Music buffs spark furious debate over 'best one hit wonder ever'

Daily Mail ^ | 9/25/24 | Emma Saletta

[week 71]

Music enthusiasts who prefer one-hit wonders over frequently-played radio hits can smile now National One-Hit Wonder Day is here.

Several X users have listed their favorite ones in honor of the day, most of which were released between the 1980s and 2010s.

Chart-topping hits like Gotye's 'Somebody I Used to Know' and Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' are just two of the many songs that were the top one-hit wonders

[Buttons12]

My folks always took pop music very seriously. I grew up listening to 1950’s and 1960’s vintage tunes, and of all the “one hit wonders” my favorite is “You,” by the Aquatones. Circa 1958?

[Iceclimber58]

Ram Jam Black Betty

[P.O.E.]

“Happy Birthday” written by Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893

[Fiji Hill]

"Let Me Go, Lover" was adapted from Let Me Go, Devil by Georgie Shaw (1953), a spiritual song about a man struggling to free himself from Satan's control.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Walk Away, Rene"

"Diddy Wah Diddy"

[TauntedTiger]

I’ll admit I haven’t read through all the replies, but has anyone mentioned Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas? One of my all time fav one-hit-wonders.

[Justa]

I’ll take A-holes who don’t respect Liberty for $500 Alex

In a free society Ppl are allowed to have opinions and personal choice. Let them.

And they still have their guns. So you... really want to keep pushing it?

[Steve_Seattle]

“Tobacco Road”, the Nashville Teens. I think they had one other song in the charts (”Google Eye”), but it was hardly a big “hit.”

[Fiji Hill]

When it was released in the US, "Seemann, deine Heimat" featured a female voice doing an English commentary superimposed over the music. However, this is not a translation. In the commentary, the girl is waiting for her sailor to come home, but in the original German, she is giving up on him because he is "addicted" to visiting faraway places. Petula Clark also did an English version, which was a hit in England, but I don't think it was released in this country.

Interestingly, the song is from Austria, which has no seacoast.

Seemann, deine Heimat (US version)--Lolita Ditta (1960)

Sailor--Petula Clark (1961)

[NetAddicted]

Good song.

[Steve_Seattle]

“Ride Captain, Ride” I’d agree that was a big one.

[Fiji Hill]

The Left Banke followed "Walk Away, Rene" with Pretty Ballerina, a big hit (at least out here) at the time of Superbowl I.

[xp38]

a bubble gum tune from 1967 is one of my favourites

Come On Down To My Boat Baby.....Every Mothers Son

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvye4GXgPE0

[hellinahandcart]

Oh, but there was more than one hit-—”I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby”, later covered by Colorfield and Smashmouth.

[week 71]

@ 167 Not sure what you mean in regards to this post - cheers

[Steve_Seattle]

"The Left Banke followed "Walk Away, Rene" with Pretty Ballerina, a big hit (at least out here) at the time of Superbowl I."

Granted, but some of the bands that are really known for one song had one less successful follow-up before they disappeared. I mentioned the Nashville Teens in that same vein.

[redangus]

Afternoon Delight, Starlight Vocal Band, 1976

[dfwgator]

I would have said The Cyrkle with “Red Rubber Ball”, but IMHO this is a better song by them...

Turn Down Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivBqA8p9r6Q

[Fiji Hill]

When informed that "Louie, Loouie" was one of the most-played songs by rock bands, Richard Berry, who wrote it and was the first to record it, remarked that if you couldn't play "Louie, Louie," you couldn't play anything.

Louie, Louie--Richard Berry & the Pharaohs (1957)

[hellinahandcart]

Ah. I named my first car Black Betty.