Old Cape Cod · Patti Page · 1957

  Play the song.

This is the story of an Oklahoma girl.

Clara Ann Fowler was born in 1927 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. One of eleven children, she was raised in Tulsa. In the late 1940s, she performed as a vocalist on KTUL radio with Al Klauser & His Oklahomans as “Ann Fowler”. The radio program on KTUL was sponsored by the Page Milk Company, and there was another female singer there who used a stage name designed to pay tribute to the sponsor. When that singer left the show, Ann took her place and name. She became “Patti Page” and a pop recording phenomenon.

She joined the Jimmy Joy Band in 1947, and performed on “Breakfast Club” on Chicago radio. That same year she signed with Mercury Records. By 1950, she had already recorded ten charted hits including the legendary “Tennessee Waltz,” which was #1 concurrently on three charts (Pop, Country, & R&B) and sold more than 20 million copies. In 1956, she came close to the top again when “Allegheny Moon” peaked at #2 on the Top 100, Jockey, and Juke Box charts.

In all, Patti recorded 160 singles, and over 100 albums. The Oklahoma girl is a Grammy Award winner with 84 Top 40 Billboard hits.

I was turning six years old in the summer of 1957, when “Old Cape Cod” peaked at position #3 and was on the charts for 17 weeks. To me, it’s one of the classic summer songs of that era.