520. 4 January 1947
Bing Crosby (with Ken Darby Singers & John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra)
White Christmas
Written by Irving Berlin
No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
The chart that monitored the songs most played on the air, or radio play was still a top ten as it had been since the beginning of 1945 but in most weeks, there had been joint positions, even at the very top. The first week of the year 1947 was no exception with nineteen songs filling the top ten, two records at no.4, two at no.5, three at no.6, two at no.7, two at no.8 and four songs all sharing position 10. Right at the top however, was Bing Crosby’s White Christmas enjoying it final week at no.1 and together with the two from the previous year and the original eleven in 1942, giving the song fourteen weeks in total at no.1, fittingly more than any other song at this time. White Christmas also re-entered the Retail sales and Juke Box charts and peaked at nos.2 and 3 respectively, but this would be its final week at the top of any of the US charts. It would become even more successful as the years went by in the UK.
521. 8 February 1947
Hoagy Carmichael (With The Chickadees & Vic Schoen & His Orchestra)
Huggin’ And Chalkin’
Written by Clancy Hayes & Kermit Goell
No.1 for 2 weeks (juke box)
It was unusual for a renowned song-writer such as Hoagy Carmichael to record someone else’s composition but that is how he achieved his only no.1 single as an artist with the song Huggin’ And Chalkin’ having seen his own Ole Buttermilk Sky go so close to the top earlier in the month, but there was less competition with this song, his being the only to hit the Retail sales chart, peaking at no.2 although there were several others lower down the top ten on Airplay. Even Carmichael did not perform that well in that chart, only hitting no.5 but on the Juke Boxes he reached no.1 for two weeks with only Johnny Mercer also on that top ten. Hoagland Howard Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1899 and this was his only single to reach the no.1 position as a performer but as a composer which was his principal profession, he had achieved two no.1 singles in 1946, Doctor Lawyer Indian Chief and Ole Buttermilk Sky. He was backed by Vic Schoen & His Orchestra who had performed with The Andrews Sisters previously on all four of their number one singles during the 1940s. This was a song about a mighty sweet girl named Rosabelle Magee with big blue eyes and tiny feet and how you cope with a girl who tips the scales at three oh three, that’s twenty-one and a half stone, or one hundred and thirty-seven kilos. He loved her all the same, nobody ever said I’m weak, my bones don’t ache my joints don’t creak, but I grow pale and I get limp, every time I see my baby blimp and he sang but ain’t it grand to have a gal so big and fat, that when you go to hug her you don’t know where you’re at, you have to take a piece of chalk in your hand, and hug a ways and chalk a mark to see where you began. Unfortunately he had competition for the affections of Miss Magee as one day I was a-huggin’ and a-chalkin’ and a-chalkin’ and a-huggin’ away, I met another fella with some chalk in his hand, a-comin’ around the other way over the mountain, a-comin’ around the other way. What Hoagy Carmichael did not sing was the in joke going around the business at the time that the man coming around the other way was James Petrillo. This was slipped into the song in the Johnny Mercer version and everybody knew who James Petrillo was in the mid-1940s. He was the leader of the trade union, the American Federation of Musicians who received more mentioned in Billboard magazine on a weekly basis than most of the artists he represented. He was the instigator behind a series of musicians strikes, banning the recording of discs unless radio stations agreed to pay a fair repeat royalty rate to his members. These actions were one of the factors behind the demise of big bands in favour of solo singers and small groups of musicians. Hoagy Carmichael died in 1981 aged 82.
522. 22 February 1947
Freddy Martin & His Orchestra (Vocal refrain by Stuart Wade)
Managua Nicaragua
Written by Irving Fields & Albert Gamse
No.1 for 3 weeks (juke box)
1 March 1947 No.1 for 2 weeks (sales)
The lyricist Albert Gamse had already translated a Spanish hit into English, providing the English lyrics to Amapola, but Managua Nicaragua was not a Latin song but a look at the city that was one of the fasting growing and most highly developed city in Central America in the 1940s, thanks in part to Nicaragua declaring war in 1941 against Japan, Germany, Italy and all the Axis and Fascist powers, allying the country firmly in the American camp, but not actually involving herself directly by sending troops abroad. Managua Nicaragua was described as paradise and although nothing could be that good, the song certainly encouraged extra tourists to visit a place that was not so far away but quite different to the USA. Managua Nicaragua is a beautiful town, you buy a hacienda for a few pesos down, you give it to the lady you are tryin’ to win, but her papa doesn’t let you come in, Managua Nicaragua is a heavenly place, you ask a señorita for a little embrace, she answers you caramba scram ba bambarito, in Managua Nicaragua that’s no, Managua Nicaragua what a wonderful spot, there’s coffee and bananas and a temperature hot, so take a trip and on a ship go sailing away, across the agua to Managua Nicaragua olé. The song became Freddy Martin & His Orchestra’s fourth no.1 single and the second to use the vocal refrain of Stuart Wade. It peaked at no.1 on both the Retail sales and Juke Box charts but none of the versions of Managua Nicaragua received sufficient airplay to get further than no.3 on that chart. Managua Nicaragua was the final no.1 hit of four by Freddy Martin. He died in 1983 aged 76.
523. 22 February 1947
Count Basie & His Orchestra (Vocal refrain by Harry Edison & Bill Johnson)
Open The Door Richard
Written by Dusty Fletcher, David Kapp, John Mason & Jack McVea
No.1 for 1 week (sales)
22 February 1947 No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
The biggest selling version of Open The Door Richard was by Count Basie & His Orchestra, Basie born William James Basie in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904 and was a jazz pianist and bandleader of his own orchestra since the mid-1930s but his only chart hit was with this song which hit no.1 on both the Retail sales and Airplay charts and no.2 on Juke Boxes. The Count Basie version of Open The Door Richard, like all the others included the musical chorus of open the door Richard, open the door and let me in, open the door Richard, Richard why don’t you open that door? His was the closest to the original Vaudeville routine and concentrated on a conversation between two of his band members, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison & Bill Johnson who spoke the lines, you see ole Base give us a party at the club tonight, ole Richard went home early he’s got the key to the house, I’m gonna knock on the door see if I can get in, open the door Richard, ya see Richard sleeps in the back room it’s kinda hard to hear, maybe I better knock a little louder, open the door Richard, I don’t think Richard heard me yet, knock one more time let’s see what’s gonna happen, Richard open the door please, Richard open the door man it’s co hold out here’n this air, now look there’s that old woman ‘cross the street lookin’ out the windah, who’s that Widow Sweet?, that must be her sister I guess, she wants to make sure this is me, she’s tryin’ to find out what’s happenin’, yes it’s me and I’m late again, Sweet did you hear what the lady’s sayin’? no what is she sayin’? she said you sure look common out here’n the street, common man I got class I ain’t never used yet I’m gonna knock again Richard’s got to get up, open the door Richard, man you got a key to the house? no Sweet I don’t have a key I don’t have a key, somebody’s got to get in the house we can’t climb in the transit, oh I know he’s in there, how you know he’s in there? I can hear him breathin’, ooooh let’s knock one more time, Richard open that door man, maybe Richard’s gone, why you got on the old suit, I know I got on the only suit, ain’t got but one suit between us, that’s the reason why I don’t like to roooooom with nobody, Richard why don’tcha open the door man? Open The Door Richard was the only time at the top for Count Basie. He died in 1984 aged 79.
524. 1 March 1947
Three Flames (Vocal by Tiger Haynes)
Open The Door Richard
Written by Dusty Fletcher, David Kapp, John Mason & Jack McVea
No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
For a song that was so specialist, in fact it wasn’t really a song at all, but started life in the 1910s and continued thirty years later as a comedy sketch routine, there were a lot of versions in the charts. On the last week of February 1947, there were five different versions of the routine in the top ten and every one of them was slightly different. In 1918, John Mason and his comedy partner Richard Perry developed a Vaudeville routine where Mason arrives home drunk one night without his key and his roommate Richard, whom the song was named after is indoors and won’t let Mason in. He knocks and pounds at the door but Richard will not open the door, so he finds a ladder and tries to climb in a window and is interrupted by a policeman who wants to know what is going on, and thus begins a series of comic explanations. The official credits of the song were words by Dusty Fletcher and John Mason with music by Fletcher and Don Howell, although Don Howell appears to be created to deprive the real musician Jack McVea of his composing royalties and it was Jack McVea & His All Stars who recorded the first version of the song with the musical backing to the chorus which only included the lines, open the door, Richard, open the door and let me in, open the door Richard, Richard why don’t you open the door? Versions of this record that hit the charts included the original by Jack McVea & His All Stars, another of the official composers, Dusty Fletcher, Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, The Pied Pipers, The Charioteers and two versions that hit no.1 by Count Basie & His Orchestra and The Three Flames. The Three Flames were George Tiger Haynes on guitar and vocals, Averill Pollard on bass and Roy Testamark on piano and apart from from the chorus refrain, they spoke the routine including the lost keys, now here I am standin’ diggin’ in my hip pocket, here I am standin’ scratchin’ in my pants pocket, I’m out here gropin’ in my coat pocket, I don’t know, I just can’t find that key, now here it is four o’clock in the morning and I’m just getting’ home, I had the chance I shoulda been home eleven o’clock, I know I left the key at home I know that, so I’m gonna have to wake up Richard, he’s my roommate and he’s a real great cat, I gotta wake him up I know that. Their version spent just one week on top of the airplay charts and peaked at nos.4 and 5 on Retail sales and Juke boxes.
525. 8 March 1947
Dinah Shore (Orchestra under the direction of Morris Stoloff)
Anniversary Song
Written by Al Jolson, Saul Chaplin & Iosif Ivanovici
No.1 for 2 weeks (disc jockeys)
The producers of the film The Jolson Story wanted a new song to insert in the film but a song that would fit with the sort that Jolson would have sung. They commissioned Jolson himself and Saul Chaplin to adapt the melody and write lyrics to the 1880 composition by the Romanian Iosif Ivanovici, Waves Of The Danube which they wrote as a love song for a couple to sing at the anniversary of their wedding. In the film, Jolson sang and dubbed Larry Parks, oh how we danced on the night we were wed, we vowed our true love though a word wasn’t said, the world was in bloom there were stars in the skies, except for the few that were there in your eyes, dear as I held you close in my arms, angels were singing a hymn to your charms, two hearts gently beating murmuring low, darling I love you so, the night seemed to fade into blossoming dawn, the sun shone anew but the dance lingered on, could we but recall that sweet moment sublime, we’d find that our love is unaltered by time, darling I love you so. It wasn’t the Jolson version however that topped any of the charts in the US but a version by Dinah Shore backed by the same orchestra, led by Morris Stoloff who had played on the Jolson original. The Dinah Shore hit only peaked at no.4 on sales and no.5 on juke boxes but topped the airplay charts for two weeks for herthird no.1 single.
526. 15 March 1947
Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (Vocal chorus by Don Rodney & Lombardo Trio)
Managua Nicaragua
Written by Irving Fields & Albert Gamse
No.1 for 1 week (juke box)
Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians had their second no.1 hit of the 1940s and fourteenth overall, putting them in third place behind only Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller. Their version of Managua Nicaragua was most successful in the Juke Box charts, hitting no.1 for one week but only peaking at no.4 on retail sales and no.7 on Airplay. He used the vocal chorus of Don Rodney, born Don Ragonese in 1913 and as he did on his other 1940s no.1 It’s Love Love Love, the Lombardo Trio featuring Fred Higman, Larry Owen and Carmen Lombardo. Like the Freddy Martin hit, they sang the virtues of the town, Managua Nicaragua is a beautiful town, Managua Nicaragua is a heavenly place, Managua Nicaragua what a wonderful spot and they spoke of the señorita and her papa, the coffee and bananas and the hot temperature but they sang two middle sections, I have been to many tropic ports, I might include even Brooklyn, if you’re ever feelin’ out of sorts, I’d like to recommend a look in and also included the verse that Freddy Martin omitted, every day is made for play and fun, cause every day is fiesta, and they work from twelve o’clock to one, minus an hour for siesta. How could you not fall in love with this city?
527. 15 March 1947
Ted Weems & His Orchestra (Whistling by Elmo Tanner)
Heartaches
Written by John Klenner & Al Hoffman
No.1 for 13 weeks (juke box)
15 March 1947 No.1 for 12 weeks (sales)
22 March 1947 No.1 for 11 weeks (disc jockeys)
Heartaches was possibly the first example of the power of a single disc jockey to influence the musical taste of a nation when Kurt Webster, a DJ on the radio station WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina began to play a fourteen year record by Ted Weems & His Orchestra which had originally been released in 1933 but had rather gone un-noticed at the time. Such was the demand for him and then other stations to continue to play the tune, it turned into one of the biggest hits of 1947 on all three charts with eleven weeks on top of the airplay charts, twelve weeks at no.1 on retail sales and a massive thirteen weeks as the most played on Juke Boxes, equal to the record of Frenesi and I’ve Heard That Song Before and only behind White Christmas as the longest running no.1 singles. Ted Weems only other visit to the top of the of the charts was with Somebody Stole My Gal in 1924 and he had disbanded his orchestra in 1942 when he had signed up to the armed forces. Also credited on the recording was Elmo Tanner, born William Elmo Tanner in Nashville, Tennessee in 1904 and a member of the Ted Weems orchestra. He was credited with the whistling on Heartaches which was the first instrumental recording to hit no.1 since Sleepy Lagoon in 1942. The composer Al Hoffman had achieved several no.1 singles previously, including Mairzy Doats and I’m A Big Girl Now and despite the lyrics written by John Klenner not being used, he was also credited on the record label and his sole no.1 had been Just Friends by Russ Columbo in 1932. In the UK, Vera Lynn took a vocal version of Heartaches to no.8 but you would hardly believe it was the same song. Ted Weems had been successful long before pop music charts became official, his first hit being in 1924 and Heartaches was his only official chart topper. He died in 1963 aged 61.
528. 10 May 1947
Ray Noble & His Orchestra (with Buddy Clark)
Linda
Written by Jack Lawrence
No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
21 June 1947 returned to no.1 for 1 week
The song Linda was written about the one-year-old daughter of Jack Lawrence’s lawyer, Lee Eastman whose daughter was Linda Eastman, the future Mrs Paul McCartney. It was played by Ray Noble & His Orchestra who had enjoyed three no.1 singles on their own in the mid-1930s with Love Is The Sweetest Thing, Isle Of Capri and Paris In The Spring and another supporting Fred Astaire on the hit Change Partners. The vocalists on this record were Buddy Clark, born Samuel Goldberg in Dorchester Massachusetts in 1912 and an uncredited female, Anita Gordon, a regular vocalist with the Ray Noble Orchestra. The song was written in 1942 when Linda Eastman was just one-year-old but even when Linda hit the charts in 1947, Anita Gordon played the role of a young girl being chatted up by Buddy Clark and she certainly was older than six. The song started with Clark asking the girl, hello cutie what’s your name, to which replied, fresh I don’t talk to strangers, oh I’m no stranger, been waiting every evening for you to walk by, keep waiting I’m still walking, oh what’s your name, none of your business, pretty name but I’ll just call you Linda, well how did you guess and then Clark sang, when I go to sleep I never count sheep I count all the charms about Linda, and lately it seems in all of my dreams I walk with my arms about Linda, but what good does it do me for Linda doesn’t know that I exist, can’t help feeling gloomy, think of all the lovin’ I’ve missed, we pass on the street my heart skips a beat I say to myself hello Linda, if only she’d smile I’d stop for a while and then I would get to know Linda, but miracles still happen and when my lucky star begins to shine with one lucky break I’ll make Linda mine. The song ends with Clark and Gordon agreeing to make his dreams come true, well this is where I live, could I see you again sometime, maybe, how about Saturday night, well, shall I pick you up at eight, OK, oh boy that’s a date, bye now. Linda peaked at no.2 on both sales and juke boxes but on airplay it hit the top for one week at the beginning of May, dropped down for a further five weeks while Heartaches returned to the top and Mamselle also had a week at no.1 and then Linda returned for one more week in the middle of June.
529. 31 May 1947
Frank Sinatra (orchestra under the direction of Axel Stordahl)
Mamselle
Written by Edmund Goulding & Mack Gordon
No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
Frank Sinatra had his third no.1 hit as a solo artist, equalling the number he had achieved as a support vocalist with the song Mam’selle originally from the film The Razor’s Edge in which it is sung in French by Robert Laurent at a bistro and played throughout the film as background music. The original recording in English was by Ray Dorey and although Sinatra had a lot of competition, particularly in the Retail sales charts, on the week of the 17th of May, the song took exactly half the positions in the top ten with versions by Art Lund, Dick Haymes, Frank Sinatra, Dennis Day and the Pied Pipers, Sinatra could only take his version to no.6 on sales and no.9 on juke boxes but his was the most successful in the airplay chart, hitting no.1 and in the UK, his was the only version of the song to chart, peaking at no.5.
530. 7 June 1947
Art Lund (with orchestra directed by Johnny Thompson)
Mam’selle
Written by Edmund Goulding & Mack Gordon
No.1 for 2 weeks (sales)
When Frank Sinatra has already taken a song to the top of the charts, it would take something special to better him and Art Lund managed just that as he took his version to the top of the retail sales for two weeks. Arthur Lund, known as Art was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1915 and was originally a vocalist with the orchestras of Benny Goodman and Harry James, before launching his solo career with the single Mam’selle, a song that he made sound more like the original French version from the film The Razor’s Edge and sung, a small café mam’selle our rendezvous mam’selle, the violins were warm and sweet and so were you mam’selle, and as the night danced by a kiss became a sigh, your lovely eyes seemed to sparkle just like wine does, no heart ever yearned the way that mine does for you, and yet I know too well someday you’ll say goodbye, then violins will cry and so will I mam’selle. Someone else profiting greatly in terms of chart records from the song Mam’selle was the lyricist Mack Gordon who moved two ahead of Johnny Mercer as the composer with nine number one singles, the most in the 1940s and finally he moved one ahead of Harry Warren to eighteen in the all-time list. Mam’selle was the only no.1 hit achieved by Art Lund. He died in 1990 aged 75.
531. 21 June 1947
Harmonicats
Peg O My Heart
Written by Alfred Bryan & Fred Fisher
No.1 for 7 weeks (juke box)
23 August 1947 returned to no.1 for 1 week
21 June 1947 No.1 for 4 weeks (sales)
The song Peg O My Heart was written in 1912, inspired by the title character of a Broadway play at the time and was first heard in the musical revue show, Ziegfeld Follies Of 1913. The first recording of the song was by Charles W Harrison who took the song to no.1 in December 1913, quickly followed by another version in January 1914 by Henry Burr. Thirty-four years later, the song was a hit all over again, revived first by The Harmonicats, originally named The Harmonica Madcaps, a group featuring Jerry Murad, born in Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Bob Hadamik, Pete Pedersen and Al Fiore, born in Chicago, Illinois in 1922. They reformed soon after this as a trio with Murad on chromatic lead harmonica, Fiore on chord harmonica and Don Les, born in Lorain, Ohio in 1914 on bass harmonica. As one would expect, this version was almost exclusively played on various harmonicas and the Harmonicats version hit the top in both retail and sales and juke boxes but stopped at no.3 on airplay.
532. 28 June 1947
Red Ingle & Natural Seven (Vocal by Jo Stafford alias Cinderella G Stump)
Temptation (Timtayshun)
Written by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed
No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
In 1934, Bing Crosby had a number one single with a serious ballad called Temptation about the perils of seduction and being led on by someone seemingly unattainable as he sang you came I was alone, I should have known you were temptation, you smiled luring me on, my heart was gone you were temptation, it would be thrilling if you were willing, if it can never be, pity me for you were born to be kissed I can’t resist, you are temptation and I am yours. The composers were serious too as Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed had composed eight and seven number one singles respectively, beginning with The Wedding Of The Painted Doll in 1929 for Leo Reisman & His Orchestra. Another serious vocalist was Jo Stafford who had appeared at no.1 previously along with Johnny Mercer the Pied Pipers on the hit Candy but on this recording, she used the alias Cinderella G Stump as originally she wasn’t certain she wanted to be associated with such a mad record. Red Ingle took the song Temptation, subtitled it as he pronounced it Timtayshun and made a comedy recording which was not surprising as he had previously been a member of Spike Jones’ City Slickers and had received top billing on one of his hits, Chloe. Red Ingle was born Ernest Jansen Ingle in Toledo, Ohio in 1906 and was a trained violinist but preferred the zany humour of Spike Jones to serious recordings. He took the song Temptation, added a hillbilly fiddle throughout and some extra lyrics that had nothing whatever to do with the song including the intro, toss one on the bow and here we go, oh tell me will ya darlin’, why you look so bad tonight? they’s bags ’round your eyeballs, which is red instead of white and Miss Stump explained, well it’s-a-this-a-way, you came when I was alone, shucks I shoulda known, that you was temptation, you smiled and led-a me on, my heart is plum gone, ’cause you was temptation. Ingle then compared the temptation to others, yes as the serpent tempted Adam, as the apple tempted Eve, as the mudhole tempts a mosquito darlin’, that’s how you’re temptin’ me, yeah and as corn-liquor tempts a drunkard, as Oregon tempts the bee, as a willow tree tempts the caterpillar darlin’, that’s how you’re temptin’ me and Jo Stafford sang out the chorus of the real song again. This novelty hit was the only no.1 by Red Ingle. He died in 1965 aged 58.
533. 28 June 1947
Perry Como & Satisfyers (Lloyd Shaffer & His Orchestra)
Chi Baba Chi Baba
Written by Mack David, Jerry Livingston & Al Hoffman
No.1 for 3 weeks (sales)
Perry Como achieved his fourth no.1 hit with a children’s lullaby, Chi Baba Chi Baba, originally recorded by George Towne, supposedly from old Sorrento, including the sort of things a mother would say to her baby, but was actually baby talk rather than real Italian, many a year ago in old Sorrento a certain ditty was quite the thing, whenever a mother rocked her baby in Sorrento, this little ditty she used to sing, chi baba chibaba chihuahua, enjilava kooka la goomba, chi baba chi baba chihuahua, my bambino go to sleep, all the stars are in the skies ready to say good night, can’t you see your doll is sleepy too, close your drowsy little eyes mama will hold you tight, while she sings a lullaby to you. This couldn’t have different from Till The End Of Time or his other ballad no.1 singles Prisoner Of Love and Surrender and was part of a double sided hit in the UK along with When You Were Sweet Sixteen.
534. 5 July 1947
Buddy Clark (Orchestra under the direction of Mitchell Ayres)
Peg O My Heart
Written by Alfred Bryan & Fred Fisher
No.1 for 6 weeks (disc jockeys)
Buddy Clark had recently been the featured male vocalist on the number one single Linda by Ray Noble & His Orchestra and now he returned to no.1 with the second of the three versions of Peg O My Heart to top the charts in 1947 and the only one of the three to feature vocals, my darling Peg o my heart I love you, don’t let us part I love you, I always knew it would be you, since I heard your lilting laughter, it’s your Irish heart I’m after, Peg o my heart your glances, make my heart take our chances, come be my own come make your home in my heart. He only sang the chorus twice through with slightly altered lyrics and omitted totally the two verses that were featured in both versions from the 1910s. Buddy Clark hit no.1 for six weeks on airplay but was less successful in retail sales, peaking at no.4 and he failed to chart in juke boxes at all.
535. 9 August 1947
Three Suns
Peg O My Heart
Written by Alfred Bryan & Fred Fisher
No.1 for 2 weeks (juke box)
30 August 1947 returned to no.1 for 1 week
23 August 1947 No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
If one includes the monthly no.1 singles that topped the charts between 1900 and 1929, one can make a case for three songs hitting no.1 in three different versions, In The Good Old Summer Time in 1902-1903, Over There in 1917-1918 and during the previous year 1946, To Each His Own also managed this feat. In 1947, a fourteen-year old song Heartaches had become the biggest hit of the year so far and an even older song was revived in the summer. Peg O My Heart was a monthly no.1 hit in 1913-1914 for both Charles W Harrison and Henry Burr, so when the Three Suns became the third artist in quick succession to hit no.1 in 1947, a case could be made for Peg O My Heart to having been a no.1 single for five different artists. The Three Suns were formed in the late 1930s in Brooklyn, New York but did not chart until 1944 and then again were absent until their version of Peg O My Heart became the third of three versions of this song to top the charts in the summer of 1947. The group featured the brothers Al Nevins on guitar, born in 1915 as Albert Tepper and Morty Nevins on accordion, born in 1917 as Morton Tepper, both in Washington DC and their cousin, Artist Dunn on vocals and electronic organ, born in 1922 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Three Suns version of Peg O My Heart featured harmonicas and guitars and an organ as the lead instrument and topped both the juke box and airplay charts but stopped at no.2 in retail sales.
536. 9 August 1947
Tex Williams & His Western Caravan
Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette
Written by Merle Travis & Tex Williams
No.1 for 6 weeks (sales)
30 August 1947 No.1 for 4 weeks (juke box)
16 August 1947 No.1 for 1 week (disc jockeys)
Hitting no.1 on all three charts was Tex Williams & His Western Caravan with Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette. Tex Williams was born Sollie Paul Williams in Ramsey, Illinois in 1917 and was known for his half talking half singing style rapid fire style that was perfect for the song Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette, written mainly by Merle Travis but added to by Williams who started ad-libbing extra parts in to suit his style. By 1947, various studies were underway that would eventually link the habit of smoking nicotine and lung cancer and other health related problems but even by this stage it was suspected that there was a link although over 50% of the population smoked at this time. Tex Williams said in the song that he had nothing against cigarettes because of the health connection, in fact he stated it ain’t coz I don’t smoke ’em myself and I don’t reckon that it’ll hinder your health, I smoked ’em all my life and I ain’t dead yet, but his problem was the nicotine slaves who’ll drop everything and keep everybody waiting because they just have to have another cigarette. He sang of two scenarios, one a poker game where old dame fortune was doing me right, the kings and queens they kept on comin’ around, but my bluff didn’t work on a certain guy, he kept raisin’ and layin’ his money down, see he’d raise me then I’d raise him, he finally called me but didn’t raise the bet, I said Aces Full pal how about you, he said I’ll tell you in a minute or two, but right now I just gotta have another cigarette. Secondly he was out on a date with the cutest girl in the forty eighth state (that’s Arizona), she said she loved me and it seemed to me, that things were sorta like they oughtta be, so hand in hand we strolled down lovers lane, our smoochin’ party was goin’ real nice, so I give her a kiss and a little squeeze, then she said Tex excuse me please but I just gotta have a cigarette. In the UK, it was Phil Harris who had the biggest hit with the song taking it to no.2 although his version stopped at no.8 in the USA. Tex Williams, never followed up this hit successfully. He died in 1985 aged 68.
537. 30 August 1947
Francis Craig & His Orchestra (Vocal by Bob Lamm)
Near You
Written by Francis Craig & Kermit Goell
No.1 for 17 weeks (disc jockeys)
20 September 1947 No.1 for 12 weeks (sales)
4 October 1947 No.1 for 13 weeks (juke box)
When a record hits no.1 at the end of August, one would not expect it to still be at the top on Christmas week, but Francis Craig’s Near You became the longest running no.1 to date, with twelve weeks on top of retail sales, thirteen weeks on juke boxes and a record breaking seventeen weeks at no.1 on the airplay charts, even longer than the combined runs of White Christmas. Francis Craig was born in Dickson, Tennessee in 1900 and was a pianist and bandleader whose first hit was so big in all three charts, he never quite managed to re-create the same again. The record started with such a dramatic piano that continued as a solo instrument, pounding for over a minute, that it was one of the songs that one could argue might have been even better as an instrumental like Heartaches and didn’t need the lyrics that were sung by vocalist Bob Lamm, there’s just one place for me near you, it’s like heaven to be near you, times when we’re apart I can’t face my heart, say you’ll never stray more than just two lips away, if my life could be spent near you, I’d be more than content near you, make my wish come true by telling me that you want to spend all your days near me. When he had finished the refrain, there was more honky-tonk style heavy piano from Craig and in less than three minutes the drama had finished but the memory of the piano playing lingered on. Francis Craig only achieved one further hit after Near You. He died in 1966 aged 66.
538. 13 December 1947
Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra
Ballerina
Written by Sidney Keith Bob Russell & Carl Sigman
No.1 for 10 weeks (sales)
3 January 1948 No.1 for 7 weeks (juke box)
27 December 1947 No.1 for 8 weeks (disc jockeys)
Bob Russell had previously written the English lyrics for Jimmy Dorsey’s Maria Elena and he contributed to his second no.1 single on Vaughn Monroe’s Ballerina which hit no.1 at the end of 1947 on all three charts. Ballerina otherwise known by its first line Dance Ballerina Dance was a highly dramatic song telling the story of a dancer who must go on with the show, no matter how much her heart is aching. She mustn’t once forget a dancer has to dance the part and just ignore the chair that’s empty in the second row, although he’s not out there applauding as you steal the show, once you said his love must wait its turn, you wanted fame instead, I guess that’s your concern, we live and learn, and love is gone ballerina gone, so on with your career you can’t afford a backward glance, dance on and on and on, a thousand people here have come to see the show, as round and round you go so ballerina dance dance dance. This was the third number one single for Vaughn Monroe, there were no Norton Sisters, no Moon Maids, just Monroe dramatically telling the story in his rich baritone voice.
The pop music charts 