#17 - The Stargazers - I See The Moon

When? 9th March - 12th April 1954; 20th April - 26th April 1954
Number of weeks? 6
What else was going on? From Here To Eternity wins 8 prizes at the Academy Awards; Joseph McCarthy's hearings start to turn their attention to the military

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The second I pressed "play" to listen to this song for the first time, I had a fairly gut-wrenching emotional reaction - one that I couldn't quite place. Something about this song was so familiar. It was only after reflecting for most of the day that it came to me. This was a song that I distinctly remember my (sadly deceased) grandmother singing to me when I was very little. I had never given that thought any song over the years, and certainly didn't imagine that it had been a number one single over a decade before my dad was even born. When I started out this project, I didn't fully anticipate a song from this era having such a profound emotional effect on me.

Attempting to set my emotions aside for a moment, I tried to approach the Stargazers' second number 1 single with an objective ear. The song itself was written by Meredith Wilson, who is perhaps most famous for writing the book, lyrics and music to The Music Man. The Stargazers version, well, fails to do this pedigree justice. It's a recording mainly played for laughs, with Marie Benson's vocal becoming downright screechy at points in her solo parts. The harmonies barely come together and the whole thing is a raucous mess of vocals and an extremely clunky piano arrangement.

Consulting other members of the family about my memory of the song I haven't found much corroboration, and even now I'm questioning its veracity. Either way, as soon as this song started, my grandma instantly sprang to mind. If I'm correct, then it's a fairly powerful reminder of how the songs someone sings when you meet them as a child can become very firmly welded to your memories of them. After a bit of youtube searching, I found a far more melodious version of the song by Nancy Sinatra. I'm going to choose to believe that this was the version that my grandma was (perhaps) singing when I was small.

What happened next? This is the last number 1 that The Stargazers attained in their own right. The group attained five more top twenty singles before they largely went on to become backing singers, singing on Petula Clarke's early recordings. They were voted the most popular vocal group by readers of the New Musical Express for five years running. Perhaps this is unsurprising given that it will be well over a year before another group hit the top spot on our journey.

#16 - Eddie Calvert - Oh Mein Papa

When?  January 5th - 8th March 1954
Number of weeks? 9
What else was going on? Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio, the USS Nautilus becomes the world's first nuclear powered submarine, the first mass vaccination against Polio takes place in Pittsburgh.

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Taking over from Answer Me, another German song topped the charts in the early months of 1954. Oh Mein Papa was recorded in the US by Eddie Fisher, and at roughly the same time, Fisher's version made an appearance in the UK Top Twenty having secured a number 1 on the US billboard chart. Calvert's version, however, shows off his skills as a trumpet player and thus his version foregrounds the instrument over the choir's vocals. 

For the life of me, I can't understand why this was such a commercially successful song. Calvert had built up considerable acclaim earlier in the 1950s after appearing on television with the Stanley Black Orchestra and being named "The Man With The Golden Trumpet". I can only believe that it was this personal popularity which propelled the song to the top spot for so long. Fisher's trumpet playing sounds good (to my untrained ears, anyway), but the wurlitzer-like organ in the background and that droning vocal just make the whole thing sound like a messy cacophony. I prefer Eddie Fisher's version of the track if I'm honest, but it's a little like the number 1 that preceded it: neither songs are particularly improved with another version.

Despite my distaste for the track, it once again has some historic significance. Not only is it another example of an instrumentalist being successful in the early days of the singles chart, this was also the first number 1 single to be recorded at Abbey Road studios. In the decades to come, a fair few more of those are going to be featured here.

What happened next? We'll have to wait another year before we encounter another Eddie Calvert number 1. In between these two hits, however, Calvert didn't release another single. Lazy.

#15 - Frankie Laine - Answer Me

When? 11 November 1953 - 4th January 1954
Number of weeks? 8
What else was going on? Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of Playboy, the very first colour TV sets go on sale, Tangiwai rail disaster in New Zealand claims the lives of 151 people

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David Whitfield's version of this song nearly killed this blog, I have to be honest. But after a year off, I come back with refreshed ears ready to tackle Frankie Laine's version of Answer Me. Right off the bat the one thing that strikes me is how much I prefer Laine's vocal. His tone is so warm compared to Whitfield's rendition which left me extremely cold. It's not hard to see why the UK was chomping at the bit to buy Frankie's records during this year.

Even Laine's probably more technically flawed but endearing vocal, however, can't bring me around to liking this song. The lyrics are still maudlin, and whilst the crescendo at the end of the track lifts things a bit, I still find this one extremely heavy going. The record buying public, however, clearly disagreed with me vociferously. I do wonder what people were actually digging in their pockets for though. Was it this song (the fact that it propelled Whitfield's version to the top twice might suggest so)? Or was it continued support for the Frankie Laine juggernaut which had so dominated this first full year of the singles chart? Either way, for better or worse, Answer Me is the second official UK Christmas Number 1 in chart history. I'm just glad I won't have to sit through any more versions in the course of this journey!

What happened next? It will be another three years of number 1s before we encounter Frankie again. Between the beginning of 1954 and 1956 he was far from quiet on the charts, knocking up a total of 13 charting singles in that time.