Tag Archives: tb50s

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Song of the Day #6,173: ‘Unchained Melody’ – Al Hibbler

Throwing back to the week of May 31, 1955, we find a quartet of repeats atop the Billboard chart: Perez Pablo’s ‘Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White,‘ Les Baxter’s ‘Unchained Melody,’ Georgia Gibbs’ ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower),’ and Bill Hayes’ ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett.’

I mentioned in the Les Baxter post that multiple versions of ‘Unchained Melody’ were kicking around the top ten that spring, and this week at #5 we find another of them. Al Hibbler’s take was the top-performing vocal version of the song until the Righteous Brothers came along a decade later.

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Song of the Day #6,159: ‘Unchained Melody’ – Les Baxter

Throwing back to the week of May 17, 1955, we find a couple of repeats atop the Billboard chart in Perez Pablo’s ‘Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White‘ and Georgia Gibbs’ ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower).’

In the #3 spot that week was Les Baxter’s version of ‘Unchained Melody,’ a short instrumental take with choral accompaniment. This is one of three versions of the song that bounced around the top ten in 1955 — the other two were by Al Hibbler and Roy Hamilton.

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Song of the Day #6,146: ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)’ – Georgia Gibbs

Throwing back to the week of May 3, 1955, we find two repeats atop the Billboard singles chart: Perez Prado’s ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)’ at #1 and Bill Hayes’ ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett’ at #2.

In the third spot was a song I mentioned a few weeks back in another Throwback Weekend post. The featured song was Georgia Gibbs’ ‘Tweedle Dee,’ and I noted that it was one of two tracks Gibbs had in the top ten at the time. The other was ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower).’

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Song of the Day #6,132: ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)’ – Perez Prado

Throwing back to the week of April 19, 1955, we find Bill Hayes’ ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett‘ holding on to Billboard’s #1 spot for the last of its five weeks atop the chart.

Hot on its tails at #2 was an instrumental track that would kick off a 10-week stint at #1 the following week: Pérez Prado’s recording of ‘Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White).’

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Song of the Day #6,118: ‘Tweedle Dee’ – Georgia Gibbs

Throwing back to the week of April 5, 1955, we have a trio of repeats atop the Billboard chart: Bill Hayes’ ‘The Ballad of Davy Crockett,’ Johnny Maddox’s ‘The Crazy Otto Medley,’ and The McGuire Sisters’ ‘Sincerely.’

At #4 that week, on its way to peaking at #3, was Georgia Gibbs’ recording of ‘Tweedle Dee.’ Gibbs had another song — ‘Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)’ — in the top ten at the same time.

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