Louie didn’t want to record this number, but the label insisted, deciding to cash in on the success of the Carol Channing musical on Broadway. It was his biggest hit.
When Barbra Streisand sang along with Louie in the movie version in the late Sixties, it was the defining moment of the film.
That’s it for tonight. Tomorrow night, it’s the second part of 1964. Cue the Rockumentary theme!
In early May, 1964, the Beatles had been parked at Number One on the Billboard Hot Hundred for three solid months. Then on the week of May 9, Louis Armstrong's "Hello, Dolly" knocked the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" off of the top spot. It would be August before the Beatles returned to Number One. One DJ--I think it was Casey Kasem--called Armstrong "the man who stopped the Beatles."
Thanks, Publius, for tonight’s Rockumentary for February 22, 1964. ((HUGS))
Lots of wonderful memories.