Voice recording #259, from Jan. 7.
The Platters, maybe "You've Got the Magic Touch", year? This song and a number of others were on a novelty album called "The Flying Saucer", which included excerpts from radio broadcasts about a saucer's landing. The announcer would say they were going to a correspondent for a bulletin, which would be snippets from other Platters songs. The Platters were '50s icons. This is not their best, but it's pretty good. 4,400.
Little Richard, "Tutti Frutti", year? Little Richard was a straight-up rocker. I don't think rockers even existed when he was coming up, but he was one of those who defined what it meant to rock. The instrumentation was different from what we're used to from rock. There's piano, but it's hard-driving piano. The bridges between the verses were likely to be horns -- saxophones, in this case. Little Richard was a giant. 4,100.
Crests, "Isn't It Amazing", year? I've mentioned that '50s music was limited partly because of a lack of technical knowledge, partly because of a lack of imagination in engineering and instrumentation, but also because the lyrics lacked imagination. This song does things such as rhyming angels from above with turtle dove. At worst, it's a really sappy song, at best it's not very good. 4,900, which may be generous.
Tommy Edwards, "It's All in the Game", year? This song has been done before and after Tommy Edwards. It's a classic, standard banner. Not bad. 4,600.
Ray Smith, "Rockin' Little Angel", year? This one seems to have taken other tunes and put Mr. Smith's own words into them. It's not very good. 4,925.
The Shirelles, "Everybody Loves a Lover", year? There are a lot of better versions of this song. Those were probably later than the '50s. The Shirelles had some good hits, mostly in the '60s. At the divide between '59 and '60 or between Kennedy and Eisenhower, or whatever it was, girl groups really found an identity. They may have been more viable economically at a time when record companies and producers weren't ashamed of ripping off artists. I'm sure there were some engineering advancements by that time. This isn't The Shirelles' best. Generously, 4,850.
The Drifters, "Fools Fall in Love", 1957. The things I said about the girl groups also apply to The Drifters, who were much more successful financially and esthetically in the '60s than in the '50s. I thought later about the Shirelles' song that in later versions the tempo was changed, possibly syncopation was added, or starts and stops, things were done that made it a better song. 4,900.
The G Clefs, "I Understand (The Way You Feel)", year? The '50s were a time when people tended to do things without asking why. The G Clefs musically seem like a group made up of people who did what their parents or teacher, or pastor or whatever, told them to do. Their was a lot of religious feeling to this one. There were a lot of staccato strings. Playing over the melody at times was "Auld Lang Syne". 4,950.
Elvis Presley, "Hard Headed Woman", year? I may already have done this one, and if I did I don't think I would have given it higher than 4,650. It's Elvis, and that's the only reason why it would be that high. I really like Elvis, but this is not good Elvis music. This is probably well down the list of Elvis hits. I may remember this song just from having seen the title while I was filling in the database. I kind of zipped through the early '50s and the '40s. The Billboard Hot 100 was just a Top 30 during the early '50s, and there wasn't a year-end survey during the '40s but just weekly lists of who's number one. So in the '40s there might have been anywhere from four or five to 12 or 13 number one songs during a year, and those would be the only ones listed. Even with 12 or 13, there might really have been 9 or 10 because different orchestras sometimes took the same song to the top during a year. There were years during the '40s when there weren't any solo artists with No. 1 hits, but instead it would Woody Herman and His Orchestra, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra or Somebody Else and His Orchestra. Probably one of the Dorseys and His Orchestra. Occasionally a Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby would break through. So it took me a short time to add the '40s and early '50s.
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, "Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go", which was a hit in 1960. I don't know anything about Hank Ballard. My original thought was that he was a country-music guy. This song sounds more gospel; I'll check it out. The lyrics make it sound as if we're being invited to a revival meeting: "There's a three-ill upon the hee-ill. Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Some of that might be because of the '50s religious -- not fervor, but more fundamentalism. The gospel music seemed to be based more in the black churches, as opposed to some newer, made-up religions. Well, some would say they're all made up. I did go to a couple of revival meetings in the '60s and '70s, though it was in the spirit of more of a goof. I've gone to a lot of Baptist church in Texas, and I prefer the ones that aren't all fire and brimstone. I understand there's a place for that. We're supposed to behave properly, but I'm not sure we need to be frightened into doing that. This song is well intentioned. 4,850. I checked, and realized that I should know more about Ballard. The group was primarily R&B, but Ballard wrote and recorded "The Twist" before Chubby Checker covered it more successfully with a crossover audience. Ballard is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he died on my birthday in 2003.
Ritchie Valens, "Donna", year? 3,800.
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