Every RPM Canadian Content #1 single discussion thread 1964-2000

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by bunglejerry, Aug 17, 2020.

  1. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Those two were meant to be played in succession:
    "How much more, rich or poor, does any man need than me?"
    "I've a few more weeks, that's all..."

    You see this Gary Buck one around a lot:
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Lame
     
  3. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Found some more info about them:
    Johnny and the Canadians

    [​IMG]
     
  4. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Here's one I overlooked: Pat Hervey "Ain't A Girl Allowed To Cry" b/w "You Don't Know" (#14 on August 23)

     
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  5. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Here's something weird. I believe this is the 5 Sounds, a Nova Scotia group that appeared on Frank's Bandstand.
    Loading Coal

     
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  6. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    This was from within the first few months of Canadian Capitol using then then-year old Cornwall, ON pressing plant of Compo. The plant was more modern than Compo's older Lachine, Quebec plant which still had old-style Linotype and/or Intertype label fonts.
     
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  7. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    So considering Johnny and the Canadians alongside the Mynah Birds, and also Shirley Matthews and the Big Town Boys, and also Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers (who existed at this juncture but didn't have any releases out)... was Canada ahead of the curve with interracial rock bands? This is still a few years before Sly and the Family Stone in the USA and the Equals in the UK were seen as revolutionary for being mixed-race. The only example I can think of predating these folks (excluding jazz and folk, where there are plenty) is Booker T. and the M.G.'s.
     
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  8. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    The Del-Vikings
    [​IMG]
     
  9. GodBlessTinyTim

    GodBlessTinyTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Shame that it's so much harder to track Canadian hits prior to 1964. Missed out on the Beau-Marks, Shirley Matthews, Jackie Shane, Bob King, and much more Bobby Curtola.

    Likely the only Canadian rock 'n' roll singer to pass away before the introduction of CanCon was Ottawa's Eddy Clermont. He recorded just one single in 1959 and died in a car accident two years later at 22. His "Love By Numbers" has appeared on numerous rockabilly compilations over the years.



    Many 50's/early-60's doo-wop groups were integrated. Besides the aforementioned Del-Vikings there were The Crests and The Marcels, to name a couple. The aptly-named Mixtures, who put out an album in '62, were tri-racial.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2020
  10. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Bobby Taylor would still have yet to make his way to Canada, the band was still called Little Daddie & The Bachelors with Tommy Melton as the lead singer. They won the PNE Battle of the Bands which led to them recording a single for RCA Victor in 1965, "Too Much Monkey Business" b/w Junior's Jerk". Bobby Taylor would join in 1966 as a drummer, and eventually became lead singer. The group's name would change a few times, one in particular by Tommy Chong being very notorious.



    [​IMG]
     
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  11. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    Fascinating. Most Google searches of the name "The Mixtures" bring up an Australian band, but these guys - with seemingly only one promo photo - do turn up a bit. I presume the third ethnicity being Latino?

    Also worth noting that in our journey to date we've met three Syrian/Lebanese Canadians and one Armenian-Canadian, by my count.

    Also, since Robbie Robertson has entered the picture, we can include Iroquois as well.
     
  12. Panther

    Panther Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    Thanks for that! What a great song.
     
  13. Panther

    Panther Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    One of the greatest songs ever written. Her voice was so unique.
     
  14. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Would Jack Scott be considered Cancon?
     
  15. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Jack grew up in Windsor but moved to Hazel Park Mi. Most of his career was US based. I met Jack probably 30 years ago. Really nice guy.
    He is in the Canadian Songwriter hall of fame, as well as the Michigan Rock HOF.
     
  16. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    And how old was Ringo? :)
     
  17. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    Younger than Sawyer I'm sure. Different song but same gist.
     
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  18. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
  19. JamieC

    JamieC Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit Mi USA
    [​IMG]
     
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  20. bunglejerry

    bunglejerry Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, ON
    18. LOVE'S MADE A FOOL OF YOU
    by THE ESQUIRES
    #1 for 1 week: October 25, 1965




    [​IMG]
    This is actually only our second one-week chart-topper so far. Tomorrow, we'll meet our third.

    canadianbands.com points out that apparently former TV talking head and famously-disgraced senator Mike Duffy was an early fan: "Another really big fan was present Senator Mike Duffy (and former CTV news personality), who managed a band in Prince Edward Island. They followed every move we made right down to the type of boots we wore. We had many a laugh about that with Mike, again many years later.", according to band founder Gary Comeau.

    This particular track is a pretty proficient cover of "Love's Made a Fool of You", written by Buddy Holly and first performed by the Bobby Fuller Four. The Esquires add a lead harmonica absent from both other versions. It got a Stateside release on Tower Records, which anyway was a subsidiary of Capitol. The b-side is a take on George Gershwin's "Summertime", years before Janis Joplin got to it. Good luck finding it on Youtube, though, as it turns out that these aren't the only band named The Esquires to cover that particular song.

    OTHER RPM CHARTS: RPM continues to confuse. "Love's Made a Fool of You" is at number one on the Cross Canada chart and at number 19 on the main chart... below three other Canadian acts. "Don't Want Your Love" by the Great Scots sits at number eleven (number eight on the CanCon chart). Bizarrely, Johnny and the Canadians - who discogs says only ever put out one single - are at number thirteen with the b-side of the song that is at number six on the CanCon chart! Lastly, "Must I Tell You (I Love You)" by the Liverpool Set is at number 18 on the main chart and number 12 (down from number 4) on the CanCon chart. Both Gordon Lightfoot and the Big Town Boys are lower down on the main chart and - oddest of all - French-language "C'est un secret" by Michel Louvain, who I mentioned a few days ago, is at number 31 on the main chart but absent from the Cross Canada Chart Action chart. I wonder why. It seems to be, of all things, a translation of "Aloha Oe".

    I should point out that this particular Top 40 is a feast of songs that have left little legacy to future generations. In fact, looking at it right now, I recognise precisely three of the top ten songs - and two of those are by the Beatles and Bob Dylan!
     
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  21. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Remember RPM's policy during 1965 for the top 40: as soon as a song dropped, it disappeared from the chart. "Hey Ho" peaked at #3 on September 27, then "poof". For all we know it could have still been the top Canadian record.
     
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  22. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    It should be easier to find now;)



    Available on Pacemaker's superb, The Singles...Plus:

    Esquires – Singles Plus - Pacemaker Entertainment
     
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  23. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    "Love's Made A Fool Of You" was written by Buddy Holly before he became famous, but he himself never recorded more than a demo of the song (which would not be released until the 1970s). It was not until after Holly had left The Crickets in late 1958 (just a few months before his death) that the band recorded the song. It was released as a single a few weeks after Holly's death. The Crickets' recording of "Love's Made A Fool Of You" has been erroneously included on at least a couple of Buddy Holly compilations. Buddy Holly does not appear on it.

    The Esquires' "Love's Made A Fool Of You" was their first four-track recording, although only a mono tape appears to have survived. There had been a 40% personnel overturn since their first Cancon #1. Appearing on "Love's Made A Fool Of You" are:
    Don Norman: vocals
    Paul Huot: guitar
    Richard Patterson: drums
    Brian Lewicki: guitar, harmonica
    Doug Orr: bass

    What happened next to The Esquires says much about the state of the Canadian recording industry at the time. Even though they had just had a #19 national hit (and, according to RPM, their second #1 CanCon hit) and had recorded two more songs intended for their next single, Capitol declined to pick up the option on their contract and released no further Esquires recordings. The band then signed with Columbia who would release two Esquires singles.

    The 45 label states the publisher as No-Va-Jak, Norman Petty's publishing company. A number of Capitol's Canadian artists recorded with Petty in Clovis (Barry Allan, Wes Daukus), but The Esquires were not one of them. So it does raise an eyebrow or two that Capitol would release an Esquires song to which Petty owned the publishing as the A-side of an Esquires 45.
     
  24. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    In 1981, Tom Jones released a cover version of Jack Scott's "What In The World's Come Over You", and the Canadian 45 has the MAPL symbol on the label. I heard it played a lot on CJAD Montreal.

    The CanCon regulations did not become official (and become law) until 1971. Before the rules were formalized, RPM essentially set their own rules for its 'Cross Canada Chart Action' chart. They generally would not include Canadians not signed to Canadian labels or directly signed to Canadian arms of foreign labels (and, therefore, not really part of the Canadian recording industry). So no Lorne Greene, Gale Garnett, or Robert Goulet. Paul Anka would not have another hit until his cover of "Goodnight My Love" in 1969, which RPM did not list on what it by then called its 'Canadian Content Chart' (although Andy Kim, signed to Jeff Barry's Steed label, was on the CanCon chart around the same time). Jack Scott never had a hit after RPM started publishing, but because I don't believe he was ever signed to a Canadian label, RPM most likely would not have considerd him CanCon.

    When the rules were formalized in 1971, however, it was determined that any Canadian citizen living anywhere in the world and any non-citizen who had been living in Canada for at least six months were considered Canadian for CanCon purposes. So even though RPM had not allowed Lorne Greene, Robert Goulet, or Paul Anka on their CanCon chart, they were all considered CanCon once the formal regulations were established in 1971. (I'm not sure about Gale Garnett. Since she was not living in Canada at the time of "We'll Sing In The Sunshine", it would only be CanCon if she had already become a citizen.)
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2020
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  25. Paul C

    Paul C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    One person who should not be left unmentioned is Toronto's Zalman 'Zally" Yanovsky, who at this time was enjoying his first hit as a member of The Lovin' Spoonful.
     
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