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#3 Adult Contemporary, #10, Pop, #26 R&B
Like Rick Astley decades later, Tom Jones was one of the first popular voices that had we listeners fooled.
My parents, step-mother, aunts and even grandmothers loved his singing (especially the country covers such as “Green Green Grass of Home”) but I loved him first and just knew he was a groovy Black dude until I saw him on TV! ROTFL.
Now when I finally did see him he could have been chartreuse for all I cared — I just knew that he was one of the sexiest things I had seen on TV in my 11 or so years on the planet! Yes, I was a tween in love. I was gonna grow up and marry Tom, Elvis (yes I said it -- those movies were groovy) Eddie K and Rock Hudson. Of course having four husbands didn’t seem a problem in my juvenile mind. Where there was a will there was a way.
I am sure there are some Boomers out there that have fond memories of Variety Shows and “The Tom Jones Show” was one of my favorites. I never missed it and sat in front of the TV with my Grandmother to watch every episode. We both LOVED it!
Twenty years later even the sitcom character Carlton Banks of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air loved Tom Jones as demonstrated in this YouTube Classic Clip compilation.
Before there was Tom Jones there was Tommy Scott the singer with the Welsh Beat Group The Senators. Tommy Scott was born Thomas John Woodward.
Singer Gordon Mills of the Viscounts recognized Scott’s talent and re-named him Tom Jones in 1964. Jones’ second recording on the Decca label, “It’s Not Unusual,” hit and the rest became legend. This first hit, composed by Gordon Mills and Leslie Reed, became the signature song for Jones’ entire career.
Take a look at this Billboard Chart History of “Jingle Bell Rock.” It has been in the Top 100 in assorted categories in four different decades and two different centuries! Guess that’s all I need to say about the longevity of this classic .. eh?
1957 #13 Country Singles
1958 #6 Pop Singles
1960 #36 Pop Singles
1961 #41 Pop Singles
1962 #56 Pop Singles
1996 #18 Adult Contemporary Single
1997 #60 Hot Country Singles & Tracks
2005 #37 Hot Digital Songs
2006 #9 Hot Ringtones
2004 #64 Hot Canadian Digital Singles
Whew! So this is why you hear this song every December and always will.
This is the original version of the often covered holiday song penned by Joe Beal and Jim Boothe. Even though Helms had a successful career as a country singer before he released “JBR”‘ — this is probably the song that assured his place in The Rockabilly Hall of Fame. There is a great career biography for your reading pleasure at the RAB Hall of Fame Web Site, here, so I won’t rehash the details.
But I will give you the lyrics of this classic just in case you feel the urge to sing along (and I know you will get that feeling lol!)
Jingle Bell Rock Composed by Joe Beal and Jim Boothe
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air.
What a bright time, it’s the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh.
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet
That’s the jingle bell,
That’s the jingle bell,
That’s the jingle bell rock.
Keep ringing and rocking to keep these oldies alive!
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1610866_ivwbp/k-ReleaseMe_AndLetLoveAgain_.mp3] Engelbert Humperdinck – Release Me (1966)
Well the lyrics are pretty macho but the voice singing the lyrics is very very romantic and that’s all I thought about or understood about this song when my paternal grandmother would play this on her 8-track player over and over again. Nanny’s Humperdinck and Charley Pride tapes were two of her favorites. (So perhaps now you can see another of the many roots of my eclectic musical tastes.)
“Release Me,” composed by Eddie Miller, Dub Williams and Robert Yount, was the breakout hit for Britian’s Arnold Dorsey. Arnold had been struggling on the music scene since the early fifties first as a saxophone player and later as a singer.
In 1965 Arnold ran into a former roommate, George Mills, who also happened to be managing the singer Tom Jones.
Aware that Dorsey had been struggling several years to make it in music, Mills suggested a name change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the composer of such operas as Hansel and Gretel. Mills also arranged a new deal with Decca Records. And in early 1967, the changes paid off when Humperdinck’s version of “Release Me,” done in a smooth ballad style with a full chorus joining him on the third chorus, reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and went to number one in Britain, keeping The Beatles’ adventurous “Strawberry Fields” from entering the top slot in the UK. Release Me also went on to become the longest running chart single in history. It spent 56 weeks in the Top 50 in a single chart run, a record that still holds to this day (SOURCE)
This first hit was my favorite EH sang until “After the Lovin” came along in 1976. His voice was too smooth in that one! Simply dreamy.
Englebert continues to wow crowds today. His Official Site features his tour schedule plus fan club information, discography, photos, news, and web shop.
Please enjoy this visual of EH performing the song that has become his trademark. The clip is from the series “The Engelbert Humperdinck Show” recorded in London 1969-1970.
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1545772_5lqk5/TheZombies-She_sNotThere.mp3] The Zombies – She’s Not There (1964) This minor key beauty of a song made the British Top 20 and crossed over to reach #1 here in the U.S. This was the first hit for The Zombies; Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson, Colin Blunstone ( awesome vocalist), Chris White and Hugh Grundy. The group [...]
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/973664_iavi6/16.RobertMaxwell-Shangri-La.mp3] Shangri-La – Robert Maxwell, His Harp & Orchestra (1963) “Shangri-La “composed in 1946 by Carl Sigman(lyrics), Matt Malneck, and Robert Maxwell was popularized in 1957 by The Four Coins (went to #11) and in 1969 by The Lettermen. Robert Maxwell’s version came in the middle of these two. It is the instrumental version, [...]
I am still singing Louis Jordan tunes after my last post here, so here’s one more to share with you on this Friday morning. This is “Let The Good Times Roll” performed by Louis Jordan with his Tympany Five, from the 1947 public domain film “Reet, Petite, and Gone”. I always thought of this song [...]
HA HA HA GOTCHA! Yea this is The Muppets’ version in this video: this was made during my lifetime! But here is the original version made in 1948 before I came into being. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]Louis Jordan — Barnyard Boogie I only recently came to know the music of Louis Jordan [...]
