(Hey, you can only do a countdown like this every four years!!!)
Each time we try to revamp it just a little bit to keep it fresh and exciting ... and this year is no exception.
We will be posting The Top Ten Songs of February 29th throughout the day today ... with brand new postings at 5 am, 8 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm and 10 pm ... taking a look back at the most popular music in the country as ranked by The Billboard Pop Charts for 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980.
(And, since it's kinda cool to rank TEN years of Top Ten's, we'll even tell you that the #1 Song in America on February 29th, 1952, was "CRY" by Johnny Ray ... and the #1 Records on February 29th in 1984 and 1988 were, respectively, "JUMP" by Van Halen and "FATHER FIGURE" by George Michael, two other great songs from the rock era.)
Be sure to stop back throughout the day to see the latest postings!
February 29, 1956:
#10. Moritat: A Theme From "Three-Penny Opera" - Dick Hyman:
It was Dick Hyman's version of "The Theme from 'Three-Penny Opera'" that placed highest on the charts in 1956 when no less than SIX versions competed for radio airplay. Three years later, it would go all the way to #1 when Bobby Darin covered it as a vocal arrangement now FOREVER immortalized as "Mack The Knife", the biggest hit single of 1959 ... but, incredibly, the melody of this song actually dates back to 1928!
#9. Band Of Gold - Don Cherry:
This is another song that was covered by several artists in 1956, back at a time when the music industry considered the SONG to be more important than the ARTIST who recorded it. The BIGGEST hit version of "Band Of Gold" ... not to be confused with the Freda Payne song of the same name ... was done by Don Cherry! Cherry was a big band singer back in the '40's (one website we found says he sang with the Jan Garber Band for all of seventeen days!) and, in another case of some friendly chart competition, his 1950 version of "Mona Lisa" went head-to-head with Nat "King" Cole's version. (Cole clearly won THAT battle hands-down ... his definitive version peaked at #1 and stayed there for five weeks! ... Cherry's all but forgotten take stopped at #10.) In the 1960's, Cherry attempted a career as a professional golfer but, by the '80's, he was back to telling golf stories between songs in his Las Vegas lounge act.
#8. I'll Be Home / Tutti Frutti - Pat Boone
He was the biggest recording act of the 1950's, next to Elvis Presley ... and this two-sided hit was another example of clean-cut Pat Boone trying to interpret the latest sounds of rhythm and blues to his whitebread audience. ("Tutti Frutti," of course, is Pat's version of the Little Richard song ... his next release would be "Long Tall Sally!" Pat had already hit The Top Ten with his covers of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" and The El Dorados' "At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)."
#7. See You Later, Alligator - Bill Haley and his Comets:
#8. I'll Be Home / Tutti Frutti - Pat Boone
He was the biggest recording act of the 1950's, next to Elvis Presley ... and this two-sided hit was another example of clean-cut Pat Boone trying to interpret the latest sounds of rhythm and blues to his whitebread audience. ("Tutti Frutti," of course, is Pat's version of the Little Richard song ... his next release would be "Long Tall Sally!" Pat had already hit The Top Ten with his covers of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame" and The El Dorados' "At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)."
#7. See You Later, Alligator - Bill Haley and his Comets:
Bill Haley had already hit the Pop Top 40 a dozen times before Elvis Presley debuted on the charts with "Heartbreak Hotel" this week back in 1956 ... in fact, his country-rockin' cover version of "Shake, Rattle And Roll" was a Top Ten Hit in 1954 BEFORE the release of "Rock Around The Clock" ... and "See You Later, Alligator" kept the string of rock hits going. (For the record, "Rock Around The Clock" was first recorded by Haley back in 1954 ... but it didn't chart until May of the following year, when it was featured in the teen cult classic film "Blackboard Jungle". Today it is considered by most music historians to be the song that "officially" launched what came to be known as "The Rock and Roll Era.")
#6. Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin:
#5. The Poor People Of Paris - Les Baxter:
#6. Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin:
Dino's version of "Memories Are Made Of This" has appeared in several movies, television shows and commercials these past few years ... it's a great tune, and a former #1 Hit. Today Dean Martin is considered to be the epitome of cool lounge singers, a label that at OTHER times in his career may have been considered to be more of a burden than a compliment. We mean it ONLY as a compliment.
#5. The Poor People Of Paris - Les Baxter:
Instrumentals were BIG back in 1956 ... and Les Baxter's instrumental hit "The Poor People Of Paris" would go on to top the charts a few weeks later. (Some of you may ALSO remember his big hit instrumental version of "Unchained Melody" from the year before, another #1 Chart-Topping Record for Baxter ... and, years later, a HUGE hit for The Righteous Brothers in their VOCAL version!)
#4. No, Not Much - The Four Lads:
The Vogues resurrected this one and had a nice cover hit version of "No, Not Much" in 1968 ... but The Four Lads, one of the earliest successful pop vocal quartets, topped the Cash Box Chart with their platter in 1956.
#3. The Great Pretender - The Platters:
And, speaking of hit platters, The Platters were one of the VERY few black groups to cross over in a big, big way to the pop charts during the earliest days of The Rock Era, a time when R&B tracks were still referred to as "Race Music." Their classics "Only You", "The Great Pretender", "The Magic Touch", "My Prayer", "Twilight Time", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" and "Harbor Lights" were all Top Ten Pop Hits between 1955 and 1960 ... and four of those went all the way to #1 (including this one!)
#2. Rock And Roll Waltz - Kay Starr:
Kay Starr was not the type of artist you expected to hear singing a rock and roll song! But this was a brand new phase in music ... and still quite the novelty when she recorded "The Rock And Roll Waltz," a song that topped Billboard's chart two weeks earlier. Starr started her solo career back in 1945, after singing with a string of orchestras since the age of 15 ... including (very briefly) Glen Miller's band. Her first chart hit came in 1948 when "You Were Only Fooling" went to #16 ... and fourteen other Top 20 Billboard Pop Hits followed, including the #1 Hit "Wheel Of Fortune (1952)." "Rock And Roll Waltz" would be her last big hit ... and was the very first #1 Single to ever have the phrase "Rock And Roll" in the title. (Incredibly, it was ALSO the very first #1 single for RCA Records! Thanks to Elvis Presley, whose first RCA Hit "Heartbreak Hotel" premiered on Billboard's Chart this week, RCA was assured of scoring many more #1's in the years to come!) Starr's biggest #1 Hit, "Wheel Of Fortune" was recorded for Capitol Records ... and it topped the pop charts ...with no help from Vanna White whatsoever ... for nine weeks back in 1952.) As such, she felt that "The Rock And Roll Waltz" sounded almost like a nursery rhyme in comparison, and couldn't believe that RCA was serious about wanting her to record the tune. "I thought, 'What are they doing to me?'" she said. "I made the switch from Capitol to RCA and they're gonna give me THIS stuff to sing?" She ultimately agreed to record the song but later said, "I didn't feel my heart was in it." Despite what Kay may have felt was a "lackluster" performance, the song went on to sell a million copies and top the charts!
#1 - Lisbon Antigua - Nelson Riddle:
The fact that three of this week's Top Ten Tunes are instrumentals gives you some idea as to what radio sounded like before Elvis Presley ... and proves yet again just how much we needed him! Elvis rejuvenated music scene and, before you knew it, TEENAGERS were buying more records than their parents, just to keep up with all the latest hot new sounds.
That being said, this is a pretty impressive Top Ten ...
All six of this week's Top Six Tunes topped at least one of the National Pop Charts!
Nelson Riddle was one of the most successful, in-demand arrangers / conductors of the '50's and '60's ... and was a true fixture on television during that time. Besides being the musical arranger for the hit television series "Batman," "Emergency," "The Rogues," "The Untouchables" and "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," amongst many others, he was also the "house" orchestra on several variety series like "The Frank Sinatra Show" (for whom he arranged MANY classic albums), "The Helen Reddy Show," "The Julie Andrews Show," "The Leslie Uggams Show," "The Nat King Cole Show," "The Rosemary Clooney Show" and one of the many, many, MANY Tim Conway Shows! Riddle enjoyed a big career comeback when he worked with Linda Ronstadt in the early '80's, too! Sadly, he passed away in 1985.
"Lisbon Antigua" topped Billboard's Pop Chart for four weeks before being knocked out of the top spot by another instrumental ... Les Baxter's "The Poor People Of Paris."
That being said, this is a pretty impressive Top Ten ...
All six of this week's Top Six Tunes topped at least one of the National Pop Charts!
Nelson Riddle was one of the most successful, in-demand arrangers / conductors of the '50's and '60's ... and was a true fixture on television during that time. Besides being the musical arranger for the hit television series "Batman," "Emergency," "The Rogues," "The Untouchables" and "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea," amongst many others, he was also the "house" orchestra on several variety series like "The Frank Sinatra Show" (for whom he arranged MANY classic albums), "The Helen Reddy Show," "The Julie Andrews Show," "The Leslie Uggams Show," "The Nat King Cole Show," "The Rosemary Clooney Show" and one of the many, many, MANY Tim Conway Shows! Riddle enjoyed a big career comeback when he worked with Linda Ronstadt in the early '80's, too! Sadly, he passed away in 1985.
"Lisbon Antigua" topped Billboard's Pop Chart for four weeks before being knocked out of the top spot by another instrumental ... Les Baxter's "The Poor People Of Paris."
