; just an utterly fantastic instrumental

9 Ray Charles Hit The Road Jack I absolutely adore this song - interestingly all the heavy lifting is done by the backing singers while he ad libs and rasps away

9 Bobby Vee Take Good Care Of My Baby His 4th Top 10 and biggest yet reaching #3; a beautiful tender and soulful ballad that's rightly endured as his signature song

8 Elvis Presley His Latest Flame/Little Sisters 129th #1: a really great double from Elvis here - "His Latest Flame" has a great beat to hit and "Little Sister" is a quirky number

7 Dion Runaround Sue He's ditched the Belmonts, but this is a similar style to "A Teenager In Love" and also a really good catchy song well performed

7 Shane Fenton And The Fentones I'm A Moody Guy Debut single for this English rock 'n' roll group and it's really good with lots of interesting twanging representing the moodiness

7 Bobby Darin You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby A really relentless jazz-rock number very well performed by Bobby with sax and guitar ably assisting and a great hook

6 Dick And Deedee The Mountain's High "The other si-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ide" - only hit for this duo and quite an interesting and quirky number with very drawn out vocal lines

5 Adam Faith The Time Has Come This returned Adam to the Top 5 after a couple of Top 10 misses - decent tune but feels like it could do with a little more oomph

5 Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band Stars And Stripes Forever/Creole Jazz Not being American I struggle to be too enthusiastic about "Stars And Stripes Forever", but "Creole Jazz" is a nice clarinet led piece

4 Jimmy Dean Big Bad John A #2 hit for this American country artist; mainly spoken aside from the references to the protagonist - interesting but not beautiful

3 Cliff Richard When The Girl In Your Arms Is The Girl In Your Heart Not Cliff's worst but again it's a bit flaccid and plodding and has a complacent feel to it; even the instrumental is quite basic

2 Karl Denver Mexicali Rose Again uses an extreme amount of yodeling and falsetto which I find off-putting, and I struggle to enjoy the tune in the first place

2 Hayley Mills Let's Get Together A worldwide hit from "The Parent Trap" and the only hit for this English child actress; good on her but it's really not a lovely listen

 

 

 

 

1961 Group 14:

 

04/11/1961 The Four Preps More Money For You And Me 39 42-{39}->2

04/11/1961 Troy Shondell This Time 22 44-41-25-23-23-{22}-25-29-33-33-45->11

04/11/1961 Danny Williams Moon River 1 47-23-17-8-6-5-2-2-{1}-1-3-7-15-20-28-32-28-39-41->19

11/11/1961 Frankie Vaughan Tower Of Strength 1 43-18-7-2-{1}-1-1-2-5-12-18-23-40->13

11/11/1961 Marty Wilde Tomorrow's Clown 33 45-40-36-{33}-38->5

11/11/1961 Doug Sheldon Runaround Sue 36 46-{36}-37->3

11/11/1961 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen Midnight In Moscow 2 48-27-21-13-9-7-5-3-{2}-8-5-9-10-18-20-21-26-26-35-34-39->21

18/11/1961 The Shadows The Savage 10 26-13-{10}-11-12-16-23-20->8

18/11/1961 The Springfields Bambino 16 35-28-35-20-{16}-23-32-28-39-40-48->11

18/11/1961 Ricky Nelson Everlovin' 23 37-38-34-{23}-37->5

18/11/1961 Brenda Lee Fool #1 38 {38}-44-42->3

18/11/1961 Jimmy Crawford I Love How You Love Me 18 44-35-30-{18}-21-26-42-37-36-45->10

18/11/1961 Nat 'King' Cole Let True Love Begin 29 45-{29}-29-33-33-32-43-47-47-43->10

18/11/1961 Petula Clark My Friend The Sea 7 50-43-25-15-8-{7}-9-19-15-24-25-42-49->13

 

I adore Walkin Back To Happiness woop baaa oh yeyeyey. Rediscovered it in 1970 when I recorded it off the radio. Wild Wind is a good follow up, and the rest that I know are ok, and the Mike Berry tribute song is pretty decent compared to say I remember Elvis Presley which managed to sound worse than the worst Elvis song and that's not easy! Jimmy Osmond did a better kiddie version of Door and Charlie Drake was a sort of reminder of a Saturday morning kiddie cinema series called The Magic Boomerang. While it was in the air time froze for everyone and everything except the thrower. Think of the fun! More fun than Charlie Drake anyway!

 

Take Five is a jazz classic, Hit The Road Jack a Blues jazz classic that my dad bought, Bobby Vee a great pop song, and elvis at his pop best and Dion at his upbeat raunchy best for a top fivesome. The rest are not essential but Hayley Mills was a top fave Disney star of the 60s and this was more an accidental hit than planned as anything. She remains an endearing fave for kids of the 60s and of course is forgiven for this cos she gave birth to Crispian Kula Shaker... :)

 

 

Has to be "Moon River" for the win today but not sure if it's my favourite Christmas chart topper to date - think "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?" might still be just ahead.

 

9 Danny Williams Moon River 131st #1: first performed by Audrey Hepburn but now Danny's signature; such a powerful, wistful and evocative song

8 Frankie Vaughan Tower Of Strength 130th #1: amazing for him to get a second chart topper so deep into his career and it's a really strong and brash song that suits him

8 Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen Midnight In Moscow First very big hit for this group reaching #2 both here and in the US, and it's a great tune led by a slightly grumpy sounding trumpet

7 The Shadows The Savage Great again - the frantic beat sets it up and then the moody, twangy melody sets off and passes through different instruments

7 Troy Shondell This Time I love the slightly lazy way he swoops up to the notes on this, like he's caught in some bad daydream - his only hit and it's great

6 Jimmy Crawford I Love How You Love Me A cover but the first version to chart here and only Top 40 for him - it's a very sweet song and a simple intimate performance

6 Marty Wilde Tomorrow's Clown His hitmaking ability seems to be fading but there's nothing wrong with the song - nice melody and you can really feel the anguish

5 Ricky Nelson Everlovin' A gentle and upbeat rock 'n' roll song with sympathetic backing vocals and some good twanging in the middle section; it's nice

5 Nat 'King' Cole Let True Love Begin My comments on Nat's hits tend to be similar - classy vocals and arrangement but (often) a slightly dull song; this one's fairly nice

4 Doug Sheldon Runaround Sue First hit for this British singer - a rather needless cover of this that sounds pretty similar to Dion's but with slightly less energy

4 Brenda Lee Fool #1 As ever she sounds brilliant and the raw emotion really comes across, but the song itself is quite plodding and forgettable

3 Petula Clark My Friend The Sea This has a charming quality and you can feel the movement of the sea but it's a little bit basic, melodically and lyrically

2 The Springfields Bambino Guess this was for Christmas - their first hit was surprisingly enjoyable but this one is a terribly twee childlike waltz time number

2 The Four Preps More Money For You And Me A load of parody songs - some of it's quite funny I guess but it's not reallly a coherent piece of music so I can't really enjoy it

 

 

1961 Group 15:

 

#1514 25/11/1961 Jim Reeves You're The Only Good Thing 17 31-22-19-{17}-18-21-22-18-20-20-24-27-28-33-32-33-39-49-46->19

#1515 25/11/1961 Shirley Bassey I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You) 10 34-16-{10}-10-12-19-24-31->8

#1516 25/11/1961 Frank Sinatra The Coffee Song 39 41-{39}-45->3

#1517 25/11/1961 The Lettermen The Way You Look Tonight 36 42-{36}-48->3

#1518 25/11/1961 Terry Lightfoot And His New Orleans Jazzmen King Kong 29 47-47-42-48-34-{29}-44-37-41-47-45-42->12

#1519 25/11/1961 The Dale Sisters My Sunday Baby 36 48-38-{36}-40-47-45->6

#1520 02/12/1961 Mr Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale Stranger On The Shore 2 32-16-14-6-6-8-{2}-2-2-5-8-7-12-11-13-8-8-7-6-7-13-12-10-15-13-12-11-12-11-11-9-9-17-19-18-20-19-18-22-23-27-30-32-31-38-47-39-35-40-33-31-45-39-43-37->55

#1521 02/12/1961 The G-Clefs I Understand 17 40-29-19-19-20-{17}-20-25-22-25-33-40->12

#1522 02/12/1961 Dinah Washington September In The Rain 35 41-{35}-49-49R(5)->4

#1523 02/12/1961 Russ Conway Toy Balloons 7 45-32-23-14-{7}-10-17-22-26-29-37->11

#1524 02/12/1961 Eddie Cochran Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie 31 46-{31}-50-48->4

#1525 09/12/1961 Del Shannon So Long Baby 10 37-20-11-14-11-{10}-12-17-23-30-41->11

#1526 09/12/1961 The Temperance Seven Charleston 22 39-29-28-{22}-25-30-50-50->8

#1527 09/12/1961 Pat Boone Johnny Will 4 43-11-{4}-5-4-7-9-12-15-15-23-38-45->13

 

Moon River for me too. Henry Mancini was a great composer and that song is indestructible in any version or style.

 

Tower of Strength is a surprisingly fab slab of fun. Midnight In Moscow is a good tune Petula and Springfields decent enough and rest i dont know!

We have today the 12th biggest selling single of the whole decade and by far the biggest not to top the chart. Just look at that run and you'll see why, with 40 weeks in the Top 40. And it's another to add to the list of beautiful chart hit instrumentals featuring the humble clarinet.

 

9 Mr Acker Bilk With The Leon Young String Chorale Stranger On The Shore Used as the theme for a drama but the song came first; iconic and atmospheric clarinet led instrumental written for Acker's daughter

8 Dinah Washington September In The Rain Only Top 40 for this American singer and pianist and it's a beautifully classy ballad with a tender and gentle string accompaniment

8 Del Shannon So Long Baby I felt like the follow up to "Runaway" was too similar whereas this loses the gimmicks and is just a straightforwardly great pop song

7 Terry Lightfoot And His New Orleans Jazzmen King Kong Second and final hit for this jazz clarinettist and his band - it's a great chirpy number with a delightful engaging melody

7 Eddie Cochran Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie Another great rocky number from Eddie with a real sense of urgency and impatience, and I love the multi guitar instrumental part

6 Jim Reeves You're The Only Good Thing His second hit and it's not quite up there with "He'll Have To Go" but he delivers the ballad with beautiful simplicity and clarity

6 The Dale Sisters My Sunday Baby So many early female groups called "The X Sisters" - only hit for this English trio but it's a lovely charming close harmony song

5 The Lettermen The Way You Look Tonight Apparently they're still going - only hit here for this American close harmony trio and it's a nice enchanting little ballad

5 The Temperance Seven Charleston Already the last hit for this lot - it's a Charleston alright, with the usual instrumental followed by vocal format; pleasantly done

4 Russ Conway Toy Balloons This is Russ' only Top 10 hit after the 1950s - a bit different for him with the children's choir and organ plus piano; nice enough

3 Shirley Bassey I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You) I think it's fairly obvious now that these slow showtunes done with big vibrato are not my thing - it's a decent tune for sure

3 Frank Sinatra The Coffee Song It really is a song all about coffee, done in Frank's jolly laid back jazzy style but it's so banal I can't really get into it

2 Pat Boone Johnny Will I can't work out if the obvious innuendo is intentional or not - at least it has more life to it than many of Pat's but it's quite silly

1 The G-Clefs I Understand "Auld Lang Syne" with some different words sang to the same tune over the top, with a spoken part for good measure - dear me

 

 

1961 Group 16:

 

#1528 09/12/1961 Dorothy Provine Don't Bring Lulu 17 44-30-25-{17}-21-21-27-31-38-34-46-43->12

#1529 09/12/1961 Rose Brennan Tall Dark Stranger 31 47-{31}-38-40-35-40-32-43-39->9

#1530 16/12/1961 Sandy Nelson Let There Be Drums 3 27-15-4-{3}-4-3-4-8-13-18-25-29-38-44-47-50->16

#1531 16/12/1961 Mrs Mills Mrs Mills Medley 18 35-30-{18}-23-46->5

#1532 16/12/1961 Billy Fury I'd Never Find Another You 5 41-21-15-9-{5}-6-6-9-7-10-10-10-15-21-33->15

#1533 16/12/1961 Connie Francis Baby's First Christmas 30 42-42-{30}-43->4

#1534 16/12/1961 James Darren Goodbye Cruel World 28 45-41-34-42-{28}-31-30-34-44->9

#1535 16/12/1961 Ricky Stevens I Cried For You 34 46-44-37-{34}-34-39-45->7

#1536 23/12/1961 Neil Sedaka Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen 3 24-10-6-6-4-{3}-3-6-8-13-14-14-15-22-28-43-48-47->18

#1537 23/12/1961 Bobby Darin Multiplication 5 27-11-7-9-8-{5}-7-10-11-11-19-35-46->13

#1538 23/12/1961 Gary Miller The Night Is Young (And You're So Beautiful)/There Goes That Song Again 29 33-35-32-33-47-36-31-{29}-39-48R(2)->10

#1539 23/12/1961 The Tokens The Lion Sleeps Tonight 11 40-25-16-{11}-11-13-17-22-21-30-37-42->12

#1540 23/12/1961 Bobby Vee Run To Him 6 49-26-18-13-10-7-11-11-{6}-6-15-17-25-26-40->15

#1541 30/12/1961 John Leyton Son This Is She 15 41-36-19-{15}-19-21-24-27-27-36->10

 

Stranger On The Shore is a classic, as is September In The Rain, both faves of mine. And that's it, don't know any others! Playing Del now, and yes I agree that's a good track, Eddie sounds very Eddie which is not a bad thing but not entirely unlike C'Mon Everybody. Dad had a Lettermen record in our singles collection, I cant recall which one, but this is a classic song I know better by Fred Astaire - his version was heartfelt and simple, from a movie, and much better than this sugary version. I'll stick with Fred, timeless. :)

Shane Fenton And The Fentones had a fab string of top 40 hits. My mind was blown when I found out that Shane would later go on to be Alvin Stardust!

 

Other recent highlights include: 'Wild Wind' (although the mixing slightly hurts my ears :lol:), 'Hit The Road Jack', 'Moon River' and 'Stranger On The Shore', yay for the high scores :wub:

Stranger On The Shore and September In The Rain were both records of the week for me so we're still generally in agreement.

As is often the case the last group of the year isn't great, though the top few are very pleasant and "Let There Be Drums" is a very clever little track.

 

8 Sandy Nelson Let There Be Drums Deservedly his biggest hit reaching #3; very simple with only drums and guitar but incredibly effective and slightly hypnotic

7 Billy Fury I'd Never Find Another You His 3rd straight Top 5 hit and it's a lovely sincere and wistful ballad complemented very well by the orchestration

6 John Leyton Son This Is She Smaller hit than his first 2 but a really good drum beat with trumpet and "ah" female vocal backing, and a nice ballad on top of it

6 Bobby Vee Run To Him A slightly sorry for itself but very nice ballad with the violin maintaining the dotted rhythm and a strong melody

5 The Tokens The Lion Sleeps Tonight The original of this - it's not a song I've ever especially liked but kudos for originality certainly and an impressive display of falsetto

5 Gary Miller The Night Is Young (And You're So Beautiful)/There Goes That Song Again "The Night Is Young" is quite an uptempo jazzy number and the other a smooth ballad - both very pleasant but nothing excitiing

4 Bobby Darin Multiplication Not one of Bobby's best for sure - the lyrics are really incredibly banal though quite catchy withs some nice honky tonk piano

4 Neil Sedaka Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen The trend for songs about being sixteen will end soon thankfully - find this one a bit brash and much prefer most of Neil's others

3 Rose Brennan Tall Dark Stranger Only hit for this Irish singer - it's pleasant enough but somehow the way it's sung and the backing orchestra make it feel very dated

3 Ricky Stevens I Cried For You Can't find any info about him - his only hit and it's not on Spotify; quite yodely and not sure the vocals match the orchestration

3 Dorothy Provine Don't Bring Lulu The only Top 40 hit for this American performer and it's a 1920s style "flapper" song - interesting style but not really to my taste

2 James Darren Goodbye Cruel World Keeps repeating the clip of "Nero And The Gladiators", representing that love has turned him into a foolish clown; pretty irritating

2 Connie Francis Baby's First Christmas Christmas records can be wonderful but really have always been very hit and miss, and this one is pretty twee, naff and boring

2 Mrs Mills Mrs Mills Medley Only Top 40 for Gladys Mills - these seasonal piano medleys of old fasioned popular songs have surely had their day by now

 

 

Let There Be Drums is good, but I'd edge Run To Him and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen over it. The Lion Sleeps Tonight can be very annoying if overdosed on it, but it has a charm to it, the original version. Billy Fury and John Leyton are fine, but my fave at the time as I turned 4 was Don't Bring Lulu - Dorothy Provine was a star of the show The Roaring Twenties from which this song came, bloody catchy to a 4-year-old. I still love her voice, singing and speaking, and she appeared in one of my abslute fave Disney films of the 60's That Darn Cat - along with Hayley Mills, who cropped up the other day - and the absolute Who's Who of movie and TV comedy stars monster comic film It's A Mad mad mad Mad World, still one of my all-time fave movies.