Throwing back to the week of December 27, 1955, we find Tennessee Ernie Ford’s ‘Sixteen Tons’ in its fifth week at #1, where it would remain for another three weeks.
At #2 that week was Dean Martin’s ‘Memories Are Made of This,’ which would enjoy its own five-week stint at #1 in early 1956. The song was written by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller, a trio of singer-songwriters who performed as The Easy Riders. The Easy Riders sang backup for Martin on this recording.
There wasn’t a lot of movement atop the Billboard chart in the waning weeks of 1955. The top six songs the week of December 13, 1955, were all repeats.
At #7 that week was a track by Frank Sinatra that had been kicking around the top ten for a few weeks: ‘Love and Marriage.’ Written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the song was performed by Sinatra in a televised musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, in which Sinatra starred alongside Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint.
Throwing back to the week of November 29, 1955, we find a quintet of repeat offenders atop the Billboard chart. But none of those songs is as enduring a classic as the song at #6 that week, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ by The Platters.
Amazingly, this doo-wop gem never made it higher than #5, but I’m confident it’s recognizable today to people from all generations thanks to its use in movies, TV shows, and commercials.
Throwing back to the week of November 15, 1955, we find a couple of usual suspects atop the Billboard singles chart followed by Tennessee Ernie Jones at #3 with ‘Sixteen Tons.’ The song would ascend to #1 the following week and spend two months there.
This song was written and recorded by country singer Merle Travis a decade earlier. It is sung from the perspective of an Appalachian coal miner.
Throwing back to the week of November 1, 1955, we have a quintet of repeat offenders atop the Billboard chart. At #6, jumping up from #12 the previous week and on its way to a peak at #2, is Gale Storm’s recording of ‘I Hear You Knocking.’
Storm was an actress and singer who had success performing on film, television, and radio in addition to her music career. She is one of 30 artists with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (hers are for television, radio, and music).
