The Hand That Rocks The Cradle · Glen Campbell, Steve Warnier

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Good Luck Charm · Elvis Presley · 1962  

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It was Elvis Presley’s 16th number one song. Elvis had been pretty lucky with #1 hits. He had number 1 singles every year between 1956 and 1962. But Good Luck Charm was the the last one he would have for awhile. He had a lot more charted songs, but not another #1 on the Hot 100 until 1969. You might say his luck had run out. The Beatles, the Supremes, the Four Seasons, the Monkees, Simon & Garfunkel, and many others had arrived on the scene.

Download MP3 · Elv1s 30 #1 Hits “Good Luck Charm” reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the week ending April 21, 1962, and remained at the top of the list for two weeks. The song was written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold and recorded by Elvis in 1961. As lead singer of The Mavericks, Raul Malo was a regular presence on country radio in the ’90s, charting six singles in the Top 40. The Mavericks also placed three albums in the Top 10, including 1994’s Platinum-selling What A Crying Shame. His most recent solo album is the countryish-Latin soul-leaning Lucky One.

A Miami-born-and-raised Cuban-American singer — originally making his mark in the county music world, and then slipping into the Latin and jazz arenas via rock & roll — Raul Malo has proven to be an ever-expanding musical talent. I don’t often comment on “current” albums here at DeeJay’s Music Memories, but this is a great cd, and I love the song. And if you are lucky in love, then, I think you will enjoy it too.

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Why Do Fools Fall In Love · Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers · 1956

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  Fools Rush In · Rick Nelson · 1963
 

Download MP3 · Rick Nelson CDs

  Poor Little Fool · Ricky Nelson · 1958  

Download MP3 · Ricky Nelson CDs

The career of Rick Nelson started with a radio show in 1944. Former band leader Ozzie Nelson and his wife, vocalist Harriet Hilliard Nelson played themselves in a program called “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” At first, two child actors portrayed their sons, David and Ricky. Later, on October 3, 1952, the show moved to the new medium of television and continued to be a success. But by then, the real David and Ricky had joined the cast (in 1949) and continued to play themselves in their TV roles. Ricky Nelson started his singing career while he was a student at Hollywood High School, dating a girl named Arline.

As he drove her home one evening, an Elvis Presley song came on the radio. She raved about Presley and his singing, and a defensive Ricky announced he would be making a record too. Arline just laughed, not believing him for a second. At that moment, Ricky became determined to make a record, even if it meant only pressing one disc and handing it to her personally. Ricky got permission from his father to record a demo record using the orchestra from the TV show. He recorded “I’m Walking“, and the song was incorporated into the TV series on the April 10, 1957 episode. (An on-going story line had already established that Ricky was putting together his own band. So, singing just seemed to be a natural next step.) And singing turned out to be a natural career choice for Ricky Nelson. On May 6, “I’m Walking” entered the Best Sellers chart, and peaked at #4. But the flip side, “A Teenager’s Romance” proved to be even bigger, reaching #2. More hits followed. Then on August 4, 1958, Billboard introduced the Hot 100, the weekly singles chart that would become the industry standard to determine the best-selling, most-played records in America. The very first song to top the Hot 100 was “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson, his sixth hit single. Ricky continued to record hits well into the sixties, with the labels now listing him as “Rick Nelson.” In the seventies he was billed as “Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band.” His last hit was “Garden Party” (#6) in 1972. Rick Nelson was killed in a plane crash on December 31, 1985, in DeKalb in Bowie County near Texarkana, Texas. He was en route to a New Year’s Eve concert in Dallas.

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I’d Really Love To See You Tonight · England Dan & John Ford Coley · 1976

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England Dan passed away Wednesday night (March 25, 2009). He died of complications from lymphoma. England Dan wasn’t really from England. In fact, he was born in west Texas and moved to Dallas as a boy. “England Dan” was a childhood nickname he’d gained from his affected English accent and love of The Beatles. He graduated from Samuell High School—in the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas—in 1966. It was there in high school that Dan began his singing career. He and classmate John Colley (who eventually changed the spelling of his name to Coley) and some other students formed a band called the Playboys Five. That group evolved into Southwest F.O.B. They produced an album “Smell Of Incense“, had a few gigs opening for the likes of Led Zepplin and Three Dog Night, and broke up in 1969. So England Dan & John Ford Coley became a pop duo and produced six top 40 singles and a top 40 album in the ’70s. They took the number two spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976 with “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight.”

Download MP3 · England Dan & John Ford Coley CDs You might say Dan came from a musical family. His brother was Jim Seals, who, by-the-way, was also one half of a hot pop duo in the ’70s: Seals & Croft. His cousin was Johnny Duncan who posted three #1 country singles in the ’70s. And it turned out that Dan’s first love—musically speaking—was southern country music as well. He began his solo career as a country music artist in 1982. This was where Dan Seals belonged. Here he had a vast string of hits. His eighth #1 country single topped the chart in September 1988. That song was “Addicted.”

Addicted was written by a woman, Cheryl Wheeler, and the song describes a woman’s emotions. Dan once had this to say to an interviewer:

“‘Addicted’ just amazed me. The lyrics on it were so true. I felt a little funny about singin’ it at first, because it was a woman’s song and I didn’t know if I could sing a song like that. But when I sang it, it was like ‘This guy understands what a woman goes through’—and I’m here to tell you it ain’t true! I don’t understand what a woman goes through, but I understand a damn good song!”

Download MP3 · Dan Seals CDs

Addicted · Dan Seals · 1988  

DESIDERATA · Les Crane · 1972

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Download MP3 · Desiderata album CD

This track was a number 8 hit on the Billboard™ Hot 100 in 1972. The original work was written by Max Ehrmann back in 1906, and was copyrighted under the title “Go Placidly Amid the Noise and Haste” in 1927.

In the 1950s a funny thing happened. A Baltimore clergyman used it in a collection of material for the congregation of Old St. Paul’s Church. The booklet’s letterhead — “Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore, A.D. 1692″ — caused readers to believe that the poem itself had been discovered in that church in 1692.

Desiderata began circulating outside of the church and increased in popularity. A copy of the poem was found on Adlai Stevenson’s bedside table when the famous Democratic politician died in 1965, and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry kept a copy in his office. You could buy it in book stores and poster shops all over the country. I remember seeing it in stores throughout the ’60s and ’70s, along with color posters of all the zodiac signs. It was often printed on parchment-like paper, and almost always cited the source of the wisdom as “Found in Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore, Dated 1692.”

Throughout the sixties and into the seventies, folks would buy the little prints and marvel at the wisdom they thought to be hundreds of years old. I bought some of them and “antiqued” them and decoupaged them. The photo on the left, below, is one that I created. Interestingly, the one in the picture on the right is from a Google search I just did. Very similar!

a typical Desiderata print

Eventually, Les Crane (a TV talk show host from San Francisco), got a copy of Desiderata and recorded it as a spoken word piece. It became a pop hit. But the wisdom from the ages, that we all thought was in the public domain, turned out to be a copyrighted work. So royalties had to be shared with the Ehrmann family. It was an ironic development in light of the poem’s admonition to “exercise caution in your business affairs.”

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Max Ehrmann

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

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Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) · Sue Thompson · 1961

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It happened to Sue Thompson in the fall of 1961, and to Lesley Gore in the Spring of 1963. Sue was at the movies, and Lesley, at her own birthday party. It’s enough to make any teenage girl cry. (You would cry too, if it happened to you.)

Actually, Sue Thompson wasn’t a teenager when she recorded “Sad Movies (Make Me Cry).” She was born Eva Sue McKee in Nevada, Missouri, on July 19, 1926. She was raised in San Jose, California, where she began performing at an early age. The song became a #5 hit on the pop charts, and she followed this up successfully with “Norman“, which reached #3. Both of these hit singles were written by songwriter John D. Loudermilk. Download MP3 · The Very Best of Sue Thompson

But Lesley Gore was a teenager in 1963. In fact, “It’s My Party” entered the Billboard Hot 100 just three days after her 17th birthday on May 2. The song debuted at position 60 and moved to 26, and nine, and one. It was her biggest hit, and she followed it with a string of successful songs including “Judy’s Turn To Cry” (#5), “She’s A Fool” (#5), and “You Don’t Own Me” (#2). Download MP3 · 20th Century Masters: The Best of Lesley Gore

It’s My Party · Lesley Gore · 1963  

Saturday Night at the Movies The Drifters The Drifters CDs · MP3

Music From The Movies The movies Saturday Night Fever Tammy and the Bachelor Endless Love Jailhouse Rock The Man Who Knew Too Much The Woman In Red High Society The Graduate So many music memories have come from motion pictures. It was obvious that rock and roll and the movies were meant for each other from the moment the curtain went up on The Blackboard Jungle in 1955 and Bill Haley’s voice came thundering out of the giant theater speakers: “One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock rock…” Rock Around The Clock · 1955   MP3 · on CD · Movie DVD

1. 
   

   Saturday Night Fever was a 1977 film glorifying temporary escape from difficult and mundane reality. The film showcases the music, the dancing, and the subculture surrounding the disco era. The picture stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a troubled Brooklyn youth whose weekend activities are dominated by visits to a local discothèque. While in the disco, Tony is the king, and the visits help him to temporarily forget the reality of his life: a dead-end job, clashes with his unsupportive and squabbling parents, racial tensions in the local community, and his associations with a gang of dead-beat friends. The Bee Gees wrote and performed much of the music. Three songs from the movie had great chart success: “How Deep Is Your Love” was in the top forty for 26 weeks and was number 1 for three of those weeks. “Stayin’ Alive” was in the top forty for 22 weeks and topped the chart for four weeks. “Night Fever” was in the top forty for 18 weeks and eight of those weeks were spent at position #1.

   Saturday Night Fever · Movie DVD It is a product of the disco era, and an amazingly successful sound track album. It is the sound track from the movie “Saturday Night Fever.”   How Deep Is Your Love · The Bee Gees · 1977   MP3   Stayin’ Alive · The Bee Gees · 1978   MP3   Night Fever · The Bee Gees · 1978 Download MP3 · Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack CD

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2. 
   

   Tammy and the Bachelor · Movie DVD Between July 28, 1956, and December 1, 1958, only one female vocalist had a single go to number one in the United States. That single was “Tammy” by Debbie Reynolds.       The movie was “Tammy and the Bachelor.”

   The film is about a teenager who nurses an injured pilot back to health. Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielson starred in the 1957 release. Debbie sang the title tune in the film, and when it was nominated for an Oscar, she was invited to sing it at the Academy Awards on March 26, 1958. Debbie recorded the song accompanied only by a piano. More instruments and a Henry Mancini arrangement were added to the track before it went into the movie. Coral records executives really didn’t expect it to sell well and released it without further embellishments. The song went to number one for three weeks, and remained in the top forty for 23 weeks in all.   Tammy · Debbie Reynolds · 1957

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3. 
   

   Endless Love was a 1981 romantic drama film starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. The movie, itself, was not a great success. but the theme song by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, also called “Endless Love“, became a #1 hit (9 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the biggest-selling single in Ross’ career. It charted in the top 40 for nineteen weeks.   Endless Love · Diana Ross and Lionel Richie · 1981 Buy MP3

   Endless Love The song became the biggest-selling single of the year in the U.S., and one of the biggest hits ever for Motown. It also topped the Billboard R&B chart and the Adult Contemporary chart, and peaked at number seven in the UK.

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4. 
   

   Jailhouse Rock opened in theaters on October 21, 1957. That same day the title track became Elvis Presley’s eighth number one single. The film’s cast includes Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Jennifer Holden and Dean Jones. Elvis stars as a convict-turned-singer who’s career on the outside stems from having successfully appeared on a televised prison talent show.

   Jailhouse Rock · Movie DVD “Jailhouse Rock” remained on top of the Billboard™ Best Seller chart for seven weeks, and in the top forty for nineteen weeks. Like many of Elvis’ records, the flip side, “Treat Me Nice,” (also from the movie), was a big chart hit too, peaking at position #18, and remaining in the top forty for six weeks. The record was the first to enter the British singles chart at number one. Both songs were written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The two tracks used on the record were recorded in separate sessions in May and September of 1957.   Jailhouse Rock / Treat Me Nice · Elvis Presley · 1957 Jailhouse Rock MP3 · Treat Me Nice MP3 · Elvis Presley CDs

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5. 
   

   The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The song was “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).” It was a hit in both the United States—where it made it to number two on the Billboard charts (Top 100 and Jockey), and in the top 40 for 22 weeks—and the United Kingdom. From 1968 to 1973, it was the theme song for the situation comedy The Doris Day Show, becoming her signature song. “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” · Doris Day · 1956 Download MP3 · 16 Most Requested Songs		The Man Who Knew Too Much · Movie DVD
   This is another of the songs that I remember my mother singing at home when I was very little. —Dee Jay

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6. 
   

   “I Just Called To Say I Love You” · Stevie Wonder · 1984 Download MP3 · Stevie Wonder CDs

   The Woman In Red · Movie DVD The Woman in Red is a 1984 romantic comedy starring Gene Wilder as a happily married man who fantasizes about having an affair with a sexy mystery woman (Kelly LeBrock). His attempts to actually initiate the affair, however, are repeatedly thwarted by various comic circumstances, most notably by a secretary (Gilda Radner) who mistakenly believes that she is the object of his affection. The soundtrack was composed by Stevie Wonder and features performances by Wonder and Dionne Warwick. Stevie Wonder received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Just Called to Say I Love You“. The song topped the Hot 100 for three weeks, and was in the top 40 for fifteen weeks.

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7. 
   

   “True Love” was written by Cole Porter. The song was introduced by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly in the musical film High Society. The Crosby-Kelly version of the song proved to be very popular on the pop charts, peaking at #3 on the Disc Jockey chart, #4 on the Top 100, and #5 on the Best Seller chart. It spent 22 weeks in the top 40. The film stars Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm with Louis Armstrong, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, and Margalo Gillmore. It was based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. In the story, successful jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) had married and divorced rich Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), but remains in love with her. She, however, is about to get married to a bland gentleman of good standing, George Kittredge (John Lund). The intense and edgy reporter by the name of Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) covers the nuptials for Spy Magazine, and falls for her as well. She must choose between the three very different men in a course of self-discovery.

   High Society · Movie DVD High Society marked the final acting role for Grace Kelly before she became Princess Grace of Monaco (the film was actually released three months after her marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monaco). True Love · Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly · 1956 Buy MP3 · Bing Crosby CDs

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   In 1968, I was a junior in high school, and I was fortunate to have, as an American Literature teacher, a young woman who was teaching her inaugural professional year. She had vowed to herself in college, that along with the usual curriculum of Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain, she would teach us the new artists of the day. So we got to study, in class, the poetry of Paul Simon and Rod McKuen and others. I remember studying the tracks from Simon and Garfunkel’s Wednesday Morning, 3 AM album, for example. As a result, I owned most of their LPs in those days. —Dee Jay

   Mrs Robinson · Simon and Garfunkel · 1968 The song was in the top spot for three weeks and in the top 40 for twelve weeks. MP3 · Simon & Garfunkel CDs

   Dustin Hoffman starred in The Graduate as Ben Braddock, a young man advised to take up plastics as a career by Mr. Roninson, father of the girl he loves (Katharine Ross) and husband of the woman who first seduces him—Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). The Graduate · Movie DVD The Graduate is a frozen moment of the 1960s. It is a motion picture that specifically evokes memories of a troubled year, 1968. In the summer, the riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago were an outlet for a smouldering rage that had been building since the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy in the spring. On the day RFK was shot in Los Angeles, the number one single in America was “Mrs. Robinson.” Another hero was gone, and the prophetic lines in Paul Simon’s song echoed the loss: “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…” Excerpt: The Billboard Book of #1 Hits

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For Valentine’s Day, here is a list of old-fashioned love songs.

An Old Fashioned Love Song · Three Dog Night · 1971

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An Old Fashioned Love Song   MP3 What is an “old-fashioned love song”? It might be an up-beat pop tune from the sixties, or a country music song — or both. Here are a few songs that speak of different facets of romantic love. Secret love New love True love Lost love Enduring love Old-fashioned love

This is a song about a secret love. It’s about a man who is too shy to approach a friend: a woman he loves. So he stands in the shadows, watching her settle down with another man.

Eddy Arnold came up with the idea for the song, and wrote it in collaboration with song writer Cindy Walker.

Eddy recorded it, and it was a number 10 hit for him on the Billboard country chart in 1956. That same year it was a number 14 pop hit for Jerry Vale. Six years later a version by Ray Charles peaked at number two on the Hot 100. Then again, in 1981, Mickey Gilley’s version of “You Don’t Know Me” climbed the country chart, peaking at number one.

  You Don’t Know Me · Eddy Arnold · 1956

MP3

  On The Verge · Collin Raye · 1997  

Here’s a song about the excitement of falling in love. This tune peaked at position #2 on the country chart.

On The Verge   MP3

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How do you describe true love? This chart-topper from ’60s has all the adjectives.

  My Love · Petula Clark · 1966  

My Love   MP3

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Today, over forty years later, it may seem to young people to be a little corny. In 1968, though, this was the best-selling record worldwide for the entire year. In this country, “Honey” went to number one on both the Hot 100 and the country chart.

It was written by Bobby Russell, who also penned “Little Green Apples” (recorded by O.C. Smith), “The Joker Went Wild” (recorded by Brian Hyland), and a number one song for his then-wife Vicki Lawrence — “The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia“. The idea for the song began with a tree in Russell’s front yard, when he noticed how much it had grown in just four years.

  Honey · Bobby Goldsboro · 1968    

Honey

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This song was written by Jud Strunk, who was a regular on the TV show “Laugh In”. It is a simple little song about the endurance of true love. Strunk’s version peaked at #14 in 1973. This version of the song is by T.G. Sheppard.

  Daisy a Day · T.G. Sheppard · 2004  

MP3

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This one topped the country chart in May, 1983.

  Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love · B.J. Thomas · 1983  

Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love

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