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Post by jk on Sept 28, 2024 14:14:22 GMT
The Marcels' "Blue Moon" had something gimmicky about it. The bass line alone sounded a little goofy at times.
This cannot be said of "Duke Of Earl". In fact it irons out the goofiness and takes it all to another level. Baroque doo wop at its finest. (Those oily sax lines are something else.)
Gene Chandler had at least one more memorable hit (memorable to me anyway). "Nothing Can Stop Me" (almost a quote from "Duke Of Earl") reached #18 in the US in 1965 and was reissued three years later in the UK when it rose to #41 and was embraced there by the Northern Soul scene:
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 28, 2024 15:36:58 GMT
The Marcels' "Blue Moon" had something gimmicky about it. The bass line alone sounded a little goofy at times. This cannot be said of "Duke Of Earl". In fact it irons out the goofiness and takes it all to another level. Baroque doo wop at its finest. (Those oily sax lines are something else.) If I'm understanding you properly, I have pretty much the exact opposite opinion of those two bass lines. I think "Duke of Earl" sounds like a joke part, while "Blue Moon" is top notch. (I love the rest of "Duke of Earl," by the way, but I don't like its trademark bass vocal hook!)
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Post by jk on Sept 28, 2024 21:08:28 GMT
The Marcels' "Blue Moon" had something gimmicky about it. The bass line alone sounded a little goofy at times. This cannot be said of "Duke Of Earl". In fact it irons out the goofiness and takes it all to another level. Baroque doo wop at its finest. (Those oily sax lines are something else.) If I'm understanding you properly, I have pretty much the exact opposite opinion of those two bass lines. I think "Duke of Earl" sounds like a joke part, while "Blue Moon" is top notch. (I love the rest of "Duke of Earl," by the way, but I don't like its trademark bass vocal hook!) Ha. To each their own, of course. Actually, I was thinking of the vocals (and backing) in general.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 30, 2024 19:04:04 GMT
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Post by lonelysummer on Sept 30, 2024 20:31:54 GMT
Doo wop has always sounded kind of goofy to me, and that's the key - those bass lines.
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Post by jk on Sept 30, 2024 21:29:02 GMT
If I'm understanding you properly, I have pretty much the exact opposite opinion of those two bass lines. I think "Duke of Earl" sounds like a joke part, while "Blue Moon" is top notch. (I love the rest of "Duke of Earl," by the way, but I don't like its trademark bass vocal hook!) Ha. To each their own, of course. Actually, I was thinking of the vocals (and backing) in general. Interestingly, both songs go into falsetto towards the end with a melody that isn't the main tune. And most effective it is too. Getting back to "Blue Moon", I'd always been aware that the song's middle eight is taken at half speed (a middle sixteen, if you like) but I'd never really considered just how unusual that is. The odd thing is that it sounds quite natural. Indeed, I'm unable to hear the middle eights of other versions of the song without feeling they're being rushed! 
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 28, 2024 14:58:13 GMT
”Hey! Baby,” by Bruce Channel
March 10-24, 1962 (3 weeks)
Bruce McMeans was born in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1940, and grew up in nearby Grapevine. His family was musical—his father played harmonica and his brothers played guitar—and so young Bruce followed suit. By his mid-teens, he led a country band that played around the region, even landing a six-month radio gig when he was 18.
In 1959, Channel (as he became known somewhere along the line during this time) released his first record, the single “Run Romance Run” on the Teen Ager label. A couple other singles followed on King Records in 1960. But it was in 1961 that his fortunes changed.
Ironically, it wasn’t a new song but one Channel had been playing in clubs for a couple of years that made his name nationally. Sometime in or around 1959, he cowrote a tune with acquaintance Margaret Cobb: “Hey! Baby.” Finally, in 1961, he got around to demoing the tune for independent record label owner and producer Major Bill Smith (“Major” because he was a retired Air Force major).
Smith invited him to record the song for his LeCam Records, suggesting one change: not a fan of its original guitar intro, he suggested that Delbert McClinton play an intro on harmonica. Fleshing out the instrumentation were either Ronnie Dawson or Ray Torres on drums, Bob Jones and Billy Sanders on guitars, and Jim Rogers on bass. The session reportedly took 15 minutes and three takes.
LeCam put out the single in November 1961, but Mercury Records bought the master and rereleased it on their Smash imprint in December 1961. It entered the charts in late January and topped the Hot 100 for three weeks beginning with the March 10, 1962, chart.
The success of the single abroad—No. 2 in the UK for six weeks—allowed Channel (with McClinton in tow) to tour England. The tour included at least one show on a bill with the up-and-coming Beatles. (One finds rumors that McClinton showed John Lennon how to play harmonica backstage before a show. While Lennon had been playing harmonica for years by this point, it does seem to be true that the two spoke for 15 minutes or so, that Lennon admired McClinton’s harmonica playing, and that McClinton gave Lennon some tips. Lennon, of course, went on to record the harmonica intro of “Love Me Do” not long after.)
Channel never repeated anything close to the success of “Hey! Baby.” None of his subsequent releases entered the Hot 100’s Top 40, and only one did so in the UK (“Keep On,” June 1968, No. 12). Not a fan of touring, Channel moved to Nashville and became a country songwriter, in which capacity he had several hits for other artists.
“Hey! Baby” has been covered numerous times, including by Ringo Starr in 1976, and has become a staple singalong for fans at American sporting events.
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Post by jk on Oct 28, 2024 18:19:08 GMT
Great to see this thread up and running again.  Looking through the previous number ones, there are two I (or my brother) bought later -- "Kansas City" (Wilbert Harrison) and "Runaway" (Del Shannon) -- and two I bought at the time -- "Please Mr. Postman" (The Marvelettes) and "Peppermint Twist" (Joey Dee and the Starliters). A third I bought at the time was this harmonica-driven gem by Bruce Channel. Not much more to say about it really, except that there was a media campaign to get his name pronounced right ("say Chanel!") and that the B-side was a stodgy ballad. |
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Post by lonelysummer on Oct 28, 2024 20:41:44 GMT
”Hey! Baby,” by Bruce Channel
March 10-24, 1962 (3 weeks)Bruce McMeans was born in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1940, and grew up in nearby Grapevine. His family was musical—his father played harmonica and his brothers played guitar—and so young Bruce followed suit. By his mid-teens, he led a country band that played around the region, even landing a six-month radio gig when he was 18. In 1959, Channel (as he became known somewhere along the line during this time) released his first record, the single “Run Romance Run” on the Teen Ager label. A couple other singles followed on King Records in 1960. But it was in 1961 that his fortunes changed. Ironically, it wasn’t a new song but one Channel had been playing in clubs for a couple of years that made his name nationally. Sometime in or around 1959, he cowrote a tune with acquaintance Margaret Cobb: “Hey! Baby.” Finally, in 1961, he got around to demoing the tune for independent record label owner and producer Major Bill Smith (“Major” because he was a retired Air Force major). Smith invited him to record the song for his LeCam Records, suggesting one change: not a fan of its original guitar intro, he suggested that Delbert McClinton play an intro on harmonica. Fleshing out the instrumentation were either Ronnie Dawson or Ray Torres on drums, Bob Jones and Billy Sanders on guitars, and Jim Rogers on bass. The session reportedly took 15 minutes and three takes. LeCam put out the single in November 1961, but Mercury Records bought the master and rereleased it on their Smash imprint in December 1961. It entered the charts in late January and topped the Hot 100 for three weeks beginning with the March 10, 1962, chart. The success of the single abroad—No. 2 in the UK for six weeks—allowed Channel (with McClinton in tow) to tour England. The tour included at least one show on a bill with the up-and-coming Beatles. (One finds rumors that McClinton showed John Lennon how to play harmonica backstage before a show. While Lennon had been playing harmonica for years by this point, it does seem to be true that the two spoke for 15 minutes or so, that Lennon admired McClinton’s harmonica playing, and that McClinton gave Lennon some tips. Lennon, of course, went on to record the harmonica intro of “Love Me Do” not long after.) Channel never repeated anything close to the success of “Hey! Baby.” None of his subsequent releases entered the Hot 100’s Top 40, and only one did so in the UK (“Keep On,” June 1968, No. 12). Not a fan of touring, Channel moved to Nashville and became a country songwriter, in which capacity he had several hits for other artists. “Hey! Baby” has been covered numerous times, including by Ringo Starr in 1976, and has become a staple singalong for fans at American sporting events. Oddball memory: I remember hearing this song in the locker room at our local swim club when I was in junior high school. I had no idea who it was, assumed the song was called "Say You're My Girl" or something like that, anyway, it stayed with me. Later on, I got one of those Rolling Stone "history of rock" books, it included the chart stats for a lot of the artists. Under Roy Orbison, there was a song with the title "Say You're My Girl", so I thought, okay, that song I heard at the swim club was Roy Orbison. Those were the days, before phone apps that instantly tell you the name and artist of a song.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 29, 2024 11:49:53 GMT
This song doesn't do much for me. It's fine. But to show how little impact it had on me, when it began popping up as a singalong at football and basketball games, I didn't recognize at all. "What's that catchy tune?" And I'd seen Dirty Dancing (which included it), maybe more than once. Left no impression.
That said it's better than several other #1s.
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Rob
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 215 
Likes: 101
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Post by Rob on Oct 29, 2024 17:01:42 GMT
This song doesn't do much for me. It's fine. But to show how little impact it had on me, when it began popping up as a singalong at football and basketball games, I didn't recognize at all. "What's that catchy tune?" And I'd seen Dirty Dancing (which included it), maybe more than once. Left no impression. I'm glad I'm not the only one because most of the #1's in this thread don't do much for me. Not sure why. Many of them seem to be overly simplistic, Beatle-esque melodies that were promoted for various reasons. Maybe it's just because I've heard them a gazillion times.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 29, 2024 17:46:05 GMT
This song doesn't do much for me. It's fine. But to show how little impact it had on me, when it began popping up as a singalong at football and basketball games, I didn't recognize at all. "What's that catchy tune?" And I'd seen Dirty Dancing (which included it), maybe more than once. Left no impression. I'm glad I'm not the only one because most of the #1's in this thread don't do much for me. Not sure why. Many of them seem to be overly simplistic, Beatle-esque melodies that were promoted for various reasons. Maybe it's just because I've heard them a gazillion times. I'd actually take more "Beatlesque" among them, especially if it meant getting rid of all the novelty songs. This isn't one of them, but there has been no shortage of those. That's probably my biggest takeaway so far: people from mid-1958 to 1962 (and counting) liked novelty songs! The other thing is, it probably shouldn't surprise me that a lot of the No. 1s don't connect with me. After all, if I were to go through the No. 1s of my lifetime (which I suppose we will eventually, assuming I, the board, and the thread live long enough), I don't remember necessarily liking many of those either. Examples? The week of my birth, "Kiss and Say Goodbye," by the Manhattans. Never heard of it. Skip ahead a decade, "Sledgehammer," by Peter Gabriel. Never liked it. How about when I turned 13? "Toy Soldiers," by Martika. No recollection. Sixteen? "Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Never liked it. Ah, eighteen, adulthood. "I Swear," by All 4 One. No recollection. Twenty-one? "I'll Be Missing You," Puff Daddy, etc., which I never liked. So just a somewhat random sampling shows No. 1s don't necessarily resonate with me, or vice versa.
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Post by kds on Oct 29, 2024 17:53:18 GMT
Another classic song I've known my whole life without ever knowing who did it.
If you asked me to guess, I'd have said it was probably one of the British Invasion bands from the early 60s, not a guy from Jacksonville, Texas.
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Post by kds on Oct 29, 2024 18:10:11 GMT
I'm glad I'm not the only one because most of the #1's in this thread don't do much for me. Not sure why. Many of them seem to be overly simplistic, Beatle-esque melodies that were promoted for various reasons. Maybe it's just because I've heard them a gazillion times. I'd actually take more "Beatlesque" among them, especially if it meant getting rid of all the novelty songs. This isn't one of them, but there has been no shortage of those. That's probably my biggest takeaway so far: people from mid-1958 to 1962 (and counting) liked novelty songs! The other thing is, it probably shouldn't surprise me that a lot of the No. 1s don't connect with me. After all, if I were to go through the No. 1s of my lifetime (which I suppose we will eventually, assuming I, the board, and the thread live long enough), I don't remember necessarily liking many of those either. Examples? The week of my birth, "Kiss and Say Goodbye," by the Manhattans. Never heard of it. Skip ahead a decade, "Sledgehammer," by Peter Gabriel. Never liked it. How about when I turned 13? "Toy Soldiers," by Martika. No recollection. Sixteen? "Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix-a-Lot. Never liked it. Ah, eighteen, adulthood. "I Swear," by All 4 One. No recollection. Twenty-one? "I'll Be Missing You," Puff Daddy, etc., which I never liked. So just a somewhat random sampling shows No. 1s don't necessarily resonate with me, or vice versa. Wait until we get to the Summer of 2014, when Iggy Azalea somehow had something like four #1 hits.
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Rob
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 215
Likes: 101
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Post by Rob on Oct 29, 2024 19:27:42 GMT
And yet, ironically, you started this thread. No problem, it's something to talk about. With few exceptions, melodies just get old and boring after you're heard them 100 or more times. It's a weird thing though. While many songs I used to really like have grown stale, which is to be expected, others I never used to like have started to sound good. I could give countless examples of the former, so I won't bother, but the latter are fewer. Some examples: Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition' - way overplayed on the radio back in the day and I despised it. In more recent years, it's grown on me. The Three Degrees' 'When Will I See You Again' - same as above, lots of airplay and never did anything for me, but in recent years I've really come to like it. Stealers Wheel's 'Stuck In The Middle With You' - see above. Hot Chocolate's 'Every 1's A Winner' - see above.
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