With the holiday season approaching and radio stations flipping to Christmas music formats, it won't be long before we begin hearing three of Stan Freberg's classic satirical recordings, "Christmas Dragnet" from 1953, "Nuttin' For Christmas" from 1955, and "Green Chri$tma$" from 1958.
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It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t hear a version of the early 1950s Jimmy Boyd classic, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”; or indeed, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore and their memorable (try to get it out of your memory) "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)".AlexBrowne said:With the holiday season approaching and radio stations flipping to Christmas music formats, it won't be long before we begin hearing three of Stan Freberg's classic satirical recordings, "Christmas Dragnet" from 1953, "Nuttin' For Christmas" from 1955, and "Green Chri$tma$" from 1958.
Simon & Garfunkel never recorded a hit Christmas single, but they did give us a memorable, albeit gloomy, sound of the season in 1966, "A Hazy Shade Of Winter," which appeared on their Bookends album; Paul Simon wrote the lyrics which illustrate the coming of the cold season: "look around, leaves are brown now, and the sky is a hazy shade of winter, look around, leaves are brown, there's a patch of snow on the ground..."
“Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer”, a jaunty up-tempo tune recorded by Nat “King” Cole reached #6 on Billboard in 1963.AlexBrowne said:Simon & Garfunkel never recorded a hit Christmas single, but they did give us a memorable, albeit gloomy, sound of the season in 1966, "A Hazy Shade Of Winter," which appeared on their Bookends album; Paul Simon wrote the lyrics which illustrate the coming of the cold season: "look around, leaves are brown now, and the sky is a hazy shade of winter, look around, leaves are brown, there's a patch of snow on the ground..."
[R]oll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here…
Si Zentner And His Orchestra's instrumental version of the old Hoagy Carmichael standard "Up A Lazy River," which charted in 1961, is part of a footnote in New York City radio history: when the great Northeast power blackout of 1965 started as a brownout, legendary WABC disc jockey Dan Ingram was playing the Zentner single and was confused when the record slowed down, telling listeners that they had just heard "'Up A Lazy River' in the key of R."
Since the platter was slowing, the key must have been R-flat. ;DAlexBrowne said:Si Zentner And His Orchestra's instrumental version of the old Hoagy Carmichael standard "Up A Lazy River," which charted in 1961, is part of a footnote in New York City radio history: when the great Northeast power blackout of 1965 started as a brownout, legendary WABC disc jockey Dan Ingram was playing the Zentner single and was confused when the record slowed down, telling listeners that they had just heard "'Up A Lazy River' in the key of R."
"I Fought the Law" was written by Sonny Curtis and originally recorded by Sonny and The Crickets in 1959. A successful cover of the song was recorded by Bobby Fuller Four in 1965. Just as the song became a top ten hit, Bobby Fuller was found dead in a parked automobile near his Los Angeles home. The police considered the death an apparent suicide, while there are others who continue to believe Fuller was murdered.
An Election Day entry...
In California's 45th Congressional district (the Palm Beach area), Democratic candidate Julie Bornstein is in a close race with four-term Republican incumbent Mary Bono Mack, a sign of surprising Democratic strength considering that Bono Mack has won every one of her previous elections by more than 20 percentage points; Bono Mack is the widow of Sonny Bono and was named to his seat in Congress after the former singer was killed in a skiing accident in 1998.
In California's 45th Congressional district (the Palm Beach area), Democratic candidate Julie Bornstein is in a close race with four-term Republican incumbent Mary Bono Mack, a sign of surprising Democratic strength considering that Bono Mack has won every one of her previous elections by more than 20 percentage points; Bono Mack is the widow of Sonny Bono and was named to his seat in Congress after the former singer was killed in a skiing accident in 1998.
The Mamas & the Papas, after a short period of going under the name, The Magic Circle, recorded and performed from 1965 through 1968, releasing five albums and ten hit singles. The band's first single, "Go Where You Wanna Go", failed to chart. Their second single, “California Dreamin' “, released late in 1965 quickly peaked at number four on the Hot 100. "Monday, Monday” (1966) was the only number one hit of their singles.AlexBrowne said:An Election Day entry...
In California's 45th Congressional district (the Palm Beach area), Democratic candidate Julie Bornstein is in a close race with four-term Republican incumbent Mary Bono Mack, a sign of surprising Democratic strength considering that Bono Mack has won every one of her previous elections by more than 20 percentage points; Bono Mack is the widow of Sonny Bono and was named to his seat in Congress after the former singer was killed in a skiing accident in 1998.
The Mamas & The Papas failed to chart with their first single, the John Phillips composition "Go Where You Wanna Go," but Johnny Rivers thought the song would work for The Versatiles, a vocal quintet he was producing on his new Soul City label; their first single, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever," was a flop, but while recording a cover of "Go Where You Wanna Go" in 1967, the group changed its name to The 5th Dimension, and their version of the song became their first Top 20 hit on both the R&B and pop charts.
"I'LL BE LOVING YOU, ALWAYS" was written by Irving Berlin in 1925 and first recorded by Josephine Baker in 1926. Frank Sinatra recorded the song in 1942, and that same year, the song became the theme song for the movie, “Pride Of The Yankees”, the story about Lou Gehrig.AlexBrowne said:The Mamas & The Papas failed to chart with their first single, the John Phillips composition "Go Where You Wanna Go," but Johnny Rivers thought the song would work for The Versatiles, a vocal quintet he was producing on his new Soul City label; their first single, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever," was a flop, but while recording a cover of "Go Where You Wanna Go" in 1967, the group changed its name to The 5th Dimension, and their version of the song became their first Top 20 hit on both the R&B and pop charts.
"Pride And Joy," Marvin Gaye's first Top 10 hit from May 1963, featured none other than Martha & The Vandellas on backing vocals; that was just one month after Martha's trio had its own first charted single, "Come And Get These Memories," and the Vandellas would no longer be relegated to the background.
Jan Berry and Dean Torrence first performed as The Barons. Their first commercial success was "Jennie Lee", a #8 hit in 1958 which was recorded with Jan and Arnie Ginsburg while Dean was completing his service in the Army reserves. Jan and Dean scored a #10 hit with "Baby Talk" (1959), and then recorded a series of hits over the next couple of years. J&D enjoyed early success with the “Surf” sound which was popularized by the Beach Boys, e.g. “Barbara Ann”, “Surfin’ Safari”, “Little Deuce Coupe”, “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” and “Sidewalk Surfin’ “, to mention a few.Ragtops said:It seems you can't go into a small Italian restaurant anywhere without hearing Dean Martin crooning "Memories are Made of This"...
Boston's most famous Top 40 disc jockey, a Beantown institution, was Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, on the air from 1957-1970, a member of the Radio Hall of Fame, and best known for his stint on WMEX (although he was also heard on WBOS and WRKO); the "Woo Woo" nickname came from Arnie's practice of imitating a train whistle, among other sound effects.
“Night Train" is a twelve bar blues instrumental standard first recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1951 after [he] left Duke Ellington’s band. His original version was a #1 R&B hit in 1952. Notable covers of “Night Train” include the 1952 pop version recorded by Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra (#27 on the charts) and the 1962 James Brown version (with vocals) that reached #5 on the R#B charts and #35 on the pop charts.AlexBrowne said:Boston's most famous Top 40 disc jockey, a Beantown institution, was Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, on the air from 1957-1970, a member of the Radio Hall of Fame, and best known for his stint on WMEX (although he was also heard on WBOS and WRKO); the "Woo Woo" nickname came from Arnie's practice of imitating a train whistle, among other sound effects.
The Bee Gees first appeared on the U.S. charts in 1967 with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones," but they didn't have a #1 hit until 1971 ("How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"), and it wasn't until the release of the movie Saturday Night Fever that they really made the big time: three of their singles from the soundtrack and the album -- "How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive," and "Night Fever" -- all reached #1 in late 1977 and early 1978 ("Night Fever" was the top hit of 1978).
“Another Saturday Night”, Sam Cooke, recorded on RCA in Feb 1963 went #10 Pop and #1 R&B by May 1963. The renowned Plas Johnson’s tenor sax is featured on this cut. (Plas is most famous to the casual listening audience for his sax-lead in Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme.”)AlexBrowne said:The Bee Gees first appeared on the U.S. charts in 1967 with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones," but they didn't have a #1 hit until 1971 ("How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"), and it wasn't until the release of the movie Saturday Night Fever that they really made the big time: three of their singles from the soundtrack and the album -- "How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive," and "Night Fever" -- all reached #1 in late 1977 and early 1978 ("Night Fever" was the top hit of 1978).
Boots Randolph was a premiere Nashville session saxophonist, but he did have several charted singles of his own; his biggest, in 1963, was "Yakety Sax," an instrumental inspired by King Curtis' saxophone solo in The Coasters' 1958 #1 hit "Yakety Yak."
“Nashville Cats” (Kama Sutra KA-219) was a #8 hit (Billboard) and #10 (Cashbox) in 1966.AlexBrowne said:Boots Randolph was a premiere Nashville session saxophonist, but he did have several charted singles of his own; his biggest, in 1963, was "Yakety Sax," an instrumental inspired by King Curtis' saxophone solo in The Coasters' 1958 #1 hit "Yakety Yak."
I first heard this tune on a French AM station while driving from Paris, France to Busssels, Belgium in 1967. I’ve been a Spoonful fan ever since.
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