The Other 50's

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:49 PM

Booby Vinton? It was a typo. Honest..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:42 PM

Lollipop by the Chordettes hit the top 40 in 1958. Blue Velvet, by Booby Vinton was a hit in 1963. The Moonglows did a wonderful rendition of Blue Velvet (far better than Bobby Vinton's in my opinion,) but it was an R & B hit, never cracking the more white-bread Billboard top 40.

Hi, Jimmy... we're on your turf, now...

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: jimmyt
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:39 PM

Kendall. I got together with our lead singer and Jayne a couple weeks ago and somehow we got started on those sort of "Western" pop songs and actually did a medley of Cool, COol Water, Mariah, THe Wayward WInd and ELpaso. SOrt of a nice little period of music.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: jimmyt
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:36 PM

Amos, my man, I think lolipop and Blue Velvet were solid 60s songs

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:17 PM

Two lines copied and pasted from Bill D's post, followed by MY opinion.

The Rock Island Line it is a mighty good road,
The Rock Island Line it is the road to ride...

Johnny Cash! It all depends on your geography and your POV.

The key word is opinion. Everyone has one; some are the same, some are different, none are wrong . . . or worth arguing about. (You could stick that in the Johnny Cash/icon thread, too.)

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Amos
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 08:15 PM

Honeycomb, Wontcha Be My Baby

You Butterfly!

This Ole House

Hot Diggety, Dog Diggety, Boom! Watcha Do to Me

Green Door (I think)

Hernandop's Hideaway

Lollipop, Lollipop

Love Forever True

Love Letters in the Sand

Blue Velvet?

Just of the top of me 'ead.


A

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 08:00 PM

The 50s - the days of Skiffle, Trad Jazz, and Rock and Roll. As well as other types of folk music.

For me Perry Como and that lot never got a look in.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,weelittledrummer
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:54 PM

I hate to give away MY age, but my first recording of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was by the Lew Stone Orchestra with vocal accompaniment, and it was a 78rpm BIG record on the Regal Zonophone label- a real record, not like those poncy little 45's!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:42 PM

Wheel of Fortune was by Kay Starr, Kendal.. one of the earliest multitrack vocal duets by the same singer (obviously not countin Mary Ford.)

Jerry

Yes, the Weavers and Lonnie Donegan both recorded Rock Island line, probably learned from the same source, Leadbelly. I don't know if the Weaver's version was released as a 45 (or 78) rpm.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:39 PM

Hey, Azizi:

Personality hit the top 40 in 1959, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes did the same in 1959, as did Lavnder Blue by Sammy Turner as did Sixteen Candles by the Crests.

Rock Island Line by our own Lonnie Donegan hit the top 40 twice... in 1956 and 1961.. one of a very small handful of records that hit the top 40 twice, seperated by several years. (The Twist was another.) I never heard the Weaver's recording on national radio, although Goodnight Irene, Tzena, Tzena and Wemoweh all hit the top 40.

Don't feel bad, Azizi... you may not have heard the Lonnie Donegan recording when it came out, you being so young and all. It's just us grizzeled old Fogies, and Fogettes that go back that far. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:34 PM

Okay, you guys are confusing me. Is it Lonnie Donegan {whose name I've seen mentioned here but I haven't had the pleasure of hearing]or the Weavers-or maybe both of them recorded that Rock Island Line song??

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,Cluin
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:33 PM

Try the DoveSong site for some free MP3 downloads. Some great old recordings there made from old 45s and 78s. Country, Bluegrass, Pop, Gospel, etc...

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: kendall
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:31 PM

The wayward wind Gogie Grant
In My adobe hycienda Gene Autry
Wild Goose Frankie Lane
Wheel of Fortune ??

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:31 PM

Well, alright, lesblank and "The FeatherTones group!

So those really are 1950s songs?

Well, maybe I redeemed myself a little by not knowing who the Weavers are but knowing those song titles if not the vocalists.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: lesblank
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:29 PM

Rock Island Line by the one and only -- Lonnie Donegan !!!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:28 PM

Thanks, Bill D.

Of course, I won't admit that I don't know who the Weavers are..
Opps! I just did.

But-wait a minute...I remember reading another Mudcat thread that they recorded the Wimoweh version of the Lion Sleeps Tonight, right? And did I read that Pete Seeger was part of the Weavers? Am I remembering that thread correctly?

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: lesblank
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:24 PM

I hesitate to do this -- giving away my age !!! The Platters did "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", Sammy Turner did "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and The Crests did "Sixteen Candles" - a group I sang with in the late fifties (The FeatherTones) did them all !!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:23 PM

The Rock Island Line it is a mighty good road,
The Rock Island Line it is the road to ride...


The Weavers..

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:03 PM

melodeonboy, you said "It's a cracker!"

The first thing that came in my mind was "Yeah, but does Polly want it?

Sorry, that hit my funny bone.
{and if you're not in the USA, will you even "get it".

****

Jerry, is Lloyd Price's Personality" from the 1950s?
[I think it was Lloyd Price]

And who recorded "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes?" and "Lavender Blue", and Sixteen Candles"? Are these from the 1950s?

****

Also, Jerry you wrote "Rock Island Line ... need I say who by?"
I stand ready for ridicule. I don't know which song that is and who recorded it. I guess you don't mean the Big Rock Candy Mountain" And no, I'm not kidding-I guess I could cheat and google it, but could you let me and others who might not know who that song is by.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: melodeonboy
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:46 PM

If you want to hear some really interesting, non-mainstream stuff (well, a lot of it is!) from the 50s, listen to Mark Lamar's "Shake, Rattle & Roll" programme on Radio 2 (Thursday evenings after Paul Jones' blues slot). It's a cracker!

Subject: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 06:41 PM

I came across a cassette today that I'm re-mixing and burning to CD. I taped it several years ago... some of my favorite popular music from the 50's, that I own as 45's. Whenever I see a collection of music from the 50's it's all Doris Day, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Mitch Miller, The MaGuire Sisters, Jo Stafford and company. But there was "another" 1950's music that shaped all the music that was to come. My Cassette collection is unique to me, and not representative of the Other 50's. But, it's a reminder of what a wide range of music was popular during that time. Here are a few examples from the Cassette:

Hambone, by the Red Saunders orchestra.. the Bo Diddley beat before Bo DIddley claimed that he invented it... the vocals done by a group of black kids.

Mockingbird, by the 4 Lads, before the backed Johnny Ray on Cry. This is an old black gospel song I still love.

Sweet Georgia Brown by Hutch Davie... used as a theme song by the Harlem Globe Trotters for many years... lead instrument is someone whistling..

Marie by the Four Tunes

Skokiann by the Bullawayo Sweet Rhythm Band. I weill never tire of this record

Rock Island Line ... need I say who by?

Same Old Tale That The Crow Told me by Johnny Horton

Wildwood Flower by Tom and Jerry (a great instrumental version, not by the earlier version of Simon and Garfunkel.)

Bluebirds Over The Ocean by Ersel Hickey (the shortest running time of any record ever to hit the top 40.)

Swinging Shepherd Blues by Johnny Pate Quartet

And then a slug of 45's by people like Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan and Art Tatum

And the seminal pre-Ventures guitar group recording of Guitar Boogie Shuffle by the Supersonics. The Ventures covered this recording a few years later, but couldn't touch the original, in my opinion.

Not to excessively knock Doris Day, Perry Como and crew, but there was a whole underbelly of music bubbling up in the 50's.

And what about National City by The Joyner Arkansas Junior High School Band (and old Sousa march). A JUNIOR highs school band that not only had a rock solid tromobne section, but BANJOS!.

Anyone want to add their favorites.. I may well have the 45's..

Jerry

Can you believe the 50's were 50 years ago? Weird, Man!