Summary

The web content reflects on the 1959 music charts, highlighting the surprising rankings of iconic songs and artists across Pop, Country, and R&B genres.

Abstract

The article "1959: There Goes the Smoke Drifting Past Our Eyes" delves into the year-end music charts, expressing astonishment at the positions of legendary tracks. It notes Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans" as a dual chart-topper in Pop and Country, while questioning why Marty Robbins' "El Paso" and Ray Price's "Heartaches By the Number" didn't fare better. The piece also ponders the lower-than-expected rankings of Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" and Ray Charles' "What'd I Say, Pts 1&2" on the Pop and R&B charts, respectively. The author muses on the chart performance of various artists, including The Platters, The Drifters, and Wink Martindale, and concludes with a reflection on the era, suggesting that the music of 1959 mirrored the anticipation of change during the end of President Eisenhower's term.

Opinions

The author believes that Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans" was a deserving chart-topper but is surprised by other songs' lower rankings.
There is a sense of injustice in the underperformance of Marty Robbins' "El Paso" and Ray Price's "Heartaches By the Number" on the Country charts.
The article suggests that Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" should have been ranked higher on the Pop charts, given its impact and quality.
Ray Charles' "What'd I Say, Pts 1&2" is considered to have been undervalued on both Pop and R&B charts.
The author expresses a fondness for The Platters' biggest hit, which only reached #11 on the R&B charts, indicating a possible oversight by the public or industry.
The piece humorously notes the irony of game show host Wink Martindale's musical success with "Deck of Cards," which outperformed Johnny Horton's "Johnny Reb" on the Country charts.
The author uses the music chart rankings as a metaphor for the societal changes and anticipation of a new era as the 1950s came to a close.

Plethora of Pop’s Rate-A-Record

1959: There Goes the Smoke Drifting Past Our Eyes

Or when certain lonely teardrops fall

It might be a good thing that artists don’t look back and fixate themselves on the what-might-have-been’s or the what-actually-was’s of Pop/country/R&B chart history.

For instance, if he were here to tell us, I bet Johnny Horton would be mighty proud to know that in 1959, his “Battle of New Orleans” topped both the year-end Pop and Country charts. That’s a victory worth celebrating, and while it’s a pretty cool song — one I heard a guy in college perform as if he were channeling Horton right to us — I wouldn’t have predicted it would top two charts given what lay waiting underneath.

For instance, what could Marty Robbins have thought about “El Paso” coming in three spots behind on Country’s Hot 100? Or, what did Ray Price think when his epochal “Heartaches By the Number” failed to make the Top Twenty, sliding in at #22?

And I see that Lefty Frizzel’s The Long Black Veil,” which definitely was covered by both Johnny Cash and The Band, climbed in at #44 on the Country charts. There’s no lone justice, for sure, so instead, let’s make this one the first song we’ll be rating today:

It’s between 35–98 for you guys, for a song Dick Clark might never have recognized, though maybe I’m not giving him enough credit. We’ll never know for sure.

Moving to the R&B charts, I wonder some more. Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” deserves to be #1 because Jackie knew what was what and that crying yourself to sleep could be the fate of anyone regardless of genre or chart action. While I love the song, I do have to shake my head at what The Platters were thinking as they’re biggest hit, imho, charted at #11, only. C’mon man, what gives:

An oddity gets in my eyes, as while “Smoke” also charts on the year-end Pop list at #16, that Jackie Wilson “Lonely Teardrops” number falls to #57 on Pop, exactly seven spots below Andy Williams’ “Lonely Street.’ It’s not easy being lonely or forgotten of dumped far down our pantheon of hits.

Of course, Ray Charles had to be stompin’ on someone’s copy of Billboard, cause “What’d I Say, Pts 1&2” came in at #51 on Pop and #12 on R&B. He might have been upset at Pop, but not even Top Ten on R&B?

Wilbert Harrison’s “Kansas City” made it into the Top Ten on both Pop and R&B (#9 and #4 respectively), and what about The Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby?”

Well, what’d I say? #29 Pop; #5 R&B. Ohhhhh

But what else was happening over at Pop?

Consider: Della Reece managed to find the #43 space with “Don’t You Know?” But that song also charted at #15 on R&B, just one spot above LaVern Baker’s “I Cried a Tear.” Don’t you know indeed:

Country’s Stonewall Jackson had a #6 hit, “Waterloo,” that also placed at #32 on Pop.

And then, in the I’ve never heard about this department, maybe you remember former game show host and Jackson, TN’s own Wink Martindale? I think I did know that he once sang, but I didn’t know that in 1959, he had the #71 pop hit, “Deck of Cards” which also was Country’s #38 hit, which came in two places higher than Johnny Horton’s “Johnny Reb” which makes me wonder again about what we fight for, what we buy, and why?

Not to worry, though. Pop’s #98 song that year was The Mormon Tabernacle Choir doing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” while Country’s #83 song was Homer and Jethro’s “The Battle of Kokkamonga,” and over at R&B, well, Chuck Berry had the #70 song, “Back in the USA.”

Had we ever really left?

Maybe all of this was befitting the last year of General Eisenhower’s presidency. But as the smoke drifted by, it had to feel like if a change were truly coming, we’d have to find a way to see it more clearly.

Thanks to Plethora of Pop for publishing, and what’d ya think Jeffrey Harvey and Steven Hale?