HI KENT,
JUST A QUICK HELLO ... READ YOUR E-PUBLICATION ALL THE TIME. HAVE BEEN RETIRED FOR ABOUT FOUR YEARS AFTER GETTING LAID-OFF BY CLEAR CHANNEL. WANTED TO MENTION A RECORD I USED TO LISTEN TO YEARS AGO BUT CAN'T SEEM TO LOCATE IT FOR PURCHASE. IT'S CALLED CHERRY PIE BY CHARLES CHRISTY. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HEAR ANYTHING ON IT. I AM PRETTY SURE IT WAS ON THE HANNA-BARBERA LABEL. KEEP UP THE GREAT COLUMN!THANK-YOU,
TIM KILEY
I don't see this one charting and I'm really not familiar with it ... but I'm sure some of our readers are.
Doing a quick check of the obvious places, I found a bunch of copies on eBay ...
Click here: cherry pie charles christy in Music | eBay ... they seem to fall in the $5 - $15 range and a couple offer the "buy it now" option.
JUST A QUICK HELLO ... READ YOUR E-PUBLICATION ALL THE TIME. HAVE BEEN RETIRED FOR ABOUT FOUR YEARS AFTER GETTING LAID-OFF BY CLEAR CHANNEL. WANTED TO MENTION A RECORD I USED TO LISTEN TO YEARS AGO BUT CAN'T SEEM TO LOCATE IT FOR PURCHASE. IT'S CALLED CHERRY PIE BY CHARLES CHRISTY. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HEAR ANYTHING ON IT. I AM PRETTY SURE IT WAS ON THE HANNA-BARBERA LABEL. KEEP UP THE GREAT COLUMN!THANK-YOU,
TIM KILEY
I don't see this one charting and I'm really not familiar with it ... but I'm sure some of our readers are.
Doing a quick check of the obvious places, I found a bunch of copies on eBay ...
Click here: cherry pie charles christy in Music | eBay ... they seem to fall in the $5 - $15 range and a couple offer the "buy it now" option.
It looks like Gemm has a few copies, too ...
And, the ever-reliable Tom Diehl even came up with a digital copy for us, so that WE can enjoy it, too! (kk)
Kent:
Just discovered the website a few weeks ago, reading up on the current postings and starting to catch up on the older ones (currently up to July of 2009).
Anyhow, with all of the more recent talk of how bad the "C" or "C.C."-owned stations are and what some of these independent and internet-only stations are doing to preserve the heritage of AM radio stations of the past (that played it all from the Hot 100 -- or at least dayparted it), would it be possible to create a list of terrestrial and non-terrestrial stations that still "get it"?
Perhaps if we have a running list of Forgotten Hits-Certified stations, we can support them through listenership and, in the case of non-commercial or for internet stations that depend on donations, we can possibly help keep them financially stable.
I know of some great terrestrials that still do live local programming with thousands of songs in their playlists, some great college and public radio stations that have occasional programs do the same, and some great internet non-profit websites that do the job better than these companies who own 80% of the stations in the USA. I won't list the ones I know right now, but with the power of apps like TuneIn Radio on smartphones and Roku boxes, just about all of these trend-bucking stations / websites can be easily heard by your audience.
T. Jay Dexter
Somewhere in Colorado
We did something similar to this several years ago, trying to find the best oldies radio stations across the country so that as our readers traveled to new cities, they could know in advance which stations to tune into in their rental cars! (lol) Unfortunately today with so much syndication and repetition, the ONLY viable means to hear TRUE variety seems to be on the Internet ... but sure, I'm all for building a "certified stations list" ... only thing is it'll require me to do a WHOLE lot of listening of my own before I can endorse it ... but if readers want to submit their favorite choices, I have no problem with passing them along. (Maybe we'll even add a "Listen Live" Links page to the website so you can click on to one of these stations and listen while you're reading Forgotten Hits!!! And then, in a perfect world, these stations can do the same thing for us by placing a link to our page on their website(s)!) kk
And how weird is THIS?!?!? I no sooner pasted your email and received this from another FH Reader:
Kent,
And how weird is THIS?!?!? I no sooner pasted your email and received this from another FH Reader:
Kent,
I found a radio station! WLNG 92.1 out of Sag Harbor on Long Island. It advertises as the only oldies station for Long Island / Rhode Island. Might as well add Connecticut to that list. It could be a foster child to Forgotten Hits. If there were more of these stations you would have to change your website to Unforgottenhits.com. I heard 'Party Girl' by Bernadette Carroll from 1964 on my way home from work. That had followed 'Revolution' by The Beatles, and 'I Got A Brand New Pair of Roller Skates, You Gotta Brand New Key'. Now ... whose idea was it to put that ONE male voice in 'Party Girl'? Is it really needed?
Shelley
And one more from just the other day ...
Silly me forgot to bring some CDs with me on my three hour road trip to Louisville Sunday morning. As a result, I was forced to navigate thru a myriad of radio stations trying to find something listenable. I did hear the unedited version of Jet Airliner on some classic rock station. However that wasn't today's treat. Going thru Jasper, Indiana, maybe about 30 minutes east of Evansville, I picked up a station I think was 91.5 FM. It was a public radio station. The call letters were WJPR. I may have been able to listen for 15 minutes or so, before it faded out. In that short of time, I heard, How Do You Do, by Gerry & the Pacemakers, I'll Be Doggone, Marvin Gaye, River Deep Mountain High, Ike & Tina Turner, I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, Supremes & Temptations and Any Day Now, by Elvis. I've never heard Elvis' take on the Chuck Jackson hit. If I could find an oldies station like that, I'd be willing to put up with Helen Reddy & Chicago. I have to tolerate far worse now. I heard Rock And Roll band, by Boston twice. On the plus side, no Journey. Maybe there's hope out there after all.
And one more from just the other day ...
Silly me forgot to bring some CDs with me on my three hour road trip to Louisville Sunday morning. As a result, I was forced to navigate thru a myriad of radio stations trying to find something listenable. I did hear the unedited version of Jet Airliner on some classic rock station. However that wasn't today's treat. Going thru Jasper, Indiana, maybe about 30 minutes east of Evansville, I picked up a station I think was 91.5 FM. It was a public radio station. The call letters were WJPR. I may have been able to listen for 15 minutes or so, before it faded out. In that short of time, I heard, How Do You Do, by Gerry & the Pacemakers, I'll Be Doggone, Marvin Gaye, River Deep Mountain High, Ike & Tina Turner, I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, Supremes & Temptations and Any Day Now, by Elvis. I've never heard Elvis' take on the Chuck Jackson hit. If I could find an oldies station like that, I'd be willing to put up with Helen Reddy & Chicago. I have to tolerate far worse now. I heard Rock And Roll band, by Boston twice. On the plus side, no Journey. Maybe there's hope out there after all.
Jack
They're out there ... they're just nearly impossible to find ... especially on the terrestrial radio dial. (A lot more choices on the Internet.) But isn't it a treat when you DO finally stumble across something like this? Imagine that ... joy and pleasure listening to the radio again ... what a concept! (kk)
Kent:
They're out there ... they're just nearly impossible to find ... especially on the terrestrial radio dial. (A lot more choices on the Internet.) But isn't it a treat when you DO finally stumble across something like this? Imagine that ... joy and pleasure listening to the radio again ... what a concept! (kk)
Kent:
I came across an interesting situation regarding Gary Lewis & The Playboys' "Sure Gonna Miss Her" (1966). I was a bit too young to recall the song at the time but remember hearing the song from the early 1970's on. I decided to purchase the original Liberty 45 on ebay and was confused when I played it! A totally different song - NO Hal Blaine drums for one thing. I'm guessing what happened is they must have re-recorded it for a Greatest Hits - Playboy's album (maybe before Gary went into the service?) DJ's most likely were using the Greatest Hits album by the 1970's and it's the album version that I became a fan of! I think this maybe one of the few times when the original hit recording was actually NOT as good as the album version!
John Evanich III
Maybe somebody out there can shed some light on this one. Gary Lewis rerecorded all of his hits over the years ... but I wouldn't think so for a greatest hits album this early on. Any ideas? (kk)
Kent:
Maybe somebody out there can shed some light on this one. Gary Lewis rerecorded all of his hits over the years ... but I wouldn't think so for a greatest hits album this early on. Any ideas? (kk)
Kent:
I'm still a relative newbie to your website, I see that you and your following has been pretty good in trying to find lost songs ... so I figured I'd give one of mine a shot.
I have been trying to find a title and artist for a song that was played frequently on CKLW / AM 800 in Detroit / Windsor in the mid to late 70s. Since I only heard it on the Big 8, it's more than likely a Canadian Content (CANCON) song that they would play to satisfy the CRTC (Canada's FCC equivalent) rules for stations "North of the Border".
The song opens up with a lazy synthesized keyboard intro, then what sounds like a two male singers singing "Dreamin(g), Just Dreamin(g)" -- the words the group sings the most in the song.
The opening lyric is:
Lonesome Days / Lonely Nights / I just have to dream of you if you write.
It may be right / It may be wrong / To say I love you and win my song in the sun
The words come by so easy / And the music sound so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
I have never found any song title even close to that by a 70's duo in Joel Whitburn's books, and Shazam can't recognize it. I have been looking for a copy of that song in the clear (I taped it twice off the Fuzzy AM radio broadcast) for nearly 35 years now. Perhaps someone who was a regular CKLW listener back then might know the song which seemed to "peak" in the summer of either 1975, 76 or 77.
Thanks for your help.
"Uncle T. Jay" Dexter
Grand Junction, CO
I looked in my CHUM Chart Book and didn't see any titles listed for "Dreaming" or "Just Dreaming" that might have matched up to your mystery song. However, we DO have quite a few Canadian readers on the list (include several former Canadian dee jays) so maybe one of them can point us in the right direction. Stay tuned! (kk)
Hi Kent -
I looked in my CHUM Chart Book and didn't see any titles listed for "Dreaming" or "Just Dreaming" that might have matched up to your mystery song. However, we DO have quite a few Canadian readers on the list (include several former Canadian dee jays) so maybe one of them can point us in the right direction. Stay tuned! (kk)
Hi Kent -
Helen here. I saw your piece on Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee ... and I wanted to know if Bobby tried to help Sandra with her drinking? He cared so much about other people, but I've never read anything about him helping her. And about Sandy never marrying again ... it made me think of one of George Jones' songs ... "there's nothing better once you had the the best." Why did Bobby divorce he's Andrea?
Thank you so much,
Helen Chalker
Wow! I had to think about these a little bit, as it's been a while since we revisited our Bobby Darin Series. (Lots of folks seem to be discovering Forgotten Hits anew again lately!) Let me see how well I can do here, going strictly from memory.
Wow! I had to think about these a little bit, as it's been a while since we revisited our Bobby Darin Series. (Lots of folks seem to be discovering Forgotten Hits anew again lately!) Let me see how well I can do here, going strictly from memory.
Sandra Dee started drinking most heavily after Bobby insisted she be seated at a "ringside seat" for every performance he made. Soon she started to drink to pass the time. Quite often, things became heated between the two ... Sandra was watching Bobby doing essentially the same show night after night after night and, to a degree, had put her own career on hold in order to do so. Soon she became resentful. I've never seen anything about Bobby trying to get her help with her drinking ... instead, quite the contrary seems to be true. He would belittle her for her weakness and often used it as a slam against her in these heated arguments, many of which took place backstage or when Bobby got home from his concert. He wanted Sandy to be his biggest fan ... and was very controlling in that way.
Sandra, although she did come to resent Bobby's iron-clad hold on her, to her dying day referred to him as "the love of her life" ... so no, she never remarried. And honestly, I believe Bobby also always loved Sandra ... but had so much else going on in his life that he wasn't always able to show it.
Near the end of his life, he married Andrea ... and then almost immediately tried to get out of that marriage. As the sickness overtook his body, Bobby became delirious and irrational ... he felt that everybody close to him was trying to harm him in some fashion, including his new bride. He simply wanted out ... and died shortly afterwards.
We STILL don't have the complete article posted on the site yet. (I swear if I took six months off to work on nothing else I'm not sure I could finish it!!!) But I'll try to look around this week and see if I can find some specific excerpts as they relate to your questions. If I get REALLY ambitious, I may even publish them in the next week or two!!! (kk)
It seems like new people are discovering the Forgotten Hits Website every week ... here are just a couple of recent emails we received ...
I just happened upon your site's discussion of Bobby Fuller this AM. Here' some add'l info that I did not see there:
It seems like new people are discovering the Forgotten Hits Website every week ... here are just a couple of recent emails we received ...
I just happened upon your site's discussion of Bobby Fuller this AM. Here' some add'l info that I did not see there:
KRLA Surveys from www.oldiesloon.com:20 - Bobby Fuller Four - Let Her Dance JULY 31 - AUGUST 6, 1965
32 - LOVE'S MADE A FOOL OF YOU - BOBBY FULLER FOUR MUSTANG APRIL 9 - 15, 1966
19 - MAGIC TOUCH - Bobby Fuller Four AUGUST 13, 1966
JB
Yes, Bobby charted quite successfully in LA ... moreso than on the national charts. (Here in Chicago his two biggest its were "I Fought The Law" (#4, 1966) and "Love's Made A Fool Of You" (#20, 1966).
Yes, Bobby charted quite successfully in LA ... moreso than on the national charts. (Here in Chicago his two biggest its were "I Fought The Law" (#4, 1966) and "Love's Made A Fool Of You" (#20, 1966).
His death remains of the great rock and roll mysteries of all time. (kk)
You can view our take on things right here:
Click here: Forgotten Hits - Bobby Fuller
You have 'A Fool Such As I' peak position as #1 - on both Billboard & Cash Box charts it peak at #2.
You can view our take on things right here:
Click here: Forgotten Hits - Bobby Fuller
You have 'A Fool Such As I' peak position as #1 - on both Billboard & Cash Box charts it peak at #2.
Also you should mention that Rosemary Clooney hit 'Hey There' b/w 'This Ole House' was a 2-sided #1 hit
'This Ole House' replaced 'Hey There' as the #1 record on Nov. 6, 1954.
K Eben
So noted ... although "A Fool Such As I" DID hit #1 on the Record World / Music Vendor chart ... so technically we're still ok. What I meant by "Hey There" and "This Ole House" is that BOTH sides of the record ultimately made it to #1 ... kinda like "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog", a pretty much unheard of achievement. We cut the list off at 1955 to better represent The Rock Era (pretty much defined as everything AFTER "Rock Around The Clock" ... but "Hey There" / "This Ole House" was SO huge of a hit, we felt it deserved at least a mention. (In my book, it deserves more than just an "honorable mention" ... but certain compromises had to be reached when compiling the final chart.) Glad you're enjoying Forgotten Hits! (kk)
Click here: Forgotten Hits - The Top 200 BIGGEST TWO-SIDED HITS of All-Time
It's true ... rarely a week goes by where we don't hear from one or two people discovering Forgotten Hits for the very first time. It may be one particular article that drew you here ... but once you landed and browsed around, you were hooked! (And that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, we like it!!!) Last week, in fact, we heard from George Tomsco of The Fireballs (by way of Jeff March, one of the authors of all of those great "Where Have All The Pop Stars Gone" books.) I know we did a short mini-series on The Fireballs way back when but this is yet another piece missing from the FH archives. (If any of our readers happen to still have this one, please forward it along.) I DID, however, find this neat piece from Barry McGuire, who responded to a short blurb I had written about The Fireballs' big 1968 Hit "Bottle Of Wine":
'60's FLASHBACK:
>>>The Fireballs staged another comeback in 1968 with the feel-good rocker "Bottle Of Wine". (It went all the way to #9, becoming their second biggest hit of all-time!) Sounding NOTHING at all like their other records, it had, instead, a Barry McGuire / New Christy Minstrels feel to it ... yet, despite its Top Ten Status and it's catchy sing-along chorus, you don't hear this one a whole lot anymore on the oldies stations. (kk)
So noted ... although "A Fool Such As I" DID hit #1 on the Record World / Music Vendor chart ... so technically we're still ok. What I meant by "Hey There" and "This Ole House" is that BOTH sides of the record ultimately made it to #1 ... kinda like "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog", a pretty much unheard of achievement. We cut the list off at 1955 to better represent The Rock Era (pretty much defined as everything AFTER "Rock Around The Clock" ... but "Hey There" / "This Ole House" was SO huge of a hit, we felt it deserved at least a mention. (In my book, it deserves more than just an "honorable mention" ... but certain compromises had to be reached when compiling the final chart.) Glad you're enjoying Forgotten Hits! (kk)
Click here: Forgotten Hits - The Top 200 BIGGEST TWO-SIDED HITS of All-Time
It's true ... rarely a week goes by where we don't hear from one or two people discovering Forgotten Hits for the very first time. It may be one particular article that drew you here ... but once you landed and browsed around, you were hooked! (And that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, we like it!!!) Last week, in fact, we heard from George Tomsco of The Fireballs (by way of Jeff March, one of the authors of all of those great "Where Have All The Pop Stars Gone" books.) I know we did a short mini-series on The Fireballs way back when but this is yet another piece missing from the FH archives. (If any of our readers happen to still have this one, please forward it along.) I DID, however, find this neat piece from Barry McGuire, who responded to a short blurb I had written about The Fireballs' big 1968 Hit "Bottle Of Wine":
'60's FLASHBACK:
>>>The Fireballs staged another comeback in 1968 with the feel-good rocker "Bottle Of Wine". (It went all the way to #9, becoming their second biggest hit of all-time!) Sounding NOTHING at all like their other records, it had, instead, a Barry McGuire / New Christy Minstrels feel to it ... yet, despite its Top Ten Status and it's catchy sing-along chorus, you don't hear this one a whole lot anymore on the oldies stations. (kk)
