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Post by Kapitan on Feb 18, 2024 0:50:53 GMT
I'm enjoying the one I'm getting here, too. A lot of this is new to me.
So, now I know. "Georgia On My Mind" was a chart-topper in 1961!
Hold your horses, man! we've got about five or six weeks of #1s to go before we get there!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 26, 2024 12:06:34 GMT
From 1965, a condensed, a jazzy, rockin' version:
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 26, 2024 16:56:57 GMT
”Stay,” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs Nov. 21, 1960 (1 week)
In 1953, 15-year-old Maurice Williams had more or less the same thing on his mind as every other 15-year-old boy (and not a few 15-year-old girls, for that matter). On a date with his girlfriend in Lancaster, South Carolina, Williams tried to convince his date to break the 10 p.m. curfew her parents had set. (The girl refused the suggestion.)
The next day, Williams wrote a song about it, which he titled “Stay”: Stay … just a little bit longer / Now, your daddy don’t mind / and your mama don’t mind / if we have another smoke.
While not yet a professional musician, Williams certainly was a musician. He’d begun to play and sing in the church, forming a gospel group he called the Junior Harmonizers. As the group’s interests moved toward rock ’n’ roll and doo-wop, they rebranded as the Royal Charms.
In 1956—still in high school—the group went from Lancaster to Nashville to record for Excello Records. Among the songs they recorded there was Williams’s composition “Little Darlin’.” The Gladiolas (as Excello Records founder Ernie Young convinced them to rebrand themselves yet again) released the song and it climbed to No. 41 on the Billboard, pre-Hot 100 charts (and No. 11 on the Billboard R&B charts). It became a No. 3 hit, however, just a month or so later, when a cover by the Diamonds was released.
The group continued performing, especially once they finished high school. Owing to a hazard of life on the road—a car breaking down—they changed their name yet again, this time from the Gladiolas to the Zodiacs, after the British-built Ford car that failed them on the road. Membership shuffled, and in 1959 a reconfigured Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs recorded a handful of demos in a Quonsut Hut in South Carolina. One of these was the half-decade old song “Stay.”
Producer Phil Gernhard shopped the demos, finally finding a taker in Al Silver of Herald Records. Silver liked “Stay,” but insisted the lyric about the teenagers having “another smoke” be changed. The song was rerecorded, the line was changed to “another dance,” and in August 1960, the now-seven-year-old song written by a sexually frustrated 15-year-old was released. It entered the Hot 100 in October, and hit No. 1 the week of November 21, 1960.
At one minute, 36 seconds, “Stay” remains the shortest song ever to top the Hot 100.
“Stay,” like “Little Darlin’,” found success with other artists, as well. The Hollies, the Four Seasons, and eventually Jackson Browne all had hits with it, while the Dave Clark Five, Dreamhouse, Cyndi Lauper, and others also recorded versions. The song found new life in 1987 when it was included in the hit movie Dirty Dancing.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 26, 2024 19:36:57 GMT
Some of those other versions of "Stay":
The Hollies (1963) - not a hint of doo-wop
The Four Seasons (1964)
Dave Clark Five (1964)
Jackson Browne (1977) - rewritten as a life-on-the-road tune
Cyndi Lauper (2003) - with a Latin feel
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Post by jk on Feb 27, 2024 10:47:33 GMT
”Stay,” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs Nov. 21, 1960 (1 week) "Stay", a great favourite of mine in MW&tZ's version, says more in just over one and a half minutes than most songs do in three. (Another that does this is a second don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it US #1 of three years later, The Chiffons' "He's So Fine".) I believe The Hollies' cover was their debut single, with Nash reaching up into the stratosphere to the alarm of many at the time. Theirs was the first version I heard. I see Maurice Williams is still going strong but Henry Gaston, who sang the iconic falsetto lines, died in 2015.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 27, 2024 12:59:08 GMT
I always liked "Stay". It has a great hook. It's one of those songs where it seems like you always knew it. And it only clocked in at 1:39; funny how they...extended...the time on the 45 (it shows 1:50 ). I'm kind of familiar with The Four Seasons' rendition, and I do remember Jackson Browne's version getting a lot of airplay. I'm a little surprised The Beach Boys didn't record or perform "Stay" along the way, especially with the prominent high part.
I didn't know Maurice Williams wrote "Little Darlin'" by The Diamonds. That's a doo-wop classic! Maurice also wrote the song, "May I", recorded by The Zodiacs in 1965, and covered by Bill Deal & The Rhondels in 1969. The Rhondels' version has been noted by Bruce Springsteen as a favorite of his.
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Post by lonelysummer on Feb 27, 2024 20:37:20 GMT
I grew up with the 4 Seasons version - dad had "2nd Gold Vault of Hits", which bizarrely, had their earlier hits on it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 27, 2024 21:30:56 GMT
I grew up with the 4 Seasons version - dad had "2nd Gold Vault of Hits", which bizarrely, had their earlier hits on it. I knew I'd heard The Four Seasons' version of "Stay", but I couldn't place where or when. So, I checked Wikipedia...
In 1963, "Stay" was the B-side of a song called "Peanuts". I'm not familiar with "Peanuts"; it peaked at #108. In 1964, The Four Seasons released "Stay" as an A-side single; it peaked at #16. In a bit of Beach Boys' trivia, the B-side was "Goodnight My Love", covered by The Honeys in 1969. But, that wasn't the end. In 1966, "Stay" was released again as a single but it didn't chart. Do you think the record company liked the song?
Oh, and The Four Seasons released an album called Stay and Other Great Hits in September 1963.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 5, 2024 13:39:52 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2024 16:29:42 GMT
”Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley Nov. 28, 1960 - Jan. 2 1961 (6 weeks)
Elvis Presley’s third single of 1960 was also his third No. 1 single of 1960—and his first No. 1 single of 1961. “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” released on Nov. 1, 1960, topped the Hot 100 charts just a few weeks later, and stayed there for six weeks, which made it the first No. 1 single of 1961.
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” was written by vaudevillians Lou Handman and Roy Turk in 1926. The duo were regular collaborators who penned a number of successful songs. It was recorded numerous times beginning in 1927 and running right through Presley’s 1960 version. (The cheekily stage-named Jaye P. Morgan had a No. 65 hit with her version, released on MGM Records, in 1959.)
Presley recorded the song as a part of the same early April 1960 sessions that produced most of the material for his April 1960 album Elvis is Back!—an album that was released on April 8, 1960, just four days after many of its songs were recorded! Those sessions included the same musicians as Presley’s earlier 1960 sessions (who also appeared on several other artists’ No. 1 hits in that year), such as Hank Garland, DJ Fontana, Floyd Cramer, Bob Moore, Buddy Harman, as well as his regulars Scotty Moore and the Jordanaires.
The most famous story of the song’s recording is that Presley asked nearly everyone to leave the studio and that the lights be dimmed to try to fit the song’s mood. However, several Jordanaires later reported that while this was true, there was nothing unusual about this when recording with Presley.
Another notable moment: Presley never completed a releasable take of the song, and the master version includes an edit of Presley’s very last word on the song, with the “to” and the “night” of “tonight” being spliced together from two different takes.
“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” was not included on Elvis is Back!, however. While it had been suggested by Col. Tom Parker, reportedly as an earlier Gene Austin version had been a favorite of Parker’s wife, Parker and RCA executives held off on releasing it because they were not sure it fit Presley’s new style. Finally, seven months later, it was released with “I Gotta Know” as its B-side. It went to No. 1 in less than a month, and stayed there for a month and a half. Its five weeks atop the charts in 1960 gave Presley a total of 14 weeks at the No. 1 spot, spanning all three of his 1960 singles.
The song became one of Presley’s staples, having been included in his few 1961 performances that occurred between his exit from the Army and focus on movie-making; in his 1968 NBC comeback special; and in his first Vegas performance in 1971; among many other performances.
A standard, the song has been recorded many more times by many more artists of various genres: Pat Boone, Frank Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Donny Osmond, Bryan Ferry … and even Sam Kinison on a 1989 appearance on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2024 20:22:12 GMT
Not to sully the original by its proximity, but here is that 1989 Sam Kinison appearance on Johnny Carson. He's actually not a bad singer. But while I found his screaming schtick sort-of funny at the time (I was 13ish), I find him hard to tolerate now. Interesting character, though, a Pentecostal preacher turned coked-out, vulgar standup.
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Post by jk on Mar 6, 2024 21:36:55 GMT
”Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley Nov. 28, 1960 - Jan. 2 1961 (6 weeks)Presley never completed a releasable take of the song, and the master version includes an edit of Presley’s very last word on the song, with the “to” and the “night” of “tonight” being spliced together from two different takes. Would that be why your 45 divides "tonight" into two words joined by a hyphen? I see the two spellings (tonight and to-night) are equally common on pressings of Elvis's single. I must confess I've never liked it. I regard "Don't" as a far finer example of Elvis in ballad mode. Digging Jordanaire Hugh Jarrett's bass line:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 6, 2024 21:53:53 GMT
”Are You Lonesome Tonight?” by Elvis Presley Nov. 28, 1960 - Jan. 2 1961 (6 weeks)Presley never completed a releasable take of the song, and the master version includes an edit of Presley’s very last word on the song, with the “to” and the “night” of “tonight” being spliced together from two different takes. Would that be why your 45 divides "tonight" into two words joined by a hyphen? I see the two spellings (tonight and to-night) are equally common on pressings of Elvis's single. I can't imagine that's why: there is no way they'd want to draw attention to something like an edit. I'd assume it's just an example of the increasingly archaic spelling of the word tonight. (It had to look outdated even then, didn't it? Obviously I wasn't around yet. But I'd think it would have.)
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 7, 2024 2:22:02 GMT
Not to sully the original by its proximity, but here is that 1989 Sam Kinison appearance on Johnny Carson. He's actually not a bad singer. But while I found his screaming schtick sort-of funny at the time (I was 13ish), I find him hard to tolerate now. Interesting character, though, a Pentecostal preacher turned coked-out, vulgar standup. People I knew loved him back then, but I always found him...well, to use a word that used around here a lot...shouty!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 7, 2024 12:22:38 GMT
I didn't know "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was such an old song when Elvis recorded it. I assumed it was written for him or at least around that time. I don't know where "Are You Lonesome Tonight" fits among Elvis scholars as one of his...best, but I think it's an important song for Elvis. He does nail the vocal, it's so emotional, and I can imagine a lot of young people (and older, too) really getting into it. The song's chart performance speaks for itself. Elvis performed "Are You Lonesome Tonight" live pretty much through his entire career (has anyone heard "the laughing version"; it's hilarious) and I would think it has to appear on any Elvis "Best Of" comp.
Oh, and Jaye P. Morgan? For most people my age, Jaye P. will forever be remembered for her goofy and sometimes sleazy appearances on The Gong Show. Of all the people for Chuck Barris (who wrote "Palisades Park" BTW) to choose for that show...But, she was a very popular singer in the 1950s, and she's still alive and kickin' at the age of 92.
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