Music and sidetracks of the 50s, 60s and 70s, more or less related, or not, to my Australian song history site "WHERE DID THEY GET THAT SONG?" at POPARCHIVES.COM.AU
Earlier, I wrote about radio station charts in the 50s-60s-70s when sales figures were randomly or casually collected, and stations were free to favour songs from their own playlists or, well, whatever they reckoned. (See my Toppermost of the poppermost: the charts.)
The chart from Melbourne's 3AWfor 28 June 1959 gives us a neat insight into the workings of both radio station charts and the retrospectively compiled charts we use for big cities or the whole country.
Denis Gibbons, a highly regarded folk singer-guitarist-composer, recorded several albums, mainly of Australian folk songs, some of them intended for use in schools, and he also released some singles. He wasn't a pop star or a teen idol, but probably sat more at the square end of the music market, as we might have said back then.
As well as being a folk-singer, Denis was an announcer at 3AW, where he'd landed a big city job after starting out on 3SR in Shepparton.
The 1959 chart showshim with two records in the 3AW Top 30. It's fair to say that he did well on the charts at 3AW, but not so well at the stations where he didn't work.
One of his 3AW hits, at #5, isa cover of the Everly Brothers'Take A Message to Mary which was still on the charts at other stations and doing well. Gavin Ryan's Melbourne chart book has the Everlys peaking at #1, with no mention of Denis's3AW hit.
When we say #1 in Melbourne in 1959, we are referring to a retrospective chart, in this case compiled by Gavin using radio charts available to him at some later time. In his Melbourne chart book for this period Gavin used charts from 3UZ and 3DB. Although I don't have those charts we can infer that the Everlys reached #1 or nearby at both stations, and it seems unlikely that Denis's recordwas even played on 3UZ and 3DB.
I'm no statistician but I believe that if Gavin had included 3AW's chart, Denis's #5 single would've earned a placing in his retrospective chart, maybe even in the Top 20.
Because the 3AW chart so obviously boosts Denis's records, it might be a good thing that it was omitted from Gavin's calculations, whether through editorial judgment or unavailability.
Most played, requested and sought after!
As I typed earlier, though, radio station surveys reflected station playlists. It's not surprising that Denis's records might be played on his employer's station, and the 3AW chart reflects that.
As it says on the chart, it is based on most played, most requested and most sought after. Whatever that means, it doesn't mean most records sold.
A few weeks earlier, Denis's colleague at 3AWRalphe Rickman made a prediction: Take A Message To Mary - Denis Gibbons.
So far I have found only Diana Trask's version, and I am confident it is the only release of the song. In the discography at Bacharach site A House Is Not A Homepage, for example, Diana Trask's is the only version listed.
Australian singer Diana Trask (b. 1940) moved to the US from Melbourne in 1959. She soon became known as a regular on Mitch Miller's TV show Sing Along with Mitch and in 1961 she releasedtwo albums, Diana Trask (later known as Vocal Jazz Classics) and Diana Trask On TV.
Her singles made the US Country chart eighteen times 1968-1981, peaking with Say When (1973, #15), It's A Man's World (If You Had A Man Like Mine) (1973, #20), When I Get My Hands On You (1973, #16) and Lean On Me (1974, #13).
On the pop charts, Trask's appearances were limited to two singles that under-bubbled just outsideBillboard's Hot 100, but back home Long Ago Last Summer was one of six singles that charted Top 40 for her in Melbourne 1959-1975.
The orchestra on Long Ago Last Summer is conducted by classically trained Glenn Osser(1914-2014) who would produce Trask's self-titled album (1961). Osser's experience went back to the Swing era when he arranged for many big names in music and played in Les Brown's Band of Renown. After the War he worked with Paul Whiteman's orchestra and as music director for the ABC network, and later became a house arranger for Mercury then Columbia Records. His array of credits is impressive
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Long Ago Last Summer (1960) came after Bacharachand David's earliest successes with Marty Robbins'sThe Story of My Life (1957 #15 USA) and Perry Como'sMagic Moments (1958, #4).
This was a couple of years before their hits for Gene Pitney,The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, #4) and Only Love Can Break a Heart (1962, #2). Also to come was the hugely successful collaboration with Dionne Warwick, beginning with her first Top 40 chart entry, Don't Make Me Over (1962, #21).
Along the way, Bacharach often wrote with others, notably Bob Hilliard, his co-writer on The Drifters' Please Stay (1961, #14) and Gene McDaniels' Tower Of Strength (1961, #5). On The Shirelles'Baby It's You (1962, #8) his co-writers were Hal's brother Mack David and Barney Williams, an alias of Luther Dixon.
Similarly, lyricist Hal David had other collaborators, includingSherman EdwardsonSarah Vaughan's Broken Hearted Melody (1959, #7 USA) and Paul HamptononDon Gibson's Sea Of Heartbreak (1961, #21). (Hamptonalso wrote with Bacharach.)
Of 33 tracks from 1959-61 compiled on the Él label's Bacharach CD, 14 are by Bacharach with a writing partner other than Hal David.
Diana Trask - Long Ago Last Summer (1960)
Bonus track: Glenn Osser And His Orchestra - When You Used To Dance With Me (1958)
Playlist: 33 tracks on Burt Bacharach - Long Ago Last Summer 1959-61.
US charts: #83 [Billboard] Australian charts: #4 [#6 Sydney, #2 Melbourne, #10 Brisbane, #10 Adelaide, #6 Perth] New Zealand charts: #9 [Freeman] *Again, a case of Bigger in both Oz and NZ.
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Doctor Casey was the fictional neurosurgeon in Ben Casey, a popular TV seriesthat debuted in the US in October 1961 and ran until 1966. Callin' Doctor Casey was released in June 1962 during Ben Casey'speak ratings of 1961-1963.
This is not any kind of official tie-in with the series. The lovesick singer is calling on Dr Casey to mend his broken heart. The deep voice that answers, "Ye-e-es?" is a comical Ben Casey that sounds nothing like the character played by Vince Edwards. (Is it a parody of some old horror movie star? Boris Karloff maybe? Bela Lugosi?)
At least three Loudermilk compositions recorded by others also did better in Australia than in the US:
Mark Dinning - Top Forty, News, Weather And Sports1 (1961, #81 USA, #17 Australia)
Sue Thompson – James (Hold The Ladder Steady) (1962, #17 USA, #6 Australia, #15 NZ)
Sue Thompson- Paper Tiger (1964[USA]-1965, #23 USA, #3 Australia)2
Loudermilk's Midnight Bus was first recorded in the US by Billy Graves then by Loudermilkhimself,but the song became better known in Australia, thanks to a classic local version:
Betty McQuade- Midnight Bus (1961, #6 Melbourne, #29 Australia; 1963 reissue, #17 Brisbane, #1 Perth, #69 Australia). See my history of Midnight Bus.
As well as Callin' Doctor Casey, another of Loudermilk's own records was popular down under (especially in New Zealand):
John D. Loudermilk – The Language Of Love (1961, #32 USA, #21 Australia, #8 NZ).
In fact, in a world where most songwriting credits went unnoticed, Loudermilk would have been known down here mainly as a singer. For connoisseurs of the fine print, he was an extraordinarily prolific and diversifying songwriter.
When he died in 2016, obituarists tried to summarise Loudermilk's huge songwriting repertoire in a few lines. Many started by mentioning two or three well-known and contrasting compositions, typicallyTobacco Road, Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye or Indian Reservation.
When I attempted a list of "better known recordings" of Loudermilk's songs I tried to keep it short but I ended up with 27. I wanted to convey the volume of familiar songs he had written, but I was also struck by the wide range of styles and ideas they took in.
An economical way of dramatising Loudermilk's versatility is to pair one of his songs with another that is markedly different from it. Like this:
• Top Forty, News, Weather And Sport (Mark Dinning) • Abilene(George Hamilton IV)
• Talk Back Tremblin’ Lips (Johnny Tillotson) • Tobacco Road (The Nashville Teens)
• Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye (The Casinos) • Norman (Sue Thompson)
• The Language Of Love (John D. Loudermilk) • Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian) (Raiders, Don Fardon, Marvin Rainwater: title varies)
• Thou Shalt Not Steal (Dick & DeeDee) • This Little Bird (Marianne Faithful)
• Midnight Bus (Betty McQuade) • Callin' Doctor Casey (John D. Loudermilk)
Listen to the list on this playlist:
Footnotes 1. Top Forty, News, Weather And Sports was on Volume 3 of Glenn A. Bakers Hard To Get Hits, aseries that includes the same premise as Bigger in Oz. 2. Two other Sue Thompsonrecords written by Loudermilk were hits both in the US and in Australasia: Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) (1961, #5 USA, #6 Australia, #2 NZ) and Norman (1961, #3 USA, #4 Australia, #1 NZ), later adapted in Australia as Norman-“Normie" (1966), a tribute to local pop idol Normie Rowe
Essential reading: Kees van der Hoeven's John D. Loudermilk site is the definitive, indispensable source where the ultimate aim is to document every Loudermilk song and recording. He must be getting close.
US Charts: #58 Billboard, #49 Cash Box Australian charts: #38 Sydney, #19 Melbourne (Ryan), #14 Melbourne (Guest), #37 Brisbane | #37 Australia
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Not a dramatic case of Bigger in Oz, butthe lower reaches of Australia's Top 40 do beat the lower reaches of Top 60 Billboard and Top 50 Cash Box.
Johnny Burnette
Johnny Burnette's three biggest hits Dreamin' (1960), You're Sixteen (1960), and Little Boy Sad (1961) all charted at least Top 20 in the US, the UK, Australia, and NZ but Australia is the only one where Big Big World made Top 40.
In 1961 I was listening to Melbourne radio, so I remember Big Big World as well as Burnette's better-known songs. Depending on the chart compiler, Big Big World charted in Melbourne at #19 (Gavin Ryan)or #14 (Tom Guest). (For a plunge into the metaphysics of retrospective charts see my post Toppermost of the poppermost: the charts.)
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Big Big World evokes the feeling of searching for one person among millions and being defeated by the vastness of the city.
In Snuff Garrett's production the elements meld perfectly, all contributing to the final effect: composition, arrangement, performances. There are no jarring distractions.1
I admire the way the story is told economically, in colloquial language, without any wasted words. It takes place in two locations, an apartment block - Nine one, 27th Avenue - and a phone box.
At the apartments, where the searcher tells them he is just looking for a friend living in Apartment 10, he has no luck: You say she's gone. Please, how long has it been?
In the phone box, the futility of his quest is brought home to him when he consults the telephone directory.
Joneses, Joneses All I see,page 19 to 23
Big, big world can be unkind The phone just took my last dime
I love the sound of Joneses Joneses. Every "s" has a /z/ sound, setting up a nice percussive effect with the repetition.
This is a song of numbers: the address and the apartment number (Nine one, 27th Avenue... Apartment 10), the pages of Joneses (19 to 23).
I assume the numbers that open the song - Nine one, 27th- were carefully chosen, as they are perfect.
I am reminded of that much-repeated story about the comedy writers on Sid Caesar's TV show deciding which number on a roulette wheel would be funniest. (The final choice was thirty-two).
Big Big World isn't comedy, but I can imagine a similar process going on for Nine one, 27th, as well as for the numbers of the telephone directory pages 19 to 23.
Clearly, the rhythm of the words is a factor. And although the selection might have been intuitive, I wonder whether the result has something to do with the repeated sounds in nine one twenty-seven: the /n/, the short "e" (/e/) and the /w/?
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The composers of Big Big World areGerald Nelson (1935-2012), Fred Burch (c.1932- ) and Bobby "Red" West (1936-2017).
Red West was a long-time associate of Elvis Presley from high school days, and a member of Elvis's entourage. He worked successfully as a bodyguard, stuntman, movie extra, actor, songwriter and artists' agent. West would be the most visible of the three writers of Big Big World, partly through the Elvis Presley connection, but also through his many appearances in films, sometimes uncredited but also credited alongside some well-known names.
Nelson and Burch started writing together when Burch was at the University of Kentucky in 1958. Their composition Tragedy charted for Thomas Wayne (1959, #4 USA), The Fleetwoods (1961, #10 USA), and Bryan Hyland (1969, #56 USA). A version by Paul McCartney appeared as a bonus track on a later reissue of Red Rose Speedway.
Fred Burch [right] was a prolific songwriter based inNashville where he was a staff writer for Cedarwood Publishing Co. He collaborated, for example, with Marijohn Wilkin on Jimmy Dean's P.T. 109 (1962, #8 USA, #29 Australia).*
On Perry Como'sDream On Little Dreamer (1965, #25 USA) Burch's co-writer was Jan Crutchfield. Hewas also from Paducah where he was in The Country Gentlemen-Escorts with Big Big World co-writer Gerald Nelson. Jan Crutchfield's brother Jerry, another songwriter, was in the group too.
Strange, recorded by Patsy Cline(1962, #97 USA), was a Fred Burch -Mel Tillis composition. Tillis was also contracted to Cedarwood Publishing and they wrote several songs together.
It didn't surprise me to read in the archives that Burch wasa "student of journalism" whostudied English at university before turning to professional song writing. Clearly, at least one writer who knew their way around words had a hand in Big Big World, and as a songwriterBurch seems to have specialised in lyrics.
For example, it was Burch who started off Tragedy with some lines of verse.2 Local press in Paducah (1962) gives him credit for being the lyricist of P.T. 109 and numerous other songs including Big Big World,3 although in the Tennessee press Burch himself acknowledges co-composer Marijohn Wilkin's role in polishing the lyrics of P.T. 109.4
Item of interest: "Composers Take Cruise": songwriters Marijohn Wilkin and Fred Burch with Wilkin's husband and son on a cruise trip to Paducah on the Wilkins' houseboat, The Leaf-Chronicle, Clarksville, Tennessee, 7 August 1961.
*Don't confuse Fred Burch with Don Burch who wrote The Shields'hit "You Cheated" (1958) or John Burch who wroteGeorgie Fame's "Preach And Teach" (1964) and "In The Meantime" (1965).
