TOP TEN, April 20, 1961

Playing It Safe

Apr 20, 2021

We are about to drop the needle on this very week in spring, 60 years ago. The year 1961 seems much more a part of the Fifties, and the music reflects that. The three biggest stories in music so far that year had made no headlines. The impact of what had happened would be revealed to us before the decade’s end.

In Detroit just after the first of the year, Berry Gordy signed the Primettes to his new Motown record label and quickly changed their name to the Supremes. Likewise, on February 9, exactly three years before they hit the Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles played their first of 292 shows at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. In between those two events, 19-year-old University of Minnesota dropout Bob Dylan arrived in New York City.

At the height of its influence, the Top 40 radio format was a mishmosh of great songs from different genres that were already and unknowingly blurring the styles that had set them apart. ”Blue Moon,” a song written by Rodgers and Hart in 1934 and already recorded by the likes of Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, and Frank Sinatra, was back in the top slot for a new generation, thanks to the Marcels. Right behind it, the twangy dreamy reverb of “Apache” had become a huge instrumental hit for Danish guitarist Jørgen Ingmann.

The Shirelles had first released their song in 1959, but the timing wasn’t right. “Dedicated to the One I Love” barely made a blip, peaking at #83. Two years later, they re-released the same song and it went to #3.

Del Shannon, 27, had already been to #1 with his song “Runaway.” Country music’s gentleman pianist Floyd Cramer had the other instrumental in the Top 10. From New Orleans, Clarence “Frogman” Henry (who turned 84 on March 19, 2021!) swinged the swaying “But I Do.”

Elvis had another of his routine hits, with an unexpected legacy. “Surrender” was just one of 25 songs Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus wrote for Presley. It was based on a 1902 Neapolitan ballad “Torna a Surriento” (“Come Back to Sorrento.”)

Marty Robbins and “Don’t Worry” was dropping slowly after peaking at #3 and going to #1 on the country western charts. Allen Toussaint apparently wadded up “Mother-In-Law” and chucked it into a studio trash can. It was rescued by another musician and eventually recorded by Ernie K-Doe. Three weeks after its release, America had taken this family situation comedy of a hit to heart and it was headed to the top slot.

The Everly Brothers, whose harmonies would inspire Simon and Garfunkel as well as the resident lunch band at the Cavern Club, rounded out the Top Ten. It is an odd but telling list. Ten songs, 14 men, 4 women. Three country songs, four records that would still be referred to as “rhythm and blues.” A novelty instrumental, an Elvis crooner, and perhaps the only song that came close to rocking was Del Shannon’s “Runaway.”

That spring of 1961, the most popular music in the country underscored a safe and secure black and white world that hardly showed signs that the times were already a-changin’.