Hi,

I haven't been updating this blog for a very long time. I've been busy culturing my new career in a new town and on my spare time I've been tinkering with various other projects.

Lately, it hit me that I don't listen to much music any more. After a breakup and a few moves, I found myself in an apartment  with a crappy stereo, a bent-off needle on my gramophone and no Internet connection. This is still where I'm standing, but a lot of other things need to be sorted out first (for instance, a sofa would be nice to start with).

Then, today, I was hit by something else - this blog seems to still be very much alive. It still attracts visitors (and it has a half of a handful of followers (too bad there's nothing to follow)). So, I just might start thinking of picking my project up again.


I miss the music.

Tech problems again

I'm experiencing trouble with my Internet connection, rendering any research and video scouting impossible. I'm trying to solve it. In the meantime, check out this 60's music blog:

A Delicious Decade of Music

Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes - Perry Como

Billboard Magazine's #1 Single Jan. 10 - Feb. 13, 1953

This is a great song, which has been recorded by numerous artists in many different styles. Perry Como hit the biggest with his version.


Download this song

Here's a quite recent recording of Goldie Hill, singing a response to this song:



Lyrics:

(Pa pa pa pia, pa pa pa pia...)

Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t let the moon break your heart!
Love blooms at night,
In daylight it dies,
Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t keep your heart from me,
For some day I’ll return,
And you know you’re the only one I’ll ever love!

Too many nights! (Too many nights!)
Too many stars! (Too many stars!)
Too many moons could change your mind!
(Don’t let the moon change your mind!)

If I’m gone too long,
Don’t forget where you belong,
When the stars come out remember you are mine!

Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t let the moon break your heart!
Love blooms at night,
In daylight it dies,
Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t keep your heart from me,
For some day I’ll return,
And you know you’re the only one I’ll ever love!



(Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
...Don’t let the moon break your heart!)



(Pa pa pa pia, pa pa pa pia...)

Too many miles! (Too many miles!)
Too many days! (Too many days!)
Too many nights to be alone! (Too many nights all alone!)
Oh! please keep your heart, while we are apart,
Don’t you linger in the moonlight when I’m gone! (While I’m gone!)

Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t let the moon break your heart!
(Don’t let the moon break your heart!)
Love blooms at night,
In daylight it dies,
Don’t let the stars get in your eyes,
Don’t keep your heart from me,
For some day I’ll return,
And you know you’re the only one I’ll ever love!
(I’ll ever love!) I’ll ever love!

You’re the only one! (You’re the only one!)
I’ll ever love!

The Year 1952

Our time machine has now passed the border between the years 1952 and 1953.

1953 saw the growth of the buy now pay later mentality with car makers leading the way by allowing longer and longer periods to pay for your new car. The unions gained strength with more and more workers belonging to unions, with wage and price controls ended and unemployment at 2.9% the increases in standard of living continued to grow and appear to have no boundaries. A teachers average salary was $4,254 and a pound of round steak was 90 cents. The first color television sets appear selling for $1,175, and transistor radios start to appear for sale.

Quoted from Thepeoplehistory.com.

1953 was also the year when the first issue of Playboy Magazine saw the light of day, with Marilyn Monroe on the cover (pictured above), and Josef Stalin died this year.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jimmy Boyd

Billboard Magazine's #1 Single Dec. 27, 1952 - Jan. 9, 1953

Once again, we're decorating our time machine for Christmas. Jimmy Boyd, at the age of twelve years, made the original recording of this well known Christmas song, which has since been covered by many artists and translated into many languages. It was actually banned by the Roman Catholic Church of Boston for mixing Christmas with sex, but after Boyd himself met with the church and explained the song, the ban was lifted. This song quickly turned him into a star and it sold two and a half million records the first weeks after it's release. Every Christmas it had a new peak for many years to come, and today, reportedly, it has sold a grand total of about 60 million records.


Download this song at Amazon.com

Here are some more versions of this song:

Jackson 5


John Cougar Mellencamp in 1987


Amy Winehouse


Lyrics:

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night.
She didn't see me creep
down the stairs to have a peep;
She thought that I was tucked
up in my bedroom fast asleep.

Then, I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus
Underneath his beard so snowy white;
Oh, what a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night

Why Don't You Believe Me - Joni James

Billboard Magazine's #1 Single Nov. 29 - Dec. 26 1952


Download this song at Amazon.com

In 1963, The Duprees made number 37 on the billboard with their own version of this song (see video clip below). Margaret Whiting and Patti Page also recorded this song in 1952.



Here's a clip from April 2008 where The Duprees deliver this song again:



Lyrics:

Why don't you believe me?, it's you I adore
Forever and ever, can I promise more?
I've told you so often the way that I care
Why don't you believe me?, it just isn't fair

CHORUS
Here is a heart that is lonely
Here is a heart you can take
Here is a heart for you only
That you can keep or break

How else can I tell you, what more can I do?
Why don't you believe me?, I love only you

REPEAT from CHORUS

It's In The Book - Johnny Standley

Billboard Magazine's #1 Single Nov. 22 - Nov. 28 1952

This is, as you can quite clearly hear, not actually a song, but a comedy monologue. It nevertheless hit the number one spot on the billboard! It's a piece, delivered in the style of a revivalist preacher, analyzing and ridiculing the nursery rhyme Little Bo Peep. If you can't hear what he says, read along in the lyrics below the video clip!

Little Bo Peep goes as follows (there are some variations):

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone, and they will come home,
Wagging their tails behind them

Download this track at Amazon.com

Lyrics:

I have a message for you - a very sad message!
My subject for this evening will be Little Bo Peep.
It says here, "Little Bo Peep, who was a little girl,
has lost her sheep,"
"And doesn't know where to find them."
Now that's reasonable, isn't it?
It's, it's reasonable to assume, if Little Bo Peep had lost her sheep,
It's only natural that she wouldn't know where to find them.
That, that basically is reasonabl-l-le, but, uh, "leave them alone".
Now that overwhelms me, …, completely overwhelms me.
The man said she lost her sheep, turns right around and boldly states,
"She doesn't know where to find them".
And then has the stupid audacity to say, "Leave them alone"!
Now! Now, now think for a moment! Think!
If the sheep were lost, and you couldn't find them,
You'd have to leave them alone, wouldn't you?
So, "Leave them alone". "Leave them alone".
It's in the book!

"Leave them alone and they", they being the sheep, "they will come home".
Ah yes, they'll come home.
Oh, there'll be a brighter day tomorrow, they will come home!
It's in the book.

"They will come home… a-waggin' their tails…".
Pray, tell me, what else could they wag?
"They will come home a-waggin' their tails … behind them… behind them!"
Did we think they'd wag them in front of them?
Of course, they might have come home in reverse.
They could have done that, I really don't know.
But, none the less, it's in the book.

So now if you will, kindly pick up your books, and turn to page 222.
We'll ask you all to sing.
You'll find your books on the backs of your seats.
Are we ready?

Everyone, 222. Let's really enjoy ourselves, let's live it up.
All together.

Do you remember grandma's lye soap?
Good for everything in the home,
And the secret was in the scrubbing,
It wouldn't suds and couldn't foam.

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap
Used for - for everything, everything on the place,
For pots and kettles, the dirty dishes, and for your hands and for
your face.

So we'll now sing the second verse.
Let's get it with great exuberance, let's live it up.
It's not raining inside tonight.
Everyone, let's have a happy time.
Are we ready? All together, the second verse.

Little Herman and brother Thurman
Had an aversion to washing their ears
Grandma scrubbed them with the lye soap.
And they haven't heard a word in years.

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap.
Sing all out, all over the place.
The pots and kettles, the dirty dishes, and also hands and also f….
(clapping fades)

Well, let's sing what's left of the last verse.
Let's have a happy time, everyone.
The last verse, al-l-l-l together.
Ev-v-v-very one!

Mm-m-m-m. Thank you kindly, kindly,
M-m-mrs. O'Malley, out in the valley,
Suffered from ulcers, I understand.
She swallowed a cake of grandma's lye soap,
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land.

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap.
Sing right out. All over the place.
The pots and - the pots and pans, oh dirty dishes,
And the hands……..