I got a request (yes really!) to re-post this favorite 1956 pop
records listing (slightly updated) that I did way back when on
here. This is just a one-off okay...
1.I’VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN - FRANK SINATRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXH9rh6guGg
Recorded 12 January 1956 at the Capitol Tower in Hollywood with
an orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle this classic Cole Porter
number is my very favorite Sinatra recording. Included on his best
ever album IMO (“Songs For Swingin’ Lovers” )
2. SINGING THE BLUES – GUY MITCHELL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGgTdJeCzLE
Penned by Melvin Endsley and first recorded by Marty Robbins (tho
Endsley *may* have made a demo recording).A huge #1 hit in both
the USA (on Columbia) and the UK (where it appeared on Philips)
3. JUST WALKING IN THE RAIN – JOHNNIE RAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XysECJYtQw
Excellent revival by Johnnie Ray of the number first released by The Prisonaires on Sun in 1953. As with the above Guy Mitchell number
the recording features backing from Ray Conniff & His Orchestra.
On Columbia this scored #2 hit in US but went one better here in the
UK where it reached #1 on Philips
4. BANANA BOAT (DAY-0) – HARRY BELAFONTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5BoECIz9gw
Debuting on the best selling Belafonte LP “Calypso” on RCA in May
1956 it was December that year before it appeared as a single. It rose
to #5 on the US charts. It was February 1957 before it appeared in the
UK where it scored a #2 hit on HMV label
5. YOU MAKE ME FEEL SO YOUNG – FRANK SINATRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuL5xSVL7s
Not marketed as a single this was the lead track on Sinatra’s best album---the 1956 classic “Songs For Swingin’ Lovers” on Capitol (see entry #1 above)--- again with orchestra directed by Nelson Riddle and
recorded January 9 1956
6. EV’ RY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE – ELLA FITZGERALD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oPpWeodc7Q
One of the greatest songstresses ever on a classic Cole Porter song.
Taken from her “Cole Porter Songbook” LP on Verve of course. One of
the best songstress’s of all time + one of Cole Porter’s best ever
numbers. What’s not to like? Here in UK as well as appearing on the
same LP (on HMV label here) it also appeared as an HMV single
7. MANHATTAN – ELLA FITZGERALD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OwenavG9MU
One of my very favorite Rodgers & Hart songs and my favorite song about
the great city of New York—sung here to perfection by Ella from her 1956 “Rodgers & Hart Songbook” on Verve. Here in UK both “Manhattan” from the album mentioned here and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” as mentioned
in #6 above were coupled as a single on HMV label in 1957.
8. WONDERFUL! WONDERFUL! – JOHNNY MATHIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr81oU92P4w
His very first hit record for Columbia here backed by Ray Conniff &
His Orchestra on a song that charted at #14 BBpop for him in early 1957.
The record appeared here on Philips label (78 only) in 1957 but did not chart.However two UK cover versions (from Gary Miller and Ronnie Hilton)
scored minor hits.The song was revived by The Tymes in 1963 to even
greater chart success #7 BBpop #23 BBr&b.
9. THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO THAT - NAT “KING” COLE & THE FOUR KNIGHTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGwRMyGEVWQ
Superb matchup here by Capitol teaming the outstanding balladeer on
their
roster with one of the best vocal groups on the label remembered for
their
hit “I Get So Lonely (When I Dream About You)”.Charted at #16 BB pop #15 BBr&b.On Capitol in UK did not chart
10. YOUNG LOVE – SONNY JAMES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0upDhH0O8pQ
Without doubt the best version of the much recorded 1956 teen anthem on
Capitol that hit #1 in two of Billboard’s charts (including the country chart) but that was outsold by Tab Hunter whose version was #1 in both
US and UK. Hunter’s version is bad but IMO outdone in the crap stakes
by both the Crew Cuts' awful version and Ric Cartey’s even worse
original
version. Tho Hunter scored the #1 version in UK too Sonny scored at #11
with his version
11. JAMAICA FAREWELL – HARRY BELAFONTE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmIQSSwqKEc
Slightly different take on the famous ode to the West Indian jewel isle
to the original version on his “Calypso” album. On RCA it charted at #14 BBpop. Here in UK it was released on HMV as the flip of “Banana Boat (Day-O)” but did not chart in its own right
12. THE GREEN DOOR – JIM LOWE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhIjTieC0eE
The amiable deejay topped the Billboard chart with this infectious
novelty
in 1956.Signed to Dot records he was instrumental in bringing that label
to the very front of successful record companies in 1956. In the UK Lowe reached #8 with this one but was outstripped by a homegrown Frankie
Vaughan cover that was a #2 UK hit (kept from the top only by Johnnie
Ray and #3 in
this listing
13. I ALMOST LOST MY MIND – PAT BOONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-1Qrx1FLxI
Here’s the guy who really pushed Dot Records to the fore in the mid-50’s
as with this revival of the huge 1949 Ivory Joe Hunter original that
reached #1 BBpop. One of Boone’s better records (unlike most of the r&b
songs he tackled this one does suit him and his style). In UK he reached
#14 with it on London label.
14. WHEN SUNNY GETS BLUE – JOHNNY MATHIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RIaelta4V8
Beautiful ballad from the velvet-voiced Mathis that was the flipside to
his #8 entry above “Wonderful! Wonderful!” on Columbia released in
November 1956. Sadly it failed to chart in its own right but it stayed
a Mathis staple number for years and was featured on his long selling “Greatest Hits” album. It was the flip to “Wonderful Wonderful” in UK too on Philips (78 only)
15. YOU’RE SENSATIONAL – FRANK SINATRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z14r-Twaswk
Sinatra’s best solo effort in the hit “High Society” movie where he warbles his feelings across a private bar to a beautiful Grace Kelly.
It charted at #52 BBpop for Capitol coupled with the theme from his
”Johnny Concho” movie. In the UK “You’re Sensational” also appeared on Capitol b/w “You Forgot All The Words” but failed to chart
16. MR WONDERFUL – PEGGY LEE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p5jJIUs22g
The title song from the smash Sammy Davis Jr Broadway show of that name.
On Decca it charted at #14 pop but was much bigger on the UK chart where
it reached #5 on Brunswick
17. LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL – JOHNNIE RAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfs1HiWkrXw
Here’s one I’ve always liked since I first heard it on radio back in
1957 (UK release date). Originally in a dull version by the Four
Esquires it was revived in an okay version by The Monarchs in 1964.
Ray’s version was the flipside of the bigger US “You Don’t Owe Me A Thing” hit covering the Marty Robbins original. Charted at #36 BBpop
for Columbia.In UK it much the bigger side of the (78 only) Philips
single where it reached #7 on the British chart.
18. THE WAYWARD WIND – GOGI GRANT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW52i3iHQzg
One of the biggest pop hits of 1956 in the US where this one on the
Era label topped the Billboard chart for several weeks that year. On
London in UK it reached #9 in the UK chart but had to contend against
an even bigger version by Tex Ritter that scored a #8 hit here.
19. NOW YOU HAS JAZZ – BING CROSBY & LOUIS ARMSTRONG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26TIfLT-1Xk
“Well you take some skins…..jazz begins……..”
Another of the highspot numbers from the “High Society” movie musical
with the two musical giants in fine fettle here each sparking off the
other.The Capitol single was an #88 US hit for the duo in 1956.
Released in the UK by Capitol but did not chart
20. JUST AN OLD FASHIONED GIRL – EARTHA KITT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6FaIRKWB9s
Taken from Eartha’s 1956 “Thursday’s Child” album I’m always surprised
that this track by her seems to get little attention in the USA (where
I can’t trace it being a single at the time). Here in UK it was always
one of her best known numbers—where it appeared as a single on HMV early
in 1957
BUBBLING UNDER
21. CANADIAN SUNSET – ANDY WILLIAMS
22. DON’T FORBID ME – PAT BOONE
23. YOU DON’T OWE ME A THING – JOHNNIE RAY
24. MARIANNE – TERRY GILKYSON & THE EASY RIDERS
25. THE BUS STOP SONG – MARTY ROBBINS (UNRELEASED)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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