MUSICAL DECADES - 1950s - Novelty Songs

This week I'd like to take you back to the 1950s. Since the 1940s, there was always a funny song or novelty record on the charts. In the late 1960s, though, rock music took a serious turn and novelty songs all but disappeared from Top 40 radio.

The Olympics are an American doo-wop group, formed in 1957 by lead singer Walter Ward (August 28, 1940 – December 11, 2006).

The Olympics recorded their first and biggest hit, "Western Movies", in the summer of 1958. Co-written by Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith, the song made it to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It reflected the nation's preoccupation with western-themed movies and television programs (there were 22 westerns on TV at that time—10 are mentioned in the song). It tells the story of a man who lost his girl to TV westerns, and it includes doo-wop harmonies as well as background gunshots and ricochet sound effects.

Anthony James Donegan, MBE (April 29, 1931 – November 3, 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the King of Skiffle, who influenced 1960s British pop musicians. The British Hit Singles & Albums lists him as "Britain's most successful and influential recording artist before the Beatles". He had 31 UK Top 30 single hits, 24 being successive and three at number one. He was the first British male singer with two US Top 10 hits.

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight)?" is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. The song is a cover version of "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" written by Billy Rose, Ernest Breuer, and Marty Bloom and first released in 1924 by The Happiness Boys (Ernie Hare and Billy Jones).

The first novelty act in rock history, The Coasters used humour to explore both the black experience and the world of teenagers. In 1987, the Coasters became the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

No song The Coasters recorded is as beloved as the group's second single, "Charlie Brown". Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, it reached number 2 on both the Pop and R&B charts.

The Cadets were known as “King of the Covers” for their many versions of other people's hits. “Stranded in the Jungle” charted in early July, and the Jayhawks' original three weeks later. The song became so popular that both versions made the top twenty. The Cadets' version is technically superior, featuring lion snarls and bird calls over tribal drums and chanting.

“Stranded in the Jungle” remains one of the best and most influential novelty records of the '50s. Its story-telling technique is similar to Leiber and Stoller's story songs for The Robins and The Coasters and would set a pattern for many other groups to follow.

The Robins were a successful and influential African American R&B group of the late 1940s and 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal bands who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound.

“Riot in Cell Block No. 9”, written and produced by Leiber and Stoller, opens like the radio drama “Gangbusters” of which Jerry Leiber was an avid fan in his youth. The waiting sirens and rapid machine-gun fire set the stage for the cool, offhand narrative of a jail break at a penitentiary. It was an R&B hit but passed unnoticed on the pop charts.

Nervous Norvus was the performing name of Jimmy Drake (March 24, 1912 – July 24, 1968). Nervous Norvus was over 40 by the time he had his two hit singles, “Transfusion” and “Ape Call”, in 1956. He was very shy and even turned down a chance to perform "Transfusion" on The Ed Sullivan Show.

By the mid 1950s, with the growth of the interstate highways and the increase in the number of teen drivers, car accidents were at an all-time high. “Transfusion” with its gory humour, struck a nerve with the public. It was a Top 20 hit in 1956, reaching number 13 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart.

This ends Musical Decades for this week. Thanks for listening and I hope to see you here next time.

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia )

Dominique "Nik" Petersen is an aficionado of old music and the author of Dr. Hook and Me  and The Dr. Hook Trivia Quiz Book. Read about them and her other books at the website:

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