(vanity) TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II - '50s

me | 1/16/22 | the OlLine Rebel

[the OlLine Rebel]

TOURNAMENT FOR THE GREATEST SONG OF THE '50S!

ROUND 1B – ‘50s

The baseline for the survey is the top 10 hits of each year of the '50s, as compiled by BILLBOARD. This is NOT based on personal preferences, biases, prejudices, or counter-culture fringe-element reactionism. Nor based on weekly charts.

Round 1 involves ranking candidate songs in order of preference for each year. Part B, as before with A last week, will be 5 years’ worth of rankings, so hunker down again because that’s 50 songs to handle!

(The remaining rounds are handled as play-offs, starting with 32 pairs of songs to compare. More on that later.)

For the first time ever, WE ARE USING A SURVEY WEBSITE for the polling! NO MORE TYPING YOUR CHOICES IN THE THREAD!

Following posts list the pieces for instant review. Again, however, another post will link to SurveyHero surveys, and links to YouTube for the hits.

PLEASE BEWARE: MANY SONGS IN THE ‘50S WERE COVERED, EVEN IN THE SAME YEAR, AND HIT. PLEASE CHECK “ACT” AND THE YOUTUBE PLAYLIST FOR THE CORRECT RECORDING AND NOT JUST ASSUME THE MOST FAMOUS/ENDURING RECORDING!

Also, please note that some “singles” were not really “singles” especially in 1958. They feature both songs on the 45 as the same “piece” (I still haven’t fully figured that out). Treat it as you wish, but be aware some are really polling on 2 songs at once!

ROUND 1B DUE DATE: SUNDAY JANUARY 23 @12:00PM EST

[the OlLine Rebel]

TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS 1950S PING LIST

(This is a temporary ping list….so don’t worry!)

Welcome to all members who signed up already!

For those who have not signed up, please consider tuning into the Tournament of Chart-Toppers for the 1950s and casting your votes!

(Please PM me if you would like to be ON or OFF the ping list!)

FEATURED PIECES OF 1955 – 1959 (SEE SURVEY LINKS BELOW FOR EACH YEAR)

1955
"Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" Perez Prado
"Rock Around the Clock" Bill Haley & His Comets
"The Yellow Rose of Texas" Mitch Miller
"Autumn Leaves" Roger Williams
"Unchained Melody" Les Baxter
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" Bill Hayes
"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" The Four Aces
"Sincerely" The McGuire Sisters
"Ain't That a Shame" Pat Boone
"The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" Georgia Gibbs

1956
"Heartbreak Hotel" Elvis Presley
"Don't Be Cruel" Elvis Presley
"Lisbon Antigua" Nelson Riddle
"My Prayer" The Platters
"The Wayward Wind" Gogi Grant
"The Poor People of Paris" Les Baxter
"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" Doris Day
"Hound Dog" Elvis Presley
"Memories Are Made of This" Dean Martin
"(The) Rock and Roll Waltz" Kay Starr

1957
"All Shook Up" Elvis Presley
"Love Letters in the Sand" Pat Boone
"Little Darlin'" The Diamonds
"Young Love" Tab Hunter
"So Rare" Jimmy Dorsey
"Don't Forbid Me" Pat Boone
"Singing the Blues" Guy Mitchell
"Young Love" Sonny James
"Too Much" Elvis Presley
"Round and Round" Perry Como

1958
"Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)" Domenico Modugno
"All I Have to Do Is Dream"/"Claudette" The Everly Brothers
"Don't"/"I Beg of You" Elvis Presley
"Witch Doctor" David Seville
"Patricia" Perez Prado
"Sail Along, Silv'ry Moon"/"Raunchy" Billy Vaughn
"Catch a Falling Star"/"Magic Moments" Perry Como
"Tequila" The Champs
"It's All in the Game" Tommy Edwards
"Return to Me" Dean Martin

1959
"The Battle of New Orleans" Johnny Horton
"Mack the Knife" Bobby Darin
"Personality" Lloyd Price
"Venus" Frankie Avalon
"Lonely Boy" Paul Anka
"Dream Lover" Bobby Darin
"The Three Bells" The Browns
"Come Softly to Me" The Fleetwoods
"Kansas City" Wilbert Harrison
"Mr. Blue" The Fleetwoods

[SaxxonWoods]

Neat, I counted 10 that I played on stages.

[SamAdams76]

Entering the rock era.

Now I know much more of the songs in the second half of the 1950s.

[the OlLine Rebel]

TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS 1950S PING LIST
Welcome back to all members who signed up already!

For those who have not signed up, please consider tuning into the Tournament of Chart-Toppers for the 1950s and casting your votes!

Please PM me if you would like to be ON or OFF the ping list!

ROUND 1B

1955

ranking survey: 1955 survey

top 10 playlist: 1955 top 10

1956

ranking survey: 1956 survey

top 10 playlist: 1956 top 10

1957

ranking survey: 1957 survey

top 10 playlist: 1957 top 10

1958

ranking survey: 1958 survey

top 10 playlist: 1958 top 10

1959

ranking survey: 1959 survey

top 10 playlist: 1959 top 10

Rules for Round 1:

Click on each year’s survey you wish to rank. You do not have to do every year, but must rank every song in any year you poll. Rank ALL 10 songs in order of your preference, from best to worst/1-10.

This survey does not allow ties, or omissions (purposefully). You must rank all 10 for the survey to complete and count. When you complete a survey, you will not be able to vote again – and I cannot do it for you! No Dem voting options! So please review the candidates carefully.

Each song will be prioritized by weighted point total garnered by SurveyHero - greatest # points is #1, etc. Polling ties will be broken by Billboard ranking, then survey highest ranking, then # highest rankings in survey.

I will give a week for this round to garner more interest and votes, and test how much time may usually be needed. I plan on a week span for every round, but may change as needed.

(NOTE: one does not have to play every single round to participate, although that would be preferred!)

[BlueLancer]

bookmark for later

[TalBlack]

I Wonder Why by Dion and the Belmonts. Any thing else produced in the style or during the era is after that. I have spoken. Now let’s talk about something else.

[Family Guy]

Some of these songs are really tremendous. The Three Bells is a spectacular song. I first heard it on a television commercial and found the single at a garage sale soon after. I had to hide and listen to it so I wouldn't catch flack from my older siblings.

So Rare was Jimmy Dorsey's attempt to break into rock and roll, and it's cool as hell. I play it for my boys and they appreciate it, even if they like modern music more.

[Rappini]

Thanks for posting brought back some great memories.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I had my son into “our” music at least, and since he is subjected to what I play often, he has more knowledge and appreciation for really old music than his peers know anything about.

They make fun of him sometimes for NOT knowing some moron of now (movies, music, etc - though he indulges in those plenty). But, I think it’s sad if you don’t have your foot in the past to appreciate your forebears, at least. Heck, before recordings, it was common to know lots of VERY old tunes over the centuries, not “out of touch”.

[Fiji Hill]

Some of these songs are really tremendous. The Three Bells is a spectacular song. I first heard it on a television commercial and found the single at a garage sale soon after. I had to hide and listen to it so I wouldn't catch flack from my older siblings.

I had the same problem with my younger brother, who was into the Rolling Stones, Blue Cheer, the Jefferson Airplane, etc., so I had to make sure he was out of earshot when I played the Platters, Lee Andrews & the Hearts, Dion & the Belmonts and the Penguins.

[SamAdams76]

This is a great format. Hopefully you will push this into additional decades in the weeks to come.

[Fiji Hill]

I like the original version of "The Three Bells." It reminds me of my father, who, like Jean-Francois Nicot, the protagonist in the song, was born in a small community at the bottom of a remote valley and passed away on a starry night.

Les Trois Cloches (the three bells)-- Edith Piaf & Les Compagnons de la Chanson (1946)

[Fiji Hill]

So Rare was Jimmy Dorsey's attempt to break into rock and roll, and it's cool as hell.

This cool version also got some airplay out here.

So Rare--Don Cherry

[the OlLine Rebel]

Yes, I will likely use it from now on.

But it’s still a lot of work to set up, so I’ll definitely take a break before setting up the ‘60s.

FR does not make it easy. Try to copy and past from Word but FR, even in “reply”, won’t allow simple copying of links. I have to re-type in the HTML for every link. I think I figured that out. Ridiculous. So that makes extra untimely work. Hence my screwy set-up today.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Guess I stated before, I loved “oldies” and there was a bit of revival in the ‘80s. We had a popular oldies station and many of us teen girls listened to it all the time and we all frequently sang the tunes for fun. In school and working at a theater, where another good singing girl and I often sang out from our ticket booth.

[upchuck]

Thank you for the Top 10 survey. Eliminates all the typing.

[Fiji Hill]

"Witch Doctor" David Seville

Which one?

Which Witch Doctor?--The Vogues (1958)

[Fiji Hill]

For #17 I copied and pasted a Youtube URL using Notepad, and it worked.

[Grammy]

Now we’re getting into the fun years! I remember so many of these from my early childhood, and then I was the manager of an “oldies” band, so I can hear them singing them too! Thanks OLR.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I’ve done it before in regular replies to threads. I don’t understand why it won’t work nicely.

Usually just plopping the URL works, but not here. I need some HTML in there too, for some semblance of order and structure, so maybe that is a problem.