Popular Songs Of 1957, Vol. 3

With this post, we conclude the Popular Songs of 1957 series. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did when compiling the songs. If you're digging the throwback music, fear not. The most Popular Songs of 1947 are coming soon!  ~  JH

1)  Chuck Berry  ~  “Rock And Roll Music”

2)  The Four Lads  ~  “Who Needs You”

3)  Harry Belafonte & Nat King Cole  ~  “Mama Look At Bubu”

4)  Pat Boone  ~  “Bernardine”

5)  Little Richard  ~  “Keep A-Knockin’”

6)  Jimmie Rodgers  ~  “Honeycomb”

7)  Johnny Mathis  ~  “It’s Not For Me To Say”

8)  The Everly Brothers  ~  “Bye Bye Love”

9)  The Del-Vikings  ~  “Whispering Bells”

10)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Love Me Tender”

11)  Fats Domino  ~  “Blue Monday”

12)  Mantovani And His Orchestra  ~  “Around The World”

13)  The Coasters  ~  “Young Blood”

14)  Tony Bennett  ~  “In The Middle Of An Island”

15)  Billy Ward And His Dominoes  ~  “Stardust”

16)  The Ames Brothers  ~  “Melodie D’Amour”

17)  Ivory Joe Hunter  ~  “Since I Met You Baby”

18)  Jimmy Dorsey  ~  “So Rare”

19)  Lavern Baker  ~  “Jim Dandy”

20)  Sal Mineo  ~  “Start Movin’ (In My Direction)”

21)  Joe Bennett & The Sparkletones  ~  “Black Slacks”

22)  The Diamonds  ~  “Little Darlin’”

23)  Pat Boone  ~  “Remember You’re Mine”

24)  Bill Justis  ~  “Raunchy”  (It's not, actually. It's an instrumental.)

25)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Loving You”

Popular Songs Of 1957, Vol. 2

Can't get enough Popular Songs of 1957? Well, you're in luck! Here's part 2 of 3 in the series. Only good stuff here, no fillers. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Buddy Holly & The Crickets  ~  “That’ll Be The Day”

2)  Pat Boone  ~  “Why, Baby, Why”

3)  The Coasters  ~  “Searchin’”

4)  The Bobbettes  ~  “Mr. Lee”

5)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Teddy Bear”

6)  Fats Domino  ~  “I’m Walkin’”

7)  The Everly Brothers  ~  “Wake Up, Little Susie”

8)  Chuck Berry  ~  “School Days”

9)  Ferlin Husky  ~  “Gone”

10)  Guy Mitchell  ~  “Rock-A-Billy”

11)  The Rays  ~  “Silhouettes”

12)  Chuck Willis  ~  “C.C. Rider”

13)  Perry Como  ~  “Round And Round”

14)  Sam Cooke  ~  “You Send Me”

15)  Ricky Nelson  ~  “Be-Bop Baby”

16)  Billy Williams  ~  “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter”

17)  Jim Reeves  ~  “Four Walls”

18)  Betty Johnson  ~  “I Dreamed”

19)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Too Much”

20)  Nat King Cole  ~  “Send For Me”

21)  The Four Coins  ~  “Shangri-La”

22)  Buddy Knox  ~  “Party Doll”

23)  Harry Belafonte  ~  “Jamaica Farewell”

24)  Larry Williams  ~  “Bony Moronie”

25)  Johnny Mathis  ~  “Chances Are”

Popular Songs Of 1956, Vol. 2

Here's the latest and last (for this year, at least) entry in the "Popular Songs Of..." series, this one being Part 2 (of 2) featuring songs from the year 1956. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Tennessee Ernie Ford  ~  “Sixteen Tons”

2)  Pat Boone  ~  “Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)”

3)  Fats Domino  ~  “My Blue Heaven”

4)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Hound Dog”

5)  The Lennon Sisters  ~  “Tonight You Belong To Me”

6)  Bill Doggett  ~  “Honky Tonk”

7)  Gogi Grant  ~  “The Wayward Wind”

8)  Bill Haley & His Comets  ~  “See You Later, Alligator”

9)  Perry Como  ~  “Juke Box Baby”

10)  Vic Damone  ~  “On The Street Where You Live / Let’s Take An Old-Fashioned Walk”

11)  Johnny Cash  ~  “I Walk The Line”

12)  The Platters  ~  “You’ll Never Know”

13)  Eddie Heywood  ~  “Canadian Sunset”

14)  Peggy Lee  ~  “Mr. Wonderful”

15)  Gale Storm  ~  “Ivory Tower”

16)  The Four Lads  ~  “No, Not Much”

17)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Love Me Tender”

18)  Little Richard  ~  “Long, Tall Sally”

Popular Songs Of 1956, Vol. 1

I'll bet you thought I was done with these "Popular Songs Of..." posts for the year, didn't you? Well, I am...after this two-parter. But I couldn't neglect one of the biggest years in the early days of rock 'n' roll (as well as a solid year for traditional pop), could I? You don't have to answer that. You just have to listen (if you want to)...and enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Heartbreak Hotel”

2)  The Platters  ~  “The Great Pretender”

3)  Doris Day  ~  “Que Sera Sera”

4)  Dean Martin  ~  “Memories Are Made Of This”

5)  Morris Stoloff  ~  “Moonglow and Theme From Picnic”

6)  Pat Boone  ~  “I Almost Lost My Mind”

7)  Kay Starr  ~  “Rock And Roll Waltz”

8)  Carl Perkins  ~  “Blue Suede Shoes”  (Why would I not include Elvis’ version of this song? For one, I already have 5 Elvis songs lined up for these posts. And for another, Perkins released his version eight months earlier and became one of the biggest hits of Perkins’ long and distinguished career. So there!)

9)  Johnnie Ray  ~  “Just Walkin’ In The Rain / If I Had You”

10)  Elvis Presley  ~  “Don’t Be Cruel”

11)  Perry Como  ~  “Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)”

12)  Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps  ~  “Be-Bop-A-Lula”

13)  Fats Domino  ~  “Blueberry Hill”

14)  Guy Mitchell  ~  “Singing The Blues”

15)  Bing Crosby & Grace Kelly  ~  “True Love”

16)  Patti Page  ~  “Allegheny Moon”

17)  Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers  ~  “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”

18)  Elvis Presley  ~  “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”

Songs About Fruit

A few weeks ago, I was brainstorming some ideas for new music posts, and my wife asked if I'd ever done one about songs with fruit in their titles. I replied that of course I had, and that it had gone over quite well. And then I began to second-guess myself. So I looked over my previous music posts and – to my surprise – I was wrong! I had never done a fruit songs post. So here it is. Twenty-five songs, twenty-five different fruits. Every one of them juicy. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Tori Amos  ~  "Raspberry Swirl"

2)  Angus and Julia Stone  ~  "Mango Tree"

3)  Sarah Jaffe  ~  "Clementine"

4)  Mista  ~  "Blackberry Molasses"  (I included this one for my friend, Eric. He knows why.)

5)  First Aid Kit  ~  "Tangerine"

6)  Fats Domino  ~  "Blueberry Hill"

7)  Goldfrapp  ~  "Black Cherry"

8)  The Presidents Of The United States Of America  ~  "Peaches"

9)  Margot & The Nuclear So And So's  ~  "Cold, Kind, & Lemon Eyes"

10)  Tom T. Hall  ~  "(Old Dogs, Children, And) Watermelon Wine"  (The actual song starts at the 4:00 mark.)

11)  Lady Gaga  ~  "Orange Colored Sky"

12)  Harry Belafonte  ~  "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"

13)  Islander  ~  "Coconut Dracula"

14)  Neil Diamond  ~  "Cherry, Cherry"

15)  The Andrews Sisters  ~  "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree"

16)  Coldplay  ~  "Strawberry Swing"

17)  KT Tunstall  ~  "Honeydew"

18)  Los Campesinos!  ~  "Avocado, Baby"

19)  Diana Krall  ~  "Peel Me A Grape"

20)  Elvis Presley  ~  "Queenie Wahine's Papaya"

21)  Dwight Yoakam  ~  "3 Pears"

22)  Brooklyn Roebuck  ~  "Lemon & Lime"

23)  Peter Frampton  ~  "Fig Tree Bay"

24)  Herbie Hancock  ~  "Cantaloupe Island"

25)  Kate Nash  ~  "Pumpkin Soup"  (Yes, it's a fruit. I looked it up.)