Tag Archives: tb50s

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Song of the Day #6,509: ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ – Carl Perkins

Throwing back to the week of May 2, 1956, we find Elvis Presley holding on to the top spot with ‘Heartbreak Hotel‘ with Perry Como’s ‘Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)‘ and Les Baxter’s ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ in the second and third spots.

At #4 was a song many associate with Presley but one that was written and recorded by Carl Perkins first: ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ Presley’s version was recorded around the same time as Perkins’ but wasn’t released as a single until later in 1956 out of respect for the original (at the time, it was very common for multiple versions of a song to be released simultaneously).

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Song of the Day #6,495: ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ – Elvis Presley

We’re throwing back to the week of April 18, 1956, and the 50s just got interesting!

While Les Baxter’s instrumental ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ held on to the #1 spot for the sixth straight week, it was about to be unseated by the song at #2.

That was Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ the King’s first of 17 chart-topping hits on the Hot 100 (or the Best Sellers in Stores chart, as it was called before 1958).

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Song of the Day #6,481: ‘Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)’ – Perry Como

Throwing back to the week of April 5, 1956, we find a couple of repeats atop the singles chart in ‘The Poor People of Paris‘ and ‘Lisbon Antigua.’

At #3 that week was Perry Como with ‘Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom).’ This is Como’s fourth appearance on Throwback Weekends, and if this series stretched back into the 40s and early 50s he’d have a lot more.

Incidentally, I have written more than 300 Throwback Weekend posts now, making that category second only to Random Weekends, which numbered over 1,000.

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Song of the Day #6,467: ‘I’ll Be Home’ – Pat Boone

Throwing back to the week of March 21, 1956, we find a host of repeats atop the Billboard singles chart — five songs I’ve already covered during Throwback Weekends and won’t bother listing now.

That brings us to #6, where Pat Boone’s ‘I’ll Be Home’ sat on its way to a peak at #5 the following week. Boone released this song a year after it was written by Ferdinand Washington and Stan Lewis, and a few months after doo-wop band The Flamingos dropped their own version.

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Song of the Day #6,453: ‘The Poor People of Paris’ – Les Baxter & His Orchestra

Throwing back to the week of March 7, 1956, we find a couple of repeats atop the Hot 100: Kay Starr’s ‘Rock and Roll Waltz‘ and Nelson Riddle’s ‘Lisbon Antigua.’

Another instrumental track was hot on the heels of Riddle’s hit, and would soon overtake it. That was Les Baxter’s recording of ‘The Poor People of Paris.’ This was a take on the French song ‘La goualante du pauvre Jean,’ which translates to ‘The Ballad of Poor John.’ Somewhere along the line, somebody mistook “pauvre Jean” for “pauvres gens,” which means “poor people,” and that explains the title change.

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