Guy Mitchell - She Wears Red Feathers

Hello all - I return. Long time no see. Here's Guy Mitchell and 'She Wears Red Feathers', a jaunty tune that will stay with you for days upon listening to it a few times. You got your money's worth in the 1950s. Guy Mitchell was really Albert Cernik, but would you let your children listen to songs by a man called Albert Cernik? Of course not. The story goes that a record exec came to the name by reasoning thus: "my name is 'Mitchell' and you seem a nice 'guy', so we'll call you Guy Mitchell". I am going to adopt a similar approach with my firstborn, substituting the record exec for a midwife. 

'She Wears...' tells the tale of a London banker who falls in love with a hula girl. Yes, that age old story.... After sailing 14 days from Mandalay (it is imperative you know that, how dare you say it is only a rhyming device), the banker spies from his ship a native girl wearing aforementioned feathers and a "huley-huley skirt". Yes - a "huley" skirt. In the playing out of some sort of grand cosmological scheme, it happens that this woman has been dreaming of an Englishman every night, as simple native girls are wont to do. And what of the subsistence of this girl I hear you cry? Fret not, such an important fact is not neglected, you will be interested to hear that she "lives on just cokey-nuts and fish from the sea". Yes - "cokey-nuts". Guy Mitchell laughs in the face of accepted pronunciation. As you'd expect, primitive (wo)man only has two source of nutrition. To cut a three minute pop song short, English banker is granted instantaneous permission to marry native girl by her parents, they wed to the sound of basoon-playing baboons, and before you know it, huley-girl is back in London drinking tea - a thoroughly amusing sight to all.

Sorry For The Silence

I must apologise if anyone is actually following this and waiting for new posts (there are thousands of you, I'm sure). I am taking a brief break because I have some exams at the moment. Believe me, I would much rather be doing this. I'll be back in a couple of weeks and from then on it's plain sailing. As a consolation, please enjoy these roller skating musical numbers.

Perry Como - Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes

After the lust, adultery and gross licentiousness featured in the last post thank God that Perry Como has come to the rescue of our morality. Unlike Eddie Fisher, Perry Como only ever had one wife - his teenage sweetheart. A devoted Catholic, Como even received an informal seal of Papal approval. On their Silver wedding anniversary Mr&Mrs Como attended an audience with Pope Pius XII in Rome. Perry Como was a fiercely private man and therefore very annoyed that photos of the event entered the press, but it turned out it was the Vatican that had released them, presumably as proof of the everlasting hipness of the Catholic Church. He also had a hit with recording of Ave Maria/The Lord's Prayer in '49, which he recorded in a church. Jeez, Perry Como ought to be beatified. I wonder if my dodgy knee will improve if I hold vigil at his grave. Despite all this talk, please don't go thinking that Perry Como was dull. He produced many fantastic songs that have nothing to do with Jesus. When Como next comes up I'll introduce you to some of his less ecclesiastical characteristics. 

This song was at number one for five weeks, from which I can only surmise that people back in the 50s had high boredom thresholds. 'Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes' is a jaunty, upbeat, and pretty annoying song that I can only take for a couple of plays before it turns me mad and bored stiff in equal measure. When I first listened to it I was fine, but after a while the incessant brass stabs felt like they were jabbing right into my nervous system, goaded on by the eternal oom-pah of the rhythm section. I'm sad about this because it's not a bad song and I do want to like it because I think Perry Como's ace. He is to be applauded for being the least annoying thing about the song. Ultimately though, I think it would be a good addition to the US military's playlist, especially if they're ever going to interrogate me.

When: 6th February 1953
How long: 5 weeks

Eddie Fisher - Outside of Heaven

Eddie Fisher was a huge star in the US in the 50s. He sold the most singles of any artist for the first half of the decade and his Billboard figures are amazing: in that decade he had 25 top tens, 14 top twenties, 10 top forties, and another 9 in the top 100. (For the pedants: I can't be sure which of the three pre-1958 Billboard charts - record sales, jukebox plays and radio play - these figures refer to. As much as I am tempted to go through a decade's worth of results I don't think I should let myself). Fisher was also a hit on TV with Coke Time with Eddie Fisher ('53-'57) and then The Eddie Fisher Show ('57-'59).

 

If the Daily Mail online had existed in 1953 Eddie Fisher would have been all over the gossip sidebar like a bad case of scabies. Fisher's first wife was wholesome darling Debbie Reynolds, with whom he had daughter Carrie Fisher. After four years of marriage Fisher left Reynolds to marry cinematic legend and serial monogamist  Elizabeth Taylor. This was a showbiz scandal of such size that there isn't anything truly comparable in recent times. I suppose the Brangelina case has similarities but that seems small fry in comparison, both because of tame nature of celebrity in the 50s, and a few circumstances which made the whole thing a hell of a lot worse.

Kay Starr - Comes A-Long A-Love

Hark! The tempo rises! This one definitely isn't for slow dancing. If I was the producer of an uninspiring rom-com film I would use this as the soundtrack for the 'silly' montage, y'know the sort of thing where the protagonists are decorating their bedroom but in the throws of unbridled love decide to paint each others' faces instead. Anyway, enough of my cinematic ambitions.

Billie Holiday said of Kay Starr that she was "the only white woman who could sing the blues". I'm not qualified to pass judgement on this assessment but I have concluded that Starr had an absolute beast of a voice. If you want to fancy listening to some fantastic jazz songs I recommend her album 'I Cry By Night', available on Spotify. Apparently she is the only 'full-blooded' Native American to have achieved a UK number one (and not just one, we'll be seeing her again in the future).

'Comes A-long A-Love' is a really ace toe-tapping tune which certainly makes me feel a bit livelier at my desk. A love song that is energetic makes a nice change from the last two, which seemed to suggest that one's heart rate must remain at resting when thinking of that special someone; hell, it's even alright if your palpitations resemble "highland flinging". At 2.26 the song doesn't drag on and over-egg the pudding, and it packs an unrelenting rhythmic punch. All in all: a fantastic little song that gets you dancing on the inside.

When: 23rd January 1953
How long: 1 week

Jo Stafford - You Belong To Me

Move over Al, here comes Jo Stafford singing about a bloke who gallivants around the world whilst leaving her alone with only a vibraphone and swing band for solace. Egypt, Algiers, unspecified jungle climate - this guy is all over the place. So doting is Jo that she neglects to tell us exactly why he's racking up this many air miles. He's probably a bit of a twat.

 

Well, maybe not. The original version of the song, 'Hurry Home To Me', was written in the 40s and concerned lovers separated by the Second World War. Probably a bit more mortal peril a little less buying souvenirs from the Old Algiers market. In 1952 the song was revamped into a more universal anthem for separated couples, wisely toning down the war a touch. Stafford's recording was a great success, getting to number one in both the UK and US. Many versions were recorded by different artists, I particularly like this one by Gene Vincent from 1958.

I really like this song. It's just beautiful. Stafford's voice is is hearty yet delicate and swells above the saxes. Perhaps the vibraphone could be called a bit tacky, but I quite like the cheek of it, along with those moments that the saxes rise to flourish brazenly. There's a lot going on under that sweet, simple melody. Again, I would slow dance to this (if I knew how). I guess they liked slow dancing in the 50s?

When: 16th January 1953
How long: 1 week

Al Martino - Here In My Heart

So here it is, the first number one ever. It comes from Italian-American crooner Al Martino. Aside from being the first to grace the top chart spot, Martino stretched his acting abilities by playing Italian-American crooner Johnny Fontane in the Godfather films (you know the horse head scene? That act of subtle intimidation was to aid Johnny Fontane in getting a film role). Right, enough film trivia, on to the song.

It's a nice little number that I've rather enjoyed over repeated listening. Al has a belter of a voice, and though the over-the-top rising string intro promises something quite brash and dull, I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of the song and what I can only poorly describe as its 'nice' instrumentation. As a song about a lonely but besotted bloke it has a decent air of romance but also just the right amount of fear, insecurity and a hint of forlorn hope. Well, that's my view, but maybe I'm focusing on the wrong thing here. Overall, pretty decent. I'd have a slow dance to it. Apparently lots of other people thought the same as it stayed in the top spot for 9 weeks, a consecutive run only topped by 5 other records since.

When: 14th November 1952
How long: 9 weeks