FlinterFile: Peter en zijn Rockets- Kom Van Dat Dak Af

This is the story of how rock ‘n roll got into the Dutch pop music. And it starts with the release of this song in 1960.

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FlinterFile: Elvis Presley- Are You Lonesome Tonight

Roy Turk and Lou Handman wrote the song Are You Lonesome Tonight? in 1926.

FlinterFile: The Hollywood Argyles- Alley Oop

In 1960, the Hollywood Argyles had their only hit.

Song of the day: Ray Peterson- Tell Laura I Love Her

In 1960, Jeff Barry and Ben Raleigh wrote a song which described the tragedy of a boy who is in love with Laura. To buy a wedding ring, he enters a stock car race to win the money, which is enough for the ring. However, in the race he dies and Laura prays and thinks she hears her Tommy once more. The song originally would be about a rodeo, but the number 1 at the time of writing (Teen Angel) was about cars, so this song was changed too. In the UK, they thought this version was too vulgar, so Ricky Valance recorded a more decent version. This American version made it to number 7 in the US. Enjoy

Ray Peterson- Tell Laura I Love Her

Song of the day: The Shadows- Apache

There was an instrumental song, written by Jerry Lordan, which has been on number one in the UK for five weeks. The original was recorded by the Shadows in 1960, which also was their first big hit in the world. Hank Marvin had gotten an Italian echo-chamber from Joe Brown, which he used on the single. Bruce Welsh borrowed a guitar from Cliff Richard, who would be playing the drum in the beginning and the end. The song would be one of the first steps to the rock sound of the Beatles. Enjoy

The Shadows- Apache

Song of the day: Chubby Checker- The Twist

In 1959, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters recorded a B-side for their song Teardrops on Your Letter. The song was a small hit in 1960, but it never broke through. Till Chubby Checker, and he covered the song in 1960. He started the Twist dance craze, and his song hit number one on the Billboard Chart! However, the twist is older than the two records we just discussed. In 1844, there was a song in mininstrelsy, called Grape Vine Twist. Via several ways, the song came to Chubby Checker, who made the twist popular. He had a lot of success with the song, not in the last place because he kept recording it in new versions. He even got the fever started again when he recorded Let’s Twist Again! In the UK, this song even got more popular than the original, which never really got there… Enjoy the first version:

Chubby Checker- The Twist

Song of the day: Bobby Rydell- Wild One

Let’s start our journey through time, through the history of music. Every day another year, every day a step closer to today. And every day a big hit from the year. Not all were as influencial as others, but they were important to music in that time (or to me). I remember this song well, because it was one of the songs on a Rock N’ Roll CD which I liked a lot. Maybe it was there were my passion for dance came from. Rock N’ Roll was after all the music to dance on for the youth in the fifties and the main part of the sixties. So start dancing with

Bobby Rydell- Wild One

Song of the day: Shaggy- Oh Carolina!

This song was and still is on my MP3-player. It was one of the first songs to enter my first MP3-player, which I still have, and when playing my music, I kept making the mistake that it was a song of a rock ‘n roll cd. Now I know better.

Oh Carolina was the first single of the debute album by Shaggy. This song was a big hit in 1993, so long after the rock ‘n roll time. But it is a logical mistake. Why?
It’s a cover! The original was recorded and released in 1960, and was made by the Folkes Brothers. And that is in the rock ‘n roll time. But that doesn’t matter, since it was the first hit single, and some others would follow. Do you still remember Boombastic? It Wasn’t Me? or Angel?

(One thing between us (and maybe Shaggy is reading this, too), but I always have the feeling that he is a bit drunk. I know it probably is his voice, but I can’t stop thinking that he drunk some glasses of vodka before recording Boombastic. Totally my interpretation.)

The song of today:

Shaggy- Oh Carolina