Throwing back to the week of August 23, 1955, we find Bill Haley & the Comets and Pat Boone holding on to the top two spots with ‘Rock Around the Clock‘ and ‘Ain’t That a Shame,’ respectively.
That brings us to the #3 song that week, Mitch Miller’s version of ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas,’ which eventually reached #1. This traditional tune dates back at least 100 years from Miller’s recording. The original version had references to “darkeys” and “yellow women” that were sanitized over the years.
Throwing back to the week of August 9, 1955, we find Bill Haley & The Comets hanging on to the top spot with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ This was the sixth of eight consecutive weeks that song held on to the top spot.
In #2 that week was Pat Boone’s recording of the Fats Domino track ‘Ain’t That a Shame.’ Boone recorded and released the song in the same month Domino’s hit radio and ended up climbing the charts faster. Ain’t that a shame, indeed…
Throwing back to the week of July 26, 1955, we find Bill Haley and the Comets holding on to the top spot with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’ And really, that’s how it should be… imagine when a song that iconic and genre-defining was just a new release.
Nat King Cole held the #2 spot, with both sides of his ‘A Blossom Fell‘ single designated as the runner-up that week. This was during a time when Billboard would combine the performance of a double-sided hit and assign the results to both songs.
Throwing back to the week of July 12, 1955, we find Bill Haley & His Comets holding on to the top spot of the pop chart with ‘Rock Around the Clock.’
That brings us to #2, and the first appearance of Mr. Frank Sinatra on Throwback Weekends. The song is the Dolores “Vicki” Silvers-penned ‘Learnin’ the Blues.’ I’m excited to hear frequent commenter Peggy chime in on this one.
Throwing back to the week of June 28, 1955, we find two repeats atop the Billboard pop chart: Perez Prado’s ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)’ (enjoying quite a run), and Bill Haley & His Comets’ ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ which I posted a couple of months back to recognize The Comets’ inclusion in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In third place is a ballad by Nat King Cole titled ‘A Blossom Fell.’ This song spent 20 weeks on the chart and peaked at #2 in late July.
