The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 45

The Rhythm & Blues Chart

Number ones, 1952-1953

This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.

And it's hitparade time again, with today the number one hits of March 1952 up to the summer of 1953. And these years bring a wide variety of Rhythm & Blues, from hard blues to doowop classics and the gospel-influenced songs of the Five Royales and the Dominoes. And I start with the number one for one week on March 15. On Chess is here Rosco Gordon with Booted.

01 - Rosco Gordon - Booted
02 - Ruth Brown - 5-10-15 Hours

Atlantic sweetheart Ruth Brown, whose constant stream of hits were a major factor in establishing Atlantic as a leading label for Rhythm & Blues. From May, 3 she kept the number one spot for a total of seven weeks.

On June 14 we find the Dominoes on number one with their Have Mercy Baby and it would keep that spot for ten weeks though not in a row. The heavily gospel-influenced style wasn't a new feature but it hadn't been so popular before as I became in 1952. Have Mercy Baby was inspired on the gospel Have Mercy Jesus and sung by Clyde McPhatter who had his musical roots in church. The back beat handclapping wasn't new at all, we'd seen a short fad for that in the late forties starting with Wynonie Harris in his version of Good Rocking Tonight. The call-and-response wasn't new in Rhythm & Blues either. It was the strong and energetic combination that made this record for the standard that it was and it paved the way for many other song in a similar style - and we'll get more of this later today, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.

But we follow the timeline and the next number one so on June 21, though just for one week, the Billboard Rhythm & Blues hit list brings us to New Orleans with Fats Domino and his Going Home.

04 - Fats Domino - Goin' Home
05 - Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy

Lawdy Miss Clawdy wat the monster hit of Lloyd Price, released on the Specialty label, another one that made it to the classics of the Rhythm & Blues. It held the number one spot for seven weeks from July 12 and on August 23 it was displaced by the only hit of one of my favourite groups, the Four Blazes.

This group had been around since the late thirties playing the Chicago clubs and apart from one pretty unnoticed session for the Aristocrat label, they'd never recorded again until 1952 when they signed with United records and in the studio they did something that they'd never done before - an uptempo blues with humourous lyrics written and sung by Tommy Braden who'd joined the group not long before. The group didn't have a saxophonist so Eddie Chamblee was called in for the cool licks that are on this song. And as I said, it was their only hit, despite attempts with similar-sounding songs they were a typical one-hit wonder. Listen to the Four Blazes with their song on that hot little mama that went all the way to Alaska just to melt the snow - Mary Jo.

06 - Four Blazes - Mary Jo
07 - Clovers - Ting A Ling

The Clovers with Ting a Ling hit number one as most played in juke boxes on September, 6 and they topped number two that week for the most sold in retail list. Well as I explained in previous shows on the number ones, Billboard kept two hit lists for R&B, best sold in retail and most played in juke boxes. And I play the number ones of both of them, they're often the same but not always. It explains for the overlap in weeks, and for the weeks that I have two number ones. Like on September 27 of 1952 when Johnny Ace is most sold in retail with his My song, while that same week Little Walter does best in the juke box with Juke. As I said, you'll get 'em both.

08 - Johnny Ace - My Song
09 - Little Walter - Juke

Little Walter was that with Juke on the Checker label, and this blues instrumental did best in juke boxes on September 27. And Most played in juke boxes from November, 8 was Eddie Boyd with Five Long Years.

10 - Eddie Boyd - Five Long Years
11 - B.B. King - You Know I Love You

The great B.B. King with You Know I Love You and according to the wikipedia list that I always use that hit number one for two weeks from November 8, but while looking that up in Billboard Magazine, I noticed another strange thing. For both November 8 and 15, it is listed second for best selling R&B, after Johnny Ace's My Song, but both say this week's position is number one. It seems some kind of shared number one that B.B. King did for these two weeks, I can't make more of that I'm afraid.

We'll close the year 1952 with a side of Willie Mabon on the Chess label. I don't know is listed number one from December 27 for a total of 8 weeks, and by then we're way into the next year.

12 - Willie Mabon - I Don't Know
13 - Five Royales - Baby Don't Do It

The Five Royales were that with Baby Don't Do It on the Apollo label, and they topped the hit list from February 21 for three weeks. And like Billy Ward and his Dominoes, they used the same gospel-styled techniques.

Next is Ruth Brown again, with another number one hit for Atlantic. Here is Mama he treats your daughter mean.

14 - Ruth Brown - Mama (he treats your daughter mean)
15 - Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog

And the classic Hound Dog sung by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, a true blues classic shouter that got numerous covers, but no-one ever hit it with the intensity that miss Thornton did. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, both 19 year-old kids, and for them it was their first production, that is, Johnny Otis put them in charge and did the drums on it, as the drummer of Otis' band, Leard "Kansas City" Bell, somehow didn't get the groove of it. Big Mama Thornton plays neatly with the focus of her sentences and the shoutings and dog sounds through the guitar solo of Pete Lewis.

Unfortunately the songwriting credits appeared to be reason for discord, Johnny Otis' claim of co-writing the song brought him to court against Leiber and Stoller - and he lost that battle. Of course we all know the version of Elvis, who'd added it as a closer of his gigs after he'd seen it in Vegas being performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, who'd changed the lyrics much to the chagrin of Jerry Leiber. Elvis' performed the Hound Dog on national television in 1956 on The Milton Berle Show and that appearance let to the nationwide discussion on Elvis - and on Rock 'n Roll.

But that was over three years after Big Mama Thornton hit number one on the Rhythm & Blues chart - on April 18 of 1953, to be precise - for seven weeks.

And on May, 30 of that year we find Willie Mabon on number one, with I'm mad on the Chess label.

16 - Willie Mabon - I'm Mad
17 - Five Royales - Help Me Somebody
18 - B.B. King - Please Love Me

And that was on the RPM label B.B. King who hit the number one spot on July 4 with Please love me and before that on Apollo the Five Royales that topped the Billboard R&B list from June 13 of 1953. And these two bring us to the end of this show. Well there was a lot of hot music again that we got today and I hope you liked listening as much as I liked producing this show. Of course you can let me know, send me an e-mail to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com or visit my web site, just do a google search on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and my site will show up first. As for now, time's up so I have to say goodbye and I wish you have a great and rocking day. See you next time on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!