The Other 50's

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!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 07:29 PM

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

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 07:31 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:49 PM

Booby Vinton? It was a typo. Honest..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:52 PM

http://www.greatgrannygeek.com/asf.html

"Granny" even calls this music of the "other" 50s. A bunch of WMA files on that page, with a link to a bunch more in real audio.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: jimmyt
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 10:54 PM

Swingin' SHepherb Blues. my how that takes me back!As a horn player that was one of the early songs to ad lib on when I was in HS stage band! I look back and still enjoy the simple chord progression and how it just lead you to learn Improvisation! Thanks jerry for the "Memory Bite."

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Bobert
Date: 21 Apr 06 - 11:36 PM

Hey, Chuck Berry!!!! Man, he was #1....

Then Buddy Holly, he was the nerdy Bob Dylan in the makin'...

And mah man, Link Wray, was the heaviest of the heavy...

And Smokey, ahhhh, could he ever smoke up the joint, 'er what???

But there was some stuff happenin' that a lot of folks weren't hearin' like Elmore Jame and Lightnin' Hopkins,,,

Oh sure, the folkies were in tune with the Waevers, the Kingston Trio and Woody but even then there was a passin' of the torch to Pete Seegar and ina couple years to Bob Dylan...

But it was also a time fir folks like the Belltones... Remember their 45??? On one side it was "Be Mine" an' on the other "I've Had It"????

Yeah, the 50's had a lot of demensions, not all that pop....

But, hey, them days were the pre-worship days unless it was Elvis or Fabian???

An' how about Smokey.... Oh, oh, oh.........

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Amos
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 12:01 AM

Well, tell the truth, Jimmy, the dividing line gets a little fuzzy from this distance!!

How about "Midnight Gambler" -- I gambled for love, and I looo-oost -- the Purple People Eater, My Friend the Witch Doctor, and Around the World in Eighty Days?


A

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 12:46 AM

I can cheat here, Amos: I have the two Joel Whitburn books: Pop Memories covering 1890-1954 and Billboard Top 40 Hits, also by Joel Whitburn, from 1955 to 2000.

Great bathroom reading...

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 05:04 AM

As a fully paid up old fogey, Jerry, I agree, the 1950s were THE decade for pop music (and jazz and skiffle in the UK and the start of the folk revival in the UK that extended to the '60s)as far as I'm concerned, never got into pop music much after those 4 Liverpool guys turned up (though I liked their early Rock 'n' roll stuff).

RtS
(soggy with nostalgia)

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Mo the caller
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:20 PM

Noooo. Green door was 70s (maybe even 80s) Shakin Stevens anyway.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Mo the caller
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:23 PM

And Azizi, now we've explained who Lonnie Donegan was, how about sharing yout joke with those of us who didn't understand.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Amos
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 03:38 PM

Mo, thanks -- you just made me about ten or twenty years younger, which I really wanted! :D

GREEN DOOR
(Marvin Moore - Bob Davie)
JIM LOWE (Dot 15486, 1956)

Midnight, one more night without sleepin'
Watchin' till the mornin' comes creepin'
Green door, what's that secret you're keepin?

There's an old piano
And they play it hot behind the green door
Don't know what they're doin'
But they laugh a lot behind the green door
Wish they'd let me in
So I could find out what's behind the green door

Knocked once, tried to tell them I'd been there
Door slammed, hospitality's thin there
Wonder just what's goin' on in there

Saw an eyeball peepin'
Through a smoky cloud behind the green door
When I said "Joe sent me"
Someone laughed out loud behind the green door
All I want to do is join the happy crowd behind the green door

...

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 04:21 PM

These were absolute tops with me in the 50's

Marty Wilde - Endless Sleep (one of my most favourite songs of that era), Donna, Teenager in Love, Bad Boy, Sea Of Love. Great British Artist.

Gene Vincent - Be-Bop-A-Lula, Pistol Packin Momma (that was a cracker)

Bobby Darin - Dream Lover and Bullmoose (that was a cracker as well) How many people realise that he recorded Rock Island Line in 1956?

Neil Sedaka - I go Ape (Another cracker)

Cliff Richard - Move It, High Class Baby, My Feet Hit The Ground, Living Doll, Travellin' Light, Dynamite

Freddie Cannon = Talahassie Lassie (what a stonker was that), Way down Yonder In New Orleans, Palisades Park

Little Richard - Lucille, Jenny Jenny, Keep A Knockin', Good Golly Miss Molly

I guess you can see where I am coming from. Nothing will ever replace those Rock N Roll Days

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: John Hardly
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 04:36 PM

The Other 50s...

Coleman Hawkins
Miles Davis
Johnny Hartman
John Coltrane
Sonny Rollins
Thelonius Monk
Clifford Brown
Stan Getz
Sons of the Pioneers
Buck Owens and the Bakersfield sound.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 04:56 PM

Forgot

What'd I Say - Ray Charles, Bobby Darin and Jerry Lee Lewis - I loved all 3 versions, but my favourite was Bobby Darin's

Jerry you bugger, youve got me going now :-)

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Once Famous
Date: 22 Apr 06 - 05:23 PM

I am sure you do not have any of these from the '50s, but I do. You are missing a whole genre of American music.

Honky Tonk blues by Hank Williams

Long Black Veil by Lefty Frizzel

Satisfied Mind by Porter Wagoner

Tennesse Waltz by Pee Wee King

Chattanooga shoe Shine boy by Red Foley

Sixteen Tons by Tennesse Ernie Ford

Singin' the Blues by Marty Robbins

Walking the Floor over you by Ernest Tubb

Home of the Blues by Johnny Cash
Cry, Cry, Cry by Johnny Cash

Wild Side of Life by Hank Thompson

I'm Movin' On by Hank Snow
Rumba Boogie by Hank snow

Shitloads more, too numerous to mention.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 01:13 AM

Ahh, the '50s! A period where music on the radio was very eclectic. On the same radio station one could hear sweet, popular music, rhythm and blues, country western, popular jazz, novelty songs, shown tunes and the remnants of big-band during the course of the day all interspersed.

All of the lists take me back to Jr High (middle school to you) days, but I like Martin Gibsons c/w list best, overall.

Jerry, your list contains Marie by the Four Tunes. That was the very first recording of that song I heard. Who knew who Tommy Dorsey was! They also recorded a song I liked even better, Toujour L'Amour, Toujour. I have not heard either in over 50 years, but I can still hear them in my head.

Somebody posted the Weavers as having had popular hits with G'Nite Irene, On Top of Old Smokey and Tzena, Tzena, Tzena [about 1951]. Unfortunately, they had lush orchestrations by the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra; imagine what folk music might have been like if they had not had political problems [shudder & shake].----John

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,Cluin
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 02:48 AM

Bo Diddley, Sandy Nelson, Link Wray, John Cage, Harry Belafonte, Lefty Frizzell, Ike Turner, Dave Brubeck...

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Mo the caller
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:22 AM

Sorry Amos, I missed it first time round as I was a studious, and religious teenager so my musical diet in the 50s was
Anything by J.S. Bach
Anything in the Baptist hymnal
Any thing that was on at the Proms when something I knew was on with it (oh, the joys of standing in the front with the crowd and being part of it all)

I did google Green door in case it was a cover version but the lyrics definitly said "Shakin Stevens" who I remember from when my children used to listen to Pop. (But I didn't know who else to Google, and I got a night club otherwise)

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Flash Company
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:44 AM

On the day that 'Rock Around the Clock' came out as a UK single, I walked into our local record shop and heard a recording of The Humphrey Lyttelton Band playing Bechet's 'Fish Seller'.
I'm afraid Rock'n'roll never got a look in after that, and a long love affair with jazz and folk began right there.

FC

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:51 AM

Green dor was a massive hit by Frankie Vaughan in the UK in the 50's

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 05:52 AM

oops hit the go too quickly

Green Door

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: wilbyhillbilly
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:40 AM

Wayward Wind and River Of No Return--Tennessee Ernie Ford were a couple of my favourites which I remember trying to emulate in a local pub on a Friday night in the fifties, in between the skiffle sessions.

Ahh sweet memories!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:47 AM

Hey, John on the Suncoast: Yeah. I started this thread, thinking about popular music of the 50's. Top 40 stuff. Of course, when you think of the 50's, who can forget Segovia? Tail fins on cars, poodle skirts, Segovia and Leonard Bernstein? The thing that was unique to me about popular music in the 50's was the sea change that was taking place where you could hear Gene Vincent followed by Patti Page. All the country music stuff (don't count on my not having a lot of that stuff, Martin because you'd be wrong) and Rhythm and Blues didn't get much top 40 pay with notable exceptions like Hank Williams and maybe Bob Wills, and R & B on seperate (but better than equal) radio stations mostly in big cities. How much Country (when it was Country and Western)and R & B you heard also depended on where you lived.. I grew up in Southern Wisconsin and heard the same mix of music as you did, Martin. Every morning, my parents would turn on the news on the local radio station and when the Hog Reports came on, I knew that it was time to get up. How many people remember waking up to someone one the radio calling "Soooooeeeeeee?"

For those Catters who weren't around to hear the music in the fifties, the music may seem to have been all the American Grafitti/Happy Days soundtracks. That's all still great stuff to my ears, although I listen to it sparingly because I've heard it too much.

Some other comments. Green Door was somewhat of a breakthrough because up until the fifties, most popular singers came through the big bands. I remember what a big deal they made about Frankie Lane never having taken voice lessons. Jim Lowe was a DJ (disc jockey.) He wasn't even a professional singer, for God's sake! And the ultimate affront to the musical establishment was Don Howard, who recorded Oh Happy Day (not the gospel song) in a record your own voiced booth and had a national hit despite a concerted effort by the music industry to squelch it. Most of the 50's music that was a little out of the mainstream has never been re-issued. I still have my 45 rpm of Oh Happy Day by Don Howard (and gospel version too) but it has never been re-issued (neither has Bluebirds over the Mountains or Hambone or much of the other 50's stuff.) I have Swinging Shepherd Blues too, Jimmy and I've never seen it included in re-issues. I also have Marie, John... a two CD set of the Four Tunes that was very hard to find. It also has their other major hit, I Understand.

And then there's rhythm and blues. I don';t dare get in to that, or I'll spend the next 500 posts talking about it. Fred Parris and the Five Satins are singing in New Haven, CT next weekend, where they started. I'm hoping to go hear them..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:49 AM

Hi Jerry! [long time - no chat!]

Thanks for posting those songs of yesteryear.

Some of those numbers occur in my band's current repertoire, including 'Catch a falling star': Perry Como, loadsa Lonnie Donnegan stuff too!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: kendall
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 06:52 AM

Oh yeah? Well, I remember the Lucky Strike hit parade with "Snookie" Lampson!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 07:03 AM

Man, You iz old, Kendall. I remember Snookie, too, except Lampson doesn't sound quite right... have to do some reseach and see if that was his last name... real close, if it wasn't. Maybe it was Lampton?

There was a lot of almost folk music in the top 40 too... Mule Train, Call Of The Wild Goose, Wayward Wind, The call the Wind Maria, the Rusty Draper stuff, Sweet Moma, Tree Top High and You Must Come In At The Door by the Mariners, a couple of minor hits by Burl Ives, and several by Jimmie Rodgers (The Honeycomb kid) and the Weavers... and stuff by Tennessee Ernie Ford..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 07:06 AM

Just checked... It was Snooky Lanson, Kendall... real close..
Snooky couldn't handle rock and roll... he made Pat Boone sound down and dirty in comparison.

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 07:44 AM

Ah Slim Dusty and A Pub With No Beer - once again another one of my favourites.

Have the Four Aces been mentioned?

I remember my first LP i bought - it was "Tops with Lonnie" It got totaly worn out. I was about 13 then.
However, I always remember the Sleeve picture of Lonnie Donegan sitting on the floor with a spinning top.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: fat B****rd
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 08:05 AM

I came back from the annual (1956) sojourn in Sunderland having spent most of the time listening to my older cousins 78s. Therefore I saved my "Holiday Money" until we got back and my Dad took me to Harry Horner's in St. Peters Avenue, Cleethorpes where I bought "Lost John" by Lonnie Donegan and "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley. He bought "It's Almost Tomorrow" by The Dream Weavers and Indian LOve call by Slim Whitman.
Great thread, happy days, what ??.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 08:22 AM

Hey Mo!

Since I'm such as serious person, I couldn't remember what joke you said I made on this thread. I went back and read my previous posts here and found this:

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

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

-snip-

I guess that the phrase "It's a cracker" is a colloquial expression meaning "It's great!" or [to use hip-hop phrasing] "It's off the hook!" or "It's the bomb!"

But that phrase made me think of "Polly wanna cracker" -a saying that is discussed in this Mudcat thread that just happened to be started after I made that [weak] bit of witticism:

Origin of Polly want a cracker

And okay-I admit that I don't have much of a sense of humor-but that phrase did tickle my funny bone-and "sharing is caring" yaknowwhatImean?

:o))

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 10:27 AM

Been carrying on an e-mail conversation with someone I just spoke to by phone for the first time last night. Turns out he lives right here in Derby, where I live (a town of just 11,000 people.)I see that we're going to excite each other so much there'll be no sleeping. He is in a five man a capella rhythm and blues group. My wife and I are hoping to hear them this Saturday along with the Five Satins, The Jive Five, The Emotions and the Chiffons. We're already talking about doing a workshop together that I'd lead with the Gospel Messengers and his group, The Sentinels. It would be fascinating to me to talk about and sing examples of how four part black church harmony evolved when it moved out to the street corner.

HELLO NOMAD... tentative title, Church and Street Corner Harmonies

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Danks
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 02:19 PM

Of course, the British experience of pop music in the 50s was very different than the USA. For example, we had only ONE radio station playing pop - the BBC. And they didn't like Rock'n'Roll! And of course we had a whole bunch of pop stars of our own who did quick covers of American hits - and very often buried the US original. I have a soft spot for some of those artists - Marty Wilde, for example.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 02:32 PM

Marty Wilde IMHO was very underated. Definately is in my top 3 of British artists at that time.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 02:37 PM

It;s interesting to hear from our friends across the sea. I realize that popular music was verrrry different, with just one station (and that one not appreciative of rock and roll.)

When I check this thread, somehow I keep reading the title as "Over 50." Probably should be Over 60...

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 23 Apr 06 - 09:48 PM

Most of the songs I heard in the '50s were sung by people known to me personally. But, confining myself to what came out of loudspeakers -- Tom Lehrer and Flanders & Swann, for my money, will outlive all that other stuff.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. :||

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 12:30 AM

This was tougher than I thought it would be. Several of the songs that came to mind, that I thought were 50's songs, turned out, when I looked them up, to be 60's songs. I had to go to Wikipedia and browse through their lists to refresh my memory.

I was 12 years old in 1959, so you can see why my list is slanted toward the late 50's. I have only bothered to list the ones I still like. I'd just as soon forget "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window," although I liked it well enough when I was 5.

Ain't That a Shame – Fats Domino – 1955
Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton – 1959
Be-Bop-a-Lula – Gene Vincent – 1956
Bird Dog – Everly Brothers – 1958
Blueberry Hill – Fats Domino – 1956
Chances Are – Johnny Mathis – 1957
Charlie Brown – The Coasters – 1959
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White – Perez Prado – 1955
El Paso – Marty Robbins - 1959
Get a Job – The Silhouettes – 1958
Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee Lewis – 1958
Happy Organ – Dave "Baby" Cortez - 1959
Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis Presley – 1956
Kansas City – Wilbert Harrison – 1959
Little Darlin' – The Diamonds – 1957
Love Potion Number Nine – The Clovers - 1959
Pink Shoe Laces – Dodie Stevens - 1959
Sleepwalk – Santo & Johnny – 1959
Stagger Lee – Lloyd Price – 1959
Teenager in Love – Dion & the Belmonts – 1959
Tequila – The Champs – 1958
White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation – Marty Robbins - 1957
Witch Doctor – David Seville - 1958
Yakety Yak – The Coasters – 1958

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,AD 1943
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 12:43 AM

The Villan

A wonderful version of " The Endless Sleep" was by Jody Reynolds and The Storms ( whatever happened to them?)

Allen in OZ

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 02:47 AM

Never heard that one Allen. I wonder if it is on the WWW as a MP3 to listen to for free. I would be very interested to hear it

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 09:59 AM

The Jody Reynolds recording of Endless Sleep is the only one I ever heard... guess it depends on which shore you're on..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Cool Beans
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 11:13 AM

As long as we're in the mood, to cite a song title from an earlier decade, who remembers the Gaylords? Coupla Detorit boys who had a string of hits: "The Little Shoemaker," "From the vine Came the Grape," "Veni, Vidi, Vinci."
Here's a 1999 newspaper story aobut them. Note: One of them has since died.
'SUNSHINE BOYS' REALLY LIVE THE PART


Byline/Affiliation: MARTIN F. KOHN FREE PRESS THEATER WRITER

   
PubDate: Tuesday, 5/18/1999

"The Sunshine Boys" is fiction; Neil Simon made it up. But this weekend, when longtime Detroit entertainers the Gaylords -- Ronnie Gaylord and Burt Bonaldi -- play the title roles at the Macomb Center, it may be hard to distinguish fiction from reality.


Gaylord, 67, and Bonaldi, 71, share a history as colorful as Simon's

cantankerous comedians'.


In Simon's script the Sunshine Boys were together 43 years. The Gaylords have been together 50.


In the play the Sunshine Boys prepare for a TV special to be hosted by Flip Wilson. In real life the Gaylords appeared on "The Flip Wilson Show."


The Sunshine Boys went by the stage names Lewis & Clark; their real last names are Silverman and, well, Simon doesn't say. The Gaylords have gone by the stage names Gaylord & Holiday. Their real last names are Fredianelli and Bonaldi.

In the script, Clark says about Lewis: "Nobody could time a joke the way he could time a joke ...I knew what he was thinking, he knew what I was thinking. One person, that's what we were."

Greg Trzaskoma, who plays Clark's nephew Ben Silverman in this production, says about the Gaylords: "They're so in tune with each other's timing. Man,they know each other. It's almost like watching a married couple."

Ronnie Gaylord and Burt Bonaldi have, in fact, been together longer than either has been married. Gaylord has been married for 32 years (to his second wife). Bonaldi has been married for 49.

Unlike the Sunshine Boys, though, the Gaylords never broke up, never retired, never stopped speaking to each other. This is the secret of their professional longevity: "If he thinks it's funny, it's funny," Bonaldi says of Gaylord.

There's another crucial difference. The Sunshine Boys never had a string of hits on the pop charts. And the Gaylords?

Forty-five years ago, just before rock 'n' roll redrew the map and exiled what had been popular music to Miami hotels, Catskill resorts and Las Vegas lounges, the Gaylords would routinely chase Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher and Doris Day up and down the hit parade.

Among their big singles were "The Little Shoemaker," "From the Vine Came the Grape," "Veni Vidi Vici" and "Isle of Capri." They never had a No. 1 hit but they do claim a couple of No. 2's. "Tell Me You're Mine," they note, was edged out by Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window," while "The Little Shoemaker" was kept out of the top spot by the Crew-Cuts' version of "Sh-Boom."


The diminutive cobbler lives on in a commercial the Gaylords made in 1954 for auto dealer Roy O'Brien. The commercial still airs on the radio.

Gaylord and Bonaldi both grew up on Detroit's east side. In 1949, when Gaylord was still in high school and Bonaldi was just out of the Army, their church, Our Lady of Sorrows, wanted to hold a show as a fund-raiser. Bonaldi was involved with the Bonstelle Theatre, so the church approached him.


"They needed music," Bonaldi says. "I'd heard how Ronnie could get people to sing." And Bonaldi casually uttered seven words that would change their lives: "You want to get an act together?"

Their act was originally called the Gay Lords. "It just meant happy guys," Gaylord says. A newspaper typo converted it to one word. They decided to keep it and Ron Fredianelli began to use Gaylord as his name. In the late 1950s they put more emphasis on comedy and changed the name of their act to Gaylord & Holiday. They moved to Nevada in 1959 and spent a couple of decades as a lounge act.


Gaylord still lives in Reno, Bonaldi lives in Michigan and they continue to perform throughout the country.


"These two guys have worked together 50 years and they've never done a book

show" (a play with a precise script), says director Larry Carrico. "They're a

director's dream," he adds.


Among Bonaldi's souvenirs is a newspaper from Reno commemorating the city's

show business history. On its cover are photographs of major entertainers who

performed there: the Gaylords, Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Nat "King" Cole, Roy

Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Darin ..."They're all dead," Gaylord says.


Except for the Gaylords, who are alive and well and getting ready to try

something they've never done. "We can't get sick," Bonaldi says. "We have work

to do."

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 11:35 AM

Hey, Coolbeans:

Thanks for the long article on the Gaylords. I remember them very well. Funny you should think of them at this time. We've been talking about Doo Wop in the Kitchen Table Thread, partly because I've just met someone who has an a capella group. I am looking forward to getting to know him, and I just asked him in an e-mail what his thoughts were about the roots of doo wop. Black church music is the most obvious one, as so many of the black groups also did gospel (and often recorded with the same line-up using different names.) Ex.: The Selah Jubilee Singers were a successful black gospel group in the 40's, recording on the Decca label. They also were the Larks, and had a big hit with My Reverie in the 50's. (The also used country blues acoustic guitar as their accompaniment on a couple of songs.) The other "root" of doo wop... especially white Doo wop, may have been groups like the Gaylords and the Four Aces. Many of the 50's white doo wop groups had Italian backgrounds... Dion and The Belmonts being the most obvious. I've never read any interviews with those groups talking about their roots, but I wonder if the Gaylords might have been an influence..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 12:10 PM

Which Four Aces do you mean Jerry

This one The Four Aces

or

This one The Four Aces

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 12:49 PM

The Al Alberts Four Aces, Villan...

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Kaleea
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 01:07 PM

If you haven't heard the all recordings of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys from the "other 50's" then you probably don't know that those Wills boys were somewhat important to the history of Rock & Roll. Ever hear them with the whole band singing:
   Everybody let's rock, rock
    Everybody let's roll, roll

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Bert
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 03:17 PM

Lonnie Donnegan and Bill Hailey both hit the Fifties somewhere around the middle (in Britain) and the Fifties can be divided into before them and after them.

Although musically there was a lot of overlap. Hank Williams was 'before' although he sang 'Move it on Over' in 1947 or 48 and Bill Hailey copied it around 1954.

And 'before' style songs like Wayward Wind and 'Out of Town' were being sung during the 'after' period.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 04:33 PM

Don't know if you have seen this website Jerry

http://www.singers.com/blackvocalgroups.html

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 04:45 PM

You got me going now Jerry :-)
I found this article very interesting about Bill Haley

BILL HALEY

1. WKNE WAS QUITE THE COUNTRY MUSIC STATION back in the 1940s and the 1950s. And I recall that bluegrass singer/mandolinist Joe Val performed on that station for a while in the early 1960s.

This editorial is a bit vague about the origins of the Down Homers, and it's too bad. To the best of my knowledge, this was a Brattleboro, Vermont, Keene, New Hampshire, and Greenfield, Massachusetts, band. All the members were from this area as far as I know. My friend, the late John McLay (an amazing country guitarist), knew them and used to wax eloquent on their local origins.

We have nothing remotely close to a definitive roster of members of the Down Homers. On one of their releases--Kenny Roberts' first recording, we believe--the members included Guy Campbell, Shorty Cook, Lloyd Cornell, Bob Mason, and Kenny Roberts.

When it comes to Kenny Roberts' records, we favor two. We think Roberts' best album may very well be his Tribute to Elton Britt (LP, Palomino, n.d.). (We took the title from a photo of the cover. Our own is a pre-release copy with a solid-white cover and no details on the label.) The other is the "Then" side of Then and Now (LP, Longhorn, 1981).


2. At various times, Haley performed solo as the Ramblin' Yodeler.


3. Bill Haley said in interviews that he patterned the Saddlemen (which, with a shuffled lineup, ultimately became the Comets) after the Down Homers. Before drifting into rock and roll, Haley's style might best be called Eastern Swing, an East Coast variant of Western Swing.

Bill Haley was with the Down Homers evidently for only part of 1946, though some sources report that he served in the group from 1944 to 1946. (If true that Haley was with the Down Homers for going on two years--which seems unlikely--he would have been in and out of the band, a possibility we can't totally rule out. On the other hand, Kenny Roberts would have been serving in the United States Navy around age 15, which we really doubt.) During Haley's tenure with the Down Homers, the group broadcast over stations WOWO at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and WTIC out of Hartford, Connecticut; and it was heard over the New England Regional Network.

In October 1946, Haley signed on as a disk jockey at country-music radio station WKNE in Keene, New Hampshire. It seems to have been at about the same time that he revived one of his old bands, the Range Drifters. On Wednesday, December 11, 1946, Bill Haley married Dorothy "Dottie" Crowe in Brattleboro, Vermont (which happens to be right where we are). They had two children and divorced in 1951.

According to available evidence, Bill Haley and the Range Drifters left Keene in 1947. Going entirely on memory, it seems to me that WKNE ceased to be a country-music outlet sometime in the 1960s, though we understand that the great bluegrass singer-mandolinist, Joe Val, broadcast over the station around 1962.

Our main source of information regarding the timing of Bill Haley's residence in New England was "Chris Gardner's Bill Haley Gallery: The Early Years 1945-1950," http://thegardnerfamily.org/haley/gallery/early.htm . It's a very interesting page and well worth checking out.


4. "Cowboy, Jive, Popular, Hillbilly: The Most Versatile Band in the Land"--That's how the group, the Saddlemen, was billed. It seems to me Haley's band just before the Saddlemen was called the Four Aces of Western Swing.


5. Dave Miller, who owned Philadelphia's Essex Records, is said to have convinced Haley to record his first rock number, a cover of Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88." And manager "Lord Jim" Ferguson is sometimes credited as a major force behind Haley's switch to rock and roll, though I've seen no evidence that much of anyone gave him particularly high marks for his actual management skills.


6. Though Haley, himself, was quite Caucasian, Mercury Records released a "white cover" of "Crazy Man Crazy" by Ralph Marterie, and other record labels did the same. Only in America could R&B artists be ripped off without regard to race.

Crazy, man, crazy!

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 08:58 PM

For Allen in Oz -re Jody Reynolds
About 1970 Mrs. John and I decided to spend a weekend in Palm Springs, CA (a world renowned resort city)and drove past a small club where Jody Reynolds was playing. So we decided to see him, and he did a great rock-a-billy show.
Well it seems he has made his home there, owned a couple of music stores, and got a star on the P.S. Walk of Fame in 2000. Don't know beyond then, but you can go to rockabillyhall.com/JodyReynolds.html to amplify my meager recap. Hope it helps.----John

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 09:10 PM

U Da Man, Villan. Scanning the biographies and CDs, I realize I have an awful lot of stuff.

As far as vocal groups are concerned, I think the best book is The Da Capo Book Of American Singing Groups by Jay Warner. It has the most extensive backgrounds on not only the well known groups but the extremely obscure ones, along with their complete discography.

Jerry

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: GUEST,Allen in OZ
Date: 24 Apr 06 - 09:58 PM

To John on the Sunset Coast

Thank you for the details regarding Jody Reynold and the Storms ( he is now 74 !)

On the " B " side of Endless Sleep ' was Tight Capris which was pretty ordinary...still, you can't win them all.

Re The Sunset Coast, I am reminded of the Chinese question..Has the sun set yet on Sun Yat Sen ?

best wishes from Down Under
AD

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Rasener
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 02:48 AM

Blimey, you must have a right old collection there Jerry - must be worth a bomb.

Subject: RE: The Other 50's
From: Mr Happy
Date: 25 Apr 06 - 06:45 AM

True, the BBC didn't have rock 'n' roll but there was an alternative- but only in the evenings in uk.

see here:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Luxembourg