Time Machine co-ordinates VICLIII63473159

Elvis:  So all I hadda do is hit this button here, an' it woulda told me what happened on that day?

Yep.  Go ahead, you ARE the POTM this week...

All right... say!  That's it?  A picture of a guy standing next to a tree he hit today, 61 years later?

Yep, sometimes there just isn't a lot going on.  But the rest of the show will be good, with 2 debuts, 2 6D stories, and you get a chance to win POTM again!

Wow, that would put me at seven!  how many do the Beatles have?

11, plus Paul's 2...

Yeah, yeah, fergit I asked.  What else ya got?

Well, I just thought of a live research project I want to do, so give me a sec to step into the research booth, and...  Wow, sorry that took so long!

You were just gone a minute...

So I've been calling this the "Cover Summer"- and with another cover coming in this week- since the beginning of M10 summer on May 27th, fully 27% of all the covers I know of that have hit the M10 have hit so far this summer!

Man, this IS a cover summer!

So let's go right to this week's new cover, and the 'original' that I knew is a cover itself!  First, Jo Stafford hit #1 in 1952, and Patti Page hit #4 that same year.  Then Dean Martin took it to #12, also in '52, before the version I knew- the one by the Duprees- hit #7 in 1962!  This week, though, Mo Kenney brings it onto our chart at #10...






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Okay, so what're we doin' next?

So last week I mentioned I regretted not feeling well enough to do a 6D on the victim, Sheb Wooley's Purple People Eater.  Since you already know what the song is, let's work our way from there to the first modern-era open-mouthed kiss in a movie!

Bet I was the kiss-er...

No, actually it was...

(Thanks to PicClick)

...Merv Griffin, who did it with Kathryn Grayson in So This Is Love, for the first time since the Production Code set in 1934 forbade it.  Merv was also quite the singer in his day, mainly with big bands.  Two of these hits were the last 2 top tens for Freddie Martin and his Orchestra- 1949's I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts (#8), and 1950's Music! Music! Music! (#5).  Freddy had a lot of big hits on his own, and backed a lot of other stars, one of which was Judy Garland on her Garland At The Grove lp- on which she covered a certain tune; a song that the bosses at MGM told the original singer they "didn't want to be identified with that type of music".  That is, until they heard their staff playing it and singing along during their lunches.  Yep, can you believe Judy covered the Purple People Eater, which was last week's 6D- sitting at number one, mind you, but getting no Panel Love.


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Man, that's burnt!  But not as burnt as me getting a chance at a second POTM in a row!

Well, you sure do have that chance, buddy!  We had twenty contestants with 36 votes, only three of them got more than 2!  Would you care to do the honors?

Yes, sir!  Your choices fer the winner are:

Carl Dobkins, Jr, with My Heart Is An Open Book at #10 on Cashbox this week...
Paul Anka an' Lonely Boy at #2...
...an' yers truly at #9 with Big Hunk Of Love!

Like I said, you have a good chance to be the first two-week-in-a-row winner since Barry Manilow did it a while back.  While everyone thinks about it, here our other new song this week- brand new stuff from our friends, the Beths at #9....






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Good stuff, man!  How's about this week's 6D?

Sure thing, King!  In the era we're in, it's not uncommon for artists, such as yourself, to have simultaneously charting a and b sides of the same single.  In fact, your Panelist A Big Hunk Of Love, was the a-side of My Wish Came True at #48 this week.  Others this week on the Cashbox chart included Brook Benton (who had the big mover, up 36 to #51) with Thank You Pretty Baby, along with With All Of My Heart at #66; Sarah Vaughn with a gorgeous version of Misty at #79 and Broken Hearted Melody at #82; Billy Vaughn's Orchestra with Blue Stay Away From Me at #88 and All Night Long at #94; and a bit higher, Sweeter Than You at #18 and Just A Little Too Much at #19 for Ricky Nelson.

But perhaps the most unusual a/b record to chart, for a week at #87 with On The Good Ship Lollipop and at 96 with Somebody Loves You in 1965 was The Wonder Who?  The WW were actually Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, who took up the name when they wanted to release- but contracts wouldn't allow- a cover of Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice (It's All Right).  The WW took that tune, with an exaggerated (even for him) falsetto vocal by Frankie, to #12.  This song comes into the story because playing on Bob's version from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was a gentleman by the name of George Barnes, who at 12 years old in 1931 became the first person- it is believed- to play an actual- if homemade- electric guitar.  This same historical guitarist also played on our 6D victim, charting at #4 this week without a Panel vote- Connie Francis and Lipstick On Your Collar.

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Hey, do we even got a stat pack now?  Ya gave away the big mover...

Still have the #1s across the English speakers, if you'd like...


No problem!  In the UK, Bobby Darin's Dream Lover was at the top- it was falling at #28 here...
In Canada, they had my Big Hunk Of Love at the top...
...an' in Australia, they liked Lloyd Price's Personality, which got a vote on the Panel an' was sittin' at #5 on Cashbox!

Oh, and we should mention that Cashbox's #1 this week did get just 2 votes... but that was because Johnny Horton's Battle Of New Orleans was on the last of its NINE weeks at the top.  So do you want to do the M10 or the big reveal...

I'll do the reveal!  Just hurry up with yer top ten so's we can see if'n I won again!

All right, all right, keep your boxers on! 

At #8, Jakob Dylan and Cat Power move up one spot with their cover of You Showed Me.
#7 and dropping from #2 is The Explorer's Club with their former #1, covering the Loving Spoonful on Didn't Want To Have To Do It.
#6 and up 4 spots is Basia Bulat and Your Girl.
#5 and up 3, Brooke Annibale's Home Again.
#4 and up 2, the Jayhawks with Bitter Pill.
Stuck at #3 this week, Dent May and I Could Use A Miracle- a song I've been empathizing with a lot lately...
Slipping a spot to #2 after its second trip to #1, the Jayhawks with their 1995 cover of Grand Funk's hit Bad Time.

Which means the new number one belongs to...

....Australia's Hazel English with Five And Dime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Okay, bud, it's up to you!

Geez, I'm so nervous...

Are you itchin' like a cat on a fuzzy tree?

Uh, yeah, somethin' like that!  So, here we go...

So Dobkins got 8.3%....

...an' Anka got 11.1%...

...which means, the winner with 19.44%...

YES!!!!  It's me again!  We get to do it all again next week!!!!!!

Yep!  Our own Elvis Presley has a chance to go where no one has gone before- a third straight term as POTM!  Can he do it?  Will we WANT him to?  Find out next time!