Hull-born singer Ronnie Hilton, born Adrian Hill on 26 January 1926, enjoyed a six-week stay at number one with the old-school No Other Love.
Before
Hill had left school at the age of 14 to work in an aircraft factory during World War Two, before becoming part of the Highland Light Infantry. Following demobilisation in 1947 he became a fitter in a Leeds sewing plant. In an evening, he would sing with The Johnny Addlestone Band. It was in 1954 that Hill took the plunge and became a full-time singer, adopting his new stage name.
Hilton found fame with his covers of popular American songs of the era. No Other Love was taken from the 1953 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet, and had been a US number 1 that year for Perry Como. Hilton’s version contained more ‘oomph’ than Como’s, who, as always, was content to play it cool.
Review
It’s serviceable enough, a standard ballad of the era. Clearly, the older generation still loved these romantic ballads and weren’t going to be swayed by the rogue pelvis of Elvis Presley, whose debut album had been released a few months previous. However, by the time No Other Love had dropped from the charts, Presley had managed three hit singles. Rock’n’roll wasn’t going away.
After
The following year, Hilton failed in his attempt to represent the UK in the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest. In 1959, Hilton’s last chart hit for some time was The Wonder of You, which Presley took to number 1 in 1970.
Hits were thin on the ground for the singer in the 60s, and he became a regular fixture in pantomimes in his home town. In 1967, he released a version of David Bowie’s The Laughing Gnome as a double A-side with If I Were a Rich Man. It failed to chart, unlike his only album success, an LP of songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in 1968.
The Outro
The 70s were tough, with money problems and a stroke in 1976 to contend with. But after years in the wilderness Hilton later found fame in the 90s by presenting BBC Radio 2’s nostalgic Sounds of the Fifties. He died of a stroke on 21 February 2001, aged 75.
The Info
Written by
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
Producer
Wally Ridley
Weeks at number 1
6 (4 May-14 June)
Trivia
Births
18 May: Dramatist John Godber
Deaths
17 May: Magician Austin Osman Spare 20 May: Theatre critic Max Beerbohm
Meanwhile…
5 May: Manchester City won the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium. Amazingly, their goalkeeper Bert Trautmann played the last 15 minutes of the game with a broken neck. Ouch.
7 May: The Minister of Health Robin Turton rejected a call for the government to lead an anti-smoking campaign, arguing that no ill-effects had yet to be proven.
8 May: John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger was first performed, at the Royal Court Theatre. Actor Alan Bates was described in the theatre’s press release as an ‘angry young man’, a term that would soon become famous.
The Dream Weavers’ It’s Almost Tomorrow was knocked off the number 1 spot for the second and final time by Trinidadian pianist Winifred Atwell, scoring her second and final number 1 with her cover of The Poor People of Paris. Her fast-paced piano-playing and charming personality had seen her at number 1 during Christmas 1954 with Let’s Have Another Party, scoring a number three hit in 1955 with Let’s Have a Ding Dong and then this track, all ploughing the same furrow. Why change a winning formula though?
Before
La goualante du pauvre Jean, as the song was called in France, translates into The Ballad of Poor John in English. Marguerite Monnot, one of Edith Piath’s top songwriters, had written the original music, with words by René Rouzaud. However, US songwriter Jack Lawrence wrote the English lyrics, and misinterpreted the French title, which is why the two differ so much. None of this really matters here though, as Atwell’s cover was instrumental.
Review
Atwell, as usual, plays the song as if her life depends on it. It’s so frenetic, I accidentally pressed play on two separate clips at once and felt a nervous breakdown coming on. While this style of playing is considerably dated now, it still has a certain charm, and anything with a bit of life to it impresses in these early days of the chart.
The main reason it appeals to me, however, is because I immediately recognised it as having featured in 90s Channel 4 comedy show Vic Reeves Big Night Out, a show that changed my life (no exaggeration). In the show, Bob Mortimer’s character Man with the Stick sings a slowed-down version, all about his ill-fated works holiday with ‘good-laugh’ Terry. Here it is in all its glory.
After
Atwell’s career continued to skyrocket. She had her own television series and performed to millions. She was loved by the Queen, who even requested she perform at a private party to keep spirits up during the Suez Crisis. Sadly, her race was an issue in the Deep South, which meant she never repeated her success in the US.
There was insight and intelligence behind Atwell’s fun-loving public persona, and at heart she was shy, eloquent and intellectual. She claimed her own life was untouched by racism, and considered herself lucky to be so loved. But after buying an apartment in Sydney and while touring the country in 1962, she spoke out about the plight of the Australian Aborigines.
Atwell suffered a stroke in 1980 and announced her retirement on TV the following year. Sadly, her house was destroyed by an electrical fire in 1983, and while staying with friends she died of a heart attack on 28 February.
The Outro
It would be wrong to dismiss Atwell as a throwaway from a bygone age – her piano skills had a surprising impact on the world of progressive rock, with both Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman citing her as an influence.
The Info
Written by
Marguerite Monnot
Producer
Hugh Mendl
Weeks at number 1
3 (13 April – 3 May)
Trivia
Births
19 April: Tennis player Sue Barker 26 April: Actress Koo Stark
Meanwhile…
17 April: Chancellor of the Exchequer Harold Macmillan announced in his Budget speech the launch of Premium Bonds, to go on sale on 1 November, with £1,000 prize available in the first draw, taking place in June 1957.
20 April: Jazz maestro (and eventual presenter of Radio 4’s comedy panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue) Humphrey Lyttelton and his band recorded Bad Penny Blues with then little-known sound engineer Joe Meek. It became the first British jazz record to get into the top 20, and the inspiration for The Beatles’ Lady Madonna in 1968.
US jazz singer Kay Starr was the third person to have a UK number 1 back in 1953, and had added some much needed light relief after the previous two chart-toppers with the poppy Comes A-Long A-Love.
Before
Starr was ahead of her time and one of the main influences for the early rock’n’roll acts. So she must have seemed a natural choice when the older generation decided to have a stab at this new genre that Bill Haley & His Comets had got so many teenagers all fired up over. ‘Just imagine the crossover appeal such a song could have!’, writers Shorty Allen and Roy Alfred must have thought. ‘We’ll stick the genre in the title, get Kay Starr to sing it, and the teens AND their parents will go out and buy it!’
And while it seems that was the case (after all, (The) Rock and Roll Waltz did knock It’s Almost Tomorrow off the top for a week) it’s a big missed opportunity.
For a start, apart from perhaps the bass, this tune is sadly lacking in both rock and roll. It’s just a cheesy novelty waltz. Starr sings of coming home late one night after a date, to hear a ‘jump tune’ coming from the front room. What the hell are her parents doing in there? Oh, don’t worry, the silly buggers are just trying to waltz to one of Starr’s rock’n’roll records! The chorus is exceedingly naff:
‘A-one, two, and then rock A-one, two, and then roll They did the rock and roll waltz A-rock, two, three, a-roll, two, three It looked so cute to me I love the rock and roll waltz’
Apparently Starr wasn’t a fan of (The) Rock and Roll Waltz either, but gave it a bash anyway, and it paid dividends, so who am I to criticise?
After
(The) Rock and Roll Waltz was Starr’s final hit in the UK, as rock’n’roll continued to grow, with no further charting singles. She left Capitol Records in 1966 and from then on worked with smaller independent labels, recording mostly jazz and country material.
In addition to performing in revue-style tours, Starr duetted with Tony Bennett on his 2001 album Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues.
The Outro
Starr died from complications of Alzheimer’s on 3 November 2016, aged 94. Despite her second number one, she will be remembered as an important part of the genesis of rock’n’roll.
From one of music’s most enduring stars to perhaps the first UK number 1-hit wonder. After a month at the top with Memories Are Made of This, Dean Martin relinquished the top spot to a group with a unique story.
Before
The Dream Weavers was primarily a vehicle for aspiring US songwriting duo Gene Adkinson and Wayne Buff. They were both at different high schools when they first met, before attending the University of Florida together. Other members of the then-unnamed group would come and go.
Taking part in a freshman talent show, they performed in front of thousands of students and won, earning themselves their own radio show. As they closed their first show in 1955, they performed It’s Almost Tomorrow, a song they wrote together in 1953, with Buff taking up lead vocal duties. Chuck Murdock, the announcer on their show, ran a contest to choose a name for the group. The winner announced felt their song was so dreamy, they should be called The Dream Weavers.
Review
I’m not sure ‘dreamy’ is the right word to describe It’s Almost Tomorrow. As the sun comes up, the singer is already mourning the loss of his loved one, and is preparing for their break-up. The lyrics show a depth beyond the writer’s years, and it’s set to a moving tune. It really works in the song’s favour that Buff isn’t an amazing singer. You don’t want smooth crooning on this song, you want to feel the singer’s vulnerability, and you can. In a way it’s old-fashioned, and sounds like it could have been made in the 40s, but at the same time, it sounds pretty fresh. A modern-day cover could work well, providing they sorted out the messy ending, and ditched the female backing vocals that date the sound.
After
The Dream Weavers couldn’t get a record company interested in the song, so they went and made a recording themselves. A very unusual move back then, but they were convinced the song could be a hit, and they were right. Decca were impressed and the group recorded the version that topped the UK charts. After a fortnight it was toppled by Kay Starr’s (The) Rock and Roll Waltz, but reigned again for a further week a fortnight later. Adkinson and Buff failed to come up with anything that good again, and faded into obscurity following Buff’s marriage to Mary Rude (who had been a backing singer) while the song was in the charts.
The Outro
It’s Almost Tomorrow is a forgotten but interesting entry in the story of number 1s. It broke the rules and proved a group could write and record their own material, years before this became the norm.
The Info
Written by
Gene Adkinson & Wade Buff
Producers
Gene Adkinson, Wade Buff & Milt Gabler
Weeks at number 1
3 (16-29 March, 6-12 April)
Trivia
Births
17 March: Footballer Frank McGarvey 20 March: Labour MP Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland 23 March: Biologist Rosa Beddington/Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell/Biologist Jeremy Wade 9 April: Food writer Nigel Slater
Deaths
25 March: Actor Robert Newton
Meanwhile…
24 March: Devon Lock had a clear lead in the Grand National before shocking attendees by collapsing near the finish, making 100/7 outsider E.S.B. the surprise winner.
7 April: The young Manchester United team won the Football League First Division.
It’s funny how each person’s opinion of legendary artists and their music can differ depending on their age and what stage the artist’s career was at when they first fell in love with them. David Bowie was any number of characters: Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke… but to me he was also the grown-up version of the boy from Channel 4’s version of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, who had been so traumatised by flying around with a snowman, he had taken to dicking about empty buildings with a blouse-wearing Mick Jagger in the video to Dancing in the Street. It was around 15 years later before he became one of my favourite artists ever, and I’m still not over his death.
Before
Anyway, back to my point. To many, Dean Martin is a bona fide musical icon, and Memories Are Made of This is one of his most popular tracks. But my opinion is clouded by two things: the film The Cannonball Run (1980), and Bisto gravy. More on that later.
Dino Paul Crocetti was born 7 June 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio. He spoke only Italian for his first five years, and would be bullied for his broken English. When he was a teenager he took up drumming, and after dropping out of high school he tried his hand at bootlegging liquor, and by 15 he was a welterweight boxer known as Kid Crochet. A broken nose, scarred lip and several lost fights later, he became a blackjack croupier at an illegal casino.
While there he began singing with local bands, calling himself Dino Martini after opera singer Nino Martini. Influenced by crooners such as Perry Como, he developed his style with several groups, and in the early 40s it was bandleader Sammy Watkins who suggested he become known as Dean Martin.
As 1956 began, Dean Martin was coming to the end of his 10 years as one half of a showbiz duo with Jerry Lewis. He and the comedian had become hugely popular and were household names. However he was becoming disillusioned with the feeling he was playing second fiddle to Lewis. After all, his own music career was going from strength to strength. That’s Amore, Sway and Mambo Italiano had all been big hits in the previous few years, and Memories Are Made of This had recently topped the Billboard chart.
It had been written by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. According to Gilkyson’s daughter, this sweet little number in which a man looks back on his life and loves was simply her father paying tribute to meeting his wife and starting a family. Unusually, the writing trio decided to perform the backing vocals themselves. Calling themselves The Easy Riders, their doo-wop stylings feature throughout the otherwise sparse backing, and are an important ingredient of the song. Whether you like them or not is another matter…
Review
I can’t fault Martin’s performance of Memories Are Made of This. I’m a fan of his voice. I like the way he often sounds like he’s drunk (apparently Martin didn’t drink anywhere near as much as his reputation suggests). The Easy Riders, I can do without. I find the backing vocals irritating and distracting. They’re too catchy. I can understand the song’s popularity, but as mentioned earlier, the associations I have are problematic.
To me, Dean Martin will always be Jamie Blake, the tipsy, priest-impersonating bad guy from the comedy The Cannonball Run, who constantly ridiculed his sidekick, Morris Fenderbaum (Martin’s Rat Pack friend Sammy Davis Jr). When you read how much Davis Jr was picked on by the other Rat Pack members, their roles in the film now leave a sour taste. But I loved that film as a child. So much so, I confess I used to pretend to be Jamie Blake. Me and other kids down my street used to have pretend Cannonball Run-style races on bikes, go-karts and skateboards down my street as a child, and I’d often pretend to be Martin’s character. Strange? Absolutely.
After
Memories Are Made of This was Martin’s only UK number 1. Later that year he and Lewis officially split, and refused to speak to each other for 20 years. Martin became the bigger star, lending his star power to movies, music and television. As rock’n’roll became the main force in pop, he focussed on films, and had ambitions to be a serious actor, but such was his louche charm, he was usually cast in comedies, and won a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Who Was That Lady (1960). That same year he starred alongside his Rat Pack friends in Ocean’s 11.
His most famous song, Everybody Loves Somebody was released in 1964, and a year later he launched his NBC variety series The Dean Martin Show, which ran until 1974. Two years later, Martin and Lewis reconciled publicly on a live telethon by Lewis. They stayed friends, though would only perform once more, in 1989 for Martin’s 72nd birthday.
Although his reputation for drinking was exaggerated, he was a heavy smoker, and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1993, four years after Davis had died from it. He rejected surgery and died on Christmas Day 1995.
Martin was a hugely charming star who touched the hearts of millions. On the day he died the lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honour. His crypt features the lyric ‘Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime’.
The Outro
This song was then used in a long-running advert for Bisto gravy in the mid-90s, and it ran for so long I got sick to death of it. So when I hear Memories Are Made of This, I can’t help but picture a drunken Dean Martin, in a priest outfit, pouring gravy while singing. Not the memories the writers had in mind.
The Info
Written by
Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr & Frank Miller
Producer
Lee Gillette
Weeks at number 1
4 (17 Feb-15 March)
Trivia
Births
19 February: The Beat singer-songwriter Dave Wakeling 25 February: Scottish footballer Davie Cooper 28 February: Businessman Terry Leahy 7 March: Author Andrea Levy 8 March: Gynaecologist Lesley Regan 11 March: Television sports presenter Helen Rollason 12 March: Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris/Actress Lesley Manville
Meanwhile…
17 February: The Midlands becomes the first region outside of London to receive ITV when ATV Midlands starts broadcasting.
18 February: ITV weekend station ABC launches.
23 February: Eight employees are killed when a fire erupts at Keighley, West Yorkshire.
10 March: Fairey Aviation test pilot Peter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the Fairey Delta 2. He also becomes the first person to exceed 1,000 mph.
14 March: A memorial to Karl Marx is unveiled at the new site of his grave in Highgate Cemetery in London.
Interest in Dickie Valentine’s Christmas Alphabet understandably died down after the holidays, and the first new number 1 of the year was Rock Around the Clock, enjoying its second run at the top, before being usurped by a rather unique single.
Before
Sixteen Tons had originally been written and recorded by country singer-songwriter Merle Travis back in 1946. Travis’s songs often spoke of the hardships of workers in the US as he came from a mining family in Kentucky. His brother once wrote him a letter with the line ‘You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt’. His father was also fond of saying ‘I can’t afford to die. I owe my soul to the company store’. Back then, miners were paid with credit vouchers that they could use to buy goods at the company store. Travis had the beginnings of a very catchy chorus . He came up with a song whose humour is as black as the dirt in the miners’ fingernails, and Tennessee Ernie Ford was listening. 10 years later, his cover became his second UK number 1 single in less than a year.
Review
Sixteen Tons is so much better than Give Me Your Word. His previous number 1 was a mediocre ballad that could have recorded by anyone. It’s hard to think who could perform Sixteen Tons as well as Ford. The sparse arrangement features his deep, booming voice and finger-clicking to begin with, followed by a clarinet backing him up, Ford speaks not only for US workers, but any slave to the man. In the gloomy winter months of 1956, no doubt UK miners could find solace in such a song. The mining references may root the song firmly in the past, but anyone who finds themselves slaving away just to get by can identify. And it helps that it’s as catchy as hell.
After
Selling millions upon millions, Sixteen Tons became Ford’s signature song, and earned him his own TV show, which ran for five years.
Unfortunately, he and his first wife Betty had alcohol problems, and while he managed during his career peak, by the 70s his love of whiskey was taking its toll.
The Outro
Betty died in 1989 but even this couldn’t curtail his drinking, and he remarried less than four months later. Ford died of liver failure on 17 October 1991 – 36 years to the day of the first release of Sixteen Tons. However, he left behind the definitive version of a song that truly resonates.
The Info
Written by
Merle Travis
Producer
Lee Gillette
Weeks at number 1
2 (20 January-16 February)
Trivia
Births
31 January: Sex Pistols Singer John Lydon 2 January: Actor Philip Franks 13 February: New Order bassist Peter Hook
Deaths
31 January: Author AA Milne
Meanwhile…
24 January: Plans were announced for the building of thousands of new homes in the Barbican area of London, which had been devastated by Luftwaffe bombings in World War Two.
As winter 1955 dawned, Rock Around the Clock-mania had set in, and Bill Haley & His Comets were finally enjoying their stint at number 1. Although this was a seismic event in music, it would be wrong to think that from then on, the UK number 1s were constantly rock’n’roll numbers. Teenagers, as they had recently been named, still only represented a portion of the record-buying market. There were still a lot of older folk who were more than happy with the status quo, who liked nice crooners singing something warm and cosy, and especially with the dark nights drawing in, etc.
Before
Smooth singer Dickie Valentine had enjoyed a very successful year, with his collaboration with The Stargazers, Finger of Suspicion, topping the charts back in January, followed by three top 10 hits. He then topped and tailed 1955’s singles chart by cottoning on to an idea that would serve artists well for years to come – if you want a number 1 at Christmas time, why not do a song about Christmas time?
Christmas Alphabet had been written by Buddy Kaye and Jules Loman the previous year, and was performed by US singing trio The McGuire Sisters. Kaye liked his alphabet songs – he’d written ‘A’ You’re Adorable (The Alphabet Song) back in 1949 for Perry Como, although these days it’s probably best known as featuring in Angela Rippon’s guest spot on Morecambe & Wise’s Christmas special in 1976. Valentine’s version of Christmas Alphabet became the more famous version, and the oldies won out, knocking Haley from his lofty perch and making it the first explicitly-festive Christmas number 1.
Review
It’s based around a very simple idea. Valentine just lists seasonal stuff around each letter that makes up the word ‘Christmas’. He runs through it twice, to make sure it’s all sunk in, and that’s it, job done. Some of the rhyming is tenuous though…
‘S is for the Santa who makes every kid his pet, Be good and he’ll bring you everything in your Christmas alphabet!’
Erm, sorry, what? Santa makes every kid his pet? It’s news to me. Disturbing news, at that.
Although by this stage of my blog I’ve been longing for rock’n’roll to come along and shake things up, I have to confess that I don’t mind Christmas Alphabet. Reason being, I’m a sucker for a Christmas song. Especially older ones. Christmas is of course, a time for feeling all cosy and warm, if you’re lucky enough to have that option. 50s music is often perfect at encapsulating that. So I’m quite surprised, especially considering its historical importance, that Christmas Alphabet seems to have been forgotten about. You never hear it in shops, and it’s never on compilations. John Lewis are unlikely to get someone to make one of those annoying, wet, folky covers and stick it on an advert, either. It might be a slight little number, but it deserves to be remembered.
After
You could say the same about Valentine himself. Despite being adored at the time (he won New Musical Express’s best male vocalist category from 1953-57), he’s been largely forgotten.
The Outro
Valentine’s popularity waned in the next decade, despite two TV series (one with Peter Sellers) and he met a tragic end on 6 May 1971. Aged only 41, he was driving to a gig in Wales with bandmates at over 90mph in the early hours of the morning, when he lost control of the vehicle on a bend, killing the three of them.
The Info
Written by
Buddy Kaye & Jules Loman
Producer
Dick Rowe
Weeks at number 1
3 (16 December-5 January 1956)
Trivia
Births
23 December: Poet Carol Ann Duffy
Meanwhile…
20 December 1955: Cardiff becomes the official capital of Wales.
1 January 1956: Possession of heroin becomes fully criminalised.
4 January: As 1956 began, it became apparent that the Prime Minister Anthony Eden had plunged in the polls, which seemed surprising following the Conservatives’ solid victory in the election the previous year. Whether Labour had received a bounce off the back of electing their new leader, Hugh Gaitskell, remained to be seen.
Finally! After nearly 40 blogs, rock’n’roll has arrived. Although not the first song of the genre (nobody really knows if such a song actually exists, although Rocket 88 by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats is often credited as such), and not the best either, Rock Around the Clock is understandably credited as the tune that brought it to a wider audience, and influenced millions, including many youngsters who were taking note and went on to become star musicians themselves. Rock’n’roll was about feeling rather than form, about stripping away such soppy, sappy lyrics over flowery, string-packed instruments. There’s no wonder it helped bring about the dawn of the teenager. Why should young adults grow from children to instant adulthood? Why not have some fun first, before life gets too dull and dreary? Haley may have been way too old to be a teenager, but it didn’t matter. Rock Around the Clock represented the new young energy that would help sweep the country out of the post-war doldrums.
Before
Rock Around the Clock is believed to have been first written in 1952. Credited to Max C. Freedman and Jimmy De Knight (a pseudonym belonging to James E. Myers), it was first recorded by Sonny Day and His Knights, although apparently they’d always had Haley’s group in mind.
William John Clifton Haley was born in Highland, Michigan on 6 July 1925. When he was four he underwent an inner-ear mastoid operation which accidentally severed an optic nerve. This left him blind in his left eye for the rest of his life, and may explain why he grew a kiss curl over his right eye.
The Haley family moved to Bethel, Pennsylvania due to the effects of the Great Depression when he was seven. Both his parents were musicians (his mother originally came from Ulverston in Lancashire) and by the time he was 13, their son was singing and playing the guitar.
Two years later Haley left home to find fame. He spent the 40s in several bands, including The Down Homers and The Four Aces of Western Swing, and was even known as Silver Yodelling Bill Haley at one point.
By 1951 he was leading a country music act known as Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, but they changed their name to Bill Haley with Hayley’s Comets and adopted an early rock’n’roll sound after covering Rocket 88. They had their first hit with Crazy Man, Crazy, which is perhaps the first song of the genre to be shown on television, used on the soundtrack to a play starring James Dean. Soon after, they settled on Bill Haley & His Comets, and they were pianist Johnny Grande, steel guitarist Billy WIlliamson and bassist Marshall Lytle. Before long they had their first drummer, Earl Famous, who was soon replaced by Dick Richards.
In spring 1954 they began working with Milt Gabler, who had worked on several proto-rock’n’roll tracks previously. In their first session they recorded Rock Around the Clock as a last minute B-side to Thirteen Women And Only One Man In Town, a track about the survivors of a nuclear bomb.
Luckily for Haley and co, the son of a famous actor had become quite the fan of that B-side. 10-year-old Peter Ford was Glenn Ford’s son, and Glenn was due to co-star alongside Sidney Poitier in a film about teenage delinquents called Blackboard Jungle. He suggested to director Richard Brooks to stick the song over the opening credits. Swiftly capitalising on the attention, the song was re-released and spent two months at number 1 in the US. It was only a matter of time before their success was repeated in the UK, a nation starving for the return of the good times.
Review
I’m stating the obvious by saying it sounds quaint compared with the songs it later influenced, but there’s more raw energy packed into the opening of Rock Around the Clock than any UK number 1 up to that point. Haley’s voice commands you to take note and to have a good time, and the Comets ably assist, and so does guitarist Danny Cedrone, on loan from The Esquire Boys, who couldn’t think of a new solo and simply redid his performance on their earlier track Rock This Joint. It didn’t matter, it’s blistering and is easily the highlight of the song.
After
In a genre full of tragedy, Cedrone was one of the first victims. He never had chance to enjoy the group’s fame as a month after they had recorded Rock Around the Clock, he fell down some stairs and broke his neck, dying at the age of 33. By the time they became number 1, the Comets were a different group to the ones that recorded the song. In addition to Cedrone’s death, three other members left the group over money issues.
Before long, the younger acts they had helped influence suddenly made Bill Haley & His Comets look old and staid by comparison. They had become victims of the youth movement they helped usher in. Stardom lasted longer in Europe, where they enjoyed a few more years of being mobbed by fans. But rock’n’roll came and went many times over the years, with several revivals, and Rock Around the Clock was re-recorded several times and often reissued.
The Outro
Haley battled the booze during the 70s, and towards the end of his life he had a brain tumour. He died on 9 February 1981, aged 55 of ‘natural causes, most likely a heart attack’, according to his death certificate. But in a sense Rock Around the Clock‘s influence has made him immortal.
The Info
Written by
Max C Freedman & Jimmy De Knight
Producer
Milt Gabler
Weeks at number 1
5 (25 November-15 December 1955, 6-19 January 1956) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE DECADE*
Trivia
Births
30 November 1955: Singer Billy Idol 4 December: Conservative MP Philip Hammond 15 December: The Clash bassist Paul Simonon 6 January 1956: Presenter Angus Deayton/Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby 9 January: Actress Imelda Staunton 17 January: Singer Paul Young
Deaths
25 November: Ecologist Sir Arthur Tansley
Meanwhile…
2 December: The Barnes rail crash in Barnes, South London, left 13 dead and 35 injured.
7 December: Long-running Labour leader Clement Attlee resigned. For all the positive changes he helped bring about after the war, it was time for him to pass on the torch if the party was to usurp new Tory Prime Minister Anthony Eden. One week later, Hugh Gaitskell, a right-wing politician by many Labour members’ standards, defeated Nye Bevan and was named as the new leader.
Compared to the charts in the previous two years, the number 1s of 1955 have been quite diverse, and weird at times. We’ve had standard, dreary early 50s music, ballads, novelty songs, mambo and country music. But when are we going to get to some rock’n’roll? The genre that changed everything, that shook up pop forever?
Before
We’re nearly there, actually. Earlier that year, a film called Blackboard Jungle had been released. It featured rock’n’roll as its soundtrack, and by November, the music that featured in the opening credits, a former B-side for Bill Haley & His Comets called Rock Around the Clock, had been gathering momentum. At the same time, Rock Island Line by skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan was also released. A revolution had begun.
First though, a song from a musical. I’m about as much of a fan of musicals as I am country, bar a few exceptions. Well, who doesn’t love Grease?
Hernando’s Hideaway, by the Johnston Brothers, knocked Jimmy Young from the top on 11 November. It featured in The Pajama Game, a Broadway show by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, that had moved to the West End earlier that year and was originally performed by Carol Haney.
The Johnston Brothers were a male vocal group formed in 1949 and led by the wonderfully named Johnny Johnston. The other members were Alan Dean, Eddie Lester and Denny Vaughan. Like the Walker Brothers, they weren’t actually related. Johnston had been a singer and arranger with the BBC and had previously been a member of The Keynotes. The Johnston Brothers signed with Decca Records in 1953 and soon had their first top 10 hit with Oh Happy Day.
With The Pajama Game sparking so much interest, several versions of Hernando’s Hideaway were available, but it was the brothers’ version that ruled the roost on these shores, beating off Johnnie Ray and Archie Bleyer.
Review
Set to a very famous tango tune (is this tune stolen from a tango standard, or is this how it became famous?), the song concerns a dodgy-sounding Spanish dive where lovers can meet in private. Featuring atmospheric castanets and shouts of ‘Ole!’, the Johnston Brothers, at least, don’t attempt comedy Spanish accents, and let’s face it, back then, nobody would have minded if they had. I’m sure it works fine in the context of a musical, but a UK number 1? Not in my eyes, or ears, but maybe I’m getting impatient for what is to come.
After
The Johnston Brothers had a few more singles before calling it a day, with Johnny Johnston moving into writing advertising jingles. Johnny Johnston Jingles Ltd (again, great name) came up with, among others, the famous ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’ jingle.
The Outro
Hernando’s Hideaway is still the nickname for the smoking room in the House of Commons.
The Info
Written by
Richard Adler & Jerry Ross
Producer
Hugh Mendl
Weeks at number 1
2 (11 November-24 November)
Trivia
Births
17 November: Go West singer Peter Cox/Architect Amanda Levete 24 November: Cricketer Ian Botham
Births
Meanwhile…
20 November: The Milton rail crash left 11 dead and 157 injured when a speeding train derailed near Didcot.
Influential country-western singer, guitarist and yodeller Slim Whitman’s Rose Marie enjoyed a massive 11-week-long reign in 1955. It stood as the longest-running continuous number 1 until Bryan Adams spent 16 weeks at the top in 1991 with (Everything I Do) I Do It For You.
Before
Born Otis Dewey Whitman Jr in Tampa, Florida on 20 January 1923, Slim grew up loving the country songs of yodelling Jimmie Rodgers. During World War Two he entertained fellow soldiers with his singing. Whitman was so entertaining, his captain blocked a transfer to another ship. This proved to be a massive stroke of luck, as everybody on that ship was killed when it sank. He taught himself to play the guitar with his left hand, despite being right-handed, after losing a finger in an accident. This later had an effect on a young Paul McCartney, who was left-handed and decided to retune his guitar just as Whitman had. George Harrison was also taking note, and once said the first person he ever saw with a guitar was Whitman. The instrument was beginning to become fashionable, thanks in part to Slim.
Elvis’s future manager, ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker, had heard Whitman on the radio and took him under his wing, and his first single came out in 1948. A young Elvis Presley even supported him.
Whitman was very popular by 1955, and even more famous in the UK than the US. He avoided standard country fare about drinking and having no money, and became known for his more romantic material. His yodelling became his trademark, and it may sound surprising but even Michael Jackson listed him as one of his 10 favourite vocal performers.
Rose Marie had been released as a single in 1954. It was taken from the 1924 opera of the same name, with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and the lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. Eventually it toppled Alma Cogan’s Dreamboat, and it reigned supreme from July to October.
Review
At first I was baffled by the success of Rose Marie. As I explained when reviewing Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Give Me Your Word, I’m not a country fan. I found myself more amused by Whitman’s voice than anything. I’m not averse to a bit of yodelling either (see Focus or Mr Trololo), but I just could not see the appeal. Unlike most of the other songs so far though, I went back to it a few times, and it has grown on me. Lew Chudd’s production is haunting, and the lyrics pack more depth into them than the usual hits of the time (of course, it was written 30 years earlier, so that might explain why). It’s a love song, but Whitman is powerless against his emotions:
‘Oh Rose Marie, I love you I´m always dreaming of you No matter what I do, I can’t forget you Sometimes I wish that I never met you’
Nonetheless, Whitman has given up. He belongs to her now.
‘Of all the queens that ever lived, I choose you To rule me, my Rose Marie’
So, yes, fair play to Whitman. But… 11 weeks at number 1? A world record for 36 years? Really? Having said that, when you’ve the likes of Jimmy Young as your competition, perhaps it’s understandable.
After
Whitman made history in 1956 when he became the first ever country star to perform at the London Palladium. He continued to have hits on these shores, including I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen in 1957.
His star began to wane as the 60s began, with mainly minor hits in the US country charts. Though he continued to record, Angeline (1984) was his last album for 18 years. He relied on royalties from compilations until he began work on his final album Twilight on the Trail which finally saw release in 2010.
The Outro
In 2013 Whitman died of heart failure on 19 June, aged 90.
The Info
Written by
Rudolf Friml, Herbert Stothart, Otto Harbach & Oscar Hammerstein II
Producer
Lew Chudd
Weeks at number 1
11 (29 July-13 October)
Trivia
Births
14 August: Actress Gillian Taylforth 1 September: The Jam bassist Bruce Foxton 3 September: Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones 16 September: Children’s television presenter Janet Ellis 20 September: Actor David Haig 2 October: Human League singer Phil Oakey 9 October: Athlete Steve Ovett
Deaths
16 September: Conservative MP Leo Amery
Meanwhile…
27 August: The Guinness Book of Records was first published.
4 September: BBC newsreaders were seen on television reading reports for the first time. The two in question were Richard Baker and Kenneth Kendall, who became celebrities themselves in time.
14 September: Airfix produced their first scale model aircraft kit.
22 September: ITV began, in London only. The first advert shown is for Gibbs’ SR toothpaste.
26 September: Clarence Birdseye started selling fish fingers in the UK.
