1955

632. 15 January 1955

Joan Weber (orchestra under the direction of Jimmy Carroll)

Let Me Go Lover

Written by Jenny Lou Carson & Al Hill

No.1 for 4 weeks (juke box)
22 January 1955 no.1 for 2 weeks (sales)
1 January 1955 no.1 for 4 weeks (jockeys)

Joan Weber was born in Paulsboro, New Jersey in 1935 and was discovered by Mitch Miller, the head of Columbia Records. Her only hit single was Let Me Go Lover which was featured on an episode of Studio One, the anthology drama series in an episode with a murder mystery theme involving a DJ and a hit record. The producers asked Mitch Miller for a song that fitted the storyline and he presented them with Joan Weber’s version of Let Me Go Lover which was a song by country music singer and composer Jenny Lou Carson based on her earlier song Let Me Go Devil recorded by Wade Ray about Hank Williams’ battle with alcoholism which Mitch Miller thought was too depressing for a pop audience and he commissioned new lyrics composed by the team of Fred Wise, Kay Twomey and Ben Weisman, writing under the joint pseudonym of Al Hill. Instead of a battle with the devil who caused the gambling, then the cheating, then the bottles of rye which led to loss of pride and my friends as the devil slowly took over the soul, Let Me Go Lover was not much more cheerful as Joan Weber sang about being trapped in a relationship, let me be set me free from your spell, you made me weak cut me deep I can’t sleep lover, I was cursed from the first day I fell, you don’t want me but you want me to go on wanting you, how I pray that you will say that we are through, please turn me loose what’s the use, let me go lover, let me go. The new pop song hit the top on all three charts in the USA but in Britain it stopped at no.16, with three different competing versions all inside the top ten by Dean Martin, Ruby Murray and Teresa Brewer. Joan Weber led a very reclusive life after this hit and she died in 1981 aged 45.

633. 12 February 1955

Fontane Sisters (with Billy Vaughn’s Orchestra)

Hearts Of Stone

Written by Eddie Ray & Rudy Jackson

No.1 for 3 weeks (juke box)
5 February 1955 no.1 for 1 week (sales)

The Fontane Sisters achieved their third number one single but the first without Perry Como as their previous two had been collaborations on A You’re Adorable and Hoop Dee Doo. Hearts Of Stone was more serious than their previous hits, originally an R&B hit by The Jewels and covered by another black vocal group The Charms and although The Fontane Sisters version was a cleaner pleasant pop sound, they kept the spirit of the doo wop versions with Billy Vaughn’s chorus in the background chanting doo do wop throughout as the girls sang hearts made of stone will never break, for the love you have for them they just won’t take, you can ask them please please please please break, and all of your love is there to take, yes hearts of stone will cause you pain, although you love them they’ll stop you just the same, but they’ll say no no no no no no no no no no no no no, everybody knows I thought you knew hearts made of stone. It topped the sales and jukebox charts in the USA but failed to chart at all in the UK. They only achieved one further top ten hit single, a version of Seventeen later in 1955. Geri, was the first of the sisters to die in 1993 followed by Bea in 2002 and the last of the girls, Marge in 2003.

634. 12 February 1955

McGuire Sisters (with chorus & orchestra directed by Dick Jacobs)

Sincerely

Written by Harvey Fuqua & Alan Freed

No.1 for 10 weeks (jockeys)
12 February 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (sales)
5 March 1955 no.1 for 7 weeks (jukebox)

The record that took over at the top of both the sales and juke box charts from Hearts Of Stone was Sincerely, another major R&B hit, this time by the Moonglows which featured the composers of the song, Harvey Fuqua as a member and Alan Freed as their manager. For the pop market, it was recorded by The McGuire Sisters, like the Fontane Sisters and DeCastro Sisters, a group of sisters, Ruby Christine born in 1926, Dorothy born in 1928 and Phyllis born in 1931, all in Middletown, Ohio. They appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts and Godfrey hired them for his main TV shows over the following seven years. Yet again, The McGuire Sisters produced a polished, cleaned up version of a doo wop classic about unrequited love and sang, sincerely oh yes sincerely ’cause I love you so dearly, please say you’ll be mine. sincerely oh you know how I love you. I’ll do anything for you please say you’ll be mine, oh Lord won’t you tell me why I love that fella so, he doesn’t want me but I’ll never never never never let him go. While Sincerely topped all the US charts for multiple weeks, it was most successful on the jockeys’ airplay charts, remaining at the top for ten weeks and featured in an unprecedented top five dominated by female artists with the Fontane Sisters, Joan Weber, Jaye P Morgan and the Chordettes all inside the top five. Sincerely was much less successful in the UK, peaking at no.14.

635. 26 March 1955

Bill Hayes (orchestra conducted by Archie Bleyer)

The Ballad Of Davy Crockett

Written by George Bruns & Thomas W Blackburn

No.1 for 5 weeks (sales)
23 April 1955 no.1 for 3 weeks (jukebox)
23 April 1955 no.1 for 3 weeks (jockeys)

David Crockett was a frontiersman, soldier and politician who lived between 1786 and 1836 and is commonly referred to as the King of the Wild Frontier. He represented Tennessee in the House Of Representatives and was also elected to Congress several times where he was notorious for opposing President Andrew Jackson, especially on the subject of Indian relocation and removal from their traditional lands. His exploits passed into folklore and many films had been made of his life and adventures, none more successful than the Walt Disney television production of Davy Crockett for their Disneyland channel which starred Fess Parker and popularised the image of Crockett, especially his coonskin cap. There were only five one-hour episodes made but they were so popular, they made a star of Fess Parker and also a hit record of the theme song, The Ballad Of Davy Crockett which was sung over the opening credits by Parker. Despite this, it was not the biggest hit version as it peaked at no.5 and was easily outsold by Bill Hayes who was asked to record the song by Archie Bleyer, the president of Cadence Records who also provided the orchestral back-up for Hayes. William Foster Hayes III was born in Harvey, Illinois in 1925 and was already an established actor and singer when he was offered the chance to perform what was obviously going to become a popular song. Throughout April at the height of Crockett mania, there were three versions of the song inside the top ten, by Bill Hayes, Fess Parker and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song told the story of Davy Crockett’s life and exploits although embellishing the details and making him out to be a hero, even from the age of three, which he wasn’t. Bill Hayes sang that Crockett was born on a mountain top in Tennessee, the greenest state in the land of the free, raised in the woods so’s he knew ev’ry tree, which was probably true, he fought single-handed through the Injun War, till the Creeks was whipped and peace was in store, which certainly wasn’t true, he went off to Congress and served a spell, fixin’ up the Government and laws as well, took over Washington so we heered tell, and patched up the crack in the Liberty Bell, when he come home his politickin’ done, why the big western march had just begun, he packed up his gear and his trusty gun, and lit out grinnin’ to follow the sun. The final verse of the song was slowed down for dramatic effect, his land is biggest and his land is best, from grassy plains to the mountain crest, he’s ahead of us all a meetin’ the test, and following his legend right into the West and at the end of every verse, Hayes reminded everyone whom he was singing about, Davy Davy Crockett, the king of the wild frontier. It hardly mattered how accurate the TV series or the song were, children of all ages had found a folk hero to admire. Bill Hayes was so closely associated with the Davy Crockett phenonenom his follow up single Wringle Wrangle failed to reach the top thirty. Bill Hayes died in 2024 aged 98.

636. 30 April 1955

Perez Prez Prado & His Orchestra (Trumpet solo Billy Regis)

Cherry Pink And Appleblossom White

Written by Louiguy

No.1 for 10 weeks (sales)
4 June 1955 no.1 for 8 weeks (jukebox)
21 May 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (jockeys)

It had been three years since an instrumental recording had topped the charts and Cherry Pink And Appleblossom White became the eighteenth no.1 in the twenty-five years since 1930 and the biggest selling record of 1955. It was originally a French song, Cerisiers Roses Et Pommiers Blancs which had French lyrics composed by Jacques Larue and recorded as a vocal song by André Claveau Avec Jo Boyer Et Son Orchestre. English lyrics had also been written by Mack David which was recorded by Georgia Gibbs but the most famous version was the trumpet instrumental by Perez Prado, born Dámaso Pérez Prado in Matanzas, Cuba in 1916. He formed his own orchestra in Cuba, specialising in mambo music and achieved a hit throughout Europe in 1950 with two of his own compositions, Mambo No.5 and Mambo Jambo. In the USA, his first hit single was the fusion of mambo trumpet playing of Billy Regis to a cha-cha-cha rhythm which was featured in the film Under Water starring Jane Russell. But it was the explosive nature of Regis’ trumpet that sold Cherry Pink And Appleblossom White and the exotic flavour of the rhythm section of Prado’s orchestra, the first no.1 single to come from an artist from Cuba.

637. 14 May 1955

Georgia Gibbs (with Hugo Peretti & His Orchestra)

Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)

Written by Johnny Otis, Hank Ballard & Etta James

No.1 for 3 weeks (jukebox)

Georgia Gibbs achieved her second no.1 single following Kiss Of Fire but Dance With Me Henry Wallflower only topped the jukebox charts. The song Work with Me Annie was a twelve bar blues song composed by Hank Ballard and recorded by his band Hank Ballard & The Midnighters which topped the R&B charts in 1954. As a response to this song, Johnny Otis and Etta James joined Hank Ballard in composing a song titled Wallflower for Etta James who also hit no.1 on the R&B charts. The text of the song repeated the line Roll With Me Henry as an answer to the question, hey baby what do I have to do to make a hit with you. This was considered too daring for pop radio and audiences and as usual, it was re-written and watered down to Dance With Me Henry and recorded by Georgia Gibbs who sang the new lyrics, you gotta dance with me Henry, dance with me Henry, rock with me Henry, talk to me Henry, dance with me Henry, you better dance while the music goes on, roll on roll on roll on, while the cats are ballin’, you better stop your stallin’, it’s intermission in a minute, so you better get with it, dance with me Henry, you better dance while the music goes on, roll roll roll, roll roll roll, rock rock rock, rock rock rock, roll roll roll, roll on roll on roll on. She sang without any of the suggestive innuendos of either the original or its answer song and most white people who bought Georgia Gibbs records were unaware of the song’s sexual origins. During the first verse, she was interrupted after each line by a suitable response from and uncredited Thurl Ravenscroft, who spoke lines such as all right baby, don’t mean maybe, any old time and don’t change your mind. She achieved a further three top twenty hits after Dance With Me Henry but was never again to be seen in the top ten. She died in 2006 aged 88.

638. 14 May 1955

Les Baxter His Chorus & Orchestra

Unchained Melody

Written by Alex North & Hy Zaret

No.1 for 1 week (jockeys)
4 June 1955 returned to no.1 for 1 week

When Alex North wrote the music for a prison-based drama film Unchained, he asked Hy Zarat to compose lyrics that went with the subject matter of the film. Zarat refused to include the word Unchained in the lyrics and instead wrote from the point of view of a man, missing his lover having been separated from her for a long time and how that made him feel. It was performed by Todd Duncan in his prison cell in which he sang the few lines that Zarat had written, oh my love my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch a long lonely time, time goes by so slowly and time can do so much, are you still mine, I need your love I need your love, God speed your love to me. The film was not particularly successful but the song certainly was in the Spring of 1955 as three different versions all hit the top ten by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler and Roy Hamilton, the most successful of them being Les Baxter whose previous biggest hits had been as the back-up orchestra for Nat King Cole on Mona Lisa and on his own, the no.2 single April In Portugal. Unchained Melody hit no.1 on the jockeys’ charts only for two non-consecutive weeks and possibly against the wishes of Hy Zarat, the chorus began by chanting several times the lines, unchain me, unchain me.

639. 9 July 1955

Bill Haley & His Comets

(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock

Written by Max C Freedman & James E Myers

No.1 for 8 weeks (sales)
30 July 1955 no.1 for 7 weeks (jukebox)
16 July 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (jockeys)

This wasn’t the record that started it all, but it was the record that brought Rock n Roll to the masses and made it the dominant genre of music from 1955 onwards, sweeping away albeit slowly at first, the big bands, orchestras and to a certain extent, the ballad singers and crooners that had been dominant for so many decades. Bill Haley was born William John Clifton Haley in Highland Park, Michigan in 1925 and was an unlikely pop star, being blind in one eye from a childhood accident. His first band formed in the late-1940s was The Saddlemen which evolved into Bill Haley & His Comets featuring Rudy Pompilli on saxophone, Johnny Grande on piano and accordion, Billy Williamson and Franny Beecher on guitars, Al Rex on bass and Ralph Jones on drums. He had begun as a country singer but changed the style of the group to play Rock n Roll, the music that was becoming a growing influence, although not yet mainstream until the summer of 1955 when Rock Around The Clock was re-issued after it was included in the teenage film Blackboard Jungle. With its popularity among young record buyers, it rose to the top of the charts deposing Perez Prado and Frank Sinatra from the no.1 position of the various charts although the Rock n Roll revolution did not start immediately, the first week that Rock Around The Clock hit no.1, it shared the top ten singles chart with two versions of Unchained Melody, two versions of Something’s Gotta Give and hits by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Art Mooney and Gisele McKenzie. On his final week at no.1 of eight weeks at the top, he was joined in the top ten by Chuck Berry, Boyd Bennett, Chuck Miller and although he certainly was not a Rock n Roll singer, Pat Boone who attempted throughout his career to pretend he was. Rock Around The Clock wasn’t even a Bill Haley original, having previously been recorded by Sonny Dae & His Knights. Bill Haley lived his life on the unparalleled success of Rock Around The Clock and he was never able to top the charts again, probably the right thing as far as the history books are concerned. He died in 1981 aged 55 and rock and roll had lost one of its original legends.

640. 9 July 1955

Frank Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra)

Learnin’ The Blues

Written by Dolores Vicki Silvers

No.1 for 1 week (jockeys)
30 July 1955 returned to no.1 for 1 week

Since Frank Sinatra had signed for Capitol Records he had enjoyed a revival in his chart fortunes which culminated in his first number one single for eight years with Learnin’ The Blues although it only peaked at no.2 on both the sales and juke box charts and spent two non-consecutive weeks on top of the jockey’s chart. The sense in which Sinatra was singing about the blues was not the style of music, but when you are really unhappy and he spelled out the clues that tell you when you have the blues, the tables are empty the dance floor’s deserted, you play the same love song it’s the tenth time you’ve heard it, that’s the beginning just one of the clues, you’ve had your first lesson in learnin’ the blues, the cigarettes you light one after another, won’t help you forget her and the way that you love her, you’re only burnin’ a torch you can’t lose, but you’re on the right track for learnin’ the blues, when you’re at home alone the blues will taunt you constantly, when you’re out in a crowd the blues will haunt your memory, the nights when you don’t sleep the whole night you’re cryin’, but you can’t forget her soon you even stop tryin’, you’ll walk that floor and wear out your shoes, when you feel your heart break you’re learnin’ the blues.

641. 3 September 1955

Mitch Miller With His Orchestra & Chorus

The Yellow Rose Of Texas

Written by Don George

No.1 for 5 weeks (sales)
15 October 1955 returned to no.1 for 1 week
1 October 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (jukebox)
3 September 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (jockeys)

Mitch Miller was born Mitchell William Miller in Rochester, New York in 1911 and was an orchestral conductor and record company executive. As head of A&R of Columbia Records, he had produced, arranged and provided the back-up orchestra for several hits by Guy Mitchell and Frankie Laine but with the traditional song The Yellow Rose Of Texas, he had a bonafide hit under his own name. The song was first known by the sheet music in the songbook Christy’s Plantation Melodies No. 2, which was a compendium of songs performed by the Christy’s Minstrels in the Blackface Minstrel shows around 1853. Mitch Miller gave it a military beat and made it sound as if it was a patriotic song from the Civil War and he had the lyrics completely re-written to erase all references to the original song being sung by a man in Blackface, calling himself a darkey and falling for a yellow (white) girl in Texas. Mitch Miller’s chorus sang, there’s a yellow rose of Texas that I am gonna see, nobody else could miss her not half as much as me, she cried so when I left her it like to broke my heart, and if I ever find her we never more will part, she’s the sweetest little rosebud that Texas ever knew, her eyes are bright as diamonds they sparkle like the dew, you may talk about your Clementine and sing of Rosa Lee, but the Yellow Rose of Texas is the only girl for me, where the Rio Grande is flowing and starry skies are bright, she walks along the river in the quiets of the night, I know that she remembers when we parted long ago, I promised to return and not to leave her so, oh now I’m going to find her for my heart is full of woe, we’ll do the things together we did so long ago, we’ll play the banjo gaily she’ll love me like before, and the Yellow Rose of Texas shall be mine for ever more. Don George’s new lyrics completely lost the original meaning which included the lines, there’s a yellow girl in Texas that I’m going down to see, no other darkies know her, no darkey only me, she’s the sweetest girl of colour that this darkey ever knew, her eyes are bright as diamonds and sparkle like the dew, you may talk about your Dearest Mae and sing of Rosa Lee, but the yellow Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee. The record topped all three US singles charts each for six weeks and was also a hit in the UK, peaking at no.2.

642. 17 September 1955

Pat Boone

Aint That A Shame

Written by Fats Domino & Dave Bartholomew

No.1 for 2 weeks (jukebox)

Ain’t That A Shame was a song written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and originally recorded by Domino and a number one single on the specialist RnB charts. There were not many lyrics to the song which repeated the lines several times, you made me cry when you said goodbye ain’t that a shame, my tears fell like rain ain’t that a shame, you’re the one to blame, farewell goodbye although I’ll cry, ain’t that a shame my tears fell like rain, ain’t that a shame you’re the one to blame. However, the song was more about the feel and rhythm than what the lyrics were saying, quite typical of a mid-1950s RnB or Rock n Roll song and it was inevitable when a white pop crooner covered the song for the pop market. In the case of Aint That A Shame, it was the ultimate clean-cut, image conscious white singer Pat Boone who covered it. Born Patrick Charles Eugene Boone in Jacksonville, Florida in 1934, he made his career in cleaning up black RnB hits and releasing what many considered insipid cover versions that destroyed the spirit of the originals. Boone was reported to have wanted to change the title and lyrics to Isn’t That A Shame to make it more appealing to a broader audience but was dissuaded by his producers. In this cleaned up version, Pat Boone hit no.1 on the jukebox charts and no.2 on the other charts but even that did not stop the Fats Domino original from squeezing a week on the pop charts too at no.10, the first time that either of them had hit the charts although Domino had been charting singles on the RnB charts since 1949.

643. 15 October 1955

Four Aces (featuring Al Alberts with chorus & orchestra directed by Jack Pleis)

Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

Written by Sammy Fain & Paul Francis Webster

No.1 for 6 weeks (jockeys)
8 October 1955 no.1 for 2 weeks (sales)
12 November 1955 no.1 for 3 weeks (jukebox)
12 November 1955 no.1 for 3 weeks (top 100)

The Four Aces returned with their second no.1 single following their version of Three Coins In The Fountain and yet again they gave a credit on the record label as featuring the singer Al Alberts. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing was also the second no.1 single for the composers Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster who had previously written the chart topper for Doris Day, Secret Love. It was the title song of the romantic comedy film Love Is A Many Splendored Thing and won an Oscar for best song the following year. The Four Aces took it to number one on all the singles charts, the most successful being for six weeks on top of the jockeys’ charts. On the week of the 12th of November, Billboard magazine began publishing a fourth singles chart, called the Top 100, it was a combined tabulation of the dealers, disc jockeys and juke box operators and a forerunner of the Hot 100 which would supersede all the other pop singles charts in a few years’ time. The first number one single on this new chart, remaining at the top for three weeks was Love Is A Many Splendored Thing by the Four Aces. . They were one of the casualties of the rock and roll era, never managing to reach the top ten again. They all went their separate ways in the late 1950s with lead singer Al Alberts living until 2009 aged 87.

644. 29 October 1955

Roger Williams (orchestra directed by Glenn Osser)

Autumn Leaves

Written by Joseph Kosma

No.1 for 4 weeks (sales)

Autumn Leaves was no.1 in the retail sales chart for four weeks during the Autumn of 1955 and the nineteenth instrumental to top the charts in total. It was written in 1945 by the Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma who had based the melody on both the ballet music Rendez Vous which had been borrowed from the Jules Massenet composition Poème D’Octobre. Johnny Mercer wrote the English lyrics and gave it the title Autumn Leaves but it was as an instrumental that it became a major hit. Billed on the record label as Roger Williams at the piano with orchestra directed by Glenn Osser, this was the third no.1 single involving Osser, following You’re Breaking My Heart by Vic Damone and Kiss Of Fire by Georgia Gibbs. Roger Williams was born Louis Jacob Weertz in Omaha, Nebraska in 1924 and Autumn Leaves was as far removed from the new sounds of Rock n Roll and Doo Wop that had dominated 1955 as one could get. It began with a drum roll and then Osser’s orchestra dramatically played several heavy notes before the melody started. Williams’ role for the first minute and fifteen seconds was just to glide up and down the piano notes and provide interlinking notes, but after that, he took over the melody line and provided one of the more relaxing number one hits of 1955. Roger Williams continued to achieve top ten singles into the mid-1960s. He died in 2011 aged 87.

645. 3 December 1955

Tennessee Ernie Ford (with orchestra conducted by Jack Fascinato)

Sixteen Tons

Written by Merle Travis

No.1 for 8 weeks (juke box)
26 November 1955 no.1 for 7 weeks (sales)
26 November 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (jockeys)
3 December 1955 no.1 for 6 weeks (top 100)

Tennessee Ernie Ford was born Ernest Jennings Ford in Bristol, Tennessee in 1919 and was a country music singer who occasionally had moved into the pop area such as his cover version top ten hits of Mule Train and The Ballad Of Davy Crockett although he had been much more successful in the UK with three previous no.1s. He really the big time on the pop charts with another cover of a country song, Sixteen Tons, originally recorded by the composer Merle Travis in 1946, just before he achieved his first pop chart-topper as a composer, Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette by Tex Williams. Tennessee Ernie Ford was known for his deep baritone voice and this perfectly suited this tale of the hard life endured by coal miners. It was bleak and depressing, some people say a man is made outta mud, a poor man’s made outta muscle and blood, muscle and blood and skin and bones, a mind that’s a-weak and a back that’s strong, I was born one mornin’ when the sun didn’t shine, I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine, I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal, and the straw boss said well a-bless my soul, I was born one mornin’ it was drizzlin’ rain, fightin’ and trouble are my middle name, I was raised in the canebrake by an ol’ mama lion, cain’t no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line. The miner was a survivor and in one verse he sang how he had to fight in order to earn the respect of the other men, if you see me comin’ better step aside, a lotta men didn’t a lotta men died, one fist of iron the other of steel, if the right one don’t a-get you then the left one will. After every verse, Ford returned to a sparse arrangement of a single clarinet and clicking fingers and sang the chorus, you load sixteen tons what do you get? another day older and deeper in debt, Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go, I owe my soul to the company store. The lines of the chorus came from Merle Travis’ family, his brother and father who were both coal miners in Kentucky and told him about the tradition of miners needing to ask the company for extra money and being paid in little brass coins that you can only spend at the company store. His father was reported once to have claimed, I can’t afford to die, I owe my soul to the company store.

Summary 1955

1956