#12 - Guy Mitchell - Look At That Girl

When? 8th September - 19th October 1953
Number of Weeks? 6
What else was going on? Sugar rationing ends in the UK, the first computer to use RAM goes on sale, Narcotics Anonymous holds its first meeting, UNICEF is permanently enshrined as part of the United Nations

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Download Look At That Girl from amazon.com

After a breathtaking 18 weeks at number 1, Guy Mitchell is the man to finally break Frankie Laine's tenure at the top for longer than one week. Guy's second number 1 single is a slightly more serious effort than "She Wears Red Feathers". Sadly I think this song has not aged well. It's a fun but somewhat throwaway ode to the object of Guy's infatuation, and to the song's credit, the orchestration works very well to create a very jaunty, light-hearted atmosphere around the song. There is also a glimmer of brilliant guitar work in the middle 8, and the choir accompaniment at the end of the song is handled well. Guy's voice is clear and expressive but there's very little to warrant more than a couple of listens to this song. Don't get me wrong, it's pleasant enough, but at the same time it feels very disposable and there is no real "hook" to get stuck in your head and keep you listening. Clearly the Britich public of 1953 didn't quite agree, however, as they kept it on the top spot for 6 weeks.

What happened next? After scoring two number ones this year, Guy takes a hiatus from this blog. His next number 1 single is a whole 4 years away. In the interim, however, Guy kept himself busy by starring in the musical Western spoof movie "Red Garters".

#11 - Mantovani and his Orchestra - Moulin Rouge

When? 11th August - 17th August 1953
Number of Weeks? 1
What else was going on? Ionian Islands 1953 earthquake

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Download Theme (Moulin Rouge) from amazon.com

11 number 1s in and here we have our first instrumental hit to top the charts. Immediately I feel out of my depth with this one. As a child of modern pop music, encountering music without lyrics is always a little difficult. I find it very difficult to make any kind of insightful comment about classical music, for example. I guess it's a little bit like Wittgenstein's Language Games, really. To be able to comment on an instrumental piece or a classical piece, you have to know at least some of the principles and techniques behind those compositions. I'll gladly admit, I'm at my happiest when, if nothing else, at least I can comment about the lyrics. All this is basically a preface to say that if anyone reading this feels better place to comment on the musical worth/contribution of this song, then I would gladly invite them to leave a comment as I fully admit I'm perhaps a little out of my depth.

I'm surprised how much I love this piece of music. It certainly does a brilliant job of evoking the Parisian feel with the accordian and the strings. It's also a very relaxing piece of music. Originally, the song had accompanying lyrics (which, I have to say, is equally beautiful) when it appeared in the movie of the same name in 1952. Mantovani's instrumental version, however, strips the lyrics away and lets the music speak for itself. For my money, it's very effective and is an interesting contrast with the song whose reign its ascension to number 1 interrupted. It's a very pleasant diversion from the number ones which have kicked off this journey, and certainly instrumental number 1s were a much more common feature of the chart than they are today (the last number 1 which was even close to being an instrumental was Doop's "Doop" back in 1993, and even that had the eponymous lyrics looping throughout the song).

What happened next? In his own right, this is Mantovani's only trip to the number one spot, but he supports David Whitfield with a huge number 1 smash in 1954. All in all, Mantovani and his Orchestra notched up 5 top 20 hits in their chart careers. Mantovani died in 1980 aged 74.