'50s Gold playlist

There was Tommy Edwards the DJ too, on WLS. Did Animal Stories with Larry Lujack

I did listen to this countdown. I like it because it was short
 
November 11th, 1957

10 15 BOBBY HELMS - MY SPECIAL ANGEL
09 08 DEBBIE REYNOLDS - TAMMY
08 04 JIMMIE RODGERS - HONEYCOMB
07 13 THURSTON HARRIS - LITTLE BITTY PRETTY ONE
06 05 JOHNNY MATHIS - CHANCES ARE
05 07 RICKY NELSON - BE-BOP BABY
04 06 SAM COOKE - YOU SEND ME
03 03 THE RAYS - SILHOUETTES
02 02 THE EVERLY BROTHERS - WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE
01 01 ELVIS PRESLEY - JAILHOUSE ROCK
 
I know more from these ten 1957 songs than I do from the forty in this week's 1960 countdown

Ok 2

***
02 02 THE EVERLY BROTHERS - WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE
01 01 ELVIS PRESLEY - JAILHOUSE ROCK

? 8
 
Elvis recorded the Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller song Jailhouse Rock on April 30, 1957 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. It would be number one on the Billboard Top 100 for seven weeks in October 1957. The version that Elvis lip-synched to in the Jailhouse Rock movie included instruments and vocals overdubbed on an MGM soundstage in July: "Lay it on me, daddio! Rock, rock to the jailhouse rock!" Yeah, that's the way many people talked in 1957.

 
You've heard the expression "Banned in Boston"? The Everly Brothers' Wake Up Little Susie was banned in Boston. The single, about a young couple who fall asleep at a drive-in movie, was released on September 2, 1957 and soon all four top-40 stations in Boston (WBZ, WCOP, WHIL and WMEX) began playing it. The lyrics, in part:

Wake up, little Susie, wake up
We've both been sound asleep; wake up, little Susie, and weep
The movie's over, it's four o'clock, and we're in trouble deep
Well, I told your mama that you'd be in by ten
Well, Susie, baby, looks like we goofed again
The movie wasn't so hot; it didn't have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot
Wake up, little Susie
We gotta go home

The Boston Catholic Diocese decreed that the lyrics are "suggestive" and ordered all local radio stations to quit playing it. And they did. Memo to the Boston Catholic Diocese: There is nothing "suggestive" about falling asleep. Here is a live performance from 1983:

 
November 20th, 1954:

10 15 ROSEMARY CLOONEY - MAMBO ITALIANO
09 07 BILL HALEY AND HIS COMETS - SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL
08 08 THE DeCASTRO SISTERS - TEACH ME TONIGHT
07 05 DORIS DAY - IF I GIVE MY HEART TO YOU
06 06 DON CORNELL - HOLD MY HAND
05 04 PERRY COMO - PAPA LOVES MAMBO
04 09 THE CHORDETTES - MR. SANDMAN
03 02 ROSEMARY CLOONEY - HEY THERE
02 03 ROSEMARY CLOONEY - THIS OLE HOUSE
01 01 EDDIE FISHER - I NEED YOU NOW
 
1 ok song from 1954:

04 09 THE CHORDETTES - MR. SANDMAN

I believe this song has been used in many tv shows and movies (I think I remember it from "Back To The Future") which is where I remember it from.
 
The Chordettes' Mr. Sandman appeared in Halloween II (1981), Uncle Buck (1989), 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag (1997), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998), See Spot Run (2001) and Mr. Nobody (2009).

The version of Mr. Sandman playing in a record shop in Back To The Future (1985) is by the Four Aces. The Chordettes' version went to number one on Billboard's December 4 1954 Best Sellers In Stores chart and stayed in the top spot for seven weeks. The Four Aces' version, which includes background vocals by a female chorus conducted by Jack Pleis, peaked at #5 on the January 1 1955 Best Sellers chart.

 
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