#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.

#14 - David Whitfield - Answer Me

When? 3rd November-10th November; 8th December-15th December 1953
Number of weeks? 2
What else was going on? Cambodia obtains independence,

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Download Answer Me from amazon.com

With due apologies for the delay in posting, we jump right back in to one of the more surreal number 1 battles of the chart's history. For 9 weeks, David Whitfield and Frankie Laine battled it out for the top spot with two versions of the same song. That song, Answer Me started out life as a German song entitled Mutterlein. After complaints about the song's protagonist invoking the name of God to pine after a lost lover, Laine and Whitfield rerecorded the track and romanticised the lyrics, turning it into a more palatable pop song.

I say more palatable. I'm deliberately refraining from listening to Frankie Laine's version until I review that so as not to have my perception unduly coloured. But Whitfield's version is... well it's pretty terrible. It's very standard pop-operatics which asks for the return of a lost lover. Whitfield's voice isn't particularly strong and the whole thing comes off as unbearably whiny. I'm almost glad that she left him. But then he might not have recorded this song, so perhaps that's unfair. To these ears, at any rate, I'm amazed the song reached number 1, so I'm hoping Laine's version can rescue it for me.

The song will unfortunately go down in history as the first occasion when an artist was knocked off the number one spot with the same song. Whitfield's place in chart lore is also secure by virtue of the fact that in its second sojourn at the top, Answer Me was tied for the number one spot with Frankie's version. That means that the song tied itself for the number one spot. As the sample sizes that that the charts drew their statistics from increased, these kinds of ties became more and more infrequent (although we'll see three more tied number 1s in the fifties alone).

What happened next? We will meet Whitfield again in the summer of the following year where he returned to the top spot. His chart career lasted until 1958 by which point he had racked up 12 top 20 hits.

#13 - Frankie Laine - Hey Joe

When? 20th October - 2nd November 1953
Number of weeks? 2
What else was going on? Dwight Eisenhower reinforces the US commitment to expanding its nuclear arsenal

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Download Hey Joe from amazon.com

Frankie returned to the top spot for the second time in 1953 with a significantly more jaunty and upbeat number than I Believe. "Hey Joe" certainly doesn't win any prizes for demonstrating prescient feminist enlightenment ("Hey Joe, where d'ya find that purdy girly?/Where'd ya get that jolly dolly?/How'd ya rate that dish I wish was mine"). Indeed, this is about as sophisticated as the lyrics get. The song nominally tells the story of the singer falling out with his friend Joe over Joe's new girlfriend. It's not exactly deep and meaningful stuff.

But... It is fun. It rumbles along quite nicely and Laine's quick-fire lyrical delivery in the verses, juxtaposed with his elongated "Heeeeeeeeeeey Jooooooooe"s works quite nicely and it's a fairly infectious song. The guitar solo in the middle of the song is absolutely sublime and is, in itself, a great piece of musicianship which lends what is quite a throwaway song (at least lyrically) a bit of musical gravitas.

A world away from the melodrama of I Believe, Hey Joe demonstrates the versatility which no doubt was a strong part of Laine's appeal, and which say him dominate the number open spot in '53.

What happened next? Well, to put it simply, Frankie took a one-week vacation from the top spot before returning to pole position as part of one of the strangest sequences of number ones in history.

#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.