#19: A House, A Car And A Wedding Ring by Dale Hawkins
City: London, ON
Radio Station: CKSL
Peak Month: November 1958
Peak Position in London ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #46
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #88
YouTube: “A House, A Car, And A Wedding Ring”
Lyrics: “A House, A Car, And A Wedding Ring”
Delmar Allen “Dale” Hawkins was born in Goldmine Plantation, Louisiana, in 1936. Fellow rockabilly singer, Ronnie Hawkins, was his cousin. His family was poor and he picked cotton with Black-Americans to get by. He left home when he was fifteen and joined the United States Navy. After he left the Navy in 1953, he got a job in Shreveport (LA) working for Stanley Lewis at Stan’s Record Shop. He began recording in 1956 and released “See You Soon Baboon”, which opened with a Tarzan call. In 1957, Hawkins was playing at Shreveport clubs. His music was influenced by the new rock and roll style of Elvis Presley and the guitar sounds of Scotty Moore. Still, Hawkins blended that sound with the uniquely heavy blues sound of black Louisiana artists for his recording of his swamp-rock classic, “Susie Q”. He took five months to write the song before August 1954. In early 1957, Hawkins recorded the song late one night at KWKH-AM in Shreveport. The recording was sold to Chess Records which released it as a single in May ’57. “Susie Q” peaked at #7 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart. It reached #27 on the Billboard pop chart in July ’57. In Canada, “Susie Q” reached #6 in Toronto and #10 in Winnipeg.