MUSICAL DECADES - 1950s - Novelty Songs

This week I'd like to take you back to the 1950s for something a little different. 

From the 1940s through the 1960s, there were many funny songs or novelty records on the charts. Let's take a look at some of those songs from the decade of the 1950s.

The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood", their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller. The Coasters' association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success. Together they created a string of good-humored "storytelling" hits that are some of the most entertaining from the original era of rock and roll.

"Yakety Yak", featuring King Curtis on tenor saxophone, became the act's only national #1 single, and also topped the R&B chart.

Clifford Gilpin Snyder (March 1, 1917 – January 16, 1998), professionally known as Cliffie Stone, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality. He was pivotal in the development of California’s thriving country music scene after World War II during a career that lasted six decades. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.

Stone recorded six albums with a backing band which went under various names, including Cliffie Stone & His Orchestra, Cliffie Stone & His Barn Dance Band, and Cliffie Stone's Country Hombres. His 1955 hit, "The Popcorn Song", peaked at number 14 on Billboard magazine's singles charts in 1955.

Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director, whose career began in 1944. He remained active in the industry into his late 80s, more than 70 years after entering it. In 1951, Freberg began making satirical recordings for Capitol Records.

"Nuttin’ for Christmas" (also known as "Nothing for Christmas") is a novelty Christmas song written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett. It became a hit during the 1955 Christmas season when it appeared in Billboard’s pop charts by five different artists. Here's Freberg's version with some help at the end from Daws Butler.

Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and actor of film and television. He performed in a range of musical genres, including jazz, pop, rock 'n' roll, folk, swing and country.

He started as a songwriter for Connie Francis, and recorded his own first million-seller "Splish Splash" in 1958. This was followed by "Dream Lover," "Mack the Knife," and "Beyond the Sea," which brought him world fame. In 1962, he won a Golden Globe Award for his first film “Come September”, co-starring his first wife, Sandra Dee.

Leroy Frank Van Dyke (born October 4, 1929) is an American country music singer. He was catapulted into country music fame in 1956 with his composition "The Auctioneer", co-written with Buddy Black, which sold over 2.5 million records. He wrote the song about the life of his cousin, National Auctioneers Association Hall of Famer Ray Sims, also a Missourian. Van Dyke had the lead role of a budding country music performer in the 1967 movie “What Am I Bid?”, in which Sims played himself as an auctioneer.

In his 50 years-plus career, Van Dyke has recorded more than 500 songs, dozens of them making the charts. His record of "Walk On By" (1961) was named by Billboard magazine in 1994 as the biggest country single of all time, based on sales, plays and weeks in the charts. It stayed at number one in the U.S. country chart for 19 weeks, and in all, charted for 42 weeks, also reaching No. 5 on the pop listings. It sold more than 1.5 million copies.

The Clovers are an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. They placed 19 singles on the R&B charts from 1951 to 1955.

Luckily for the Clovers, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were working at United Artists in 1959 on a free-lance basis. Their latest composition, “Love Potion Number Nine”, was thought to be perfect for The Coasters. However, they gave it to The Clovers who had the biggest pop hit of their career with it, peaking at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart of November 1959 and also at #23 on the R&B Chart.

This ends Musical Decades for this week. Thanks for listening and I hope to see you here next time.

(The information used in this post is from Wikipedia.)

Dominique "Nik" Petersen is an aficionado of "oldies" music and the author of The Dr. Hook Trivia Quiz Book. Read about it and her other books at the website: 

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