#958: Ringo’s Theme by George Martin Orchestra
Peak Month: September 1964
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #53
YouTube.com: “Ringo’s Theme”
Sir George Henry Martin CBE was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1926. When he was six years old he developed an affinity for the piano when his parents bought one. He briefly took piano lessons and went on to be self-taught. In World War II George Martin worked as a surveyor and then as a clerk in the War Office. He joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy in 1943 and was stationed in England for the duration of the war. In 1947 Martin went on to study oboe and piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1950 Martin got a position working for Parlophone Records. At the time it was a company with a roster of comedy and novelty recordings. In 1955 he became the head of Parlophone while they had success with records by the Goons, Dudley Moore, Rolf Harris, Alan Bennett, Peter Sellers and others.
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#959: One Track Mind by The Knickerbockers
Peak Month: April 1966
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #46
YouTube.com: “One Track Mind”
Lyrics: “One Track Mind”
The Knickerbockers were a pop/rock group, best remembered for their 1966 Beatles sound-alike hit single, “Lies,” which peaked at #20 in the USA and #6 in Vancouver. Buddy Randell’s lead vocal sounded similar to John Lennon, as well as the vocal whoops, before Beau Charles guitar solo. Charles guitar also reminded radio listeners to Paul McCartney’s guitar playing. The Knickerbockers was a band that formed in 1962 in Bergenfield, New Jersey. The band consisted of vocalist and guitar player, Beau Charles, his brother John Charles on bass and vocals and, by 1964 they had a permanent vocalist and saxophone player named William “Buddy” Randell. The Charles brothers birth names were Robert (born 1944) and John Carlos Cecchino. Buddy Randell had earlier been a member of the Rockin’ Saints and the Royal Teens. The later group had enjoyed a hit in 1958 titled “Short Shorts.” Jimmy Walker was the bands’ drummer. The bandmates took their name from Knickerbocker Road, which ran through the town next to Bergenfield, two miles to the east. Knickerbocker Road stretched six miles between Englewood, NJ, and Closter, NJ, west of the Hudson River and across from the Bronx and Yonkers.
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#961: Girl From The North Country by Tom Northcott
Peak Month: August 1968
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
Plus 1 week Hitbound on CKLG
YouTube.com: “Girl From The North Country”
Lyrics: “Girl From The North Country”
Tom Northcott is a Vancouver folk-rock singer with hits on the local pop charts from the mid-60s into the early 70s. He became known to a Canadian audience by his regular appearances on CBC Television’s Let’s Go music program in 1964-68. He was nominated as best male vocalist for a Juno Award in 1971. Later he co-founded Mushroom Studios in Vancouver and produced records. His hits are played regularly on Canadian oldies music stations.
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#963: Judy by Elvis Presley
Peak Month: July 1961
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #9 ~ LP Cut
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #78 (in 1967)
YouTube.com: “Judy”
Lyrics: “Judy”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon Presley, was stillborn. When he was eleven years old his parents bought him a guitar at the Tupelo Hardware Store. As a result Elvis grew up as an only child. He and his parents, Vernon and Gladys, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948. The young Presley graduated from high school in 1953. That year he stopped by the Memphis Recording Service to record two songs, including “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”, song #1196 on this Countdown. Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career recording “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky” at Sun Records in Memphis.
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#963: My Song by Glass Tiger
Peak Month: October 1988
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “My Song”
Lyrics: “My Song”
Discovered in the summer of 1984 when a band from Newmarket, Ontario, Glass Tiger was initially called Tokyo. As Tokyo, they spent two evenings performing before capacity crowds at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens opening for Boy George and Culture Club. Their dynamic original sound captured the moment, and the race to sign them was on. Tokyo, which had become a major force in suburban high schools and the Ontario club circuit, officially became Glass Tiger early into 1985 when a record deal was finally signed with Capitol Records. The band consisted of Alan Frew on vocals and guitar, Sam Reid on keyboards, Al Connelly on guitar, Wayne Parker on bass and Michael Hanson on drums.
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#964: Donald Where’s Your Troosers? by Andy Stewart
Peak Month: March 1961
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #5 (CFUN)/#6 CKWX
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #77
YouTube.com: “Donald Where’s Your Troosers?”
Lyrics: “Donald Where’s Your Troosers?”
The use of tartan patriotism and stereotypical Scottish humor goes back to Sir Harry Lauder and music hall songs at the turn of the 20th Century. In the 1960s, this genre was showcased by the entertainer Andy Stewart. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1933, Stewart enjoyed a number of international hits including “Donald Where’s Your Troosers?” and “A Scottish Soldier”. In his school years he appeared in numbers of acting roles and eventually studied acting in college. Out of college he was immediately scouted to perform in dramas, variety shows and stand-up comedy. After opening for Billy Eckstine in Manchester, Stewart appeared across Scotland and England as a comedy impressionist with James Stewart, James Cagney, Elvis Presley, Petula Clark, Charles Laughton, Perry Como, Johnnie Ray, Al Jolson and Louis Armstrong among his repertoire. One of his most popular routines was to perform the well-known and peculiarly Scottish song, “Ye Cannae Shove yer Granny Aff a Bus”, in the voices of American stars like Jolson or Armstrong.
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#965: Crazy Talk by Chilliwack
Peak Month: January 1975
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #11
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #98
YouTube.com: “Crazy Talk”
Lyrics: “Crazy Talk”
Bill Henderson was born in Vancouver in 1944. He learned guitar and became the guitarist for the Panarama Trio that performed at the Panarama Roof dance club on the 15th Floor of the Hotel Vancouver. He formed the psychedelic pop-rock Vancouver band, The Collectors, in 1966. After a half dozen local hits including “Fisherwoman” and “Lydia Purple” the Collectors name was ditched in 1970. Henderson (vocals, guitar), Claire Lawrence (saxophone, keyboards), Ross Turney (drums) and Glenn Miller (bass) were all Collectors bandmates. After Howie Vickers left The Collectors, they changed their name to Chilliwack. The name was a Salish First Nations name that means “going back up” and is the name of a city in the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.
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#966: Drive In Show by Eddie Cochran
Peak Month: July 1957
4 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson chart
Peak Position #5
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #82
YouTube.com: “Drive In Show”
Lyrics: “Drive In Show”
Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, in 1938. His family moved to the Los Angeles area in 1951 where Eddie attended Bell Gardens Junior High. While there he became friends with Connie ‘Guybo’ Smith. Smith was already a promising musical talent who played bass, steel guitar and mandolin. Eddie and Connie began to jam together and gave a concert at their junior high school. Connie “Guybo” Smith went on to become Cochran’s bass player and was one of the musicians heard on most records during Eddie’s brief professional career. In 1953, while still in junior high school, Eddie met another musician named Chuck Foreman. The two experimented with Foreman’s two-track tape recorder. The pair made recordings of a number of songs including “Stardust,” “The Poor People Of Paris,” “Hearts of Stone” and the “Cannonball Rag.” Cochran graduated from Bell Gardens Junior High in 1954.
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#967: Ten Little Indians by The Yardbirds
Peak Month: November 1967
6 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
1 week Hitbound on CKLG
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #96
YouTube.com: “Ten Little Indians”
Lyrics: “Ten Little Indians”
The Yardbirds are an English rock band that had a string of hits in the mid-1960s, including “For Your Love,” “Shapes Of Things” and “Heart Full Of Soul.” The group is notable for having started the careers of three of rock’s most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. During their brief five years, from 1963 to 1968, they set the pace for a lot of the innovations to come in rock ‘n roll into the 1970’s. The Yardbirds experimental explorations also provided the crucial link between British R&B, Psychedelic Rock, and Heavy Metal, while pioneering the use of innovations like fuzz tone, feedback and distortion. With this fusion, and harmonica riffs, they inspired the musical styles of contemporary American bands like The Count Five who had a #1 hit in Vancouver in 1966 called “Psychotic Reaction.” When Jimmy Page left The Yardbirds to form the New Yardbirds, that band was quickly renamed Led Zeppelin.
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#968: Don’t Knock The Rock by Bill Haley And His Comets
Peak Month: January 1957
4 weeks on Vancouver’s Red Robinson chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com: “Don’t Knock The Rock”
Lyrics: “Don’t Knock The Rock”
Bill Haley was born in Michigan in 1925. His dad played the mandolin and banjo while his mom played the piano. In a story Haley would relate years later in a biography, he recalled as a child when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one. Sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album, Rock Around The Clock, describe Bill Haley’s early life and emerging career: “Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band.”
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