Hit Songs from June 1959

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In an attempt to douse the flames generated by rock and roll music, the media and conservative interests had thrown so much water at rock and roll culture that, by 1959, they nearly put the fire out entirely. Just compare the pop songs from May 1959 with those of a year or two earlier (you’ll have to check through our past shows for song titles) and you’ll see what I mean. Elvis was sent to Germany, and returned with less than half of his previous heat. Jerry Lee Lewis had been scandalized, Little Richard had quit, and Chuck Berry was marginalized, then jailed on the Mann act. Radio stations still willing to play rock and roll were being investigated for scandalous behavior. By necessity, pop music adopted a gentler edge, but speaking in a general sense, that didn’t mean that the songs were any less good. In a sense, all the hubbub forced rock and roll back to its roots, so country-western and R&B music expanded beyond regional interests and rose to national prominence in ways that couldn’t have been predicted.

Here’s a list of songs that debuted in May 1959, and are featured in today’s program;

1)    The Battle of New Orleans – Johnny Horton

2)    There Goes My Baby – The Drifters

3)    Tiger – Fabian (as a ‘Great Miss’)

4)    Lipstick on Your Collar – Connie Francis (as a ‘Great Miss’)

5)    What a Difference a Day Makes – Dinah Washington

6)    I Only Have Eyes for You – The Flamingoes

7)    Bongo Rock – Preston Epps (as a ‘Great Miss’)

8)    The Little Space Girl – Jesse Lee Turner (as a ‘Great Miss’)

9)    A Cottage for Sale – Frank Sinatra (from ‘Noone Cares’)

10)  Blue Moon of Kentucky – Elvis Presley (from ‘A Date With Elvis’)

11)  Good Rockin’ Tonight – Elvis Presley (from ‘A Date With Elvis’)