These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. This is what Billboard wrote about Kay Starr’s “Second Fiddle” upon its release in May of 1956: “Miss Starr renders a poignant ballad in a warm and fetching style. The tune itself has much of the of ‘Tennessee Waltz’ and ‘Rock and Roll Waltz,’ and figures to be a highly successful follow-up to the latter.” “The Rock and Roll Waltz” (which sounds like … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Second Fiddle”

These posts are about the songs that can accurately claim to crossed the key line of chart success, becoming Top 40 hits on Billboard, but just barely. Every song featured in this series peaked at number 40. Ernest Evans was overweight, but just a little. Just enough, in fact, that he was nicknamed “Chubby” by one the bosses at a low-level job he worked. As the story goes, Evans had just done a Fats Domino impression during an audition when he was asked his name. When he responded to a question about his name, he replied with the nickname related … Continue reading Top 40 Smash Taps: “Lazy Elsie Molly” and “Let’s Do the Freddie”