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
US charts: did not chart Australian charts: #15 Sydney #24 Melbourne #24 Brisbane #16 Perth | #17 Australia
Co-charting cover version:Rock Martin - Oliver Cool Rex single (Australia) RS-042 November 1960 Australian charts: #16 Perth
We are deep into novelty record territory here.
Who's the most swingingest boy in school? You are! And what's my name? Oliver Cool! That's right!
To me and my circle as 10-year-olds this was hilarious.
Australians had a soft spot for jokey, gimmicky records, and Lee Pockrissoften appeared in the writer credits. He andBob Hilliard wrote Jo Ann Campbell's A Kookie Little Paradise(1960), with its Tarzan calls and ice cream loaded with bananas in the jungle. They also wrote Paul Evans'swhimsical (Seven Little Girls) Sitting In The Back Seat (1959).
Pockriss and his Oliver Cool co-writer Paul Vancewrote Bryan Hyland'sItsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini. The title is the gimmick - almost the main event - just as it would be three years later in Little Pattie's He’s My Blonde-Headed Stompie-Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy which I suspect it inspired.
Unsurprisingly, Oliver Cool is a name adopted for the performance. You can find strong views online about whether this was dancer-choreographor-actor-director Tony Mordente (1935-2024) or singer and skater Lawrence Sarapochiello (1933-2024). It appears that each used the pseudonym Larry Ellis at some stage in their career, which could explain why there is confusion, but I don't feel confident in calling it either way.
I was surprised to discover an Australian cover version of Oliver Cool that co-charted in Perth with the original. Not only that, but there is no doubt that the artist,Rock Martin, was the famous West Australian-born stage hypnotistMartin St James(1924-2015) who had an early career as a cowboy singer in a circus.
Chart positions for this post: Australian capital cities: Gavin Ryan's chart books. Australia: Grant Dawe's Top 100 Singles site.
• Karl Hammel Jr - Summer Souvenirs(Paul Evans - Jimmy Krondes)1961, #68Bb, #60CB, USA,
Karl was previously heard on: •The Nomads - Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Krondes) 1961 B-side, #116 [Billboard Bubbling Under]
Bounty Hunter was covered by: •Al Caiola - Bounty Hunter (Jimmy Krondes)1961 (B-side of Bonaza #19 USA),
It is strongly reminiscent of: •Duane Eddy - Rebel-'Rouser(Duane Eddy - Lee Hazlewood) 1958 #6 USA.
aka as ... Cash Box, 8 Jul 61
I never forgot Karl Hammel Jr's Summer Souvenirs from hearingit on
the radio as an 11-year-old, but it wasn't a hit in Australia and it seemed to disappear
without trace.
In the 70s and 80s I bought second-hand or
reissued 45s by mail order, catching up with tracks I had
missed out on buying as a kid or teenager. Summer Souvenirs was near the top
of my wants list, and I scored it at a reasonable price through a mail-in record
auction.
The Paul Evans in the writer credits was already known to me from his records (Seven Little Girls) Sitting In The Back Seat and Show Folk, but I still knew nothing about Karl Hammel Jr (See my post, Bigger in Oz: Paul Evans - Show Folk).
Along came the Internet, and people from the music industry started to launch their own websites, often with contact details. So it was that I could emailPaul Evans to express my
regard for Summer Souvenirs and to find out anything at all about Karl Hammel Jr. I had a prompt and friendly reply: Paul said he remembered Karl - nice guy - but they had lost touch and he couldn't give me much background..
I now find (via Discogs.com) that Paul Evans's co-writer on Summer Souvenirs,Jimmy Kronde, was the manager of a New Rochelle NY band called The Nomads, and Karl Hammel Jr was a member.
The Nomads released one single, with both sides written by Jimmy Kronde.
The B-side, Bounty Hunter (February 1961), was released as an A-side in Australia in June 1961. This is a guitar instrumental that prominently features Karl Hammel Jr. At the start of the track hewhistles the main theme or melody once before he is joined by the guitar which then takes over the main theme, with Karl whistling in counterpoint. A cover version was released on a B-side by guitarist Al Caiola (March 1961) but without any whistling.
Whenever I came across Bounty Hunter over the years I absently thought, "Oh yeah, that's the one that sounds a lot like Duane Eddy."
In fact (I later realised) Bounty Hunter andDwayne Eddy's 1958 hit Rebel-'Rouser are almost identical in their main melodies or themes. Rebel-'Rouser repeats the theme several times, without a bridge or chorus, but Bounty Hunter adds one after two runs of the main theme, and repeats it later. Both versions have varied instrumentation throughout.
Clips: main themes only
Duane Eddy - Rebel-'Rouser (1958)
The Nomads - Bounty Hunter (1961)
Al Caiola - Bounty Hunter (1961)
Karl Hammel Jr- Summer Souvenirs (1960)
The Nomads - Bounty Hunter (1993)
Duane Eddy - Rebel-'Rouser (1958)
____________________
Bonus track
Al Caiola - Bounty Hunter (covering The Nomads, 1961)
Australian charts: #23 Perth | #67 Australia NZ charts: #17
*Another case of Bigger in Oz and NZ.
New York singer and guitarist Paul Evans(b, 1938) has put in many decades as a prolific and versatile composer and performer.
He is probably most recalled for his first and biggest US hit(Seven Little Girls) Sitting In The Back Seat, from 1959.The rest of his chart history is respectable, if unspectacular, but it is just part of a large and varied catalogue of songs that includes co-compositions recorded by other artists, as well as TV or film music and advertising jingles. Roses Are Red (My Love), a #1 US hit for Bobby Vinton, is often cited as an example of his successful co-compositions.
Show Folk is typical of Evans's light-hearted touch. Australians were fond of records with a spot of comedy or novelty. Two other droll American records of the era come to mind: Oliver Cool by Oliver Cool (Tony Mordente, 1959) charted #17 Australia, but did not chart in the US (a clear case of Bigger in Oz), and Ambrose byLinda Laurie (1959) charted #52 USA, #33 Australia.
____________________
The writers of Show Folk are Bob Hilliard and Robert Allen.
• Lyricist Hilliard (1918-1971) co-wrote Seven Little Girls, one ofnumerous credits over many years that include Bing Crosby'slate 1940s hit Dear Hearts and Gentle People, Frank Sinatra'sIn the Wee Small Hours of the Morning on his 1955 album In The Wee Small Hours, and Ruby & The Romantics #1 hit Our Day Will Come (1962).
See also, at this blog, Jo Ann Campbell'sA Kookie Little Paradise, written by Hilliard with Lee Pockriss, his co-writer on Seven Little Girls.
• Robert Allen (1927-2000) was a composer, and an accompanist for Perry Como and others. His compositions include Johnny Mathis's hit Chances Are (1957, #1 USA) and Doris Day's Everybody Loves A Lover (1958, #5 USA).
____________________
It is easy to find out about Paul Evans.
His website includes well curated discographies, something not always
found at artists' websites. More than that, he is accessible. When I
emailed him, he replied promptly and cordially, and he has been available for online interviews, for example at ClassicBands.com and SongFacts.
So, follow the links to explore Paul Evans's career, and here are some of the highlights in digestible form.
____________________
Some notable singles by Paul Evans
• (Seven Little Girls) Sitting In The Back Seat (Bob Hilliard - Lee Pockniss)1959 #9 USA) as Paul Evans & The Curls
• Midnite Special(Traditional, attributed here to Milton Schnapf)1959, #16 USA) • Happy-Go-Lucky-Me(Paul Evans - Al Byron)1960, #10 USA, #9 Australia, #6 NZ • The Brigade Of Broken Hearts(Clint Ballard - Fred Tobias)1960, #81 USA
• Show Folk (Bob Hilliard - Robert Allen)1960, #98 USA [CB], #67 Australia, #17 NZ
• Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)(Paul Evans - Fred Tobias) 1978, #6 UK, #22 Australia, #21 NZ
• The Kalin Twins - When(Paul Evans - Jack Reardon)1958, #5 USA, #1 UK, #1 Australia)
• Elvis Presley - I Gotta Know(Paul Evans - Matt Williams)1960, #20 USA, #1 Australia)
• Bobby Vinton - Roses Are Red (My Love) (Paul Evans - Al Byron) 1962, #1 USA, #15 UK, #1 Australia #1 NZ)
• Pat Boone- Johnny Will (Paul Evans - Fred Tobias)1961, #35 USA, #4 UK, #20 Australia, #5 NZ
In the collaborations, Evans's main role seems to have been as composer. For example, he tells Gary James at ClassicBands.com that he wrote the music for Roses Are Red in a couple of minutes: Al Byron ... said, "Paul, I got this lyric." I made a joke. I said to the musicians "Take five. I'm gonna write a hit song now." And I took his lyric, which by the way was complete, the way you hear it on the Vinton record, I wrote the entire melody in one pass... I tried for a couple of weeks to top the melody, but I couldn't do it.... So, I can tell you my biggest hit song was written in 2 minutes.
• Paul Evans - Happy-Go-Lucky-Me(Paul Evans - Al Byron)1960, #10 USA, #9 Australia, #6 NZ)
• George Formby - Happy Go Lucky Me (1960, #40 UK)
Comic ukulele-playing singer Formby (1906-1961) was a huge star in British films and on records in the 1930s-40s. It is remarkable not only that he covered this track by Paul Evans, but also that he had some chart success with it, however modest. I'm sure that many British listeners, accustomed to Formby's original recordings, would have been unaware of the song's origin.
____________________
Happiness is ... a Kent cigarette?
Ray Conniff And The Singers - Happiness Is(Paul Evans - Paul Parnes) 1965
Joe Sherman And The Arena Brass - Happiness Is1966Billboard Breakout (local hit), Milwaukee
The composition was used in ads for Kent cigarettes and thus became maddeningly familiar.
Willie Nelson re-releases a Paul Evans song about Willie Nelson not singing with Paul Evans
Paul Evans - Willie's Sung With Everyone (But Me) (Paul Evans) 1993
Evans explains that this is a song about the 84 artists that Willie Nelson had recorded with and the one artist he hadn't (and still hasn't) sung with - me.
It later appeared as a bonus Track 23 on Willie Nelson's22 Legendary Duets (1996), not a duet but Paul Evans's unaltered solo. If that makes sense.
____________________
A fondly remembered obscurity
Karl Hammel Jr - Summer Souvenirs(Paul Evans - Jimmy Krondes)1961, #68Bb, #60CB USA
This did not chart in Australia, but it was a favourite of mine as an 11-year-old after I heard it on the radio in Victoria.
Karl was in a New Rochelle NY band called The Nomads. They were managed by Paul Evans's co-writer on Summer Souvenirs,Jimmy Kronde,who also wrote both sides of their only single.
The Nomads' B-side, Bounty Hunter (February 1961), was released as an A-side in Australia in June 1961. This is a guitar instrumental that features the whistling of Karl Hammel Jr.A cover version on a B-side by Al Caiola (March 1961) dispenses with the whistling.
See my separate post onKarl Hammel Jr's Summer Souvenirs andThe Nomads' Bounty Hunter
Chart sources for this post: Australian capital cities: Gavin Ryan's chart books. Australia: Grant Dawe's Top 100 Singles site. New Zealand: Warwick Freeman's New Zealand Top 20 Singles of the Sixties USA: Billboard Hot 100 (Joel Whitburn) by default; Cash Box: Frank W. Hoffmann's chart book. UK: The Guinness book of British hit singles [archived here]
Paul Evans - Show Folk (1960)
Paul Evans - Happy-Go-Lucky-Me (1960)
George Formby - Happy Go Lucky Me (1960)
Karl Hammel Jr- Summer Souvenirs (1960)
Ray Conniff And Singers - Happiness Is (1965)
Paul Evans - Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song) (1978)
Paul Evans - Willie's Sung with Everyone (But Me) (1993)
The latest from my website's front page series about lesser known artists who performed the original versions of Australian or NZ records.
See also: the full collection of over 40 Obscure Originators features.
____________________
Love - Hate - Revenge (1968, #2 NZ) was the highest charting of five Top 10 singles for The Avengers. They could be confused with numerous other Avengersall over the world,
but this was a Wellington band, another of those popular New Zealand
bands that were unknown to most Australians. Our loss, clearly.
The original version, Love, Hate, Revenge (If I Want You To Cry) (1967), was by The Del Satins, a New York doo wop group who were heard by millions but not so well-known by name.
Anyone familiar with Dion'srun of successful solo records in the early 60s has heard The Del Satins. They were his regular backing singers, uncredited on songs like The Wanderer or Ruby Baby.
That's The Del Satins you hear behind Dion, repeating the doo wop line that is essential to his #1 hit Runaround Sue (1961). There are varying transcriptions, but this sheet music shows Hayp, hayp, bum-da hady hady ...
Doo Wop Biographies & Discographies pointedly states that The Del Satins received no credit on any of their 13 hit records. That reliable source also rates them as one of the finest white male doo wop groups of all time.
None of The Del Satins' own ten singles 1961-67 charted Top 100 USA, although Feelin' No Pain (1963) made Billboard's
Breakout chart as a regional hit in New York. They would later become
regulars on Cole Clay's weekly TV music show, aired locally in New York.
In 1968, with two original members and recent recruitJohnny Maestroin the line-up, The Del Satins merged with Rhythm Method to form a new band called Brooklyn Bridge, led by Maestro. They had a hit with Worst That Could Happen (1968 #3 USA), written by Jimmy Webb.
.jpg)