The Christmas Special
The Trailer: "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" by Christina Perri
"Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man with the Bag" by Kay Starr
"Angel Face" by Billy Fury
Series 6
A new series of "Call the Midwife" and we are in the Spring of 1962. The trailer for this series features "Hit & Miss", the theme from the BBC's "Juke Box Jury" that we watched every Saturday from 1959. It was composed by the incomparable John Barry and performed by The John Barry Seven plus Four.
Episode 1
"A King For Tonight" by Billy Fury and written by Doc Pomus (real name Jerome Solon Felder) and Mort Shuman. It was the B side of Fury's 1962 hit "Last Night Was Made For Love" that reached number 4 in the charts.
"Money (That's What I Want") by Barrett Strong. Released in 1959, it was the first hit for Motown and written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford.
"Stranger On The Shore" by Mr Acker Bilk and the Leon Young String Chorale. Written by Acker Bilk himself, it was released towards the end of 1961 and became a number 1 hit record, the biggest selling record of 1962 and the biggest selling instrumental of all time. On 26 May 1962, it became the first British recording to reach number one on the U.S. chart.
Episode 2
"Love Letters" by Ketty Lester. Just one song this week, but what a song. Although written in 1945 by Edward Heyman and Victor Young, it took until 1962 for Ketty Lester to make this a big hit, reaching number 4 in our charts. The brilliant piano arrangement is by Lincoln Mayorga, I only had to hear the first few notes of the intro to cheer this recording's inclusion.
Episode 3
"Multiplication" by Bobby Darin. Written by the singer, it reached Number 5 in the charts in 1962.
"I Enjoy Being a Girl" by Peggy Lee. Written by Rogers and Hammerstein for their musical Flower Drum Song, this is a track from the 1960 album Latin Ala Lee!".
"Old Ned (The Theme from Steptoe and Son". This instrumental written by Ron Grainger was the theme music for this sixties TV show.
Episode 4
"Fantastico" by Peggy Lee. From the 1961 album "Ole a la Lee" and written by Jack Keller and Noel Sherman.
"Please let it be me" by The Fashions, it was the B side of their 1961 record "Fairy Tales". Written by Bernie Lowe and Kal Mann. Both available on the album "The Clickettes meet The Fashions".
Episode 5
"Please Mr Postman" by the Marvelettes. Written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett,Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, it reached number one in the USA in 1961 but didn't register on the UK charts. Covered later by The Beatles on their album "With the Beatles" and The Carpenters.
"You're a Pink Toothbrush" by Max Bygraves. Composed by Harold Irving, Ralph Ruvin, Bob Halfin and Johnny Sheridan and released in 1953.
"When My Little Girl Is Smiling" by The Drifters. Released in 1962 it reached number 31 on the UK charts due to competition from covers by Craig Douglas and Jimmy Justice who both reached number 9. Written by the prolific Gerry Goffin and Carole King.
Episode 6
"Save the Last Dance for Me" by The Drifters. Only one song this week, and again it's by The Drifters. Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman it was released in 1960 and reached No 2 in the UK charts.
Episode 7
"Romeo" by Petula Clark. Based on a 1919 composition by Robert Stolz and with a lyric by Jimmy Kennedy, it peaked at No 3 in the UK charts in August 1961.
"Quando, Quando, Quando" by Pat Boone. With music by Tony Renis and Alberto Testa for this Italian song, it was Ervin Drake who wrote the English lyrics for the 1962 hit for Pat Boone. Although it only made it to 41 in the UK charts.
"Sometime Yesterday" by Helen Shapiro with Norrie Paramor and his Orchestra. The B Side of the No 23 hit "Let's Talk About Love" that were both featured in the 1962 movie "It's Trad, Dad". The composer on the record label is identified as Westlake.
Episode 8
"Bobby's Girl" by Susan Maughan. It's a very long time since I heard this song. Written by Gary Klein and Henry Hoffman and released in the USA by Marcie Blane. Susan's cover version reached No 3 in the UK charts in 1962.
"I've Told Every Little Star" by Linda Scott. Written in 1932 by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, the 1961 recording by Linda Scott reached No 7 in the UK.
"My Baby Just Cares For Me" by Nina Simone. Just the first few notes from the piano are enough to guess this familiar song. Written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn for the 1930 movie Whoopee. Recorded by many artists, Nina's 1958 release made it to No 5 in the UK.
"Once Upon A Dream" by Billy Fury. What a marvelous track to see out the end of the last episode in the series. Billy was such an icon on the eve of the breakthrough of a certain group from Liverpool. This song was written by Richard Rowe and Norrie Paramor and Billy sang it in the musical film Play It Cool" (go to Vimeo to see the clip). It reached number 7 in the UK charts in 1962.
5 comments:
Not a big comment leaver but I just wanted to say that I love your blog, big fan, and that I get a lot of reading material after reading your reviews as well taking trips to movies after reading them.
Quick question, will you be doing the songs for the X-Mas special. There's a song playing when the girls are around the campfire playing that I can't point out. When Sister Winnifred reveals she's a red-head, Trixie teaches Barbara how to smoke and Roza and Constance arrive to hang with the girls.
Big fan of your blog. I love your reviews and take a lot of my reading material and movie advice from you. Quick question will you be doing the song for the X-mas episode. There is a song where the girls are by the camp fire that I haven't been about to make out. Thanks.
Although I didn't watch the Christmas Special. I have entered the songs I think may have been used.
I love your blog!
I've made playlists on spotify (up to series 5) and my amazon music and listen to it every day!
I was trying to do it by ear, which took ages, but i found your blog after series 2 so than you!
Thanks for your comment, Nicole. I hope you are not stuck in the sixties like me. You look far too young.
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