33. “CHERRY PINK AND APPLE BLOSSOM WHITE” – EDDIE CALVERT

Weeks at number one: 4 (27th May – 24th June 1955) / Length: 2m24s / Label: Columbia Notable for…The previous version of these hit was a Cuban band doing a song written by a Frenchman soundtracking an American film), so here’s Englishman Eddie Calvert to mustard it right up… MELODY & HARMONY ~ 4 : […]

29. “SOFTLY, SOFTLY” – RUBY MURRAY

Weeks at number one: 3 (18th February – 11th March) / Length: 2m28s / Label: Columbia Notable for…being in that select group of stars possibly more famous for their impact on Cockney dialect than their recording career (see also: Eartha Kitt, James Blunt) plus cos I’m posting this a day late, have a bonus rendition […]

22. “THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN” – FRANK SINATRA

Weeks at number one: 3 (17th September – 8th October) / Length: 3m04s / Label: Columbia Notable for…its Frank Sinatra!: “the Man With The Blue Eyes Who Sings” (often famously abbreviated to “the MWTBEWS”, pronounced “mewtybews”) MELODY & HARMONY ~ 3 : Really strangely bad: Stands dawdling mawkishly in the foyer of the Emotional Hotel, […]

16. “OH MEIN PAPA” – EDDIE CALVERT

Weeks at number one: 9 (8th January – 12th March 1954) / Length: 2m49s / Label: Columbia Notable for… being the first no.1 recorded at Abbey Road…and also being the soundtrack to this adorably self-absorbed video: MELODY & HARMONY ~ 2 : two chords, five notes, zero enjoyment. The way skilled songwriters write such panderingly […]

12. “LOOK AT THAT GIRL” – GUY MITCHELL

Weeks at number one: 6 (11th September – 23rd October 1953) / Length: 2m50s / Label: Columbia Notable for… Guy Mitchell’s second morally questionable number one of the year! YEY! MELODY & HARMONY ~ 6 : Nice range – big without being all over the place (that’s what my date said). Sexy gliding at the […]

6. “SHE WEARS RED FEATHERS” – GUY MITCHELL

Weeks at number one: 4 (13th March – 10th April 1953) / Length: 3m08s / Label: Columbia Notable for… being a little bit racist? MELODY & HARMONY ~ 6 : Defiantly happy-go-lucky, skips around all over the place – in fact, the whole verse is one single eight-bar phrase with no repititions…. how rare is […]

2. “YOU BELONG TO ME” – JO STAFFORD

Weeks at number one: 1 (16th – 23rd January 1953) / Length: 3m10s / Label: Columbia Notable for… being the first by-a-female number one, ever! MELODY & HARMONY ~ 5 : Nothing to write home from a tropic isle about, but it totally does the job. The middle eight is a little bit too perfunctory […]