(VANITY) TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II ('50S) - ROUND 4

author | 2/6/22 | the OlLine Rebel

[the OlLine Rebel]

ROUND 4 OF THE '50S TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS II COMMENCES!

ROUND 4 – SWEET 16

Votes due: Sunday, Feb 13 @ 12:00 pm Eastern.

16 songs, 8 pairs, 8 winners! Vote for your favorite in each pair listed. (You may abstain from any pairs, but please don't overdo it!)

Any ties will be broken via Billboard annual ranking, then back to Round 1 ranking (seed), then Round 1 point total, then Round 1 vote count.

Past Rounds:

Rounds 1A and 1B: 1A, 1B
Round 2: 2
Round 3: 3

[the OlLine Rebel]

There will be 8 pairs from the '50s to compare. 8 songs will emerge as the winners of this round.

The vote is simply: which of each pair is better?

Please vote on as MANY pairs as possible! However, it is not required in order to “complete” the survey. You can do as many pairs as you like.

See run-down of the pairs in my next reply post.

Format in survey: Poll seed – year - song title - act

The survey is at 1950s survey Sweet 16

My YouTube playlist is 1950s playlist Sweet 16

[the OlLine Rebel]

TOURNAMENT OF CHART-TOPPERS 1950S II PING LIST

(This is a temporary ping list, so don’t worry it won’t last forever!)

Here are the 8 pairs for Round 4. Please see start of thread for Round 4 rules!

Again, the survey is here: 1950s survey Sweet 16

My YouTube Playlist covers ALL these songs, but is in order of year, not paired up as the preview below: 1950s playlist Sweet 16

ROUND 4 PAIRS/BRACKETS (TOCT seed/year/BB rank/title/act)

1 1950 2 "Mona Lisa" Nat King Cole
16 1956 2 "Don't Be Cruel" Elvis Presley

9 1952 4 "You Belong to Me" Jo Stafford
8 1958 8 "Tequila" The Champs

4 1957 3 "Little Darlin'" The Diamonds
45 1958 7 "Catch a Falling Star" / "Magic Moments" Perry Como

12 1956 1 "Heartbreak Hotel" Elvis Presley
5 1959 6 "Dream Lover" Bobby Darin

2 1958 2 "All I Have to Do Is Dream" / "Claudette" The Everly Brothers
18 1956 4 "My Prayer" The Platters

10 1959 2 "Mack the Knife" Bobby Darin
58 1959 10 "Mr. Blue" The Fleetwoods

3 1955 2 "Rock Around the Clock" Bill Haley & His Comets
19 1957 7 "Singing the Blues" Guy Mitchell

11 1954 4 "Sh-Boom" The Crew-Cuts
27 1955 7 "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" The Four Aces

[CAluvdubya]

In case it hasn’t been said enough......thank you for doing this. I really enjoy participating plus I get to hear some great oldies that I would otherwise have forgotten to listen to!

[SamAdams76]

Same here, this effort is much appreciated.

Looking forward to the 1970s, 1980s, etc, which are decades I'm more familiar with, but realize this takes a lot of work.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I’ll gradually get to it.

It’s still alot of set-up right now (thanks to FR NOT being easy to use in multiple aspects including making hyperlinks), but once I get it going it’s easy sailing with the automatic survey site. It was exhausting when I had to count everything manually.

So instead of taking 2-5 years for the next maybe I’ll get to the ‘60s within the year.

[tallyhoe]

Those were all great.. Used to hear them on the Radio I was 9.

[Fiji Hill]

Looking forward to the 1970s, 1980s, etc, which are decades I'm more familiar with

I would like to see a 1920s-1930s contest, which is the decade of my favorite tunes. I could probably take part in a 1970s contest but don't know much about 1980s music.

[the OlLine Rebel]

LOL you’re welcome to set up one yourself!

Yes, I’m not eclectic enough to be familiar with recordings from then, but the worst part for me is a starting point. Billboard didn’t put out an annual list until 1947 or so and I like to start with rock-solid “stats”.

[Family Guy]

A few really difficult choices.

You Belong To Me and Tequila was the toughest. Since the other You Belong To Me by The Duprees exists, I have rarely listened to this one. But I’ve listened to Tequila a brazillion times. So I gave it to Tequila.

If the version by The Duprees didn’t exist, I probably would have given it to Jo Stafford.

[Family Guy]

I’d love to see a 70’s, 80’s, and even 20’s survwy. I bet I’d know a few of the songs from the 20’s.

[Fiji Hill]

I chose "You Belong to Me" even though it's not my favorite Jo Stafford song--that would be No Other Love, from 1950. The Champs would have gotten my vote if Train to Nowhere, the flip side of "Tequila" were the choice.

[Fiji Hill]

The songs from the 1920's that I like are mostly from the latter half of the decade, after electrical recording was introduced in 1925, which greatly improved the sound quality. Nonetheless, there were some great tunes from the early years such as Look For the Silver Lining by Marion Harris (1921) and The Wreck of the old 97 by Vernon Dalhart (1925)

[Family Guy]

Now I have to go listen to those songs.

[Family Guy]

There are a lot of great songs from that time. I looked up the top songs of the 20’s and I was impressed. I’m a big fan of Al Jolson and he had a bunch of very popular songs.

There were definitely a lot of songs that didn’t age well.

[Family Guy]

I listened to No Other Love so far. It’s based on the Chopin Etude Opus 10 #3. One of my absolute favorite classical pieces. Jo Stafford’s rendition is so smooth and pretty. I’m going to listen some more.

I knew a version called Close To My Heart by Gene Pitney.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jn6rpCs9bpE

[Family Guy]

Train To Nowhere was fun. The piano made that song. Every song about a train has to sound like a train. It must be a rule. Thank you for the links.

[Fiji Hill]

Frienship (1940) may sound like a hillbilly tune by a band from deep in the Southern Appalachians, but it was written by Cole Porter, performed by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, and the female soloist is none other than a very young Jo Stafford.

[Fiji Hill]

Throw Mama from the Train (1956) doesn't sound much like a train--in fact, it's the only train song I have ever heard that is in waltz time--yet it was a hit, nonetheless. But In the Middle of the House, also from 1956, does, and it was recorded by several acts. On his TV program Captain Kangaroo played it in the background as a model railroad ran through the middle of a miniature house.

[Fiji Hill]

That was a knockout performance by Gene Pitney.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Almost forgot to vote myself!

Only pair close tonight is the first, with Mona Lisa taking Elvis.

I’m afraid Elvis is going to die on the vine here! Kind of unbelievable.

I will not vote for Mack the Knife. It has to be a really bad song for me to do so.

Meanwhile, I still haven’t voted for the Everlys, all because I can’t separate the fantastic “Dream” from the flip side intimately connected in the Billboard charts. “My Prayer” is one of my beloveds so I’m happy to vote for it.