With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Rolling Back The Years With Mayhem – 1961 June 3, 2024

Filed under: Rolling Back The Years — justwilliam1959 @ 9:51 pm
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This is the third in what I hope will be a very long-running series, just like my long-running life, so far at least! I have decided to look at the most popular songs from every year I have existed. There will be some artistic licence on my part as I will always seek to include at least a few of my favourites from each year. The format will be a top ten for each year and will cover the music and songs I grew up with, came of age with, and achieved my greatest success alongside music that comforted me in bad times. This third top ten goes back to my 2nd birthday, 1961. I don’t remember actually hearing these songs back in 1961, but I have listened to them many times over the years. I have focused on the UK charts and this time the US bestseller does not feature in my list. It is “Tossin’ And Turnin'” by Bobby Lewis. My Mum’s favourite singer Elvis Presley is in the top ten at number 3. One of my Dad’s favourite songs “But I Do” is at number seven. It isn’t in the top ten but one of my favourite 1961 tunes is “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until You Lose It” by Ral Donner. So here is the third Rolling Back The Years With Mayhem Chart, for 1961. It has quite a few good tunes I reckon. Please get on board the Time Machine now, it will be a rough journey so bring a sick bag! If you are too scared to enter the Time Machine, click here for the playlist! The chart for 1962 will follow soon.

1 Runaway – Del Shannon
2 Walking Back To Happiness – Helen Shapiro
3 Are You Lonesome Tonight? – Elvis Presley
4 Hello Mary Lou – Ricky Nelson
5 Blue Moon – The Marcels
6 Poetry In Motion – Johnny Tillotson
7 But I Do – Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry
8 Will You Love Me Tomorrow? – Shirelles
9 Take Good Care Of My Baby – Bobby Vee
10 Cupid – Sam Cooke

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“Where did my baby go? Who’s gonna mend my rainbow?” – Advent day 24 December 24, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:03 am
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Number 24This is it folks, we’re nearly there, it’s Christmas Eve and Santa has started his delivery schedule. I hope that none of you are on his naughty list! So let’s open the penultimate cardboard flap on the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem advent calendar shall we? It’s 24th December which means you’ll get two songs with the number 24 in their title. But today will be a little different from all my other advent posts this year as both come from the same artist. Who’d have thought that one artist would have two songs with 24 in the title? Well there is such an artist and his name is Gene Pitney.

Gene+Pitney+GeneThe first song from Gene today is one that I’m sure most of you know, it’s “24 Hours From Tulsa“. The tune was a number 5 hit in the UK in 1963, It reached number 17 in the US and also made the top 5 in Australia and number 6 in Canada. In my head I always thought that this song was a UK number one. But Mr Pitney didn’t top the UK chart until his duet with Marc Almond on “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart” in 1989. That was 28 years after his first UK hit. Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote “24 Hours From Tulsa” and it has been covered by Dusty Springfield and Jay And The Americans to name but two.

pitneyThe second Gene Pitney song in today’s post is “24 Sycamore”. This was a European only release from 1973 when it reached number 34 in the UK chart. Pitney was also a successful songwriter and among the hits he wrote were; “Rubber Ball” (Bobby Vee), “He’s A Rebel” (The Crystals) and “Hello Mary Lou” (Ricky Nelson). Sadly Gene Pitney passed away in 2006 but he lives on through his music.