#784: English Country Garden by Jimmie Rodgers
Peak Month: November 1961
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “English Country Garden”
Lyrics: “English Country Garden”
Jimmie Rodgers was a country singer who is best known for his 1957 hit “Honeycomb”. James Frederick Rodgers was born in Camas, Washington, in 1933. His mother taught him to play the piano and guitar. During the Korean War Rodgers served in the U.S. Air Force. While there he played in a band called The Melodies. After the war ended in 1953 Rodgers entered Arthur Godfrey’s talent show. The attention he gained got him a record deal with Morris Levy’s Roulette Records. He had a string of Top 10 hits that followed in the late 1950’s including “Secretly”, “Oh-Oh I’m Falling In Love Again”, “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” and “Bimbombey”. In Vancouver Rodgers charted nine singles into the Top 10 and eighteen singles onto the local pop charts.