Saturday Night at the Oldies: Jimmy Elledge and Some Other One-Hit Wonders

Jimmy Elledge, Funny How Time Slips Away.  Born January 8, 1943 in Nashville, Elledge died June 10, 2012 after complications following a stroke.  The song, written by Willie Nelson, made the #22 slot on Billboard Hot 100 in 1961, and sold over one million copies. Elledge never had another hit. As a YouTube commenter points out, that does sound like Floyd Cramer tickling the ivories.  A great song.  I always thought it was a female singing.

Rosie and the Originals, Angel Baby, 1960.  Perfect for cruising Whittier Boulevard in your '57 Chevy on a Saturday night.  This one goes out to Tom Coleman.

Claudine Clark, Party Lights, 1962

Contours, Do You Love Me? 1962

Norma Tanega, Walkin' My Cat Named 'Dog,' 1966.   A forgotten oldie if ever there was one.  If you remember this bit of vintage vinyl, one of the strangest songs of the '60s, I'll buy you a beer or a cat named 'dog.' One.

Bruce Channel, Hey! Baby, 1962

Barbara George, I Know, 1962

And now a couple more forgotten one-hit wonders who get almost no play on the oldies stations which is exactly why you need Uncle Wild Bill's Saturday Night at the Oldies:

Bob Luman, Let's Think About Livin'  Trivia question: The song contains references to three contemporary songs.  Name them.  And how quaint the reference to the fellow with the switch-blade knife.

Larry Finnegan, Dear One, 1962 

David Bowie?  Who's he?

UPDATE.   Dave B. tells me that I owe his wife Ronda a beer:

Yeah she remembered that song from the opening riff.

What a waste of a nice Gibson SG...

You are quite right, Dave: the girl is flailing at a Gibson SG standard.  Clapton, a.k.a 'God,' played them before switching over to Fender Strats.  I wanted an SG back around '67 or '68 but they were too much in demand.  So I 'settled' for  a Gibson ES 335 TD.  But then I did the dumbest thing I ever did a few years later.

Comments

[DaveB]

I was 12 years old in 1960, but remember clearly, as I listened to the 3-transistor radio I'd gotten for Christmas (all my friends got the 6-transistor and I was somewhat miffed at my folks), hearing 'Angel Baby' for the first time. It captured my emotions, and I believe I started looking at girls in a more nuanced (that is, hormone-driven) manner from that point on. Man, that memory is still strong.

[BV]

Your hormone drive kicked in rather late, Dave.

Those transistor radios were contributory to the Decline of the West. R & R could be taken by the kids everywhere and you know what the original meaning of 'R & R' is.

[BV]

'Angel Baby' was a competent garage band effort. Hell, you and I could have been playing in that band. Now you and I are undoubtedly hot-shot guitar slingers, but no way we could hold a candle to the the boys in The Eagles. Or should I speak only for myself?

[DaveB]

Hmmm...original meaning? Other than 'rest and relaxation', the only other reference I'm remembering is 'I&I' - which was used in place of R&R to more accurately define the true meaning of 'rest and relaxation' which was, according to the sensibilities of the more coarse spirits, 'intercourse and intoxication'.

[BV]

'I & I' is close. 'Rock and roll' is black idiom for the old in and out. You remember Little Richard, circa '56: "Good Golly Miss Molly, she sure likes to ball/ See her rockin' and a rollin', can't she hear her mama call." Whitey was too dumb to catch the meaning and the song received widespread (a little pun there) airplay. But some white preachers were hip to the lingo and objected that this here new-fangled R & R music would "bring the white man down to the level of the nigger." Those are their words, not mine.

[DaveB]

"..but no way we could hold a candle to the the boys in The Eagles. Or should I speak only for myself?"

You speak for me as well.
For a taste of bleeding-edge guitar, try the video for "G.O.A.T"
by the band Polyphia. https://youtu.be/9_gkpYORQLU

[DaveB]

Uh....was hoping to provoke a scathing rebuke of the GOAT video. The guitar is bleeding edge, but it is nothing imo compared to the great amp tones and singing guitar lines of the past.