At Last it's the 1946 Singles Poll

awesome.

and jeez, hard call. i don't know all of these, but almost all the ones i know are straight-up classics.

There are a lot more singles there that I like than on remotely recent singles charts. I don't think of myself as especially liking 40s music, but I might have to rethink that, at least when it comes to the hits. Which is to say, I'm not sure what I'm going to pick, although since it's almost Christmas, and since I like Nat King Cole. . .

I feel like running and embracing my oldies-playing barber and say: Yes! It has all been downhill since that British invasion thing!

what's the provenance of the list, anyway? were these the top sellers?

I don't think I've heard the original "Night in Tunisia", but I really like the song. I think I'm going for "Good Morning Heartache".

It's compiled from various sources--some were top sellers, others not. I don't think the R&B stuff had much of a chance back then of cracking the Pop charts. All were actual singles, except maybe the Ethel Merman song. But I had to include something from Annie Get Your Gun. "La Vie en Rose" was released in different countries in different years, but originally in 1946 as far as I can figure.

I went with "Route 66"; tempted by "Roly Poly" but I don't know Bob Wills' version, only know it played by anonymous western swing bands at the Blue Bonnet in San Antonio.

Spike Jones- "Hawaiian War Chant"

i own the 78 of this (honk) , so i'll have to vote for it.(loud bang)

i went "la vie en rose" because pretty much everybody else on the list did better work than what they're on here for, but that's piaf's iconic peak. (you could argue "route 66" is really nkc's best, but it's a closer call. i'm partial to "straighten up and fly right.")

nat king cole trio would easily be in a 1940s top 10 for me overall. maybe even top 5.

(was gonna fault the list for no hank williams, but he only had a few songs in '46. '47 was his breakthrough year.)

Wow, what a crazy list! Wanted to go with Jordan, had to go with Parker ("Koko," y'all!).

Somebody please do an top R&B Singles series of polls (1947-?).

I voted for "Tunisia," narrowly over "Route 66." Cool idea.

Oum Kalthoum put out some great songs in 1946, notably:

Nahj el Borda
Oulida Elhouda
Ya Toul Azzabi

"Good Morning Heartache" is one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs, but I tend to like her 50s versions of things more than her 40s recordings.

Kentucky Waltz is such a great song.

Somebody please do an top R&B Singles series of polls (1947-?).

There's a cool series of box sets called The R&B Years, from a UK label named Recall, with each box covering one year, starting with 1947. I think they got up to 1956. I only have the 1947 box--it has 100 songs, a lot to wade through, but awesome. I don't know if they had the rights to all of the well known songs.

And Bear Family has this series-- Blowing the Fuse: 27 R&B Classics That Rocked the Jukebox in 19?? which will reportedly have one volume each for the years 1945 to 1960.

Oh, I just read that recordings fall out of copyright after 50 years--which explains the 1956 cut-off date for reissue comps.

don't forget Indigo's The R&B Years comps; the 1946 was a single disc, the others longer; the '50s titles are three discs each. god help me, I have all of them, as well as all the Boulevard comps and the Bear Family ones.

i'll ask me nan.

Great list. I chose "A Night in Tunisia" but could have gone with half a dozen others.

very very tough call here but had to go with "A Night in Tunesia"

Voted "Christmas Song" because I am in the mood at this time of year, and because it's a beautiful song :)

Stone cold dead in the market –
I killed nobody but me husband!

Easy: "Koko"

don't forget Indigo's The R&B Years comps; the 1946 was a single disc, the others longer; the '50s titles are three discs each. god help me, I have all of them, as well as all the Boulevard comps and the Bear Family ones.

GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!

I found a full-album MP3 blog that seems to cover this time period:

http://bebopwino.blogspot.com/

Take me right back to the track...Jack!

Lotsa great stuff in '46, obviously

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Voted "Roly Poly."

Tough call indeed; several beginnings of time in that list, though I've gone for Bird and "Koko."

I'm torn between "Stone Cold Dead in the Market," "To Each His Own," and "Hard Travelin." But I think Ella is gonna get my vote.

Oh man. I totally didn't notice Good Morning, Heartache.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nat "King" Cole- "I Love You (For Sentimental Reasons)" 1

grrrr. should've rigged the votespoken up or something.