I've reviewed exactly 500 records! :cheer:

 

It has to be Fats Domino today - one of those tracks that effortlessly oozes joy. Another nice Elvis discovery via one of his minor hits (redeeming himself for what seems to me a rather limp version of "Blue Moon"), and nice to have an excuse to listen to a whole Bill Haley album.

 

9 Fats Domino Blueberry Hill His biggest hit and very much a jazz classic a- has such a laid back joyous feel to it and I absolutely love it

8 Elvis Presley I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine A very minor hit for Elvis but I think it's fab; especially love the "kiss and kiss and kiss and kiss" part - really fun

7 Bill Haley And His Comets Rock 'N' Roll Stage Show (LP) Another full length album in the chart; a fun half hour - think "Hey Then, There Now" is my favourite I didn't know already

7 Glen Mason The Green Door Another good version with some nice trumpeting and other instrumental effects but still enjoyed Frankie V's the most

7 Bill Haley And His Comets Rip It Up The original of this is coming tomorrow but I think this is really good too and like the way it's been woven into the Bill Haley style

6 Johnston Brothers In The Middle Of The House Think this is my favourite version of this - the Johnston Brothers are well suited to the slightly dark humour

5 Bill Haley And His Comets Rudy's Rock A fun instrumental with great sax playing, but it's not catchy like most of the other hits

5 Jimmy Parkinson In The Middle Of The House Still a fun song in any form but not one you need to go back to after you've heard the train going through a few times

5 Ronnie Hilton Two Different Worlds I never find Ronnie very exciting and he must have been going out of fashion by this point but it's a sweet song

4 Eddie Fisher Cindy, Oh Cindy So he's left her to travel the world and now misses her and says she has to write a letter to him - charming; average song anyhow

4 Tony Brent Cindy, Oh Cindy Both nice singers but slightly prefer Eddie's version with the horn at the beginning instead of water noises

4 Bing Crosby And Grace Kelly True Love A Cole Porter song from "High Society" that had a mammoth chart run, and it's quite nice but I find it slightly drippy

3 Elvis Presley Blue Moon I really don't get this version - sounds like he's just got out of bed and he doeesn't even get past the first verse

3 Sonny James The Cat Came Back An American country singer who only had a couple of hits here - this one's quite silly and irritating but his next one's much better

 

 

Last group of 1956:

 

#501 08/12/1956 Guy Mitchell Singing The Blues 1 14-5-4-2-{1}-2-1-2-1-2-3-3-4-4-6-8-9-9-13-20-20-20->22

#502 08/12/1956 Elvis Presley Love Me Tender 11 19-17-14-{11}-11-13-15-13-17->9

#503 08/12/1956 Dickie Valentine Christmas Island 8 22-15-12-{8}-23->5

#504 08/12/1956 Pat Boone Friendly Persuasion 3 24-25-20-19-16-9-4-{3}-3-3-6-7-8-8-11-10-12-13-20-28-29->21

#505 08/12/1956 The Deep River Boys That's Right 29 {29}->1

#506 08/12/1956 Johnston Brothers Join In And Sing Again (No 3) 24 30-{24}R(3)->2

#507 15/12/1956 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Singing The Blues 1 23-19-17-6-{1}-2-4-6-8-14-13-21-21-24R(6)-29R(4)->15

#508 15/12/1956 Vince Martin And The Tarriers Cindy, Oh Cindy 26 {26}->1

#509 15/12/1956 Little Richard Rip It Up 30 {30}->1

#510 22/12/1956 Dave King Christmas And You 23 24-{23}->2

#511 22/12/1956 Barbara Lyon Letter To A Soldier 27 {27}-27-28-27->4

#512 22/12/1956 Lonnie Donegan Lonnie Donegan Showcase (LP) 26 28-29-{26}->3

#513 29/12/1956 Frankie Laine Moonlight Gambler 13 14-{13}-15-16-13-13-18-28-20-17-28-28-28R(2)->13

#514 29/12/1956 Sammy Davis Jr All Of You 28 {28}->1

 

Blueberry Hill :wub:

Not a great group to finish what has been a very transformative year. For the third time in the 1950s we have the same song hitting the top twice by different artists. "Singing The Blues" is a really good catchy pop song and all in all I prefer Guy Mitchell's version as he just sings it like a pop song whereas I feel like Tommy Steele is trying to give it the Elvis touch.

Just ahead of both of those and snatching the daily win is Little Richard with his first hit "Rip It Up", also done by Bill Haley and Elvis. There's a lot coming up from him over the next few years and I'm sure it won't be the only time he tops the list.

 

7 Little Richard Rip It Up His first hit and there's better to come but what a charismatic performer and unique raspy voice

7 Guy Mitchell Singing The Blues 53rd #1: it's a great pop tune and Guy does it really nicely

7 Lonnie Donegan Lonnie Donegan Showcase (LP) A really interesting and varied EP that's quite folky in style; my favourite track is the opener "Wabash Cannonball"

6 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Singing The Blues 54th #1: really good too but feel like it's trying to do an Elvis style with touches such as indistinct words, which it doesn't need

5 Barbara Lyon Letter To A Soldier Her second and final hit after the beautiful "Stowaway": she still sounds great here but it's an already rather dated wartibe ballad

5 Elvis Presley Love Me Tender Considered a classic and it's a very commanding and yet sensitive performance, but the song itself doesn't do that much for me

5 Vince Martin And The Tarriers Cindy, Oh Cindy Nice voice and my favourite version of this, but I still don't love the song

4 The Deep River Boys That's Right A very jolly jazzy group number and it's a fun listen, but quite lightweight lyrically and musically

4 Sammy Davis Jr All Of You Always lovely to hear Sammy and there are nice orchestral elements but the song is lacking a distinct tune

4 Pat Boone Friendly Persuasion A remarkably big hit, it's not too bad but a bit drippy and lacks dynamism

3 Frankie Laine Moonlight Gambler He gambles for love, whatever that means, and there's an odd "clip clop" throughout the record, but not much of a tune

3 Dickie Valentine Christmas Island He obviously wanted to try again after getting a chart topper with "Christmas Island" last year, but this doesn't have much to it

2 Johnston Brothers Join In And Sing Again (No 3) Seems to me just a shorter version of their medley from this time last yaer - I gave that a 3 and this seems even less necessary

2 Dave King Christmas And You It's worth remembering that the decade which gave us "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rocking Around…" also gave us dirges like this

 

Dropping behind oops!

 

The Platters & Gene Vincent would be my picks of the 1st Friday batch, not really familiar with the rest except Frankie V's & Tommy Steele.

 

Well done on 500! Quite an achievement! @nd Friday batch I agree with your top picks - except I also rate True Love, it's quite sweet, and Elvis' Blue Moon which is quite haunting and stark. Both songs hits in later decades.

 

Sunday's post, Rip It Up is still a 50's key track, Singing The Blues a goodie (I was watching a 1981 episode of Pop Quiz on Youtube last night and 3 versions of Singing The Blues were played - guess the artist - and Guy's is still the best version). Love Me Tender is my other pick, though Elvis did have better records around that time.

Dave Edmunds also did a version of Singing The Blues but you won't get to that for a while :lol:

And so it's been a long old year but it's only going to get worse. :lol: Such an important year for music though - imagine if crooner ballads had stayed in fashion indefinitely!

 

Gold medal: Sixteen Tons - Tennessee Ernie Ford

 

Silver medal: The Great Pretender / Only You (And You Alone) - The Platters

 

Bronze medal: Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley

 

Other songs that got 9s (a couple of obscure ones thrown in):

Blueberry Hill - Fats Domino

It's Almost Tomorrow - The Dream Weavers

Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) - Doris Day

Rockin' Through The Rye - Bill Haley And His Comets

Portuguese Washerwoman - Joe 'Fingers' Carr

The Shifting Whispering Sands (Parts 1 And 2) - Billy Vaughn Orchestra And Chorus

 

Worst record of the year:

My Son John - David Whitfield

 

First group of 1957 kicking off tomorrow:

 

#515 05/01/1957 The Four Aces Friendly Persuasion 29 {29}->1

#516 12/01/1957 Frankie Vaughan The Garden Of Eden 1 11-3-{1}-1-1-1-2-2-5-8-11-10-21->13

#517 12/01/1957 Gary Miller The Garden Of Eden 14 15-{14}-21-24-24-25-27R(2)->7

#518 12/01/1957 Dick James The Garden Of Eden 18 23-23-{18}-20->4

#519 12/01/1957 Mitchell Torok Red Light, Green Light 29 {29}->1

#520 19/01/1957 Lonnie Donegan Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O 4 13-12-9-5-{4}-5-6-7-5-5-6-7-7-10-10-17-25->17

#521 19/01/1957 Alma Cogan You, Me And Us 18 {18}-19-18-26-30-23->6

#522 19/01/1957 Johnnie Ray You Don't Owe Me A Thing/Look Homeward Angel 7 21-17-16-21-15-19-22-20-21-15-15-14-12-17-24-{7}-12-13-18->19

#523 19/01/1957 Joe Valino Garden Of Eden 23 {23}-29->2

#524 26/01/1957 David Whitfield The Adoration Waltz 9 16-15-21-24-14-{9}-13-13-14-16-25->11

#525 26/01/1957 The Platters You'll Never, Never Know/It Isn't Right 23 {23}-29R(2)-29R(9)->3

#526 26/01/1957 The Vipers Skiffle Group Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O 10 24-14-{10}-13-18-19-16-26-29->9

#527 26/01/1957 Fats Domino Ain't That A Shame 23 30-{23}->2

#528 02/02/1957 Bill Haley And His Comets Rock The Joint 20 {20}-21-22-25->4

#529 02/02/1957 The Beverley Sisters I Dreamed 24 26-{24}->2

 

I was reminded earlier that "The Garden Of Eden" was the Valentine's Number 1 66 years ago. 4 rather similar versions of that were tackled today, but the winner is in fact a 1955 song that only charted now for some reason - the original "Ain't That A Shame". Sorry John - I know you aren't keen!

 

8 Fats Domino Ain't That A Shame More rock 'n' roll and less jazz than "Blueberry Hill" - could easily be an Elvis song, but very much another classic from Fats

8 The Beverley Sisters I Dreamed The first hit of theirs I've really enjoyed - energetic, fun and indeed sounds dreamy

7 Lonnie Donegan Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O Another great frantic and catchy number from Lonnie that comes at you like a steam train

7 Gary Miller The Garden Of Eden My favourite version - really like his voice and think he gets the maximum drama out of the song

7 Johnnie Ray You Don't Owe Me A Thing/Look Homeward Angel The second side appears on its own next time; the first is another of these whistley ballads but really nice and sung with gusto

6 Frankie Vaughan The Garden Of Eden 55th #1: a good, albeit quite middle of the road, song and Frankie makes a good fist of it to land his only chart topper

6 Dick James The Garden Of Eden Another very serviceable rendition, though I don't think it does much to make it stand out from the others

6 The Platters You'll Never, Never Know/It Isn't Right A couple of nice ballads, especially the first side, and sung beautifully but nowhere near the heights of their last double A

5 The Vipers Skiffle Group Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O Still a good song but doesn't have the impact of Lonnie's version - somehow the vocals lack the urgency

5 Bill Haley And His Comets Rock The Joint Decent but not a Bill Haley classic, melodically or lyrically

5 The Four Aces Friendly Persuasion Prefer this to the Pat Boone version - does sound very of it's time but has a warm, comforting feel about it

4 Joe Valino Garden Of Eden My least favourite of the 4 versions - think mainly it's too slow and lacks energy

4 Mitchell Torok Red Light, Green Light No relation to the Digga D 2021 song - an odd song though with a shouty hook, though reasonably catchy

3 Alma Cogan You, Me And Us Another one that makes me feel like I'm at a fairground with its overly jolly triple time and banal lyrics

2 David Whitfield The Adoration Waltz "In the adoration WOWLSS" - as usual a dreary ballad done terribly sternly and oversung beyond recognition

 

 

Next group:

 

#530 02/02/1957 Pat Boone Don't Forbid Me 2 27-15-4-4-3-{2}-2-2-2-2-5-4-4-9-19-22->16

#531 02/02/1957 Fats Domino Honey Chile 29 {29}->1

#532 09/02/1957 Tab Hunter Young Love 1 12-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-3-3-10-12-19-19-24->18

#533 09/02/1957 Bill Haley And His Comets Don't Knock The Rock 7 15-{7}-8-12-15-12-16-21->8

#534 09/02/1957 Jerry Lewis Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody) 12 19-{12}-16-14-22-16-22-22R(2)->8

#535 09/02/1957 Sonny James Young Love 11 20-19-12-{11}-11-14-17->7

#536 09/02/1957 Johnston Brothers Give Her My Love 27 {27}->1

#537 09/02/1957 Little Richard Long Tall Sally 3 28-17-17-13-9-4-4-{3}-4-4-5-5-8-14-14-24->16

#538 16/02/1957 Guy Mitchell Knee Deep In The Blues 3 21-10-5-{3}-3-3-3-5-6-6-12-19->12

#539 16/02/1957 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Knee Deep In The Blues 15 26-{15}-18-18-23-27-23-19-26->9

#540 16/02/1957 Shirley Bassey The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) 8 27-24-23-12-9-9-{8}-12-19-25->10

#541 16/02/1957 Elvis Presley Mystery Train 25 29-26-29-{25}-25->5

#542 23/02/1957 Johnnie Ray Look Homeward, Angel 7 27-25-24-27-18-17-11-8-{7}-7->10

#543 23/02/1957 Winifred Atwell Let's Rock 'N' Roll 24 28-28-{24}R(2)-28->4

#544 23/02/1957 Little Richard Tutti Frutti 29 {29}->1

 

 

A strong bunch today but it's a Little Richard 1-2. "Tutti Frutti" seems to have become his signature song, certainly if Spotify numbers are anything to go by, but for me it's "Long Tall Sally" that really whacks you round the face. Listening carefully to his vocals, even though he has his raucous style the quality is brilliant.

And I can't believe it's already the last hit for Bill Haley, until "Rock Around The Clock" re-emerges anyway.

 

9 Little Richard Long Tall Sally His second biggest hit - a fantastic energetic song brilliantly performed with a very effective mix of throaty vocals and falsetto

8 Little Richard Tutti Frutti Amazing that this barely charted; his most streamed I believe and another classic song and performance

8 Elvis Presley Mystery Train An early 50s song given a rockabilly makeover - like "Heartbreak Hotel" he really gets the misery across with his vocals

7 Sonny James Young Love This version was bigger in America and think it's my favourite of the ones I've heard; lovely vocals

7 Guy Mitchell Knee Deep In The Blues Not dissimilar to "Singing The Blues" - another catchy pop song with whistling and it works really well

7 Jerry Lewis Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody) A very old song apparently, first recorded in 1918, but a lovely discovery and I really like the way he sings it

6 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Knee Deep In The Blues Again Tommy and Guy releasing the same song simultaneously; think Guy has the edge again but enjoy Tom's quirkier version too

6 Tab Hunter Young Love 56th #1: think Tab was more of an actor than a singer but it's still a really good song done nicely

6 Pat Boone Don't Forbid Me Long running #2 hit behind "Young Love" - it's a good song that again could easily be an Elvis hit

5 Johnston Brothers Give Her My Love Still love the slightly spooky effect you get from their unison vocals; quite a simple folky number with mouth organ but charming

5 Fats Domino Honey Chile Not "chilly" but "child" without the "d"; vocals still gorgeous but song a bit pedestrian compared to his last couple

5 Bill Haley And His Comets Don't Knock The Rock This one is a fairly average example of what they do but definitely not knocking the rock as it has been a great pleasure

4 Winifred Atwell Let's Rock 'N' Roll This one doesn't quite hang together like many of Winifred's for me - it's 6 minutes and doesn’t really grab your attention enough

4 Johnnie Ray Look Homeward, Angel Not bad but I don't love the melody on this; the production's quite grand but somewhat style over substance for me

3 Shirley Bassey The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) It's a classic of sorts but a bit annoying for me - plus this isn't the best version and all sounds a bit token Jamaican

 

 

Next bunch:

 

#545 02/03/1957 Harry Belafonte With Tony Scott's Orchestra And Chorus And Millard Thomas The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) 2 16-10-7-6-5-3-{2}-3-2-2-3-8-11-20-28-25-28-26->18

#546 02/03/1957 The Tarriers The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) 15 20-19-{15}-18-30->5

#547 02/03/1957 Patience And Prudence Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now 22 30-29-{22}-24-24R(3)->5

#548 09/03/1957 Little Richard She's Got It 15 26-30-20-19-{15}-15-22-28R(5)-29->9

#549 09/03/1957 Elvis Presley Rip It Up 27 {27}->1

#550 16/03/1957 Little Richard The Girl Can't Help It 9 19-12-11-10-{9}-12-17-12-15-15-27->11

#551 16/03/1957 Norman Wisdom The Wisdom Of A Fool 13 20-{13}-13-17-23->5

#552 16/03/1957 Vera Lynn Don't Cry My Love (The Faithful Hussar) 29 {29}-30->2

#553 23/03/1957 Dean Martin The Man Who Plays The Mandolino 21 {21}-29->2

#554 23/03/1957 The Vipers Skiffle Group Cumberland Gap 10 25-13-15-{10}-16-25->6

#555 30/03/1957 Ronnie Carroll The Wisdom Of A Fool 20 {20}-23->2

#556 30/03/1957 Fats Domino Blue Monday 23 {23}-30R(3)->2

#557 30/03/1957 Rosemary Clooney Mangos 17 25-29-27R(3)-21-26-27-{17}-24-27->9

#558 30/03/1957 Alma Cogan Whatever Lola Wants 26 {26}-26->2

#559 30/03/1957 Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent 12 27-23-16-{12}-15-16-23->7

 

 

 

Fats Domino is the only I know in that previous batch, and I'm not a fan of it, always found it a bit plodding, so on to batch 2!

 

Little Richard is always good. Elvis' Mystery Train is an early rockabilly gem. I know Young Love very well, from the awful Donny Osmond version, but dont know the Sonny James version. Tab Hunter's I know well, and he was a bit of a pin-up actor at the time. Still is in some quarters, what with being gay and not shy about posing for photos. Only Harry Belafonte can get away with Banana Boat Song, and Jerry Lewis was beloved of young children - and annoying once you hit your teens.

Little Richard's only appeared in 3 batches with 5 songs and he's had a win and two 1-2s. :o It's the first time in this where I've felt that an artist has just outclassed everything else that what around at the time - we'll see if he keeps it up. For me he's more exciting even than Elvis at the moment.

 

8 Little Richard The Girl Can't Help It A film tune: I love the way the saxophones form a kind of siren at the start - then the vocals hit and it's non-stop energy

7 Little Richard She's Got It Also from "The Girl Can't Help It" film: great again but maybe a bit more similar to some of his others than the title track

7 Alma Cogan Whatever Lola Wants From a musical - many different recordings of this but think it's a great dramatic song and Alma really gives it some welly here

7 The Vipers Skiffle Group Cumberland Gap A great song in any form, but once again doesn't quite pack the punch of the Lonnie version

6 Dean Martin The Man Who Plays The Mandolino I think this type of laid back, light hearted and cheeky song with a continental feel really suits Dean

6 Elvis Presley Rip It Up We've had 2 great versions of this from Bill Haley and Little Richard and this one is reallly good too but not sure it adds much

6 Rosemary Clooney Mangos Rosemary's last ever Top 40 hit sadly; like the off-beat rhythms and the tropical feel - a nice song

5 Fats Domino Blue Monday Classy and soulful as ever but the song is lacking a little bit of impact

5 Patience And Prudence Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now Again I feel slightly uncomfortable about children singing about adult romance but it's a good song and they do a really nice job

5 Harry Belafonte With Tony Scott's Orchestra And Chorus And Millard Thomas The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) I think this is the best possible version of this song; he really brings off the style and love the echoing vocals at the start and finish

4 Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers I'm Not A Juvenile Delinquent "Don't be naughty" seems to be the message: it's very nicely sung in their usual style but really not keen on the lyrics

3 The Tarriers The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) Again without Harry's magic it's just quite an irritating folksong

3 Vera Lynn Don't Cry My Love (The Faithful Hussar) "The Faithful Hussar" is great as a trumpet piece done by Satch; adding lyrics really destroys all the magic of it

2 Norman Wisdom The Wisdom Of A Fool Wow what a drippy ballad - terrible melody, vocal and lyrics; I think the only thing I like is that he's punning on his name

1 Ronnie Carroll The Wisdom Of A Fool Another version of this, also awful and the vocals seem even grimmer

 

 

Next up:

 

#560 06/04/1957 Lonnie Donegan Cumberland Gap 1 6-{1}-1-1-1-1-4-5-8-13-19-29->12

#561 06/04/1957 Max Bygraves Heart 14 18-{14}-14-14-17-16-18-22->8

#562 06/04/1957 The Hilltoppers Marianne 20 {20}-27-30R(2)-24-27-23->6

#563 06/04/1957 David Whitfield I'll Find You 27 28-28-30R(8)-{27}->4

#564 06/04/1957 Julie London Cry Me A River 22 30-{22}-27->3

#565 13/04/1957 Tab Hunter Ninety-Nine Ways 5 17-9-8-{5}-6-7-6-9-16-20-30-29R(2)->12

#566 13/04/1957 Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers Baby Baby 4 18-8-6-{4}-5-5-8-12-22-17-23-21->12

#567 13/04/1957 Charles McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey Freight Train 5 21-18-12-13-7-9-10-{5}-6-9-8-13-11-15-16-22-25-27R(7)->18

#568 13/04/1957 Slim Whitman I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen 7 25-15-11-13-11-11-{7}-7-10-14-17-19-21->13

#569 13/04/1957 Malcolm Vaughan The World Is Mine 26 30-29R(3)-30-{26}R(3)->4

#570 20/04/1957 Fats Domino I'm Walkin' 19 {19}-25-26-22-25-24-22->7

#571 20/04/1957 Nat 'King' Cole When I Fall In Love 2 20-9-11-9-3-4-4-3-{2}-3-3-6-7-10-11-13-17-16-19-30->20

#572 20/04/1957 Charlie Gracie Butterfly 12 23-21-27-24-17-{12}-17-26->8

#573 20/04/1957 Johnston Brothers Heart 23 26-{23}-28->3

#574 20/04/1957 Andy Williams Butterfly 1 29-16-10-2-2-{1}-1-2-3-4-10-15-17-30-24-29R(5)->16

 

 

A fair bit of rubbish today but also a fantastic top section. "Cumberland Gap" is about a mountain pass fought over in the American Civil War, but somehow Lonnie turns it into something incredible. "Cry Me A River" was originally written for Ella Fitzgerald but this version is absolutely stunning. And "When I Fall In Love" wasn't far off a 9 in 3rd place.

 

9 Lonnie Donegan Cumberland Gap 57th #1: ancient folksong turned into a brilliant skiffle arrangement - Lonnie really throws everything at this

9 Julie London Cry Me A River An absolute delight - for me the best version of this jazz standard, sung in a beautiful, smooth and sultry and way

8 Nat 'King' Cole When I Fall In Love One of his very best: a stripped down ballad with gorgeous orchestration where he really brings the meaning out of every word

8 Charles McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey Freight Train Despite the morbid subject I think this is brilliant; the skiffle arrangement really captures the train motion and it's mesmerising

7 Fats Domino I'm Walkin' A jazz pop number with lovely vocals and saxophone playing that has a real sense of urgency about it

7 Andy Williams Butterfly 59th #1: it's another of these chart toppers that's nothing really outstanding but just a really solid pop tune

6 Charlie Gracie Butterfly Not a lot between the two versions of this but just find Andy's vocal style comes over a bit clearer on it

6 Tab Hunter Ninety-Nine Ways Still not entirely convinced he's a singer but another really good song; if anything slightly more soulful than "Young Love"

5 Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers Baby Baby This one romps along nicely - but it's a grown up theme and unlike with WDFFIL I'm not convinced they really pull it off

4 Johnston Brothers Heart Not that keen on the song but The Johnston Brothers make it something just about worth a listen

3 The Hilltoppers Marianne Quite similar to "The Banana Boat Song" when not done by Harry; a slightly irritating pseudo-Carribean folky style

3 Malcolm Vaughan The World Is Mine Oh so dramatic with his operatic style, but unlike some of his others this doesn't have the tune to back up the big performance

2 Slim Whitman I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen He's becoming a parody of himself now - the vocals just slide around and there's no real discernable melody

2 David Whitfield I'll Find You The usual - a grimly slow and very precisely enunciated dirge of a ballad with occasional bursts of aspirational vibrato

2 Max Bygraves Heart "Things can only get better 'cos they can't get worse" - my thoughts too Max

 

 

 

Next group:

 

#575 27/04/1957 Guy Mitchell Rock-A-Billy 1 19-6-3-{1}-2-2-3-4-11-11-14-23-23-25->14

#576 27/04/1957 Frankie Laine And The Easy Riders Love Is A Golden Ring 19 22-22-20-{19}-23->5

#577 27/04/1957 Pat Boone Why Baby Why 17 28-23-{17}-21-21-25-29->7

#578 04/05/1957 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Butterfingers 8 25-19R(2)-13-16-18-21-18-17-12-10-{8}-10-9-12-12-14-20-26->18

#579 04/05/1957 Jimmy Young Round And Round 30 {30}->1

#580 11/05/1957 Johnnie Ray Yes Tonight, Josephine 1 8-6-3-3-{1}-1-1-2-3-6-9-12-11-11-20-27->16

#581 11/05/1957 Elvis Presley Too Much 6 13-10-9-{6}-12-12-14-18-26R(2)->9

#582 11/05/1957 Malcolm Vaughan Chapel Of The Roses 13 18-16-14-{13}-15-13-20-22->8

#583 11/05/1957 Teresa Brewer Nora Malone 26 28-{26}->2

#584 11/05/1957 Buddy Knox With The Rhythm Orchids Party Doll 29 {29}-30-30->3

#585 18/05/1957 The Platters I'm Sorry 18 28-26-{18}-21-18-21-23R(2)-22R(2)->8

#586 25/05/1957 Peggy Lee Mr Wonderful 5 15-10-{5}-10-10-12-7-11-12-13-17-18-19->13

#587 25/05/1957 Ronnie Hilton Around The World 4 16-14-7-5-7-5-{4}-4-5-6-7-9-14-13-19-21-26-29->18

#588 25/05/1957 Bing Crosby Around The World 5 20-14-9-6-{5}-8-10-9-11-9-15-16-10-17-28->15

#589 25/05/1957 Russ Hamilton We Will Make Love 2 29-21-19-15-13-8-8-5-3-3-{2}-4-7-10-10-12-19-16-24-26->20

 

I know The Girl Can't Help It from Darts' brilliant mash-up of the song with Daddy Cool.

 

Cumberland Gap is a Lonnie Donegan classic.

Don't know any of the Johnnie Ray songs so far or in the next section, but I started listening through the #1s playlist on New Year's Eve (having got through the #5s playlist just in time for the rate), and since a certain song came up yesterday I've had "Yip Yip!" lodged in my head, so looking forward to that here eventually, plus a few others of his I know in the meantime.

Yip yip that time has come!

"Yes Tonight, Josephine" is really about a man with a one track mind - he is absolutely going to get her to bed and there really isn't much more to the song than that. Somehow it manages to be great in spite of that, helped by a stonking performance from Johnnie as ever, and it nudges him back ahead of Little Richard for now with 4 daily wins.

 

8 Johnnie Ray Yes Tonight, Josephine 60th #1: this is a very silly song really but it's mightily catchy and Johnnie plays the role brilliantly

7 Teresa Brewer Nora Malone Only a minor hit but has some medieval touches which I love and Teresa brings a lot of character to it

7 Guy Mitchell Rock-A-Billy 58th #1: another in the not setting the world alight but good, catchy pop record category

6 Buddy Knox With The Rhythm Orchids Party Doll A really catchy rock pop number which was much bigger in the US - only Top 40 hit for Buddy Knox

6 Jimmy Young Round And Round It's like one of those rounds you did in school aged 8 - quite a bizarre idea for a hit song but I actually really enjoy listening to it

6 Russ Hamilton We Will Make Love A big #2 hit and a lovely voice and melody - just find the lyrics rather twee

5 Malcolm Vaughan Chapel Of The Roses This is much better from Malcolm - still a bit oversung but a good tune and lyrics and it goes well with his dramatic style

5 Frankie Laine And The Easy Riders Love Is A Golden Ring Frankie definitely knows how to use backing singers and they create a really sweet effect on this, and he sings it with conviction

5 The Platters I'm Sorry It's so beautifully sung that I found myself being beguiled by it, but objectively a fairly average song

4 Elvis Presley Too Much Really like the guitar solo but otherwise can take or leave this one - I don't think the song does anything that other songs don't

4 Pat Boone Why Baby Why Not a bad one from Pat and has good energy: hard to pinpoint why he doesn't quite bring it off but it doesn't sound entirely right

4 Peggy Lee Mr Wonderful From a musical of the same name - a great composition in context no doubt but it dosen't do so much for me as a standalone song

3 Bing Crosby Around The World It's a good song and there's a great version of it coming tomorrow but these two versions are too plodding

3 Ronnie Hilton Around The World Like Bing's there's some nice instrumentation but all in all it doesn't have eniough oomph to do the song justice

3 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Butterfingers I find this one really dreary - even the backing singers doing "bo-bom" in the background sound bored; like a ballad Elvis rejected

 

 

Tomorrow's group is great - a real embarrassment of riches I think

 

#590 01/06/1957 Gracie Fields Around The World 8 11-{8}-10-9-15-17-24-21-24R(2)->9

#591 01/06/1957 The Diamonds Little Darlin' 3 22-14-8-6-4-5-{3}-4-5-5-3-6-11-15-12-15-21->17

#592 01/06/1957 The King Brothers A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) 6 27-17-16-12-{6}-9-8-6-8-14-14-17-22-27->14

#593 01/06/1957 Mantovani And His Orchestra Around The World 20 27-{20}-23-27->4

#594 01/06/1957 The Vipers Skiffle Group Streamline Train 23 30-{23}-29->3

#595 08/06/1957 Lonnie Donegan Gamblin' Man/Putting On The Style 1 11-7-2-{1}-1-2-2-2-4-2-4-8-11-16-13-11-14-16-27->19

#596 08/06/1957 Terry Dene A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) 18 25-22-{18}-20-22-21-30R(2)->7

#597 15/06/1957 Elvis Presley All Shook Up 1 24-7R(2)-2-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-1-3-5-6-7-8-8-10-15-16-16-25->21

#598 15/06/1957 Charlie Gracie Fabulous 8 26-16-14-13-14-15-17-20-21-20-12-{8}-14-14-14-25->16

#599 15/06/1957 Charles McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey Greenback Dollar 28 {28}-30R(3)->

#600 15/06/1957 Harry Belafonte Island In The Sun 3 29-15-16-15-20-16-16-8-7-5-{3}-4-4-4-4-5-4-5-6-7-10-19-20-24-24->25

#601 22/06/1957 Jeri Southern Fire Down Below 22 {22}-22-25->3

#602 22/06/1957 Andy Williams I Like Your Kind Of Love 16 24-27-24-{16}-18-21-26-25-26-29->10

#603 22/06/1957 Chuck Berry School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) 24 {24}-24-25R(2)-24->4

#604 22/06/1957 Vera Lynn Travellin' Home 20 26-25-{20}-22-28->5

 

 

 

Yip yip that time has come!

:w00t: the lyrical premise is certainly questionable, but it's such an earworm!

It's a very strong field today and considering that I know I have some explaining to do for my choice of winner. I first came across "Travellin' Home" on a best of Vera Lynn CD and absolutely fell in love with it (I could take or leave most of the rest). To be fair to Vera she is a lovely performer but she's so associated with wartime that most of her hits are sing along at home numbers probably not intended to be judged by music critics. Anyway I think this would be a desert island disc for me - I just love the song and some of the lyrics such as "I'm like a stone that's been rolling too long" really get me.

 

But I can't not also feature Lonnie's wonderful double A side, amazingly recorded live at the London Palladium. Oh and there's also Elvis's first chart topper and loads of other great stuff - the top ten all well worth a listen I'd say.

 

9 Vera Lynn Travellin' Home An old Irish folksong turned into a beautiful ballad - Vera really gets the wistfulness of the lovely simple lyrics across

9 Lonnie Donegan Gamblin' Man/Putting On The Style 61st #1: a marvellous double A - the first side has Lonnie's marvellous urgent quality and the second is a skiffled old tune

8 Elvis Presley All Shook Up 62nd #1: obviously it's a great one and clearly the vocals on this are utterly iconic but I'd say the track itself isn't quite so special

8 The Diamonds Little Darlin' Another early doo wop classic, albeit a cover - quite over the top with it's "ayayayay"s and "ooahooah"s but brilliantly fun

8 Gracie Fields Around The World The other 3 charting versions of this leave me cold but this is fab thanks to the way she sings it - she gives every word meaning

7 Chuck Berry School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) Also a rock 'n' roll classic that has been covered many times and it's great - I just love what's above slightly more

7 Jeri Southern Fire Down Below Jeri was an American jazz singer and painist - I absolutely love her voice and this is a gorgeous listen; her only UK hit sadly

7 Charles McDevitt Skiffle Group Featuring Nancy Whiskey Greenback Dollar Like with "Freight Train" there's something really captivating about Nancy Whiskey's vocals and the skiffle underneath is charming

6 The Vipers Skiffle Group Streamline Train Another good skiffle song and a really good tune but it doesn't have the dunamism of Lonnie's hits

6 Charlie Gracie Fabulous Also a good song, very much in the Elvis mode, and Charlie does a good job with it but it still doesn't stand out somehow

5 The King Brothers A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) Originally a country and western song turned into a fairly typical 1957 pop hit: nice but nothing special in a great group

5 Terry Dene A White Sport Coat (And A Pink Carnation) Slightly prefer the version with several voices as they add a bit of variety but the two are pretty similar

4 Andy Williams I Like Your Kind Of Love "Baby that's goooood" - backing singer parts are fun but there isn't a lot to the lyrics and otherwise it's a standard crooner ballad

4 Harry Belafonte Island In The Sun In the same Caribbean style as "The Banana Boat Song" - perfectly pleasant but no real depth and he can do better

3 Mantovani And His Orchestra Around The World I do struggle to understand these instrumental versions of popular songs - "Around The World" needs the lyrics to work really

 

 

 

 

Next up:

 

#605 29/06/1957 Leroy Anderson And His Pops Concert Orchestra Forgotten Dreams 24 28-30R(2)-30R(8)-{24}->4

#606 29/06/1957 Little Richard Lucille 10 29-18-18-14-14-{10}-10-18-23->9

#607 29/06/1957 Tony Brent Dark Moon 17 29-27-27-20-19-21-24-28-18-{17}-19-28-28-28->14

#608 06/07/1957 Pat Boone Love Letters In The Sand 2 18-12-12-7-6-5-{2}-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-2-4-5-13-12-13-20->21

#609 06/07/1957 Don Lang And His Frantic Five School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) 26 {26}-29->2

#610 06/07/1957 Nat 'King' Cole When Rock And Roll Come To Trinidad 28 {28}->1

#611 13/07/1957 Elvis Presley (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear 3 13-7-4-{3}-6-3-5-7-10-12-13-16-12-12-13-9-12-15-22->19

#612 13/07/1957 The Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love 6 19-18-15-12-8-8-7-{6}-8-10-12-15-25-18-22-29->16

#613 13/07/1957 Sal Mineo Start Movin' (In My Direction) 16 28-26-20-17-19-22-{16}-18-18-27-26->11

#614 20/07/1957 Fats Domino Valley Of Tears 25 {25}->1

#615 20/07/1957 Terry Dene Start Movin' (In My Direction) 15 27-26-22-23-{15}-20-26-30->8

#616 20/07/1957 Gary Miller Wonderful, Wonderful 29 {29}->1

#617 20/07/1957 Cyril Stapleton Forgotten Dreams 27 30-28-28-{27}-29->5

#618 27/07/1957 Johnny Duncan And The Blue Grass Boys Last Train To San Fernando 2 18-16-12-8-6-5-3-{2}-3-3-2-4-7-15-16-18-29->17

#619 30/06/1956 Various Artists All Star Hit Parade EP 2 16-4-{2}-3-6-13-8-11-21->9

 

Been away to Scoouse Central since Friday and saw the entertaining, amusing, interactive, avante-garde An Evening Without Kate Bush, so a bit behind on this!

 

Little Richard is always good, The Girl Can't Help It included, Shes Got It too, and my childhood fave from harry belafonte (banana Boat song) is always welcome. Frankie Lymon is decent too.

 

Cry Me A River is fab, though I knew the Mari Wilson version first, Julie London is the best. When I Fall In Love is also fabulous, so good it hit again in 1987 thanks to Rick astley letting us see how it shouldnt be sung. Cumberland Gap is one of Lonnie's better records, and Andy williams is always good to brilliant to me. Loved Andy, saw him in his 80's and he was still fab. I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen is awful in every version except the one by Lt. Pigeon.

 

Yes Tonight Josephine I seem to recall an early 80's rockabilly version I liked, and not much else to add to that batch.

 

Little darlin' is the top tune - loved that one as a kid and Elton John's Crocodile Rock owes a debt to it, among many other hits. All Shook Up and Elvis is also noteworthy - not his greatest, but good. Chuck's School days is decent, and Harry B's Island In The Sun is lovely - another one I know from childhood album plays by my dad. A Whie Sports Coat is listenable ditto Lonnie's and I dont know Vera's at all but it seems pretty upbeat for her!

 

 

Been away to Scoouse Central since Friday and saw the entertaining, amusing, interactive, avante-garde An Evening Without Kate Bush, so a bit behind on this!

No problem - always great to get your comments whenever they come :D

It's an easy fourth win for Little Richard today, although I have a lot of affection for "Last Train To San Fernando"!

 

9 Little Richard Lucille The bassline of this sets the song up brilliantly and is well ahead of its time; only a #10 hit but I think this might be his very best

8 Johnny Duncan And The Blue Grass Boys Last Train To San Fernando Originally a calypso song turned into skiffle, this is fantastic, right from the opening beats when the train starts chugging

8 Sal Mineo Start Movin' (In My Direction) The only hit for this American actor and I love it; find it cheeky and charming and love the tune and the spoken bits

7 The Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love The debut hit for them and pretty well remembered I think as it's one of their most streamed, but for me there's better to come

7 Tony Brent Dark Moon Love the beat on this and the orchestral contributions, and it's a lovely sultry ballad really well sung

6 Cyril Stapleton Forgotten Dreams Actually putting this cover above the original as I think it does a little bit more, particularly with the swirling piano lines

6 Leroy Anderson And His Pops Concert Orchestra Forgotten Dreams A dreamy instrumental, with a lovely melody partly led by the piano and partly by the strings; reaelly nice

6 Pat Boone Love Letters In The Sand An epic 7 weeks at #2 for this - it's a really nice tune and he sings it quite tenderly, but just not that exciting

5 Don Lang And His Frantic Five School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell) I love Don Lang's voice and it's a perfectly good cover but I can't see that it adds much to Chuck Berry's version

5 Elvis Presley (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear It's a nice one and the lyrics are fun - I just can't see that it does anything remotely different from other Elvis songs

5 Terry Dene Start Movin' (In My Direction) A nice cover in itself but prefer Sal's quirky voice and this sounds more like an Elvis imitation, plus the tempo's slightly too slow

4 Fats Domino Valley Of Tears Could listen to his voice and the bluesy saxophone parts all day but all in all a slow and fairly dull song

4 Gary Miller Wonderful, Wonderful Has a catchy raa-tatatata-raa beat but beyond that it's one of those fairly turgid and boring ballads

3 Nat 'King' Cole When Rock And Roll Come To Trinidad All about the Trinidadians' reaction as rock 'n' roll arrives on their shores - it's all quite clichéd and in that typical Caribbean style

2 Various Artists All Star Hit Parade EP Another medley of snippets of hits performed by stars of the time (but they aren't even performing their own hits) - just no need

 

 

Next bunch:

 

#620 27/07/1957 Guy Mitchell In The Middle Of A Dark, Dark Night/Sweet Stuff 25 27-30-28R(3)-{25}->4

#621 27/07/1957 Petula Clark With All My Heart 4 28-19-15-11-9-9-6-7-5-{4}-6-7-8-11-14-14-16-27->18

#622 03/08/1957 Ronnie Hilton Wonderful, Wonderful 27 {27}-27->2

#623 03/08/1957 Billy Williams I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter 22 29-29-24-24-{22}-27-25-30-28R(4)->9

#624 03/08/1957 Peter Sellers Any Old Iron 17 30-21-24-24R(3)-21-23-19-21-{17}-25-26->11

#625 10/08/1957 Paul Anka Diana 1 26-13-4-{1}-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3-4-6-10-15-19-13-13-12-10-14-19-30->25

#626 10/08/1957 The King Brothers In The Middle Of An Island 19 30-26-26-23-22-22-{19}-20-20-24-29-30-28->13

#627 17/08/1957 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Water, Water/A Handful Of Songs 5 30-21-13-7-{5}-6-6-5-6-11-12-9-13-14-18-21-28R(2)->17

#628 24/08/1957 Charlie Gracie I Love You So Much It Hurts/Wanderin' Eyes 6 24-14-9-9-8-7-9-7-9-{6}-11-11-20-30->14

#629 24/08/1957 Shirley Bassey Fire Down Below 30 {30}->1

#630 31/08/1957 Tommy Steele And The Steelmen Shiralee 11 12-{11}-16-22->4

#631 31/08/1957 Elvis Presley Paralysed 8 16-14-{8}-9-9-11-12-17-20-26->10

#632 31/08/1957 Debbie Reynolds Tammy 2 23-17-11-10-10-7-3-3-4-{2}-3-4-7-8-16-18-30->17

#633 07/09/1957 Harry Belafonte And Millard Thomas Scarlet Ribbons 18 23-22-20-{18}-24-30->6

#634 07/09/1957 Johnnie Ray Build Your Love (On A Strong Foundation) 17 27-18-18-{17}-23-27-30->7

 

Lucille is definitely one of Little Richard's signature songs. It's picking up nicely with The Everly Brothers joining now too.