A Little Somewhat Amusing Triva

[Bruce Tackett]

With the world in the state that it's in, and with all the Coronavirus and Trump and Biden debate that's flying back and forth on this forum, it's nice to occasionally have an unexpected inconsequential distraction.

When I work I listen to music on the Internet. Yesterday I had a Youtube video up of music from 1956. It was playing snippets from every song recorded that year. I have heard the hits from that era a thousand times over, but in this video there were a number of songs I remember, but hadn't heard since. Most of the snippets were shown with actual performance footage. As I was working, one song in particular caught my attention - a sugary sweet song called, "Tonight You Belong to Me" sung by two little girls named Patience and Prudence. I remembered it, but I don't recall ever hearing it again since 1956.

So, out of curiosity, I did a bit of research to find out who the two little girls were and the circumstances behind the song. As it turned out, these two little sisters were singing a song they had learned at summer camp when they were overheard by their father who was a professional musician, having played the piano for Frank Sinatra recordings. He remembered that song from the 30's and decided that with an updated arrangement, it had the potential for being a hit. For a demo recording, he had his daughters sing it while he accompanied them with his piano arrangement. He then passed the recording on to some music producer, or something, thinking that they would decide whether it was worth pursuing, and who would be a good recording artist to sing it.

The producer loved the recording just the way it was, and it became a hit, getting into the Billboard's top ten. The sisters, aged 11 and 14 made an appearance on the Perry Como show.

[Michael]

Being that I wasn't born then I did find that somewhat amusing. Thanks for sharing.

[Bruce Tackett]

Anything for a distraction.

[Michael]

I'm with You Bruce. Some of the other stuff is really getting old.

[macky]

May 22, 2020 22:03:23 GMT Bruce Tackett said:

Anything for a distraction.

You could always dynamite your toolshed.  That'll provide a bit of distraction for a while. 

Delightful video, thanks for showing that. I remember the tune quite well. It didn't figure on the NZ tops of the pops because Bill Haley, Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry held the fort. Rock 'n' Roll was one year old by then, and along with the 12-bar blues structure behind it, what I call crooner pop was also well underway. You know....Dean Martin, Pat Boone etc. The Platters were big over here, too.   

But I heard this tune quite often as infill for other radio programs, interludes for example. It's a strange feeling when you realize that neither you or me have heard that tune for over 60 years.

Bloody hell !  In your words, I'm old enough to be my own grandfather !    

[Bruce Tackett]

macky, you and I are blessed for having been there for the birth of rock 'n' roll! The 50's and 60's. What exciting times to have witnessed!

[MBS]

May 22, 2020 20:09:15 GMT Bruce Tackett said:

With the world in the state that it's in, and with all the Coronavirus and Trump and Biden debate that's flying back and forth on this forum, it's nice to occasionally have an unexpected inconsequential distraction.

When I work I listen to music on the Internet. Yesterday I had a Youtube video up of music from 1956. It was playing snippets from every song recorded that year. I have heard the hits from that era a thousand times over, but in this video there were a number of songs I remember, but hadn't heard since. Most of the snippets were shown with actual performance footage. As I was working, one song in particular caught my attention - a sugary sweet song called, "Tonight You Belong to Me" sung by two little girls named Patience and Prudence. I remembered it, but I don't recall ever hearing it again since 1956.

So, out of curiosity, I did a bit of research to find out who the two little girls were and the circumstances behind the song. As it turned out, these two little sisters were singing a song they had learned at summer camp when they were overheard by their father who was a professional musician, having played the piano for Frank Sinatra recordings. He remembered that song from the 30's and decided that with an updated arrangement, it had the potential for being a hit. For a demo recording, he had his daughters sing it while he accompanied them with his piano arrangement. He then passed the recording on to some music producer, or something, thinking that they would decide whether it was worth pursuing, and who would be a good recording artist to sing it.

The producer loved the recording just the way it was, and it became a hit, getting into the Billboard's top ten. The sisters, aged 11 and 14 made an appearance on the Perry Como show.

Thanks for sharing. 

[macky]

You're not wrong Bruce.  Looking back, the straight R&R, Country as pop (Johnny Cash), sounds that had never been heard before from the electric guitar cementing itself forever in modern music, smooth exponents such as Hank Marvin in Britain and the raunchy sound of the Ventures paving the way for blues guitarists like Eric Clapton and that magician, Jimi Hendrix. Chuck Berry before them, just to be fair.  He was the one that set the pace and style for much of the electric guitar music that came later, most notable in several numbers of the Rolling Stones, Route 66 etc.  

Your boys the Everly Brothers were prominent here in NZ as well. Hit after hit from two of the finest examples of harmonic "crooners".  From someone born a little before you that was coming off the back of the big band swing era and into the "melody music" of the late 40s and early 50s (the song Buttons and Bows was the first I ever remember hearing) the impact of Rock'n'Roll had everybody here spell-bound, whether they liked it or not. 

It is hard to remember a single defining moment of that avalanche of all the varieties of music (even Jazz was in the Pops, Dave Brubeck etc) that sprung out of the birth of R&R.  So many breaks-through in music were happening so fast, it was hard to keep up with everything. I was playing stride piano by the time I was 10 and in my first band at 17 on the bass guitar, and the magic nights when we had the crowd (and ourselves) whipped up with the floor full of dancers and clapping......heck, I never wanted the night to end, ever. 

There were quite a few delightful little numbers such as the one you've posted.  Some hit the charts, others didn't. Because in the 50's TV wasn't here in NZ, it was never more true that if DJs didn't give a tune air-time, one would only discover it in a record shop, usually by accident, or end up phoning a radio station asking what tune they had just played on a talk show or something.  

All through the 50s and to a large extent, the 60s, that stayed the name of the game but when bands started making videos, that's when things changed again.  And that's another good thing about the Net.  
I'm listening to numbers I thought I would never hear again, like 'Tonight You Belong To Me'.   

[Bruce Tackett]

May 23, 2020 1:52:11 GMT macky said:

the impact of Rock'n'Roll had everybody here spell-bound, whether they liked it or not.

People who weren't around back then will never know or understand the impact Elvis made. He was like an atomic bomb going off.

Yeah, I love it that you can now find songs on youtube you hadn't heard in years. Like I said, I've heard the same thousand R&R hits a thousand times each, and for the last couple of years I've been tuning into 30's, 40's, and early 50's music. All of that was just before my time, but in listening to some of those great old songs and band numbers, I've come to appreciate the genius of those writers and composers. I'll tell you something else. Frank Sinatra was pretty well gone by the time I became cognizant of music, but in listening to those old singers, I believe Sinatra was definitely a cut above all the others.

I remember when I was in England, I was 25, and I was going with a girl who was 32. She told me that as a teenager she used to lay back in her bed at nights with the lights off listening to Frank Sinatra. I remember thinking, "Gawd, you're old!"

Here's another one from that 1956 compilation I had forgotten about. This was done by The "Lovely" Lennon Sisters. I don't know if you folks in New Zealand got the Lawrence Welk show on TV.

[macky]

You're right.  Rock 'n' Roll had an effect that in some quarters was being denounced as the work of the devil, such a grip it had on us all, even us kids.  Milk bars started up with juke boxes in them, and teens dress all changed to various styles of flash jeans and pink socks with slip-ons, etc.

I lived in Napier at the time (about 22,000), and Elvis was on every poster in town. Of course, 8-year olds didn't get to go to dances, but I saved my sixpences for the juke boxes in the milk bars and paid to listen to Ricky Nelson and the Kalin Twins.   

NZ got to hear quite a bit of British rock as well as American, more so from 1960 onwards.  I had a special interest in instrumentals and I taught myself the guitar on the clean sound of Hank Marvin and the Shadows early hits. 

Re Sinatra, if I had to pick one singer from that era, it would be him. Others were great too, like Dean Martin and Andy Williams, but Sinatra just had that strong voice, and a little bit extra that I've never been able to define.  Other professionals that I knew over the years felt the same way.  An older guy that modelled his guitar playing (he was GOOD) on Chet Atkins (who would want more?) told me that nobody could stand with Sinatra.   

I never heard those girls' version of Gonna Get Along Without You Now, but Trini Lopez turned out a nice little version of it, and I heard plenty of others' versions. There's so much of different varieties of music, even Chinese Trance (would you believe?) that I've been exposed to over the years and after about 35-40 years since playing at gigs, I've been down to playing piano at an old folk's home for the last 4 years, so with a couple of hundred popular tunes I've accumulated on a list ranging from early 20th century to the 90's, I've got enough not to be playing the same tunes the following week as I did last week. Sometimes I've been backing guitar singers as well.  

I'm fortunate that I don't have to read music, which was an essential anyway for anyone who wanted to join a rock band back in the day, and probably today as well.   

 

[Michael]

Remember when we use to walk through two feet of snow to get to school,?

[Bruce Tackett]

Yes! And it was two miles uphill - in both directions!

[Michael]

(rofl)  That's the kind of stuff my Grandfather use to say to me.

[Dave Reslo]

I'm not reading all this, but one piece of trivia that came to mind earlier is that sloths only ever climb down from their trees to defecate, and the reason they leave the tree to do this is still uncertain.

[MBS]

May 24, 2020 0:54:05 GMT Dave Reslo said:

I'm not reading all this, but one piece of trivia that came to mind earlier is that sloths only ever climb down from their trees to defecate, and the reason they leave the tree to do this is still uncertain.

I never knew that.