The 60’s were a busy time for well known songs stalled at #2 and I almost forgot this one as I am moving along in a sort of chronological way. There was a song called “Bang Bang” by Cher in 1966 that peaked for one week at #2 behind “(You’re My) Soul And Inspiration” from the Righteous Brothers.
Tag: 1960's music
No. 2 “19th Nervous Breakdown”
While Dylan was singing “like a rolling stone” the group, The Rolling Stones were having their “19th Nervous Breakdown”. While Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” was parked at #2 in May of 1966, The Rolling Stones had peaked in March. They got stuck for three weeks at #2 behind “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler.
Like Dylan, The Rolling Stones would have two songs stall at #2 when “Start Me Up” peaked on October 31, 1981.
The first of 50 cover versions of “19th Nervous Breakdown” was by The Standells, released in May of 1966.
No. 2 “Like a Rolling Stone”
Bob Dylan, and it may come as a surprise but he never had a #1 hit single on the Billboard Hot 100. “Like A Rolling Stone” in 1965 would spend two weeks behind The Beatles “Help“. It entered on July 24 and peaked on September 04 and spent a total of 12 weeks on the chart. He actually had only four songs enter the top ten, but would have another #2 in 1966 with “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” which was behind “Monday Monday” by The Mamas and the Papas. It entered on April 16 and peaked on May 21, it spent a total of 10 weeks the chart.
No. 2 “You Don’t Own Me”
“You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore and written by John Madara and David White was one of five songs she had hit the charts in 1963 and another “It’s My Party” did make it to #1. Released late in the year “You Don’t Own Me” would move into 1964 and so would Lesley’s success but it got stopped at #2 by The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand“.
There are 73 documented versions of this song.
“You’re the One” (Music I like)
On the heels of her smash hit “Downtown” that was written by Tony Hatch and it was Petula’s reintroduction to recording in English, they had needed one more song to fill the next album. That was the familiar to most, the eponymous hit song “I Know a Place”.
“You’re the One” was the first song Petula wrote all the melody by herself. Her collaborator at the time Tony Hatch, would help with the lyrics. The the song was recorded in London at the Pye studio but was not initially released as a single. After the success of the cover version in the US, they put out a single and it reached #23 in the UK and #4 in Australia. In her then home of France where they loved all things Petula, her French language version hit #6. As she typically did with all her songs at this time, after she recorded in French she would also do a version in German. She was also very popular in Germany. Then she did another in Italian. What she didn’t do is release the single in the US, she did not want to overshadow The Vogues version, “let the boys have their hit” she said. Petula Clark was one class act.
As with the Del-Vikings in my previous post we once again find ourselves in Pittsburgh. Little wonder I am a Steelers fan! In the Greater Pittsburg area there was a group of four guys that had formed a group in High School called the Val-Airs, Val-Aires or Valaires depending on who you talk to. They had a couple singles in 1959 that didn’t pan out so they split up. After a few years, now all at the age of 22 they regrouped and decided to try and make a record.
They all had factory type jobs at the time and each pitched in a hefty $100 to have the locally based Nick Cenci produce some songs. He had helped launch the career of Lou Christie. Cenci didn’t like anything they had and he suggested they cover an album cut from Petula Clark. He had another group called The Racket Squad working on, so sad for those guys. The four of them made the recording of the Petula Clark song with lead vocals by Bill Burkette.
The group had not yet decided on a name as they wanted to move on from the Val-Aires. Unknown to them, Cenci had got the local Pittsburgh station DJ John Rook at KQV to play the record. Only released locally on Cenci’s Blue Star label it became a very popular song in the Pittsburg area. Nick Cenci had unilaterally decided to put the The Vogues name on the record. He got them a national distribution deal and “You’re the One” was released under the Co&Ce label, owned by Nick Cenci and Herb Cohen.
How did Cenci come up with that name, The Vogues? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer but some of the guys in the group, including Hugh Geyer thought he might have got the name from an old local lounge called The Vogue Terrace. Cenci had grown up in New Jersey so he may not have even hear of that lounge. I did not read this anywhere but here is my theory. Petula Clark had been recording on the Vogue Record label. Coincidence? The Album containing the song “You’re the One” was released on both the Pye and Vogue labels. I think this is a more likely explanation of where the name The Vogues came from. A trademark name by the way, that would be bought and sold several times and became the subject of more than one lawsuit. Where have we heard that story before? I guess that’s why they call it the Music business!
I know I heard this song as a little kid but as I mentioned in a previous post, in the mid 70’s through to the early 80’s I was getting much deeper into 50’s and 60’s music so you might say I “rediscovered” the song. I really love the original but especially what The Vogues did with this tune. It’s a catchy melody that hit #4 in both Canada and the US in 1965. Honestly I never get sick of this song. The Vogues would have another big hit with “Five O’Clock World” that they recorded at the same time as “You’re the One”. Over the next 10 years they charted over a dozen songs.
Thanks to YouTube I was reminded that “You’re the One” was used in the Soundtrack for the 2020 hit mini series The Queen’s Gambit.
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