Two more to add to my list:

Randy and the Rainbows
Had a #10 hit with Denise in 1963
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Xy8XLKwec

Their follow-up was Why Do Kids Grow Up - same song, different lyrics
Only got to #97 on the charts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HMuFg_aHZg

Bobby Picket
Monster Mash reached #1 in 1962 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6UI8TTIhwE

The follow-up was the same song but with Christmas lyrics - Monster's Holiday.
It reached #30 on the charts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BEB49GBiYE

Quarter To Three - Gary U.S. Bonds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF69PoyXskY

Memphis - Johnny Rivers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDG7ZdfBFRU

Living near Toronto, I am experiencing the Taylot Swift Phenomenon in all its wonder as her tour incldes 6 shows in Toronto over two weekends. It is all over the media.  The excitement and passion is truly amazing.  Got me to thinking  about 3 other musical acts and how they might compare to The Swift Craze:  Elvis Presley. The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.

How would you compare them?  

In terms of marketing and merchandising, I don't think there is any comparison. Taylor Swift wins hands down. Maybe it's because of the time we live in, but you would be hard-pressed to find anything that comes close to the spending frenzy for merch (not to mention the cost of tickets to the concerts) that we are seeing today.

In terms of fans, the mania that all these performers evoked seems pretty similar.  One thing I do notice is that while the earlier acts were popular mainly among teens - think of parents' reactions to Presley and the Beatles - Swifties seem to be spread out over a much wider age range.  

In terms of the music, while Elvis was not a writer, all the others have written many of their hit songs. 
When it comes to having an influence on music "The King Of Rock and Roll" brought a new form of music into popularity.  It could be argued that the Beatles had the biggest influence on music ever, responsible for the British Invasion, as well as the many different directions they took their music (and the music of others - Brian Wilson's inspiration for Pet Sounds was Rubber Soul) in the mid to late 60s.  Taylor Swift, to her credit, has turned out music in many different genres, but has not really been am innovator and influencer as the others were.

Your thoughts?


 

I'm assuming it is the Navy, given that he "landed in the brig."

Interestingly, earlier in the song (before he enlisted in a fightin' corps), he took his girl deep-sea fishing in a submarine.  Not sure exactly how you do that, but another indication that the Navy would be his chosen military branch.

I'm curious as to why he enlisted.  Back  then (1961) the draft still existed.  Was it the case that if you enlisted instead of waiting for a draft notice, you could choose your military branch?  

Also, Dooley was clearly a wealthy man.  After all, he''s got a "whirly-birdy and a twelve-foot yacht" and takes his girl to the drive-in "in a limousine".  Couldn't he have used his riches to somehow avoid military service?  Maybe he was very patriotic

What are some of your favorite songs with this topic as the theme?

Three of my most-liked are:

Funny Little Clown - Bobby Goldsboro
"No one knows he's dying on the inside
'Cause he's laughing on the outside,"

Everybody Loves a Clown - Gary Lewis and the Playboys
"Guess I'll be the guy who plays the part
Of a clown with a broken heart."

The Joker Went Wild - Brian Hyland
"The joker went wild and he couldn't smile
Because he had lost everything"

Spending more time with the Billboard listing of one-hit wonders, I came across a number of performers who had other singles that IMHO deserved to make the top forty and therefore would have removed those artists from qualifying as one-hit wonders.

I present you with 3 examples:

The Exciters - only top 40 hit (reached #4)  was Tell Him
He's Got The Power (#57) or Get Him (#76) were deserving of making the top 40.

Mark Dinning - only top 40 hit was Teen Angel (reached #1)
The Lovin Touch (#84) or Top 40 News Weather and Sports (#81) were deserving of making the top 40.

The Cleftones - only top 40 hit was Heart and Soul (#18)
For Sentimental Reasons (#60) merited top 40 - one of my all-time favorite doo-wop songs. 

Some one-hit wonder songs might be considered unique not only for being one--hit wonders, but for being distinctive in other ways.
For example:

If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
The most sexist song ever on the charts?

Yellow Balloon - Yellow Balloon
The only song ever on the charts where the band's name and the title of the song were the same?

Tip Toe Through The Tulips - Tiny Tim
The weirdest song to ever hit the charts?

Timothy - The Buoys
The only song about cannibalism to ever hit the charts? 

Feel free to disagree or disprove any of these statements.

 

Answering my own question from an earlier post..  When I researched a list of one hit wonders, it made mention of the Jancik book as a resource and stated that their criterion was "only one song in the top 40."


As I perused the list, certain performers and/or songs struck me as (in addition to being distinctive by being one- hit wonders) being particularly interesting or unique or odd. For example:

The Happy Whistler - Don Robertson 1956
A song with no vocals.  The entire song is whistling. 

Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto 1963
A song sung entirely in Japanese.

Gallant Men - Senator Everett Dirkson 1967
A song sung by a U.S. politician

Surfing Bird - The Trashmen 1964
A song where the lyrics are composed of the same line (with 2 exceptions) repeated over and over and over.

Little Ole Man - Bill Cosby 1967
A song sung by a comedian



 

Would Iko Iko (The Dixie Cups) qualify?

The lyrics in question are:

Jocomo fee no an nah nay
Jocomo fee nah nay

Some linguists and musical scholars believe the song has elements of French Creole.  Others say it includes West African dialects. or Native American languages.  Or maybe all of the above.

 

In 1963 Hyland released a single, I'm Afraid To Go Home, which didn't do much on the charts, but the B-side was the summer-themed Save Your Heart For Me (which eventually became a hit for Gary Lewis and the Playboys).

 

Compiling a list of songs that are in English but have some foreign lyrics - NOT including songs that were entirely in a different language (for example, Domenique by The Singing Nun would not go on this list).

In some cases, foreign words actually make up the title of the song, like the first five below:
Cara Mia - Jay and the Americans
My Cherie Amour - Stevie Wonder
Chanson D'Amour - Art and Dottie Todd
Volare (Bobby Rydell version)
O Dio Mio - Annette

Others just have some foreign words / lyrics embedded in the song), such as:
Wooden Heart - Joe Dowell
Speedy Gonsales - Pat Boone
Look What They've Done To My Song Ma - Melanie

In reply to the question about the name, a dispute arose about 25 years ago when Al Jardine was touring with a group he called The Beach Boys:  Friends and Family,  He was sued by Mike Love, who claimed he (Jardine) could not use the Beach Boys name.  The result of the suit is summarized in this quote from CBC News:

"Love first sued Jardine for trademark infringement in 2000, saying he did not have the right to use the band's name. The same year, a judge agreed that Love was the sole licensee of the Beach Boys name, and an appeals court upheld the ruling in 2003."

As to recent recordings, Mike Love has recorded 5 solo albums under the name Mike Love, the most recent in 2023.
 

I'm compiling a list of oldies groups that are still performing and have at least 2 original members.  Can anyone add to the list?

THREE ORIGINALS

The Cowsills  -   Bob, Paul and Susan

The Chantels  -  Renee Minus White / Lois Harris Powel /Sonia Goring Wilson

TWO ORIGINALS

The Passions  -  Jimmy Gallagher  /  Albee Galone  / occasionally joined by Lou Rotondo

Rolling Stones  -  Mick Jagger /  Keith Richards

The Rascals  -  Felix Cavaliere  /  Gene Cornish

The Buckinghams  -  Carl Giammarese  / Nick Fortuna

The Cyrkle  -  Don Daneman  / Michael Losekamp

Little Anthony and the Imperials  -  Anthony Gourdine  /  Ernest Wright

Jay and the Americans  -  Marty Sanders  /  Sandy Deanne

The Zombies  -  Rod Argent  /  Colin Blunstone  *Argent suffered a stroke in July and has retired from performing

 

Although Gene Pitney co-wrote Rubber Ball, he put his mother's name on the record instead of his.

"In December 1960 he had his first big songwriting success with "Rubber Ball", a novelty hit for Bobby Vee, but, because Schroeder wanted to break the regulations and place his songs with the rival organisations of Ascap and BMI, he told Pitney to pick a pseudonym. He chose his mother's maiden name, Ann Orlowski: "She got a big kick from having her name on that record," 

First one that immediately comes to mind is The Wonder Who, actually the Four Seasons (Don't Think Twice).