Number of Weeks? 1
What else was going on? Eisenhower delivers his "chance for peace" speech
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Buy How Much Is That Doggie In the Window?
from amazon.com
from amazon.com
Well... I'd put a tenner on the fact that most readers would be able to sing a couple of verses from this one. Little more than a children's nursery rhyme nowadays, "How Much" tells the story of a woman who seeks to buy a dog for her lover in California. Prior to Lita Roza's version, the song was made famous by US vocalist Patti Page but it was Lita's version which rose to the top spot and granted her the privilege of being the first UK woman to top the chart.
There probably isn't much of a need for a review of this song. Again, Roza's voice is nice enough, and has a very sweet tone to it. Sadly, just in case the song wasn't *quite* subtle enough, there's a dog yapping at the appropriate junctures which after about one verse begins to get interminable on the nerves. But it just shows that from the very beginning of the chart, the power of the novelty record simply could not be denied. Just as the Teletubbies (#778), St Winifred's School Choir (#472) and Mr Blobby (#698) would all claim the prestigious number 1 slot, so from the chart's very foundations, novelty demonstrated their power to leapfrog more "musical" efforts and reach number 1.
What happened next? You're surprised that Lita was a one hit wonder?! Actually, that's not strictly fair, Lita did manage a couple of top twenty hits in 1955 and 1956, but this was her only real commercial success, and it's the only time we'll be seeing her on these pages.
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