My 45s Collection, Part Three (of Three)

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In the first two parts of this reminiscence, I listed several different groups of my records that have been sleeping in a cabinet in our den for a couple of decades.  I have a couple of groups left to survey.

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All right, I’ll admit it: the next stack of 45s includes some embarrassments. I just can't have collected all these myself, can I? Some may have been my wife's. Others may have been - gulp - my sister's. Well, at least this group does include some of the most familiar pop hits of the late fifties.

Tammy   by The Ames Brothers

                      with Joe Reisman’s Orchestra and Chorus

Young Love   by Tab Hunter

                                with the Billy Vaughan Orchestra

Heart of My Heart   by The Four Aces

                                                featuring Al Alberts

Speak Low (Tout Bas)   by The Blue Stars

Soft Summer Breeze   by Eddie Heywood

My Bonnie Lassie   by The Ames Brothers

                             with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra

I’ll Never Stop Loving You   by Doris Day

                                          with the Percy Faith Orchestra

Tonight You Belong to Me   by The Ames Brothers

                           with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra

Eh, Cumpari   by Julius LaRosa

                                    with the Archie Bleyer Orchestra

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White

                                        by the Perez Prado Orchestra

It’s Not for Me to Say   by Johnny Mathis

                                      with the Ray Conniff Orchestra

If You Believe   by Johnnie Ray

                                     with the Percy Faith Orchestra

Many Times   by Bud Roman

                                   with the Lee Raymond Orchestra

Young at Heart   by Frankie Carle

The Man With the Golden Arm   by Elmer Bernstein

                                                            and his Orchestra

My Truly, Truly Fair   by Ray Anthony

                                                     and his Orchestra

Flip, Flop, and Fly   by Johnnie Ray

                                   with the Les Elgart Orchestra

Time   by the Jackie Gleason Orchestra

Manhattan Spiritual  by the Reg Owen Orchestra

The Trouble With Harry   by Alfi and Harry

Who Needs You   by The Four Lads

Play Me Hearts and Flowers   by Johnny Desmond

Most of these records don’t really seem to reflect my taste, then or now… But this is history, right?

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I suppose those who look carefully through all the records listed so far - in Parts One, Two, and Three - could pick out a few that might be termed “Country and Western” (like Webb Pierce singing “The Honky Tonk Song” that’s in the brown box and Rusty Howard’s “Mexican Joe” in Part Two).  I did use to like listening to “Western Cavalcade” on KVET 1300 in the evening doing my Latin homework.  But by and large I didn’t actually buy Country and Western records.

I did buy four, though, which I still have but have not yet mentioned.  I am particularly proud of the last one.

Cool Water   by The Sons of the Pioneers

Shadows on the Old Bayou   by Johnny Horton

                                                          and the Texans

Red River Valley   by The Sons of the Pioneers

and

Chew Tobacco Rag   by Pee Wee King

                                   and his Golden West Cowboys.

I can remember a few others that I don’t have anymore, including three little boxed sets of 45s:  one of show tunes (I remember Howard Keel’s picture on the front), one of square-dance music (I enjoyed square dancing from elementary right through high school), and one of Roy Rogers’ biggest hits.  Also, I regret having lost one record that would have appeared among the “also-rans” above: Guy Mitchell’s “I Never Felt More Like Singin’ the Blues.”

One final note:  In all these lists, I didn’t include the B side of these records.  They all have them, or course.  Some fans might have chosen differently than I, but I chose the side I listened to most often, as far as I can remember. 

There are 160 records altogether.

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My 45s Collection, Part Two (of Three)

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In Part One of this Reminiscence, I listed the first two groups of records in my 45s collection from 1955-60 which at one time seemed to have been my favorites.  First, I kept forty-five 45s in a little brown box that I could take with me to my friends’ houses; I listed the current contents.  Second, I listed a group of “slow tunes” that I admitted I listen to more now than to the R & B and pop tunes in the boxed collection.

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Next in my cabinet is another group of “slow tunes” that I guess didn't make the first cut. There are a couple of surprises even for me among these records, but I simply must have bought all of them in the first place and later I must even have considered putting them in the "favorite slow tunes" stack…

Anyway, here are the "also-ran" slow tunes:

My Heart Stood Still   by The Four Freshmen

If I Give My Heart to You   by Doris Day

                                                        and The Mellomen

No, Not Much   by The Four Lads

                                             with the Roy Ennis Orchestra

Memories Are Made of This   by Gale Storm

It’s Almost Tomorrow   by Jo Stafford

                                         with the Paul Weston Orchestra

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing   by Don Cornell

Fools Will Be Fools   by The Four Preps

My Desire   by The Cliques

Teach Me Tonight   by Jo Stafford

                                      with the Paul Weston Orchestra

Tell Me, Tell Me   by June Valli

Forgive My Heart   by Nat “King” Cole

A Story Untold   by The Crew-Cuts

Picnic   by The McGuire Sisters

All the Time   by Johnny Mathis

                                           with the Ray Ellis Orchestra

Until the Day I Die   by The Teen Queens

The End   by Earl Grant

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing   by the Four Aces

                                                          featuring Al Alberts.

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Oh my! Yes, there are actually still lots more 45s, in separate stacks, for some reason. The first two records in this next bunch are unusual. The first is by a girl in the high school class ahead of me. It was her second (and, I believe, last) commercially produced recording, following one released by the local group "The Four Roses." These kids performed around town for a time as "Joyce Webb and the Four Roses." The second record here - “Pet Cream Man” - I haven't listened to in a long time. I think I bought it when I was sixteen or so, thinking it might be one of what we in the racially divided South imagined were sexually suggestive "black" tunes (like “Switchie Witchie…” in the box). Mainly it's just not very good, if I am remembering correctly.

Not all the records in this particular stack were my own…including the first four, I promise! It will perhaps be obvious that the records in this stack, unlike the ones above, are not in order of which the first ones are the best. Even Chuck Miller's "Bye, Bye, Love" (last in this list) is probably not the worst record in the group.

Ain’t That Just Like a Man   by Joyce Webb

Pet Cream Man   by J. B. and His Hawks

Long Tall Sally   by (gasp) Pat Boone “with orchestra”

I Almost Lost My Mind   by Pat Boone “with orchestra”

Ain’t That a Shame   by Pat Boone “with orchestra”

Tutti-Frutti   by Pat Boone “with orchestra”

Nola   by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadiens

The Sand Dance   by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadiens

Ricochet   by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadiens

That’s Amore   by Bud Roman

                                  with Lee Raymond’s Orchestra

The Eagle and the Bear   by Jimmie Flagg

The Man with the Banjo   by Bud Roman

     with The Four Rhythmaires, and Lee Raymond’s Orchestra

Tribute to Hank Williams   by Joe Rumore

                      with J. T. Adams and The Men of Texas

Tain’t Nice   by Bill Carlisle and The Carlyles

A Full Time Job   by the Rhythm Rangers

                                            with Rusty Howard

Shake a Hand   by Rusty Howard

                                  and the Rhythm Rangers

Mexican Joe   by Rusty Howard

                                   and The Texas Playboys

Caribbean   by Rusty Howard

                                    and the Rhythm Rangers

Lazy River   by Roberta Sherwood

Because You’re Mine   by Hal Ross

                                          and the Les Morgan Orchestra

In Jerusalem (“sung in English”)   by Jane Morgan

                 with the Joe Sherman Orchestra and Chorus

My Screamin’ Screamin’ Mimi   by Ray Campi

Bye, Bye, Love   by Chuck Miller

                                          with the Earl Stevens Orchestra.

In many cases in this group, the names of both the singer and the orchestra are not familiar. I may be one of the few who do recognize "The Texas Playboys," however.

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The next stack seems to be a continuation of the records I might have considered taking in my little brown box to a party... but didn't, more often than not. These records also still sound pretty good to me:

Steam Heat   by Patti Page

                                and the Jack Rael Orchestra

Let’s Write Our Own Love Story   by The Four Lads

                                             with Ray Conniff’s Orchestra

Day by Day   by The Four Freshman

                                     with the Dick Reynolds Orchestra

Rollin’ Stone  by The Fontane Sisters

                                        and the Billy Vaughan Orchestra

I Must Be Dreaming  by The Hilltoppers

                                       featuring Jimmie Sacca

Most of All   by Don Cornell

Could This Be Magic?   By The Dubs

Have Mercy Baby   by Ella Mae Morse

                               with Big Dave and His Orchestra

Blue Star   by Charlie Applethwaite

                                              and the Victor Young Orchestra

49 Shades of Green   by The Ames Brothers

                                        with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra

Why Do Fools Fall in Love   by Gale Storm

Something’s Gotta Give   by The McGuire Sisters

Mostly Martha   by The Crew-Cuts

Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You   by Nat “King" Cole

                                              with Nelson Riddle’s Orchestra

Teen-Ager’s Crush   by Tommy Sands

You’re Mine   by The Dream Weavers

                                    featuring Wade Buff

A Teenager’s Romance   by Rick Nelson

                                              with Barney Kessell’s Orchestra

It’s Only the Good Times   by Tommy Edwards

                         with the LeRoy Holmes Orchestra and Chorus

It Isn’t Right   by The Platters

I Love My Girl   by The Hilltoppers

                                                featuring Jimmie Sacca

Love Me to Pieces   by Jill Corey

                             with the Jimmy Carroll Orchestra

Cry   by Johnny Ray and The Four Lads

Young Love   by The Crew-Cuts

                              with the David Carroll Orchestra

Let Me Go, Lover   by Theresa Brewer

                                            with the Lancers

My nominee for the worst lyric in this whole collection, including the B sides, is: “Blue Star, when I am blue/All I do/Is think of you.”  And why do some labels list the orchestra but others do not?  And did anyone remember that Johnny Ray’s smash hit “Cry” included The Four Lads?

There's a Part Three still to come!

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My Collection of 45s, Part One (of Three)

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I have quite a few of my 45 rpm records from about 1955-60. A particular group of friends in high school got together once or twice a month for a "dance." One of us would invite a girl- or boy-friend and five or six other couples over to her or his house about 7 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday. The furniture would be moved back so that we could dance, and only a lamp or two would be turned on - near the 45 player, naturally - and we would all bring with us any records we especially wanted to be played.

I kept mine in a small, brown, fake-leather box (which might have cost $1.50 at the Winn's Five and Dime about eight blocks away from my home). I still have it... full. It holds - well, let's see - forty-five 45s. I hadn't realized that clever touch until just now.

And I have a lot more too.

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My guiding principles in record-collecting in those days were to have only songs I really liked (not to please or impress someone else), to end up with a collection that was generally different from anyone else's, and to buy songs recorded by the original artists, rather than by one of the many who recorded "covers" of the most popular hits.

Still today, when I mention "Ain't That a Shame," for instance, my wife thinks I'm talking about Pat Boone! That would be like my thinking of Fats Domino when she mentioned "Love Letters in the Sand" or "Bernadine." I don't think I was prejudiced in those years against white performers, but it sort of seems that way looking back. I didn't ever buy "Hound Dog," for example, but if I had it would have been Big Mama Thorton's, not Elvis's.  I wouldn't have bought Peggy Lee's "Fever" (great though it is), but Little Willie John's.

Twenty years ago or more, I spent some time with my 45s, and I put in order in my little brown case what seemed to me at the time my favorites. They all hiss and some crackle a little, as they probably always did. Three or so are actually scratched, chipped, or even broken: "Peggy Sue" and "Ruby Baby" are examples. The records in the box have labels like Chess, Atlantic, ATCO, Decca, Coral, Mercury, Capitol, and Dot. Fats Domino is on Imperial, and Little Richard on Speciality. Some of the labels may have brought out only the one song I bought, labels like Friendly and Bell, for instance.

You may want to skip over this next part. Here's the whole list of records in the little box, in order of the best first:

Maybellene   by Chuck Berry

Only You   by The Platters

Ain’t It a Shame   by Fats Domino

Rock Around the Clock   by Bill Haley and His Comets

Heartbreak Hotel   by Elvis Presley

Blue Monday   by Fats Domino

Speedoo   by The Cadillacs

Short Shorts   by The Royal Teens

Seventeen   by Boyd Bennett

Little Darlin’   by The Gladiolas

All I Have to Do Is Dream   by The Eberle Brothers

Jim Dandy   by LaVern Baker

Don’t Be Angry   by The Crew-Cuts

Dream Boat   by The Drifters

My Blue Heaven   by Fats Domino

Don’t You Know I Love You   by Bobby Charles

Long Tall Sally   by Little Richard

Switchie Witchie Titchie   by The Midnighters

Burn That Candle   by Bill Haley and His Comets

Smokey Joe’s Café   by The Robins

Honky Tonk Song   by Webb Pierce

I Feel Good   by Shirley and Lee

The Girl Can’t Help It   by Little Richard

Whispering Bells   by The Dell-Vikings

Young Blood   by The Coasters

The Chicken and the Hawk   by Joe Turner

Sweet Little Sixteen   by Chuck Berry

Breathless   by Jerry Lee Lewis

I’m Walkin’   by Fats Domino

Ruby Baby   by The Drifters

Muskrat Ramble   by The McGuire Sisters

Thirty Days   by Chuck Berry

When My Dreamboat Comes Home   by Fats Domino

From the Bottom of My Heart   by The Clovers

Send Me Some Lovin’   by Little Richard

Chain Gang   by Bobby Scott

Fools Fall in Love   by The Drifters

Don’t You Know I Love You   by Fats Domino

Sixteen Tons   by “Tennessee” Ernie Ford

Why Do Fools Fall in Love   by Frankie Lymon

                                                         and The Teenagers

Train of Love   by Johnny Cash

Sh-Boom   by The Crew-Cuts

Peggy Sue   by Buddy Holly

The Green Door   by Artie Malvin

I’ll Never Stop Loving You   by Doris Day

                                     with the Percy Faith Orchestra

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There are a couple of "slow tunes" in that group, of course, but that was not my main interest in that selection process some years back. But at the same time as I selected those for the box, I did make a separate stack of my favorite (or my other favorite) slow tunes. Not all, but more of them were by traditional singers... In other words, my parents would have recognized their names.

The labels were from the bigger companies too: RCA Victor, London, M-G-M, and Columbia, along with more of those big-name labels I mentioned in the first group: Mercury, Capitol, Decca, and so on. But there are a few other, smaller labels too even in this group, like "X" (the label included the quotation marks), Cadence, and Epic.

Frankly, I listen to the slow tunes more these days than those in the box. This stack seems especially terrific:

Cara Maria   by David Whitfield

                                   with the Orchestra of Montavani

Johnny Darling   by Sandy Stewart and the Excels

11^th Hour Melody   by Al Hibbler

The Great Pretender   by The Platters

It’s All in the Game   by Tommie Edwards

Hey Little Girl   by Gary Stiles

Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup

                                                    by Nat “King” Cole

It’s Almost Tomorrow   by The Dream Weavers

Born to Be With You   by The Cordettes

Over the Mountains, Across the Seas   by Johnnie and Joe

How Important Can It Be?   by Joni James

                                               and the Ray Charles Singers

Oh, My Papa   by Eddie Fisher

                                with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra

The Miracle of Love   by Eileen Rogers

                                          with the Ray Conniff Orchestra

Band of Gold   by Don Cherry

                                 (also) with the Ray Conniff Orchestra

Eddie My Love  by The Fontane Sisters

                                      with the Billy Vaughan Orchestra

Don’t Stay Away Too Long   by Eddie Fisher

                              with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra

The Magic Touch   by The Platters

Love Me Tender   by Elvis Presley

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing   by The Four Aces

                                                              featuring Al Alberts

Little Things Mean a Lot   by Kitty Kallen

Unchained Melody   by Roy Hamilton

                                       with the Don Masingill Orchestra

Hold My Hand   by Don Cornell

Moments to Remember   by The Four Lads

                                          with the Ray Ellis Orchestra

You’re the Apple of My Eye   by The Four Lovers

Smile   by Nat “King” Cole

                                  with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

Even the names of the orchestras here are familiar... and of course, for slow tunes, having an orchestra is important.

...And I still have quite a few 45 records to list in Part Two of this Reminiscence.  

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