The Music of Your Life
There
was always music in our house when I was a kid. Neither of my parents played a
musical instrument but they could play the radio.
And
in the early fifties radio in Kingsport meant WKPT.
We
had a Westinghouse console radio that played AM, FM (not that there was much
choice on the FM dial) and shortwave. If you opened the doors in the front of
the cabinet, a record player would slide out.
And
we had a carboard box full of 78s, everybody from the Andrews Sisters to the
Ink Spots. The stuff they played on WKPT.
Popular
music, they called it.
You
can still find that kind of “popular music” on radio, but it’s mostly satellite
radio: 40s Junction and Siriusly Sinatra on SiriusXM, assorted channels on
Amazon’s Prime Music. For twenty years or so there was a syndicated format
called “The Music of Your Life” that popped up on AM stations around the
country (including Bristol’s WOPI-AM). That syndicated format ended in 2016.
But I
found charts of the most popular of that popular music of the forties and
fifties in a trove of old Variety newspapers (“the Bible of Showbusiness”)
posted on the Internet Archive (archive.org).
Just
reading those old pop charts – “Songs with the Largest Radio Audience,” “Best
Sellers on Coin Machines,” “Retail Disk Best Sellers” - took me back to carpool
days, when my dad would drive the neighborhood kids to Johnson Elementary. He
always had WKPT on the car radio, background for our chatter about classroom
aquariums and recess softball games.
We
weren’t old enough to ask for WKIN, if we even knew it existed. WKPT was the
soundtrack of Kingsport then.
Eventually
rock and roll and country music took over the local airwaves. Patti and Doris
and Bing and Benny were filed away in the library of 78s.
That’s
why I was so intrigued when I came across that stash of old Variety
scans on the Internet Archive. And when I say a stash, I mean scanned issues
going all the way back to the days when Al Jolson was still performing in the
circus!
Variety began in 1905 as a publication covering vaudeville
and related entertainment venues like fairs, circuses, burlesque shows,
“legitimate theater” and movies, such as they were in 1905. It ran
no-punches-pulled reviews of traveling acts and the performers are said to have
loved the criticism, using it to help hone their shows.
Pretty
soon Variety was also publishing lists of the most popular and
best-selling songs: Best Selling Sheet Music, Top Selling Records, Most Popular
Songs on the Coin Machines (Jukeboxes).
I
came along in August 1947, the week that Variety published this list of “Songs
With Largest Radio Audiences.”
Variety didn’t even bother to rank them, just list them
alphabetically:
The
top 32 songs of the week of Aug. 6, (1947), based on the copyrighted Audience
Coverage Index Survey of Popular Music Broadcast over Radio Networks. Published
by the Office of Research, Inc., Dr. John G. Peatman, Director. Survey Week of
July 25-31, 1947. (Dr. Peatman was a psychology professor at City College of
New York whose side hustle was radio research.)
- Across the Alley From the Alamo — The Mills Brothers
- Ain’tcha Ever Comin’ Back — Frank Sinatra
- Almost Like Being in Love — Frank Sinatra
- An Apple Blossom Wedding — Sammy Kaye (vocal: Don Cornell)
- As Long As I’m Dreaming — Bing Crosby
- As Years Go By — Elliot Lawrence & His Orchestra
- Ask Anyone Who Knows — The Ink Spots
- Cecilia
— Bob Crosby and orchestra
- Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba — Perry Como
- Come to the Mardi Gras — Freddy Martin & His Orchestra (vocal:
Stuart Wade)
- Deep Down in Your Heart — Bob Crosby & The Modernaires
- Don’t Tell Me (from The Hucksters) — Margaret Whiting
- Echo Said “No” — Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (feat. Don Rodney with
the Lombardo Trio)
- Ev’rybody and His Brother — The Modernaires with Paula Kelly
- Feudin’ and Fightin’ — Dorothy Shay (“The Park Avenue Hillbilly”)
- Have But One Heart — Vic Damone (also recorded by Frank Sinatra)
- I Want to Be Loved (But Only by You) — Savannah Churchill
- I Wish I Didn’t Love You So — Vaughn Monroe
- I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder — Eddy Howard
- I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now — Ted Weems Orchestra with Perry Como
- Ivy —
Jo Stafford / Dick Haymes (both charting hit versions)
- Je Vous Aime (from Copacabana) — Andy Russell (featured in film with
Carmen Miranda)
- Kate (Have I Come Too Early, Too Late) — Eddy Howard
- Lady From 29 Palms — The Andrews Sisters
- Mam’selle
— Art Lund
- My Heart Is a Hobo — Bing Crosby
- Passing By
— Buddy Clark
- Peg O’ My Heart — The Harmonicats
- Red Silk Stockings and Green Perfume — Sammy Kaye
- Tallahassee — Vaughn Monroe
- That’s My Desire — Sammy Kaye
- Whiffenpoof Song — Bing Crosby with Fred Waring
I
remember only a handful of that Top 32 but in my defense, I was only one day
old.
If I
had been listening to WKPT in August 1947, that’s probably what I would have
been listening to.
As
for ones that had an afterlife, I’m familiar with a handful:
Almost
Like Being in Love — Frank Sinatra
This one became a full-blown Great American Songbook standard. Covered
endlessly (Sinatra again, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr.),
used in films, TV, and cabaret acts ever since.
I
Want to Be Loved (But Only by You) — Savannah Churchill
Outlived 1947 because Dinah Washington recorded a later hit version.
I
Wish I Didn’t Love You So — Vaughn Monroe
Another song covered by Dinah Washington and thus given a second life.
I
Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now — Ted Weems with Perry Como
Actually older than 1947—and that’s why it survived. A perennial barbershop and
nostalgia standard with countless recordings.
Peg
O’ My Heart — The Harmonicats
A monster instrumental hit that never quite went away. Revived in oldies radio,
novelty instrumentals, and later pop culture. You may know it from “Downton
Abbey” or “The Singing Detective.”
(I
don’t remember “The Lady from 29 Palms” or “Across the Alley from the Alamo”
but I hear them now on 40s Junction.)
I
started school in September 1953 and that’s when WKPT became background music
for the carpool. The top song on the jukebox that week, according to Variety,
was a weeper called “Vaya Con Dios” by the husband-and-wife team of Les Paul
and Mary Ford. Yes, that Les Paul, of the Gibson Les Paul solid body electric
guitar. But I would have been more interested in the number three tune, the
theme from one of my favorite TV shows, “Dragnet.” Dun-duh-dun-dun! (I don’t
know if that approximates the familiar “Dragnet” theme.)
Top
Ten Best Sellers on Coin-Machines Sept. 2, 1953
1. “Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul and
Mary Ford
2. “You, You, You” – Ames
Brothers
3. “Dragnet” – Ray Anthony
4. “Oh!” – Pee Wee Hunt
5. “I’m Walking Behind You” –
Eddie Fisher
6. “C’est Si Bon” – Eartha Kitt
7. “Hey Joe” – Frankie Laine
8. “I'd Rather Die Young (Than Grow Old Without You)” – Hilltoppers
9. “No Other Love” – Perry Como
10.
“Crying in the
Chapel” – June Valli
I
remember four of them.
“Vaya
Con Dios” – Les Paul and Mary Ford
“You,
You, You” – Ames Brothers
Three
wholesome brothers harmonizing about, well, you.
“Dragnet”
– Ray Anthony
Just
the facts, ma’am, with a trumpet section.
“Crying
in the Chapel” – June Valli
June
(real last name: Foglia) was no relation to Frankie (real last name:
Castelluccio). Need proof? Compare this religious weeper with say Frankie and
the Four Season’s first hit “Sherry.”
Among
the others:
“Hey
Joe” – Frankie Laine is not that
“Hey Joe,” the one about going somewhere with a gun in your hand, made famous
by Jimi Hendrix, but Frankie Laine’s “Hey Joe, where’d you get that
pearly-girly,” whatever a pearly-girly is.
“I'd Rather Die Young (Than Grow Old Without
You)” – Hilltoppers
The
Hilltoppers formed at what was then known as Western Kentucky College, whose
sports teams were known as the Hilltoppers. I don’t remember any of their
songs.
“No
Other Love” – Perry Como
I
listened to this on YouTube to make sure I didn’t remember it. I didn’t. And I
thought I’d heard every Perry Como song. I did remember the cardigan on the
YouTube video.
The
1953 jukebox was a strange place - half nightclub, half confessional, with
occasional detours into French sophistication and police procedurals.
Then
came 1957, my fourth-grade year, when the the carpool was packed and the jukebox
was having a full-blown identity crisis. Half the records are screaming rock
and roll is the future, the other half are politely asking if everyone
could please calm down.
Top
Ten Best Sellers on Coin Machines May 1, 1957
1. All Shook Up – Elvis Presley
2. Little Darlin’ – The
Diamonds
3. Round and Round – Perry Como
4. Party Doll – Steve Lawrence
/ Buddy Knox
5. Gone – Ferlin Husky
6. Butterfly – Andy Williams /
Charlie Gracie
7. Why Baby Why – Pat Boone
8. Walking After Midnight –
Patsy Cline
9. I’m Walkin’ – Fats Domino
10.
Dark Moon – Bonnie Guitar
Second
Group (that’s what Variety called them instead of, say, 11-20.
- Ninety-Nine Ways – Tab Hunter
- Marianne
– Hilltoppers
- School Days – Chuck Berry
- Come, Go With Me – Del-Vikings
- Mama, Look at Bubu – Harry Belafonte
- Rock-a-Billy – Guy Mitchell
- So Rare
– Jimmy Dorsey
- I’m Sorry
– Platters
- Almost Paradise – Roger Williams / Norman Petty Trio / Lou Stein
- Teen-Age Crush – Tommy Sands
Now
we’re talking songs I remember!
(May
1, 1957)
1.
All Shook Up – Elvis Presley
The King at full throttle. This record didn’t just top jukeboxes—it sat on them. Parents panicked, teenage girls swooned, and Elvis proved once again that hips could, in fact, change history.
2. Little Darlin’ – The Diamonds
A novelty record disguised as doo-wop. Ridiculously exaggerated, impossible to forget, and played so often it probably violated noise ordinances.
3. Round and Round – Perry Como
Here’s
Perry, calmly reminding everyone that rock and roll is just a phase and
cardigans will outlive us all.
4.
Party Doll – Steve Lawrence / Buddy Knox
Two
Americas collide. Steve Lawrence’s version made it safe. Buddy Knox made it
wiggle. Guess which version kids preferred? Buddy Knox, whose next “big” hit
was “Hula Love.” I don’t remember it or any of his other recordings.
5.
Gone – Ferlin Husky
Heartbreak,
country-style: sincere, mopey, and sung like someone just stared at the phone
for six hours. A massive hit that proved misery sells just fine without
electric guitars.
6.
Butterfly – Andy Williams / Charlie Gracie
Andy
Williams polished it until it shone. Charlie Gracie gave it a little edge. The
jukebox split the difference and played both, mostly to keep everyone happy.
7.
Why Baby Why – Pat Boone
Pat
Boone doing rock and roll in quotation marks. Clean, gentle, and approved by
church committees nationwide. Wild enough to suggest rebellion, safe enough to
sell it at Sears.
8.
Walking After Midnight – Patsy Cline
Actual
emotion sneaks onto the chart. Patsy Cline delivered heartbreak with class and
a voice that made everything else sound like rehearsal. The jukebox briefly
grew up.
9.
I’m Walkin’ – Fats Domino
While
everyone else debated the future of music, Fats Domino just made hits.
10.
Dark Moon – Bonnie Guitar
A
dreamy, floaty ballad: not revolutionary, not dangerous, just proof that
melancholy still had a market in 1957. Today say the name Bonnie Guitar and
even geezers shrug their shoulders.
Second
Group (a.k.a. The Waiting Room)
Ninety-Nine
Ways – Tab Hunter
Movie
star sings! Hollywood hoped that would be enough. It wasn’t—but fans were
polite about it.
Marianne
– Hilltoppers
Pleasant,
tropical-flavored escapism. Sounded great until something louder came
along—which was most of 1957.
School
Days – Chuck Berry
Here’s
the future, briefly slumming in the “Second Group.” Smart, sharp, and destined
to outlive half the Top Ten combined.
Come,
Go With Me – Del-Vikings
Doo-wop
bliss. Harmonies, romance, and street-corner cool—this one was already plotting
its long-term survival.
Mama,
Look at Bubu – Harry Belafonte
Calypso
comedy: Fun, rhythmic, and proof that novelty didn’t have to be dumb, just
charming.
Rock-a-Billy
– Guy Mitchell
The
title promised rebellion. The record delivered Guy Mitchell. Close, but no
switchblade.
So
Rare – Jimmy Dorsey
A
big-band ghost wandering through the rock era, politely reminding everyone what
used to matter.
I’m
Sorry – Platters
Silky
smooth heartbreak that never really goes out of style. Even when trends
changed, the Platters just kept sounding expensive.
Almost
Paradise – Roger Williams
Instrumentals
still hanging on, hoping no one noticed the guitars getting louder.
Teen-Age
Crush – Tommy Sands
The
next Elvis! He even married Nancy Sinatra. After his expulsion from the Sinatra
family, his career pretty much went to Teen Heaven. He eventually settled in
Fort Wayne, Indiana, performing the occasional dinner theater gig. “Teen-Age
Crush” was pretty much the peak of his career. He was 19.
1957’s
jukebox was torn between hips and hymns, guitars and good manners. Rock and
roll was clearly winning, but it still had to share space with crooners,
novelty records, and anything that wouldn’t frighten adults.
How
did those 1957 chart-toppers age?
AGED
BEST (Still alive, still played, still matter)
Elvis
Presley – “All Shook Up”
Unkillable.
Still in movies, commercials, documentaries, and karaoke bars. It didn’t just
age well — it became historical bedrock.
Chuck
Berry – “School Days” (Second Group)
This
is the sleeper MVP. It wasn’t even Top Ten here, but it’s now rock’s Rosetta
Stone. Guitar players still learn it. Jukeboxes may have hesitated, history did
not.
Fats
Domino – “I’m Walkin’”
Pure
joy, no expiration date. Sounds as fresh now as it did then, and nobody has
ever objected to it. That alone is a miracle.
Patsy
Cline – “Walking After Midnight”
Grew
in stature with every passing decade. Once just a hit, now a pillar of American
music. Timeless heartbreak beats trendy rebellion every time.
The
Platters – “I’m Sorry” (Second Group)
Silky,
elegant, and still capable of stopping people mid-sentence. Doo-wop that aged
like formal wear.
Del-Vikings
– “Come, Go With Me” (Second Group)
Still
turns up in movies, commercials, and oldies playlists. Proof that harmony never
goes out of style.
AGED…
FINE (Contextual, but not immortal)
Little
Darlin’ – The Diamonds
Still
famous, but mostly as a novelty artifact. You admire it, you chuckle, you don’t
put it on repeat.
Ferlin
Husky – “Gone”
A
classic within its genre, but unlikely to cross generations unless
someone’s already wearing cowboy boots.
Andy
Williams – “Butterfly”
Pleasant,
professional, and frozen in amber. Works perfectly… in 1957.
Bonnie
Guitar – “Dark Moon”
A
lovely mood piece that survives as a deep cut rather than a cultural landmark.
Harry
Belafonte – “Mama, Look at Bubu” (Second Group)
Still
charming, still fun, but more historical curiosity than evergreen hit.
AGED
POORLY (Time was not kind)
Pat
Boone – “Why Baby Why”
Once
safe, now sanitized beyond usefulness. Boone’s legacy survives mostly as a counterexample.
Steve
Lawrence – “Party Doll”
The
version history did not choose. Buddy Knox lives on; this one mostly doesn’t.
Guy
Mitchell – “Rock-a-Billy” (Second Group)
The
title promised danger. The record delivered reassurance. History noticed.
Tab
Hunter – “Ninety-Nine Ways” (Second Group)
Movie-star
novelty that vanished the moment the movie-star novelty wore off.
Roger
Williams – “Almost Paradise” (Second Group)
Instrumentals
faded fast once guitars took over. Polite applause, then silence.
AGED
WORST (Almost completely erased)
Jimmy
Dorsey – “So Rare” (Second Group)
Big-band
déjà vu in a rock-and-roll world. By 1957, this was already a museum piece
pretending not to be.
Tommy
Sands – “Teen-Age Crush” (Second Group)
Manufactured
teen angst with no staying power. The kind of song that only survives in trivia
books.
By
1962, the year I started high school, Variety was no longer tracking the
“Coin Machines.” People, mostly teens, were buying records, mostly 45s.
Variety
Top Singles August 2, 1962
1. Roses Are Red — Bobby Vinton
2. Breaking Up Is Hard to Do — Neil Sedaka
3. Wolverton Mountain — Claude King
4.Wait a While — Orlons
5. Sealed With a Kiss — Brian Hyland
6. Speedy Gonzales — Pat Boone
7. Stripper — David Rose
8. I Can’t Stop Loving You — Ray Charles
9. Ahab the Arab — Ray Stevens
10.
You’ll
Lose a Good Thing — Barbara Lynn
11.
Loco-Motion
— Little Eva
12.
Things —
Bobby Darin
13.
I Need
Your Loving — Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford
14.
Gravy —
Dee Dee Sharp
15.
Party
Lights — Claudine Clark
16.
Johnny Get
Angry — Joanie Sommers
17.
Twist and
Shout — Isley Bros.
18.
It Keeps
Right On A-Hurtin’ — Johnny Tillotson
19.
Dancing
Party — Chubby Checker
20.
Theme From
Dr. Kildare — Richard Chamberlain
21.
Heart in
Hand — Brenda Lee
22.
It Started
All Over Again — Brenda Lee
23.
Bring It
On Home to Me — Sam Cooke
24.
Palisades
Park — Freddy Cannon
25.
Girls
Girls Girls — Eddie Hodges
26.
Addio —
Emilio Pericoli
27.
Ring
Between — Bud & Ives
28.
You Don’t
Know Me — Ray Charles
29.
Shame on
Me — Bobby Bare
30.
Swingin’
Safari — Billy Vaughn
31.
Bongo
Stomp — Jay & Flip
32.
Vacation —
Connie Francis
33.
Fortune
Teller — Bobby Curtola
34.
Little
Diane — Dion
35.
Rinky Dink
— Dave Cortez
36.
Sheila —
Tommy Roe
37.
Little Red
Rented Rowboat — Joe Dowell
38.
She’s Not
You — Elvis Presley
39.
I Don’t
Love You No More — Jimmy Norman
40.
Devil
Woman — Marty Robbins
41.
Snap Your
Fingers — Joe Henderson
42.
Having a
Party — Sam Cooke
43.
Steel
Guitar and a Glass of Wine — Paul Anka
44.
Limbo Rock
— Chubby Checker
45.
West of
the Wall — Toni Fisher
46.
I’ll Never
Dance Again — Bobby Rydell
47.
Above the
Stars — Acker Bilk
48.
Goodnight
Irene — Jimmy Reed
49.
Follow
That Dream — Elvis Presley
50.
Have a
Good Time —Sue Thompson
If
you’re reading this, you don’t need my comments on these songs. You remember
them.
A personal
footnote: I interviewed Chubby Checker – who had two hits on this chart - in
1975 before his performance at the Flamingo Club in Bristol, Tennessee. I
stayed for the show and he invited/coaxed me on stage. So I can say, proudly,
that I did the Twist with Chubby Checker!
Twistin’
the night away
By
VINCE STATEN
Times-News Weekender Editor
The
whole house is standing as he strolls down the aisle. They’re applauding,
straining on tiptoes, trying to see over the rows of people in front of them.
Down front, people are shoving each other, trying to touch the King.
As
he reaches the stage, he grips the microphone, pauses as a half-second of
silence falls on the audience and then shouts in that old familiar voice:
“It’s
party time!”
He
cocks his head, kick-steps as the music builds, and smiles. Not a weak,
tentative smile. But that old sassy grin. Another kick-step. Then a
million-mile-an-hour hip gyration. And the crowd screams. Yes, screams.
“Do
the Pony with your partner,” he sings, in his just-a-little-too-high voice.
“Now Twist with your partner.”
And
the crowd screams again.
The
King is back.
Yes,
the King.
Elvis
was the King, too. Sure. But that was for another generation. And the Beatles,
they were different.
Chubby
Checker. He was the King.
O.K.,
so it was only 250 people who were screaming. And most of them wouldn’t know
Alice Cooper from Alice Faye. So Chubby Checker (real name: Ernest Evans) was
only a brief flicker in the white heat of rock and roll.
But
for one brief moment in the early ’60s, Chubby Checker was the King. So what if
his recording name was a cheap pun on Fats Domino. And so what if the Twist was
so simple that grandmothers were learning it. Everybody was twisting and
everybody knew Chubby Checker.
His
face is still so recognizable that he can’t do one of those American Express
“remember me” ads.
And when
Chubby played recently at the Flamingo Club in Bristol, he had them dancing in
the aisles, again.
Fifteen
years after his initial success, dancing is back. And so is Chubby Checker.
Not
to where he was, of course. He’s now playing the small-town night club circuit,
putting on two shows a night, sandwiched around an hour of the house boogie
band.
But
it doesn’t matter. He is a crowd pleaser. A show-stopper. It took three
bouncers, four waitresses, and the club owner’s wife to hold back the crowd of
females who wanted to dance with Chubby.
Every
now and then, one would break through the line of defense, and Chubby would
twist tauntingly with her for a few moments before the bouncers pulled her
back.
“Thirty-five-year-old
groupies twisting in supp-hose, the between-generation who were caught in the
folk valley between Elvis and the Beatles with nothing to dance to. And then
Chubby appeared.
A
poor kid from south Philadelphia who was picked up by Dick Clark and rocketed
to fame on the daily dance show “American Bandstand.” Chubby hitched his star
to the Twist craze that he started and rode and rode and rode it. He released
four different records with the word “Twist” in the title (if you include the
Twist, which soared to the top of the record charts two separate times): “The
Twist,” “Let’s Twist Again,” “Twist It Up,” “Slow Twisting.”
Chubby
was the Barry White of the ’60s. The Dance King. After the Twist, he came up
with something called the Fly. Then the Pony, the Mess Around and the Popeye.
“Limbo Rock,” a 1962 dance hit that jumped on the limbo craze bandwagon, was
his last big dance hit. He held on for a while, rehashing the Twist and the
Limbo. And by ’65, he was reduced to recording covers for songs like “Do the
Freddie.” He then discovered the roadhouse circuit - the one-nighters where he
still toils.
Today
discos are opening everywhere and dance mania is again sweeping the nation.
Hard rock is grudgingly giving way to softer, more musical sounds. The whole
country is dancing. And waiting for a new Chubby Checker to emerge. Would
perhaps the old one do?
posted by Vince Staten @ 10:13 AM
0 comments
