1958 Top Thirteen

This is the first of the 50s years where I actually knew enough songs for it to warrent a top 13 on its own merit.

A lot of these classics have stood the test and time and are still played on the radio six decades later.
Others featured in movies like "That'll Be the Day" and appear again and again in any show set in the fifties.


1. Peggy Lee - Fever - 08-58 – Capitol
2. Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace - 10-58 – Mercury
3. Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode - 05-58 – Chess
4. The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - 12-58 – Mercury
5. Perry Como - Catch A Falling Star/Magic Moments - 02-58 – RCA
6. The Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream - 05-58 – Cadence
7. The Teddy Bears - To Know Him Is To Love Him - 10-58 – Dore
8. Tommy Edwards - It's All In The Game - 09-58 – MGM
9. The Champs - Tequila - 03-58 – Challenge
10. The Coasters - Yakety Yak - 06-58 – Atco
11. Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues - 09-58 – Liberty
12. The Crickets [with Buddy Holly] - Oh Boy! - 01-58 – Brunswick
13. Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now - 03-58 – MGM


And a few bubbling under:
Elvis Presley - One Night - 11-58 - RCA
Ricky Nelson - Poor Little Fool - 07-58 - Imperial
Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe - 10-58 - MGM
Little Richard - Good Golly, Miss Molly - 03-58 - Specialty
The McGuire Sisters - Sugartime - 01-58 - Coral

1950s Top Thirteen – 56, 57

A definite move away from crooners as Rock ‘n’ Roll dominates the charts. A couple of these have made it into my top 13 because of their association with favourite movies: True Love from High Society (1956, with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly), Jailhouse Rock (1957) and On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady (1964 with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison). Also, That’ll Be the Day (1973, starring David Essex and Ringo Starr) gave me Wake Up Little Susie & Great Balls Of Fire. And finally, Dirty Dancing wouldn’t be the same without Baby and Johnny lip-syncing to Love Is Strange, or the moody Still of the Night (not to be confused with the phenomenal Whitesnake version – same title, different song).

1. Doris Day - Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) - 07-56 – Columbia
2. Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel - 03-56 –RCA
3. Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love? - 02-56 – Gee
4. The Everly Brothers - Wake Up Little Susie - 10-57 – Cadence
5. Mickey & Sylvia - Love Is Strange - 02-57 – Groove
6. Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly - True Love - 10-56 – Capitol
7. Vic Damone - On The Street Where You Live - 06-56 – Columbia
8. Jimmie Rodgers - Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - 12-57 – Roulette
9. Johnny Mathis - The Twelfth Of Never/Chances Are - 09-57 – Columbia
10. Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill - 10-56 - Imperial
11. Carl Perkins - Blue Suede Shoes - 03-56 – Sun
12. Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue - 12-57 – Coral
13. Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line - 11-56 – Sun

And the ones not quite cool enough to make the grade
The Five Satins - In The Still Of The Night - 09-1956 - Ember
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire - 12-57 – Sun
Bill Haley & His Comets - See You Later, Alligator - 01-56 - Decca
Little Richard - Long Tall Sally - 04-56 - Specialty
Johnnie Ray - Just Walking In The Rain - 09-56 - Columbia
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock - 10-57 - RCA
Billy Williams - I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter - 07-57 - Coral

1950s Top Thirteen – 53, 54, 55

So we’re still firmly in the years of Mum’s choices, not mine, and because she and Dad met while ballroom dancing, everything is heavily dance influenced. These were the songs I heard mostly in my early years – possibly even from the womb in 1959!

Mambo was king, and I challenge anyone not to strike a Tango pose when Hernando’s Hideaway starts. Or if you prefer your tango Argentinian ...
The movie Moonstruck affirmed my number 1 from this era. After all: “When the Moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie …”

1. Dean Martin - That's Amore - 11-53 - Capitol
2. Archie Bleyer - Hernando's Hideaway - 06-54 - Cadence
3. Perry Como - Papa Loves Mambo - 10-54 - RCA
4. Rosemary Clooney - Mambo Italiano - 11-54 - Columbia
5. Doris Day - Secret Love - 01-54 - Columbia
6. Dean Martin - Sway - 08-54 - Capitol
7. Frank Sinatra - Young-At-Heart - 02-54 - Capitol
8. Tony Bennett - Stranger In Paradise - 12-53 - Columbia
9. Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock - 05-55 – Decca
10. Hank Williams - Your Cheatin' Heart - 01-53
11. Sarah Vaughan - Whatever Lola Wants - 05-55 - Mercury
12. The Platters - Only You - 10-55 - Mercury
13. Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby - 12-53 - RCA Victor

And couple that got away …
Chuck Berry - Maybelline - 08-55 - Chess
Frank Sinatra - Three Coins In The Fountain - 06-54 - Capitol
Dean Martin - Memories Are Made Of This - 12-55 - Capitol

Yet again, certain songs seem to catch the imagination of the record publishers (if not the public), resulting in two or three copies of the same song released within a few months/weeks of each other.
For example in 53: Crying In the Chapel by Rex Allen/David Glenn/June Valli.
Then in 55: Unchained Melody by Les Baxter & His Orchestra /Roy Hamilton/Al Hibbler and The Ballad Of Davy Crockett by Bill Hayes/Tennessee Ernie Ford/Fess Parker.
And one with a slight name change – and I’m not talking about the singer!
Oh My Papa – Eddie Fisher/Oh, mein Papa – Eddie Calvert

1950s Top Thirteen - 1950, 51 & 52

If you were expecting a continuation of the 80s top thirteens, apologies. I will pick them up again when the fourth book is released. In the meantime, we'll be looking mostly at the 50s when Just in Time is partially set, then there's a wee surprise for the third book.

I have to confess I wasn’t around for all but the last 2 and a half months of the fifties, so these songs are mostly my Mum’s music – she was the one who bequeathed me my inability to function without music – and for that I thank her tremendously. Dad recons she had a radio in every room in the house and would switch them on as she moved from room to room. So when he came home, he’d go round the house switching most of them off. I’m proud to say I am my mother’s daughter – although mostly the music is on my phone and moves with me. I didn’t recognise many of the early 50s stuff - apart from Doris Day, Frankie Laine and Mario Lanza who were always playing! So here’s my list cobbled together from the first three years of the decade.

1. Nat King Cole - Mona Lisa - 06-50 – Capitol
2. Frankie Laine - Jezebel - 05-51 - Columbia
3. Mario Lanza - Because You're Mine - 11-52 - RCA Victor
4. Les Paul & Mary Ford - How High The Moon - 04-51 - Capitol
5. Billy Eckstine - My Foolish Heart - 05-50 - MGM
6. Doris Day - Bewitched - 06-50 - Columbia
7. Guy Lombardo & Royal Canadians - Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think) - 03-50 
8. Perry Como & Betty Hutton - A Bushel And A Peck - 11-50 - RCA Victor
9. Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters - Quicksilver - 03-50 - Decca
10. Mel Blanc - I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat - 02-51 - Capitol
11. Nat King Cole - Too Young - 04-51 - Capitol
12. Mario Lanza - The Loveliest Night Of The Year - 05-51 - RCA Victor
13. Don Howard - Oh Happy Day - 12-52 - Essex

These are not so much bubbling under as representative of the top artists of the early fifties.
The Andrews Sisters - I Can't Dream, Can't I - (1949) - Decca
Vera Lynn - Auf Wiedersehn Sweetheart - 06-52 - London
Frankie Laine - High Noon - 08-52 - Columbia
Eddie Fisher - I'm Yours - 05-52 - RCA Victor
Peggy Lee - Lover - 07-52 - Decca

A curious phenomenon I noticed when trawling through the excellent lists from http://www.severing.nu/music/1950UK.html, is the number of occurrences of the same song by different artists within weeks of each other.
Take Rodgers and Hart’s Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered), first sung on stage by Vivienne Segal on December 25, 1940, in the Broadway production of the musical Pal Joey. The songs were prevented from becoming popular standards because of a dispute resulting in thousands of popular songs being banned from radio play. The broadcasters refused to pay the fees that ASCAP imposed, and the situation wasn’t resolved until the late 1940s when the ban was lifted. In 1950, The Bill Snyder Orchestra released a version in April, Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra released one in May. Then Columbia released the Doris Day version in June (apparently recorded the previous May), so that made three. This was not unusual throughout the rest of the decade and into the 60s. I never noticed this happening anything like as much in the decades I cared about the charts (mostly 70s, 80s).