Greenfield Massachusetts Top 35 Hit Parade Countdown For November 2, 1953

according to the big music store in town, Deland's Music Store.

#35

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1D8N0qIciY

Similar in style to her "Your Cheatin' Heart" hit from earlier in the year, Joni's version of this country-ish tune stalled at #22 on the national (Cash Box) singles chart. Also recorded by MGM artist Ernie Lee, the song made enough of an impression on young Elvis Presley that on January 4, 1954, he included it among the handful of self-financed demo acetates he made at the Sun Records studio in Memphis prior to his first bona fide sessions there.

Transferred and digitally processed from the original 45rpm: M-G-M 11606 - I'll Never Stand In Your Way (Rose-Heath) by Joni James, orchestra conducted by Lew Douglas

i really don't feel like working today...

you'll never guess what #34 is.

#34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_q5iuaBvOk

As with all his other compositions, Leroy Anderson wrote The Typewriter for orchestra, completing the work on October 9, 1950. The Typewriter received its first performance when Leroy Anderson conducted his short piece (only one minute and forty-five seconds) for a Decca Records recording session on September 8, 1953. Mills Music published the orchestral version in 1953. Soon after a band arrangement by Fred Werle was also published.

#33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxoayh4n9xU

Oh have you ever been down to Haiti
When the summer sun is sinkin low.
There's nothin but romance just evrywhere you glance
And the native hearts are all aglow.
But when the Cuban Queen comes upon the scene,
They all stare like a statuette before their eyes,
The other girls are left all alone.

Down in the Caribbean, it's not a dream you're seen,
When you get a glimpse of the lady with the charms,
But from miles away you can see her sway
To the beat of the Cuban congo line that forms.

Up in a tree so high away up in the sky
Sits a wide-eyed monkey on a limb.
He wonders why the people go to so much trouble
Just to try and be like him.
He doesn't understand that it's a ladys hand,
That makes a heart feel so sublime.
But before too long he starts to sing their song,
And then he gets in the conga line.

Columbus searched for spices, but he missed the
Nicest part of the Caribbean.
He didn't see the charms and the open arms,
It was the gold that he was a-seein,
Oh, but I'm glad he missed the sweetest thing I've kissed,
Cause were on our honeymoon.
And I'm sorry, Chris to talk about you like this,
But you were five hundred years too soon.

#32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWunj7Yw3PQ

#31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcvx7Ncskck

Gary Cooper as Jeff Dawson
Barbara Stanwyck as Marina Conway
Ruth Roman as Sal Donnelly
Anthony Quinn as Ward "Paco" Conway
Ward Bond as Dutch Peterson
Ian MacDonald as Jackson
Richard Karlan as Henderson
Juan García as El Gavilan

#30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPvkI9HlLRM

The nabob of sob, Johnny Ray, did "With These Hands" around the same time, but I actually prefer Eddie's version. Eddie gives it his all. Johnny usually did too, but his version is more tentative. he stands back a bit from the song.

#29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-6iRU8F2rQ

sammy's version of in the mission is dead on arrival. soooooo drippy. like having to swallow medicine or something. but definitely seek out the same song as recorded by The Orioles around the same time. HIGHLY recommended.

"The Typewriter" is amazing! and there are lots of live performances of it on youtube. you could get away with some weird stuff in the '50s (and still have a more-or-less mainstream following) as long as you kept within the confines of classical or jazz-pop (cf. Les Paul, Esquivel).

#28

Four Aces - Laughing On The Ouside

tons of people did this song too and most of them did it better than the Four Aces. Dinah Shore did it better. Nat Cole did it better. this version by The Majors predates the Four Aces version and is superior in every way. plus. i can't find an easily accessible Four Aces youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsMaI-d9iEc

#27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WXP4chklA

don't sleep on The Hilltoppers! if you see a best-of or something. Billy Vaughan did some great stuff with the group. super arrangements. the man had a great ear even early on. check out the piano+organ break in "Love Walked In". and the guitar sound is smashing. a little pre-rock swing. Jimmy Sacca had a cool voice too.

#26

Patti Page - Father, Father

can't find a good youtube for this song either. i heart patti page. here's an awesome slice of her t.v. show though. very entertaining and lotsa Patti!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMAIvoJXmgA

<3<3<3 Scott. Bookmarking thread for later. This stuff is so far up my alley they should name the alley after me.

#25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9GR8offL9E

fun fact: Bob Wells, one of the authors of "From Here To Eternity" wrote "The Christmas Song" with Mel Torme. you know, chestnuts roasting on an open fire and all that.

#24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0sW4Nb-FQ

Hilltoppers fever in 1953. they sold a zillion singles. millions anyway. great old song and their version is one of the best thanks to those lead vocals.

#23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0p2FQNUsNg

way brassier than billie's jazzy version from a year before, but i think its possible to dig both.

#22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoShckBbUlc

#21

Hilltoppers - To Be Alone

i'll spare you this Hilltoppers youtube cuz it sounds horrible. a moody ballad and then some. great spoken word interludes. david lynch might be a fan.

#20

Perry Como - Pa Paya Mama

gonna spare you Perry's tortured calypso turn too. its lame. WAY better is THIS 1953 version of the same song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbkr_uI6xyA

#19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBm1Vv1P9Qo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Ames_Brothers_1955.JPG

love that picture. the ames brothers can freak me out a little. they were so total. no surrender. they were really really jewish! children of russian jewish immigrants. and beloved by the whitest americans in the country. millions of them. would definitely check out a biography of those boys.

are you gonna finish this thread or what?!?!

oh yeah totally.

i was actually trying to get some work done today...

#18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoRrD8qOsDo

lots of people did this one too. Jean's is right purty. at Deland's in Greenfield the Jean Shepard version AND the version by Pat O'Day & Four Horsemen are listed on their november chart. and they also list versions by Autry Inman, Kenny Roberts (Kenny grew up outside Greenfield and is a favorite son), and Bill Tubb.

#17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YPnXBWl9Tk

The Four Lads were experts at close harmony and acapella and were very much influenced by Negro spirituals and gospel music. They scored a number of pop Top 100 hits during the early '50s, including "The Mockingbird," "Skokian" (1954), "Moments to Remember" (1955), and "No, Not Much!" and "Standing on the Corner" (both in 1956). Their initial break came while backing Johnny Ray on his early-'50s hits "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried" for Columbia Records. The Four Lads launched their professional career in 1950, singing in local clubs around Toronto, Canada. All of the original members had been choirboys. Lead vocalist Bernie Toorish, (born John Bernard Toorish on March 2, 1931) had grown up in a musical family and began performing from the age of three. In elementary school, he studied violin and as an eighth grader at St. Michael Choir School, greatly impressed by the Golden Gate Quartet, he had already been performing gospel and church music with a group called the Jordanaires (not the backing vocalists for Elvis Presley). (Later, two of the singers later helped form the Crew Cuts.) In addition to Toorish, the group included James Arnold (first tenor), Connie Codarini (bass), and Frank Busseri (baritone). The Jordanaires later changed their name to the Four Dukes and they began performing to critical and public acclaim in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. An audition was soon arranged for the group at Le Ruban Bleu, a swanky New York City supper club, but they were made aware that there was already a group using the name Four Dukes working out of Detroit, so Julius Monk, impresario at the club, suggested they call themselves the Four Lads. Their engagement at Le Ruban Bleu lasted 30 weeks. In 1951, they were signed by Mitch Miller to Columbia Records as background singers. Toorish was later commissioned to do the vocal and instrumental arranging on a Johnnie Ray single: "Cry" b/w "The Little White Cloud That Cried." Both sides proved to be huge hits and sales ultimately exceeded five million copies. The success brought Toorish and his Four Lads a recording contract with Columbia and the Lads began to lean away from spirituals and more towards pop. In 1952, Columbia released their first hit, "The Mockingbird" (on their Okeh imprint). They received their first gold record in 1953 for "Istanbul," but the hits kept coming. In total, the Four Lads recorded 73 sides for Columbia, including "Rain, Rain, Rain," "Turn Back," "My Little Angel," "Skokian," "Moments to Remember" (which reached number two on the pop charts in 1955), "No, Not Much!" (written by the songwriting team of Bob Allen and Al Stillman, who wrote Johnny Mathis' big hit "Chances Are"), and "Standing on the Corner.." Their sound was polished, crisp, with an overlay of vibrato on the long notes. Many of their heavily orchestrated songs were conducted by Frank DeVol or Ray Ellis. The group also recorded several long-playing albums, including 1962's Dixieland Doin's, which was a Kapp recording released on the London label in stereo. Incidentally, their version of an old Negro spiritual, "Dem Bones," from this album was used during an episode of the British TV series The Prisoner. They made their American TV debut on The Ransom Sherman Show on NBC. Other TV appearances included The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom on ABC and Perry Presents on NBC in 1959. The Four Lads were also one of the guest hosts of the summer music series Upbeat on CBS in 1955. Their success story includes the sale of some 50 million singles and albums to date. During their heyday, the Lads' fan clubs reportedly had as many as 150,000 members (in Pittsburgh alone there were 20,000), but their popularity, which peaked in 1957, began to decline as the pendulum swung to folk music and rock & roll. After a number of changes in personnel, the original group finally broke up in 1977. In 1978, Toorish gave up music and became an insurance underwriter, a job he continues to hold today. However, he didn't stay away from the stage mic for long. After the Four Lads' induction into the Canadian Juno Awards Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1984, enough interest was sparked in the group that Toorish (now shortened to "Torish") decided to end his long hiatus. He reactivated the quartet, though he remains the sole original from the '50s lineup. The Four Lads continue to perform at supper clubs, on cruises, and wherever oldies groups are booked. They even have their own website: www.thefourlads.com. Copies of their first-release LP's are extremely rare and a virgin copy of their 1960s album currently sells for more than 200 dollars. ~ Bryan Thomas, All Music Guide

i just traded a great copy of the very hard to find album by The Four Lovers on RCA from 1956. Frankie Valli's first group. a GREAT record and probably my favorite stuff by Frankie by far. i gave a pal of mine a great deal on it. 150-200 dollar record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkR_tbO9wok

just thought i'd throw that in there...

#16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHM-fp2-sps

hey joe where you going with that jolly dolly in your hand.

Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio.

#15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsGcat_dJVE

Original Billboard review: "The boys get involved in a barbershop style reading replete with hokey piano and some chatter. It's a cute item which could draw some coin in the right locations." Billboard rating: 70 out of 100.

:D thanks.
i like some fifties pop/vocal stuff but i have noooooooo clue where to start.

#14

Perry Como - No Other Love

Howzabout we just keep this thread Como-free. Is that mean? Do you know what Perry Como sounded like? of course you do. So let's just hear a version from the same time that wipes Perry off the map. Hats off to Jo Stafford. She is justifiably legend. (The great Helen O'Connell also had a nice take on this song.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjDqMftHbKI

Como was my mom's fave singer, but there was nothin i could do about it.

#13

Perry Como - You Alone

okay, FINE, since greenfield was apparently in a Como coma it seems only fair to give him his due. and the arrangement on this is nice enough. great sound on this Youtube vid. this was on the same single with "Pa-Paya Mama".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4notf1x9Io

Perry Como was very very very popular. He sold millions of records for many years.

He was also the son of immigrants. From Italy. He didn't speak English until he atarted school. His family spoke Italian at home.

yeah that's why he had an annual TV Christmas special til he was half past dead

xp

#12

3-way tie!

William Kapell/Liberace/Jerry Murad - Story of Three Loves (The Eighteenth Variation)

Let's go with Jerry, everyone's favorite Harmonicat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Q9b2POn5Y

You seem to post for your own amusement and the rest of us are just lucky enough to benefit.

#11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSG355t6Nec

finally some pep! a bushel of pep! i can't say that i'm the HUGEST Teresa Brewer fan, but she sure does sell this tune.

i've been on the ilx for so long. just second nature by now. i'm on the computer anyway for work. i do actually get other stuff done. but this week my pep has really popped. need a vaycay. i make my own fun.

We are getting down to the wire now! can you feel the excitement?

NUMBER TEN!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B0pnZYieJw

Son of Russian/Jewish immigrants and one of Philadelphia's favorite sons, this was Eddie's peak as a singer. He was never stronger than his early 50s heyday. if you ask me.

eddie had his own record label, fyi. arguably catchier name than frank's reprise.

http://www.popsike.eu/pix/20111006/230683057516.jpg

this thread is fun! that Typewriter tune has been the theme tune to a UK radio show for decades. I dig No Other Love & all its Chopin thievery. love corny stuff like that Little Blue Riding Hood.

Eddie Fisher's voice sounds exactly like my grandfather's (who died at 90 almost a year ago) singing voice. It's nice to hear.

NUMBER NINE!

It's a tie!

Ray Anthony/Buddy Morrow - Dragnet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ee5UgqnVYg

We'll go with Ray's defining version. Though Buddy's is way jazzier if you want to check it out sometime. I'm also now curious to hear the b-side to Buddy's Dragnet single, "Your Mouth's Got A Hole In It". That's gotta be good!

NUMBER EIGHT

IT'S A TIE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTEgs3TRgrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhfZmTe3xAs

Seemingly EVERYONE did a version of this song in the early 50's. it was a very popular song to sing. and, arguably, or maybe not even arguably, The Orioles version is champ. The Orioles were kinda the champ of 1953 in general. But June Valli and Darrell Glenn both do a nice job too. Kinda hard to screw up a song so melodious if you've got the pipes for it. Elvis did this song. Bob Marley did this song. You may have recorded this song. Darrell Glenn was just a kid when he sang it and you'll never guess who wrote it. Darrell's dad! Nice gift to give your kid. FYI: June Valli was from the Bronx and might have been the child of Italian immigrants and she was also one of the original voices of Chiquita Banana.

NUMBER SEVEN!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2ZdJv8j1fQ

zzzzzzzzz....if you are gonna seek out Pee Wee, seek out 30's and early 40's recordings of Glen Gray & the Casa Loma Orchestra when Pee Wee was in the band. Good stuff there.

NUMBER SIX!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftXjqVmnbho

Son of Italian immigrants...zzzzzzzzz...haha! Anyway, where Tony's family was from, Podargoni, is an interesting area of the world.

NUMBER FIVE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bsg73N0eUZk

Julius La Rosa had Italian parents. That much we know. And speaking of mothers, my mother LOVED Julius La Rosa. My mom was from Queens and Julius was from Brooklyn.

NUMBER FOUR!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8NN9PL1iwk

Les's real last name was Polsfuss and his family was related to the people who owned the Stutz auto company and the Blatz brewery. Mary Ford's real last name was Summers.

awesome thread

NUMBER THREE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATF93NMujk

so ubiquitous its not even funny. one of the most popular tunes in world history! Carl Sigman, one of the writers of "Ebb Tide" was convinced by his pal Johnny Mercer to quit the law and try songwriting. Boy, is he ever glad he did! The dude wrote "Till"! And co-wrote "Pennsylvania 6-5000" with Glenn Miller, for pete's sake. The other writer of the song, Robert Maxwell, wrote the song "Solfeggio" which bacame the theme song for Ernie Kovacs' Nairobi Trio.

This is the greatest thread.

Julius LaRosa is still alive. He also recorded the theme for Mr Mike's Mondo Video.

NUMBER TWO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SGLzMnkbe4

The Ames Brothers, it should be noted, were from Malden, Massachusetts which is approximately 2 hours and 103 miles from Greenfield.

HERE IT IS! THE NUMBER ONE RECORD IN GREENFIELD MASSACHUSETTS THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2, 1953!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT3QYb7AN6k

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Stanf.jpg

Stan Freberg - still living - and the immortal Daws Butler created a parody that sold over a million copies in three weeks! I actually don't know when the cartoon was made...Anyway, I think we can all agree that its preferable to Perry Como. As a bonus, here's the immortal Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg in the hilarious 1952 Fritz Freleng short Tree For Two!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_n0clrokc

In closing, I would like to suggest that you pick up some records by The Orioles whenever you get a chance.

Man that is a brilliant number one.

I would also like to point out that Joni James is very much alive and her real name is Giovanna Carmella Babbo.

http://img14.shop-pro.jp/PA01076/467/product/15710224.jpg