I would like to add a few of my personal favorites to these.
Summer of 42 - Henry Mancini
Theme from a Summer Place - Percy faith
Last Date - Floyd Kramer
Moon River - Henry Mancini
Canadian Sunset - Floyd Kramer
Moonglow and Theme From Picnic - Morris Stoloff
(This one is a little hard to find but a good one.)
Music To Watch Girls By - Bob Crew Generation
Telstar - The Tornados
Carrie
Some good choices ... but a few corrections are in order, too. "Theme from 'The Summer of '42'" was a hit for Peter Nero ... it actually has eight votes as of this morning ... and the HIT version of "Canadian Sunset" was done by Hugo Winterhalter and Eddie Heywood (believe it or not, that one's already earned 41 votes!) In a double Henry Mancini elimination whammy, we also had to disqualify his beautiful version of "Moon River" because Joel Whitburn's book does NOT consider it to be an instrumental. (Virtually half the song is sung with actual song lyrics!) Doing well for Mancini right now are "The Pink Panther Theme" (23 votes) and "Love Theme from 'Romeo And Juliet'" (39 votes). We'll start running samples of some of your "less obvious" top choices over Halloween Weekend ... meanwhile, keep those votes comin' in, folks!!! (kk)
>>>and even your above-mentioned Deodato took a crack at this tune (Peter Gunn) back in 1976, peaking at #84 with their version. (kk)
FYI, Deodato was the name of a person (Eumir Deodato), not a group.
-– Randy Price
Whoa! How did I not know this?!?!? Thanks, Randy! (All this time I just figured it was the name of some avant-garde, artsy-fartsy jazz ensemble!!!) kk
Maybe it doesn't qualify for the instrumentals list, but I'm surprised as heck that it has never been mentioned on anyone's list. "Quiet Village" by Martin Denny. I recall hearing it on the radio too much during the 50's
Alex Valdez
Yes, it qualifies ... and, in fact, has already earned ten votes as one of your favorites! (kk)
Hi Kent:
If you're still taking nominations for 10 best instrumentals, here are mine (in no particular order) ---
Ame Caline (Soul Coaxin') - Raymond LeFevre
Green Onions -- Booker T and MGs
Wonderland By Night -- Bert Kaempfert
Last Date - Floyd Cramer
Hand Clappin' = Red Prysock
On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer
Honky Tonk - Bill Doggett
Last Night - Mar-Keys
Jupiter C - Pat and the Satellites
Woodchoppers' Ball - Hutch Davie
Chris Astle
aka Chuck Adams
WGH-AM-FM, 1964-83
Hi Kent,
On Jeff Duntemann's Top Instrumentals list, he listed "Our Winter Love" by Bill Pursell. I have a vivid memory of hearing that on my car radio, about thirty years later. I had a Buick with **AM Stereo** (remember that??) and had one of our oldies stations tuned in on AM (which, in my opinion, makes oldies sound better because that's how we heard 'em in the first place). "Our Winter Love" came on and the stereo effect was particularly striking, and to this day I remember that song. Too bad nobody plays the song anymore. Too bad nobody has AM stereo anymore.
Gary Emenitove
Actually, "Our Winter Love" has been receiving a pretty steady stream of votes ... it's up to 36 as of this morning. (This one made Scott Shannon's / True Oldies Channel List of Favorite Instrumentals, too ... maybe we can get HIM to play it for you on the next True Oldies Channel Instrumentally Yours Weekend!!!) kk
Hi Kent!
Great work on the best instrumentals! I personally like Sleep Walk and Topsy Part 2.
Tid bits:
What ever happened to the Shangri-las? Will they ever tour again?
How about an expose on The Guess Who?
And Bobby "Boris" Pickett - gone but not forgotten especially at Halloween time ...
Carolyn
"Sleep Walk" is now neck-and-neck with "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" for the lead in our Favorite Instrumentals Poll ... in fact, they've exchanged the #1 position a couple of times this past week!!! If I'm not mistaken, Dave The Rave recently had one of The Shangri-Las on his program ... let's see if he can fill us in on their latest happenings. (What say you, Daveth the Raveth???) As for The Guess Who, I would LOVE to do a full expose on them ... one of my ALL-TIME favorite bands!!! (Just don't seem to have the time to devote to this lately ... and a complete series takes a WHOLE lotta time!!!) As for Bobby "Boris" Pickett, he's been ALL over the radio now for the past several days ... and will continue to get played through Halloween I'm sure. Talk about your truly classic, timeless hits!!! (kk)
Here are a few instrumentals that haven't been mentioned that are some of my favs:
STRANGER FROM DURANGO. Ritchie Allen. It even hit #15 in Chicago on the SECOND WLS survey. Great record! Backed by Redskin.
NIGHT THEME. Mark II. #30 on the second WLS survey. A favorite last dance song or ending of the disc jockey shift on AM radio.
BEATLE TIME. Local Chicago record on Constellation label. The Livers. (Subtitled the Chicagoans on the label.)
THE GREEN MOSQUITO. Tune Rockers. UA. Quite a rocker it is. BIllie and Lillie even recognized its greatness in La De Dah.
ROCKIN CRICKETS. Hot Toddys / Rockin Rebels. Gotta Love that sax
WILD WEEKEND. Same Hot Toddys / Rockin Rebels
CAR HOP. Exports on King.
PEPE. Duane Eddy
THE ENCHANTED SEA. Islanders on Mayflower label
SURFER STOMP and BALBOA BLUE. Marketts on Liberty
Did anyone besides ME ever make up their own WORDS to these songs?
Had to be better words that fit the music better than Margie Singleton's MAGIC STAR (Telstar)! (Possibly one of the WORST songs ever recorded. She just can't keep up with the instrumental track!)
Allan
My favorite instrumentals:
10. Walkin' With Mr. Lee - Lee Allen
9. Rawhide - Link Wray
8. Braggin' - Bob Moore and the Temps
7. 7-11 - The Gone All-Stars
6. Our Winter Love - Bill Pursell
6. Rockin' at the Philharmonic - Chuck Berry
5. The Jam - Bobby Gregg and his Men
4. Honky Tonk Pt. 2 - Bill Doggett
3. Hand Clappin' - Red Prysock
2 You Can't Sit Down Pt 2 - Phil Upchurch Combo
1. Sleepwalk - Santo and Johnny
There are so many great ones -- I really miss this part of the music charts -- the great instrumentals. Jazz like Joe Darensbourg' "Yellow Dog Blues", Reg Owen's "Manhattan Spiritual" and Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" intermingling with the Virtues "Guitar Boogie Shuffle", Duane Eddy's many hits and all the great ones by the Ventures, especially (for me) "Walk Don't Run".
And you're right -- I actually listed 11 songs in my top 10 -- I figured I could hide it by listing two at # six!
I figure only four of my songs will make your top 50, but that's the beauty of music -- everyone has different tastes.
Danny Guilfoyle
PS -- I finally got to see "Cool Scoops" in Wildwood, NJ. We were down for a softball tournament in Cape May a couple of weeks ago and I took our crew two times and we had a great time. Paul thanks you for all your support and for spreading the word about his place. He gave us lengthy tours each night and we stayed and watched most of the documentary "The Wages of Spin" the second night, which he shows on a continuous loop.
Danny
We've heard from dozens of FH Readers now who've made their way over to Cool Scoops ... a REALLY fun place to stop and have a snack ... and now, if he's showing "Wages Of Spin" non-stop, that's just ANOTHER great reason to stop by!!! (kk)
Click here: Cool Scoops Ice Cream Parlor - North Wildwood, NJ
I agree with most of the top 50. There was some great instrumentals on the country charts during that time period also but, because they were not crossover hits, did not get rock & roll station air play. I am a part of both groups. The radio in the barn was tuned to WBBM with the knobs turned off ... the radio stayed on all the time but the station went off the air at 6 PM. When I left for school, the car radio was all mine, so we listened to rock and roll only and, with two great top 50 radio stations, the music never stopped.
Elgin Al
Kent,
You forgot to put DAVIE ALLAN'S fuzz tone guitar instrumental, BLUE'S THEME, as one of the best rock instrumentals of all time. I think it was released in 1966 or 1967. It was the Theme Song for the Wild Angels starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. It inspired EASY RIDER. That starred Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and JACK NICHOLSON. Setting was New Orleans and thereabouts. It had a fantastic sound track of its own, borrowing BORN TO BE WILD as its theme song.
Best wishes,
Mr. Kit Slitor
Arlington, VA, USA
Actually, Davie's "Blues' Theme" is doing quite well in the voting ... your vote was #42! (kk)
>>>Am I the only one old enough to remember Hand Clappin by Red Prysock? It was a classic rock instrumental and deserves a spot on the list. Honorable mention should go to 7 11 by the Gone All-stars. (Bob Hughes)
>>>Actually, that's the first mention of EITHER of these songs!!! (Just how old ARE you?!?!?!!! lol) kk
Well, my 16 year old grandson calls me "older than dirt". "Hand Clappin" was a hit in '55 and "Seven Eleven" was a hit in '58 . I was 16 then, so you figure it out. Bob Hughes
LOL ... you DO know I was just kidding, right?!?!? Actually "7-11" has earned a few votes ... "Hand Clappin'" only had yours ... until we ran your comment ... it's up to SIXTEEN votes now!!! (lol) kk
Hey, I remember Hand Clappin' too! How old am I? He! he!
Arlene
I'm so glad that you have gotten us to thinking about instrumentals as there were so many great instrumentals in the early days of rock and roll. When I saw the first lists, including chart rankings, I wasn't that excited, probably because you tend to hear those songs often. Then I started to think about how excited I got when I heard certain instrumentals and how great they really were. I actually made ten CDs with 25 instrumentals on each last night -- all rockers!
I know that I sent in my favorite songs already so this time I'll tell you that these are my wife Carolyn's favorite ten. If you believe me -- well, what can I say.
10. Rudy's Rock - Bill Haley & Comets
9. Green Onions - Booker T & MGs
8. Wiggle Wobble - Les Cooper & Soul Rockers
7. Ramrod - Duane Eddy & Rebels
6. Tall Cool One - Wailers
5. Flamingo Express - Royaltones
4. Juke - Little Walter
3. Wild Weekend - Rockin' Rebels
2. Walk-Don't Run - Ventures
1. Dumplins' - Doc Bagby
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Danny Guilfoyle
Well, as long as these are CAROLYN's votes ... we'll count 'em!!! (lol) That's OK ... we're looking for as many votes as we can get ... and, a little later on, we'll run a list of "eligibles" and encourage everybody to vote one more time for their favorites on this list. (kk)
I just wanted to let you know that The True Oldies Channel will be doing their "The Instrumentally Yours Weekend” November 13th - November 15th! Some of the greatest Rock & Roll hits ever have no words. We’ll feature great instrumentals like “Green Onions,” “Walk - Don’t Run,” “Tequila,” “Classical Gas,” “Pick Up The Pieces” and “Love’s Theme” all weekend long.
Scott Shannon
Looking forward to it, Scott ... and hey, we might even have a few suggestions to throw your way!!! (lol) kk
