The Great Watershed of 1958

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 10:54 PM

I think a lot of this depends on when you were in your late teens-early 20s and getting seriously involved with life.
I know the words to very few of the songs on the list, the titles of many mean nothing to me.
Now, if the list included Bob Wills and his Playboys and others of 1940-1945, when the U. S. had most of us in that age group in its grasp, and especially those of us who did their dancin' and romancin' in the honky tonks of Texas and Oklahoma, I might be able to hum or even sing snatches of the songs that were on the southwestern jukeboxes. That time was our watershed.

Sorry, the music of 1958 meant little to my generation. We were too busy consolidating our hold on middle class necessities- houses and symphony tickets and station wagons. We read House and Garden and Time or Newsweek. Earlier, we had listened to Tom Lehrer when we were in college but he was almost forgotten. We might have picked up the odd Oscar Brand. Remembered are Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Kingston Trio-

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: CraigS
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 08:41 PM

McGrath - in those days the European music biz was manipulated by impresarios - many of these songs were later hits in the UK, covered by British artists. Short Shorts was Freddie and the Dreamers ca. 1964, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine was Frankie Vaughn 1958, Lollipop was Millie ca 1966, Oh Julie was Shakin' Stevens ca 1974 to name but a few. Mention Frank Ifield to an American and he'll come up blank, because Frank Ifield's hits were covers of Slim Whitman songs. Me, I remember about 80% of this list. This was a big year for me because I won the under 6s talent competition at Butlins!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Padre
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 08:48 PM

Good grief, that was my senior year in high school and I remember every one of those songs - "ain't it funny how time slips away."

Padre

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: GUEST,Bograt
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 07:58 PM

Yes, DMcG, I know what you mean, and I agree with Outwest, the kids
do have their own music today, the only problem with it is that
I don't think that they will remember it as we remember our songs.
How can you remember rap for instance, IMHO it hardly qualifies as
music even, an "artiste" jabbering at the speed of light to a drum
machine in the background? No way is this music.

Yes, there is a lot of good stuff out there, but I feel, as usual
that the people are being fed what the mass media wants them to buy,
as is the case with most things these days.

I know that everyone remembers songs from "their" period, our parents
remembered songs from the war and the big band era, I remember music
from the 60s - 70s, but I also have a theory that we stop our mental
aging at a certain point and then hold there, for instance, I don't
think of myself as being in my late 50s I seem to think as I did
when I was 30 something. How old do all you 'catters think you are?

Amos, that was a super list, when I look down the lists of lyrics
these are the sort of things that I pick out to try to play again.
See what I mean? Locked in that under 30s loop.

Sorry if I've wandered on, It's getting late, but thanks for the
memories Amos

Cheers

Bog

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: DMcG
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 12:29 PM

Well, I was four for most of 1958. So how come I know so many of them??

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Pied Piper
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:13 AM

Somewhat of a watershed for me, as it was the year I was born.
All this makes me feel like a young whippersnapper.

PP

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: harvey andrews
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 07:27 AM

"Oh, what a time it was...a time of innocence....."

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 12:30 AM

It was Kent Tareyton, LadyJean, but he never got caught; it was a Lucky strike on his part, and he headed for the exit Pell-Mell as soon as it was over.

A

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 12:17 AM

I was a junior in H.Schl. in 1958. I was of a mindset to see these songs as banal beyond belief. Folk was the remedy I found. Kerouac too. Jack and Woody's reasons for being "on the road" were different, but I sure bought into that mystique. And I must've found something of real value there, because I never, for the most part, ever left that nitch.

Still, the pop songs of the 30s and 50s became classic jazz standards when Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Benny Goodman, Red Rodney, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Bud Powell and so many others used the melodies as fodder in the Be Bop and "cool" jazz mill. There's no better music anywhere---ever.

But 1958 was a special year---with a special lady to date all that summer in Evansville, Indiana on the Ohio River. And there was one pop song that was "our song" then. I still love it. " ALL IN THE GAME" as sung by Tommy Edwards. To this day it makes me think of river bottoms and drive-in theaters with steamed up windows and corn fields like canyons on both sides of the car protecting us from prying eyes until some cop with a flashlight more powerful than a searchlight on a river towboat suggests we come up for air. Nothing can bring back bittersweet moments like the music that was the soundtrack for our personal blockbuster movies.

Amos, thanks.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: LadyJean
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 11:09 PM

I was alive in 1958, but I refuse to admit to it. My mother used to smoke Hit Parade cigarettes. I remember wondering who hit the parade.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 09:05 PM

McGrath - the Will Glahé Orchestra and the Lichtensteiner Polka were as German as they come, and certainly not American! A real shock to find something I've always regarded as a good example of all the worst about German 'Volkstümliche Musik' in the US charts in 1957!

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: pdq
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 07:41 PM

Spaw: I think I get the point of this topic. In 1958 "edgy" songs started appearing in Popular music and the world has never been the same since. OK, but I am asking people to consider that the new sensibilities have resulted in the death of Popular music as we knew it. Pleasant songs you can still sing 40 years later.

It is not that kids don't have their own stuff, they do. It is the lack of artists like Nat Cole, Bing Crosby and Patti Page who can be enjoyed by two or three generation of people at the same time. Inclusive and positive people. That is what separates Popular music, an art form, from music that is popular.

Country music has it all over the rest as far as including kids. An 8 year old trying to play fiddle on the same stage with 92 year old Bill Carlisle. It may not your favorite music nor is it mine, but it is positive.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 03:23 PM

Outwest.......Although the list hits me the same way as Midchuck and Amos and Bert, I'd say that the kids today certainly have popular music although we might not agree. Like Peter I know most of those by heart and I'd submit that a lot of teens know today's rock and rap in the same way.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 03:08 PM

Well, it was the American hit parade, Kevin, and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was five years in the future.


A

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: pdq
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 02:58 PM

This topic may last a long time since it is many subjects in one. The main question I see is: Do we even have a Popular music anymore? Madonna, "Urban Stink Noise", Dixie Chicks? How about Alan Jackson? Although I cringe at the thought of even three notes by Perez Prado, I could listen to anything on your 1958 list. It was the great strength of Popular music to bring people together, not drive them apart.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 02:44 PM

I wouldn't swear to it, but apart from the number one there, I couldn't spot a single record there which wasn't American (unless you count Colonel Bogey with the whistling chorus and the unsung words...)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Midchuck
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 02:15 PM

What really bothers me is how many of those I could sing all the way through, without any mistakes on the lyrics, even though I may not have in 40 years - and how hard it is to learn and retain lyrics to songs that are new to me now...

Peter.

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 12:50 PM

Sorry Bert, but it has the opposite effect on me!! LOL!!

A

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Bert
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 12:45 PM

Bugger off and stop making me feel old ;-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 12:37 PM

Lots of reminiscence in that list, Amos...

Subject: Folklore: The Great Watershed of 1958
From: Amos
Date: 23 Jul 03 - 12:06 PM

I ran across this list in a much earlier thread, and I think it captures succinctly an amazing watershed in musical history. There are three important musical forces reflecte din it, meeting and wrestling for the public ear. (What a terrible metaphor!!) ANyway, you can see the strong influence, just beginning to fade, of the schmaltzy veneer music of early post-war romanticism, a legacy of propriety and pretensions of classical influence, in such timeless, sugary songs as "Return to Me" by Dean Martin, anything by Perry Como, and Pat Boone's "April Love", the too-corny joviality of "The Lichtensteiner Polka", "Twilight Time", and the white-bread "Wonderful Time Up There" -- all very reminiscent of Wonder Bread, no? Then, going head-to-head with this lethargic schmaltz you see traces of real blues and rock coming to the fore -- Elvis was already rapidly on his way to becoming the King, and there is "Tequila"! which set a whole new standard for raucous saxes in pop music in its day, "Get a Job", "Bird Dog", and "Rockin' Robin" -- not to mention the deathless Jerry Lee with "Great Balls of Fire" -- hard stuff, so to speak. Force number three, of course, is the Great Folk Scare, represented by the paradigmatic "Tom Dooley", polished beyond recognition by the Kingston Trio, and an equally whiteout version of "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands". But you can see it coming. You could argue that Teen Love is a major fourth voice in the mix, but I think of that as a cultural overlay, reflecting classic patterns with minor changes in pastel colors, and not substantive.

What a year that was. A collision of Titans on the AM airwaves!

Anyway, here's the list -- enjoy the nostalgia.

A

---

01--NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU [Volare]:-Domenico Modugno (#1, Aug)
02--ALL I HAVE TO DO IS DREAM:-The Everly Brothers (#1, May)
03--DON'T:-Elvis Presley (#1, Feb)
04--WITCH DOCTOR:-David Seville (#1, April)
05--PATRICIA:-Prez Prado (#1, July)
06--SAIL ALONG SILVERY MOON:-Billy Vaughn (#5, Feb)
07--CATCH A FALLING STAR:-Perry Como (#9, March)
08--TEQUILA:-The Champs (#1, March)
09--IT'S ALL IN THE GAME:-Tommy Edwards (#1, Sept)
10--RETURN TO ME:-Dean Martin (#4, June)
11--IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE:-Conway Twitty (#1, Nov)
12--THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER:-Sheb Wooley (#1, June)
13--BIRD DOG:-The Everly Brothers (#2, Aug)
14--GET A JOB:-The Silhouettes (#1, Feb)
15--LITTLE STAR:-The Elegants (#1, Aug)
16--TWILIGHT TIME:-The Platters (#1, April)
17--STOOD UP:-Ricky Nelson (#5, Jan)
18--HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD [In His Hands]:-Laurie London (#2, April)
19--SECRETLY:-Jimmy Rodgers (#4, June)
20--AT THE HOP:-Danny & the Juniors (#1, Jan)
21--YAKETY YAK:-The Coasters (#1, July)
22--WEAR MY RING AROUND YOUR NECK:-Elvis Presley (#3, April)
23--ROCK-IN ROBIN:-Bobby Day (#2, Oct)
24--POOR LITTLE FOOL:-Ricky Nelson (#1, Aug)
25--A WONDERFUL TIME UP THERE:-Pat Boone (#10, March)

26--JUST A DREAM:-Jimmy Clanton (#4, Aug)
27--SUGARTIME:-The McGuire Sisters (#5, Feb)
28--TOM DOOLEY:-The Kingston Trio (#1, Nov)
29--SWEET LITTLE SIXTEEN:-Chuck Berry (#2, March)
30--TOPSY II:-Cozy Cole (#3, Oct)
31--LOOKING BACK:-Nat King Cole (#5, May)
32--BOOK OF LOVE:-The Monotones (#5, April)
33--TEA FOR TWO CHA CHA:-The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Starring Warren Covington (#7, Nov)
34--TEARS ON MY PILLOW:-Little Anthony & the Imperials (#4, Oct)
35--SHORT SHORTS:-The Royal Teens (#3, Feb)
36--GREAT BALLS OF FIRE:-Jerry Lee Lewis (#2, Jan)
37--LOLLIPOP:-The Chordettes (#2, March)
38--SPLISH SPLASH:-Bobby Darin (#3, Aug)
39--WHO'S SORRY NOW:-Connie Francis (#4, March)
40--MY TRUE LOVE:-Jack Scott (#3, Aug)
41--ENDLESS SLEEP:-Jody Reynolds (#5, June)
42--DO YOU WANT TO DANCE:-Bobby Freeman (#5, June)
43--WHEN:-The Kalin Twins (#5, Aug)
44--TO KNOW HIM TO LOVE HIM:-The Teddy Bears (#1, Dec)
45--APRIL LOVE:-Pat Boone (#1, Dec 1957)
46--REBEL 'ROUSE:-Duane Eddy (#6, July)
47--OH JULIE:-The Crescendos (#5, March)
48--THE STROLL:-The Diamonds (#5, Feb)
49--HARD HEADED WOMAN:-Elvis Presley (#2, July)
50--PEGGY SUE:-Buddy Holly (#3, Dec 1957)

51--OH LONESOME ME:-Don Gibson (#7, Oct)
52--CHANTILLY LACE:-The Big Bopper (#6, Nov)
53--LONESOME TOWN:-Rick Nelson (#7, Dec)
54--ALL THE WAY:-Frank Sinatra (#15, Jan)
55--ONE NIGHT:-Elvis Presley (#4, Dec)
56--SUSIE DARLIN':-Robin Luke (#5, Oct)
57--26 MILES [Santa Catalina]:-The Four Preps (#5, March)
58--THE END:-Earl Grant (#7, Oct)
59--KISSES SWEETER THAN WINE:-Jimmie Rodgers (#7, Dec 1957)
60--BEEP BEEP:-The Playmates (#4, Dec)
61--MARCH FROM THE RIVER KWAI AND COLONEL BOGEY:-Mitch Miller & his Orchestra & Chorus (#21, Feb)
62--PROBLEMS:-The Everly Brothers (#2, Dec)
63--QUEEN OF THE HOP:-Bobby Darin (#9, Nov)
64--LIECHENSTEINER POLKA:-Will Glahe & His Orchestra (#19, Dec 1957)
65--I GOT STUNG:-Elvis Presley (#8, Nov)
66--ARE YOU SINCERE:-Andy Williams (#10, March)
67--I GOT A FEELING:-Ricky Nelson (#10, Nov)
68--BORN TOO LATE:-The Poni-Tails (#7, Sept)
69--WILLIE AND THE HAND JIVE:-The Johnny Otis Show (#9, Aug)
70--BIG MAN:-The Four Preps (#5, June)
71--OH, BOY:-The Crickets (#10, Jan)
72--WHAT AM I LIVING FOR:-Chuck Willis (#15, June)
73--JOHNNY B. GOODE:-Chuck Berry (#8, June)
74--SUMMERTIME BLUES:-Eddie Cochran (#8, Sept)
75--NEAR YOU:-Roger Williams (#10, Sept)

76--FEVER:-Peggy Lee (#8, Aug)
77--FOR YOUR LOVE:-Ed Townsend (#15, June)
78--YOU ARE MY DESTINY:-Paul Anka (#7, Feb)
79--CHANSON D'AMOUR [Song Of Love]:-Art & Dotty Todd (#13, May)
80--LAZY MARY [Luna Mezzo Mare]:-Lou Monte (#12, April)
81--BALLAD OF A TEENAGE QUEEN:-Johnny Cash (#16, March)
82--IT'S TOO SOON TO KNOW:-Pat Boone (#13, April)
83--THE WALK:-Jimmy McCracklin (#7, March)
84--KEWPIE DOLL:-Perry Como (#12, May)
85--WHY DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND:-George Hamilton IV (#17, Jan)
86--DEDE DINAH:-Frankie Avalon (#7, Feb)
87--SUGAR MOON:-Pat Boone (#11, June)
88--DEVOTED TO YOU:-The Everly Brothers (#10, Sept)
89--MAYBE:-The Chantels (#15, March)
90--BILLY:-Kathy Linden (#14, April)
91--GUESS THINGS HAPPEN THAT WAY:-Johnny Cash (#11, July)
92--WESTERN MOVIES:-The Olympics (#8, Sept)
93--DON'T LET GO:-Roy Hamilton (#13, March)
94--BUZZ-BUZZ-BUZZ:-The Hollywood Flames (#11, Jan)
95--BREATHLESS:-Jerry Lee Lewis (#7, April)
96--JENNIE LEE:-Jan & Arnie (#8, June)
97--POOR BOY:-The Royaltones (#17, Dec)
98--THE STORY OF MY LIFE:-Marty Robbins (#30, Jan)
99--I'LL WAIT FOR YOU:-Frankie Avalon (#15, Dec)
100-GINGERBREAD:-Frankie Avalon (#9, Sept)