EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by alphanguy, Jan 29, 2016.

  1. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    I wish there was a really good compilation box set for Wilbert Harrison!
     
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  2. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Next we have not only the #1 hit for June 1 - July 12, 1959... but this is also the Billboard #1 hit of the year. "The Battle Of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton.
     
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  3. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    One city, and one remake, traded places with another when Johnny Horton’s recording of The Battle Of New Orleans replaced Kansas City atop the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1959.

    The origins of The Battle Of New Orleans can be traced back to a 19th century fiddle song The Eighth Of January (also known as Jackson’s Victory) which was written in celebration of the victory of Colonel Andrew Jackson over British Commander Edward Pakenham in the final battle of the War of 1812. The first known phonograph recording of The Eighth Of January is by the Arkansas Barefoot Boys for Okeh in 1928 (linked here). In 1936, an Arkansas school teacher, James Morris, searching for a way to inspire interest in American history among his sixth grade students, set lyrics to The Eighth of January and retitled it The Battle Of New Orleans.

    Twenty-one years later, Jimmy (or Jimmie as he spelled his name on occasion) Morris was discovered by Nashville musician and music publisher Don Warden, who was traveling through Arkansas on a talent search. Warden brought Morris to Nashville, and convinced Chet Atkins of RCA Victor to produce an album of his songs, using Morris’ folksy stage name of Jimmie Driftwood. Recording for the album took place in one day (October 27, 1957) and the first song put on tape was The Battle Of New Orleans with Jimmie and Chet on guitar and Bob Moore on bass:



    The album, Jimmie Driftwood Sings Newly Discovered American Folk Songs, was released in early 1958 and sold in respectable numbers but received little radio airplay. The most “commercial” song on the LP, The Battle Of New Orleans, was too long to fit the conventional radio format and it contained expletives (see video above).

    How rockabilly/country singer Johnny Horton became aware of Driftwood’s The Battle Of New Orleans has been the subject of much discussion. One account has Horton hearing either a live censored version of the song, a “radio friendly” re-recording (a re-recording was issued commercially on RCA Victor 47-7534 in May 1959 with the popularity of Horton’s recording), or the original LP version on Nashville radio, the latter occurring after-hours. Another account has Don Warden shopping the song to other artists and contacting Tillman Franks, Horton’s manager, to see if Horton would be interested in recording it.

    Regardless of how it transpired, Horton loved The Battle Of New Orleans the first time he heard it. He notified Columbia of his desire to record a remake of the song which excluded the most offensive verses. Horton recorded his version of The Battle Of New Orleans in late January 1959 at Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut in Nashville with The Jordanaires.
     
  4. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    Johnny Horton’s The Battle Of New Orleans was released by Columbia in early April 1959.

    Seven weeks later (May 25, 1959), Billboard was reporting on the tremendous sales of the single:

    [​IMG]

    On June 7, 1959, The Battle Of New Orleans was firmly entrenched atop the Billboard Hot 100 and Horton made a “memorable” appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show:

     
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  5. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    From the YT comments on the Sullivan appearance:

    and that was the last time Johnny let Liberace design his stage clothes​
     
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  6. Slokes

    Slokes Cruel But Fair

    Location:
    Greenwich, CT USA
    "Kansas City" is an amazing song. I used to hear it on the radio for years, then the Beatles' cover (which is not a fave) took over. It really took me back when I heard this on a MOJO CD comp and remembered how raw and wonderfully clipped Harrison's vocal is, and how once it gets going, it's one of the most infectious marching numbers since Sousa.
     
  7. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    I agree with this. Though I think the Beatles did many definitive covers, such as "Money," "Twist and Shout" and "Bad Boy," their version of "Kansas City" isn't one of them.
     
  8. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    "The Battle of New Orleans," even in Johnny Horton's version, is another rather violent song based on a true incident (also see "Tom Dooley" and "Stagger Lee").

    By the time I first heard this, it was OK to use the word "hell" on the radio in most contexts, but I also knew of the old taboo, so I thought it was clever how Horton and CBS got around it: "Then we opened up our squirrel guns and really gave 'em... well, we..."

    Horton, who had been popular in country music circles for some years, spent the rest of his too-short career doing similar historical ballads such as "Sink the Bismarck" (#3 in 1960) and "North to Alaska" (#2 in 1960). The first was "inspired by" but not used in the film of the same name, and the second was actually used in its titular film; the picture sleeve of "North to Alaska" has a photo of Horton on one side and John Wayne on the other.

    Unfortunately, Horton died in an automobile accident on November 5, 1960 at age 35. For the second time, his wife, Billie Jean, was a widow; before her seven-year marriage to Horton, she was briefly married to Hank Williams and was his wife at the time of his death.

    I also have to mention the parody that became the biggest pop hit (#14) for C&W cutups Homer and Jethro, who bravely fought in "The Battle of Kookamonga." They even parodied the "well, we" omission of the expletive:

     
  9. Ken S.

    Ken S. Forum Resident

    Yes, this is so true.

    Carol Connors did some wonderful solo work, including Angel My Angel, Lonely Little Beach Girl, My Special Boy, and My Baby Looks But He Don't Touch. Such a nice voice.
     
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  10. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    Aside from the Sullivan Show appearance, another memorable thing (well at least to a kid) about Johnny Horton’s Battle Of New Orleans was the sleeve that accompanied some copies of the monaural 45 (Columbia 4-41339), which featured the song’s lyrics and cartoons depicting the events:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Later, during my days as a disc jockey, I ran across a promotional 45 which has an expanded cartoon in a gatefold with numbered indexes to the lyrics, and I now have this in my collection as well:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    The mono 45 version of The Battle Of New Orleans, the one that charted and was played by radio at the time, has, to my knowledge, never been released on CD.

    In addition to the original 45, the mono mix can also be heard on the mono The Spectacular Johnny Horton (Columbia CL 1362, 1959), Johnny Horton Makes History (Columbia CL 1478, 1960) and Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits (Columbia CL 1596, 1962) LPs.

    Stereo versions of The Battle Of New Orleans first appeared on a stereo 33 1/3 7” (Columbia S7 30339, released in August 1959) and then on the stereo The Spectacular Johnny Horton (Columbia CS 8167, 1959), Johnny Horton Makes History (Columbia CS 8269, 1960) and Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits (Columbia CS 8396, 1962) LPs.

    The Battle Of New Orleans sounds a bit more dynamic on the stereo versions I have heard when compared with the original monaural recording. However, a cautionary note: some of the stereo versions I have heard, on both LP and CD, have additional reverb added to Johnny’s vocals that is not found on the original mono 45.
     
  11. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    The story the song tells may have been about war and violence but it was wrapped up in a bouncy, patriotic package that made it palatable to the masses. I remember running around as a child singing this song and loving it without really understanding what I was singing about. Of course, I eventually got it but I still like it's sound and music. Not unlike what artists like Eminem do with dark subject matter wrapped in a sing-song, happy melody.
     
  12. Emberglow

    Emberglow Senior Member

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
    Just curious - there was another Billboard chart that existed from 1945 to 1963 called something like "The Honor Roll of Hits". It's difficult to find much information about it nowadays, particularly about how it was compiled and just what purpose it served. Did anyone here pay any attention to it back in the day?
     
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  13. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    Billboard’s Honor Roll of Hits chart was a song-based rather than an artist-based chart that was published from 1945 to 1963. At the time it was not uncommon for multiple versions of a given song to be released simultaneously and the Honor Roll of Hits chart combined all cover versions of a song into one consolidated listing. The chart was designed to measure a song’s popularity not a particular hit’s popularity. The Honor Roll of Hits chart was compiled using sheet music sales in addition to record sales and radio airplay.
     
  14. Emberglow

    Emberglow Senior Member

    Location:
    Waterford, Ireland
    Thank you. So, even a poor-selling cover of a hit song would be listed on the Honor Roll of Hits chart along with the best-selling version.
     
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  15. Finchingfield

    Finchingfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Henrico, Va
    Joel Whitburn has some sample Honor Roll of Hits charts you can look at on his Record Research site, for his Honor Roll of Hits DVD-rom. Go to the link below, and click the "view sample pages" box.

    This is most interesting. So in effect for some overlapping periods of time, Billboard had 5 different pop charts: Best Sellers, DJ plays, Juke Box plays, the Honor Roll of Hits combo, and the Top 100 / Hot 100 combo. Fascinating...

    DVD-rom: Honor Roll Of Hits Charts | Joel Whitburn's Record Research »
     
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  16. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Next is "Lonely Boy" by Paul Anka.... #1 July 13 - August 9, 1959.

     
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  17. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    Lonely Boy was a very personal statement about isolation written by a then 17 year-old Paul Anka. The song described emotions he felt following his mother’s passing after a long illness. Lonely Boy was recorded in late August 1958 by Anka, with Don Costa handling the arrangement, at Bell Sound Studios in New York City but not released as a single until May 1959.

    The label on the original 45 indicated that Lonely Boy was from the MGM theatrical release Girls Town but the movie did not actually open until almost five months after the single was issued! Anka also appeared in the campy “bad girl” film starring Mamie Van Doren. Anka can be seen singing Lonely Boy in the trailer for the movie:



    The full scene from Girls Town with Anka performing Lonely Boy can be seen in the clips below in which the movie was mocked on the American comedy television series Mystery Science Theater 3000:

    MST3K - Girls Town (part four) » (beginning around 8:37 to the end)

    MST3K - Girls Town (part five) » (from the start to around 1:27)
     
  18. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    A German knock off of "Lonely Boy" was a top 10 hit in Germany in 1972, by singing heartthrob Christian Anders. I can't find any plagiarism suit involving the two songs, although I think it would certainly qualify.

     
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  19. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Lonely Boy is another example of a background female voice adding an air of eeriness to a song. In this case, the string arrangement combined nicely with that vocal to underscore the song's yearning sentiment and ghostly effect. Of course, most folks simply responded to another great love song.
     
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  20. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    I tend to find those Anka songs overwrought, but that clip got me back in the groove :)

    Too bad that movie is not on DVD :(
     
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  21. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    For those who have not seen it, the Lonely Boy documentary from 1962 offers a fascinating look at the grooming and merchandising of Paul Anka as a teen pop idol, the hysteria of his fans, and the beginning of Anka’s transition away from teen audiences to older college and nightclub audiences:

     
  22. MCT1

    MCT1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Worcester, MA
    In addition to stereo 45s, another short-lived practice in this era was releasing 7" singles at 33 1/3 rpm. Sometimes these were mono singles, sometimes they were stereo (like the "The Battle Of New Orleans" release noted above). I guess the idea was that you could buy all your records as 33 1/3 rpm records with small holes, and you wouldn't have to deal with switching between speeds or fumble around with center hole adapters.

    Columbia Records seemed to be a big proponent of 33 1/3 rpm 7" singles. In the speed wars of the late '40s/early '50s, Columbia had been pushing the 33 1/3 rpm speed against RCA's 45 rpm. That ended with neither speed coming to dominate the entire industry, but consumers deciding that each was best for one purpose but not another (45 rpm for singles, 33 1/3 rpm for albums). Maybe ten years later Columbia still had visions of its invention (33 1/3 rpm) becoming universal.

    Columbia was one of the more active labels in stereo singles from this era, and they differed from other labels in two respects. First, I believe that they did strictly stereo 33 1/3 rpm 7" singles, no stereo 45s. Most other labels that did stereo singles (not all did) did mainly 45s. Columbia also continued to release stereo 7"' singles until 1963, a couple of years after pretty much everyone else had bailed out.

    Stereo jukeboxes may have been a consideration in introducing stereo 45s. By 1961 many labels had introduced special lines of stereo 7" releases that were aimed specifically at the jukebox market, typically album-based and playing at 33 1/3 rpm. At first these were sets of multiple 7" singles containing most or all of the tracks from a newly released album. Later they would be single-record EPs sampling four to six songs from a newly released album. The latter would continue into the 1970s.

    I guess you could look at things this way: record labels introduced commercially released stereo 45 in the late '50s, believing that there would be demand from both consumers and jukebox operators. It turned out that demand from consumers was minimal (for the reasons explained in my first post), and to the extent that there was demand for stereo 7" records from jukebox operators, this market went in a different direction (album-based 33 1/3 rpm records produced specially for jukeboxes and not sold to the general public). That left stereo 45s serving no real purpose, so they were dropped.

    That Columbia's 7" stereo singles played at 33 1/3 rpm may explain why they stayed in the market a bit longer than everyone else. Stereo 7" jukebox releases had gone in the direction of 33 1/3 rpm, so maybe Columbia was able to generate some sales in the jukebox market in a way that 7" 45 rpm stereo singles weren't.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2016
  23. I Love Music

    I Love Music Forum Resident

    In contrast to previous songs in this thread, the stereo 45 version (ABC-Paramount 45-S-10,022) and monaural 45 mix (ABC-Paramount 45-10,022) of Lonely Boy were both issued in May 1959. For earlier singles in this thread that had a stereo 45 or 33 1/3 7” release, the stereo version typically followed the monaural issue by many months. The monaural mix of Lonely Boy is the version found on most CDs. The original stereo mix of the song has been issued on only a few CDs.

    Paul Anka premiered Lonely Boy on the Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show on May 9, 1959 the same week the song was released as a single. Dick Clark noted that the song and Anka himself would be part of the upcoming Girls Town film. The clip below also features Johnny Horton’s The Battle Of New Orleans, the song Lonely Boy would eventually replace at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

     
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  24. WolfSpear

    WolfSpear Music Enthusiast

    Location:
    Florida
    Truth be told, the Honor Roll of Hits chart is rarely referenced.
    The purpose of that chart was to showcase the most popular songs rather than individual recordings. So yes, dud versions would be listed amongst the popular ones regardless.

    Come 1963, artists were recording their own songs...
    You wouldn't see 20 renditions of "Can't Help Falling In Love" or "Please Mr. Postman" on the charts at the same time, a once common thing.

    So anyways, there were 4 charts that tracked recordings; the Best Sellers being the "most credible" until the birth of the Hot 100.
    And beginning in October 1958, the Hot 100 would become the sole chart after Billboard axed the Best Sellers list.
     
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  25. alphanguy

    alphanguy Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Missouri
    Next is Elvis Presley with "Big Hunk O Love" # 1 from August 10- August 23, 1958

     

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