#1: I Love You, Baby by Paul Anka

City: Dauphin, MB
Radio Station: CKDM
Peak Month: December 1957
Peak Position in Dauphin ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #15
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #97
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #3
YouTube: “I Love You, Baby”
Lyrics: “I Love You, Baby”

Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1941. His father was Syrian-American and his mother was Canadian-Lebanese. While growing up in Ottawa he was part of a vocal trio at Fisher Park High School called the Bobby Soxers. In the fall of 1956, Anka signed with the RPM label and released his first single, “Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine”. It made the Top Ten in Smith Falls (ON). He had a #1 hit in 1957 titled “Diana”, and performed in concert at the Georgia Auditorium in Vancouver on October 23, 1957. Others on stage were Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Buddy Knox, Eddie Cochran, and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

After “Diana”, his next ABC/Paramount single release was “Tell Me That You Love Me”, a number-one hit in Hull (QC), and a #2 hit in Ottawa. The B-side was “I Love You, Baby”.

Paul Anka wrote both sides, including “I Love You, Baby”. In the lyrics, Anka lists evidence of love all around him. a) little bluebirds, b) bees humming, c) the weeping willow where we kissed on every date.

In the bark of the weeping willow, the dating couple carve an arrow and a heart in its bark. Beneath, they carve “I love you baby.” The singer senses love all around him when he i) walks to the seaside, ii) walks through the grass, iii) walks to the schoolyard, iv) walks to the gate, v) walks to the (street) corner, vi) passes the candy store. While passing the candy store, he hears soft music from the song the couple previously heard while they were embracing. Feeling so much in love, he vows to never let her go.

“I Love You, Baby” peaked at #1 in Dauphin (MB), #4 in Des Moines (IA), #6 in Smiths Falls (ON), #10 in Bethesda (MD) and Regina (SK), and #16 in St. Louis. Internationally, “I Love You Baby” peaked at #3 in the UK, and #19 in Australia.

His next Top Ten hit, “You Are My Destiny”, peaked in January 1958. Anka wrote “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” for Buddy Holly later that year. He dated Annette Funicello. She subsequently had a Top Ten hit about Paul Anka called “Tall Paul”.

In 1959 he had success with “Lonely Boy” which peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. His #2 hit in 1959, “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” spent ten weeks in the Top Ten and seven of these in the Top Five. It was kept out of the #1 spot by Bobby Darin’s “Mack The Knife”. Further Top Ten hits in 1959-60 included “It’s Time To Cry”, “Puppy Love” and “My Home Town”.

Anka appeared in his first movie in 1958, Let’s Rock, a movie about the new rock ‘n roll phenomenon, and in the 1962 army film, The Longest Day. Anka also appeared in the 1960-61 NBC crime series, Dan Raven in a cameo as himself. In 1960, he had a cameo appearance singing the theme song “Adam And Eve” in The Private Lives of Adam And Eve. In 1961 Anka also starred in the movie, Look in Any Window, where he played a peeping tom. He also appeared in an episode of the Danny Thomas Show in April of ’61. As well, he starred that year as himself in a documentary called The Seasons of Youth.

Anka later would appear in The Red Skelton Hour and the crime series Kojak. In 1982 he hosted his own entertainment series called The Paul Anka Show. Anka also wrote the theme music for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which debuted on NBC television in October 1962.

Already famous in Italy as a teenage idol for his songs in English, in 1960 released an Italian version of “Summer’s Gone” in 1960, released as “Dove Sei”. The record climbed to #4 on the Italian pop charts, advancing a promising foreign career. Anka then underwent an intense collaboration with several Italian musicians including composer/director Ennio Morricone, singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti and lyricist Mogol. In the early Sixties Anka charted a half a dozen songs onto the Italian charts that were sung in Italian. His top hit was a translation of “Love Me Warm And Tender”, titled “Ogni Giorno” which scored No. 1 in 1962, followed by “Piangerò per te” and “Ogni Volta”, which reached both No. 2, in 1963 and 1964.

While he was piling up Top Ten hits in Italy, back in North America Paul Anka had been shut out of the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 since the June of 1961 with “Dance On Little Girl”. While he fared better in Vancouver where he had five Top Ten hits between 1961 and 1963, in the spring of ’63 Paul Anka had only his second single release miss the Top 40 in Vancouver. The follow-up he was counting on to get him back into the Top 40 was “Hurry Up And Tell Me”.

Anka wrote “She’s A Lady” which became a signature song for Tom Jones. He also wrote the English lyrics to “My Way” for Frank Sinatra.

In 1969, Paul Anka briefly cracked the Top 30 with “Goodnight My Love”, (#27 Billboard Hot 100) a remake of the 1956 R&B classic by Jessie Belvin. It would take eleven more single releases before he would return to the Top 40 with “You’re Having My Baby” in 1974, a #1 hit record. On August 25, 1977, Paul Anka gave a concert at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

In 1982 he hosted his own entertainment series called The Paul Anka Show. Anka has been a guest in countless TV shows including The Gilmore Girls. In 2005 Paul Anka released his 25th studio album, Rock Swings. It was a collection of covers of 1980’s-90’s pop-rock hits, including Spandau Ballet’s “True”, The Pet Shop Boys “It’s A Sin” and Eric Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven”. After his album was released, Anka was given a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto. In 2006, Paul Anka recorded a duet with Italian 60’s pop singer Adriano Celentano with a new version of “Diana”. The song went to #3 on the Italian pop charts.

Over the decades Paul Anka has charted more than fifty singles onto the Billboard Hot 100. In 1990 he became a US citizen. On October 4, 2007, Paul Anka appeared in concert at the Centre For Performing Arts in Vancouver. In 2013 Paul Anka published My Way: An Autobiography.

August 23, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Heidi Parker, “He’s Married Again! Paul Anka, 75, Weds His Girlfriend of Six Years In Beverly Hills With Mogul Pal Warren Buffet in Attendance,” Daily Mail, London, UK, October 29, 2016.
Jay Weston, “Paul Anka’s “My Way,” Reviewed From the Inside!,” Huffington Post, December 6, 2017.
Paul Anka bio, Capitolint.com.
“Diana Ayoub, Ottawa woman who inspired Anka hit, dead at 83,” CBC, December 6, 2022.
Heidi Parker, “He’s Married Again! Paul Anka, 75, Weds His Girlfriend of Six Years In Beverly Hills With Mogul Pal Warren Buffet in Attendance,” Daily Mail, London, UK, October 29, 2016.
Jay Weston, “Paul Anka’s “My Way,” Reviewed From the Inside!,” Huffington Post, December 6, 2017.
Harry Foster, Let’s Rock, Columbia Pictures, 1958.
Charles F. Haas, Girls Town, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959.
Mickey Rooney, The Private Lives of Adam And Eve, Universal Pictures, 1960.
“The Real Paul Anka,” The Gilmore Girls, The WB Network, 2006.
Dan Raven, NBC, 1961.
Paul Anka, “Red Roses For A Blue Lady,” The Red Skelton Hour, CBS, 1965.
“Tonight My Love, Tonight,” Danny Thomas Show, ABC, 1961.

CKDM 730-AM Dauphin (MB) Top Ten | December 21, 1957