First hit song memories...

[BigFitz]

The first hit song I can clearly recall was "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney. I was 4 and my brother was 6. Our mother (who would have been 24 at the time) and we were travelling with my aunt Connie (also 24) in her red VW bug to go see her grandmother in western PA. It was a rainy day as we wound through the industrial hills when "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" came on the am radio. It was very entertaining to me with all the sound effects and the lyrics "hands across the water, water. heads across the sky" and "live a little gypsy, get around. get your feet up off the ground" at which my brother and I would lift our feet off the floor giggling. It was a fun song for a kid.

Anyway, what is the first hit song memory that you have?

[video=youtube;XsWufNDJl4M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsWufNDJl4M&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

 

[Atticus Finch]

Kinda hard to say. I clearly remember hearing Henry Mancini's Moon River playing on my parent's radio...but I may remember even earlier hits than that. Its difficult to place memories in time when they are from an early age. Of all the songs from the late fifties and early sixties, I picked Moon River because I know I remember hearing it in our first house...and I know we moved from that house in the summer of 1962. The song had been recorded the previous year, so I must have been hearing it when it was a hit.

But music was always in our house. My father played piano and was an electronics geek. About the only time a radio or a record player wasn't playing music in our home was when he was playing music, himself.

AF

 

[rue]

Gosh... it's hard to remember.... but Neil Diamond was a huge hit in my parents house and I can remember the giant piece of furniture with the stereo/ record player/ 8 track tape player in it and listening to them and all their friends singing long while they enjoyed a few cocktails:

[video=youtube_share;Air8cb_xc-g]http://youtu.be/Air8cb_xc-g[/video]

[video=youtube_share;_WaurrZ-snw]http://youtu.be/_WaurrZ-snw[/video]

He had a major comeback not too long ago and I went to his concert

 

[lolly_loisides]

I remember the first song I used to sing ad nauseum was Good Morning Starshine by Oliver. Thing is, it was released in 1969, 2 years before I was born.
[video=youtube;h4ZQF7OoN5I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZQF7OoN5I&feature=related[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[video=youtube_share;_WaurrZ-snw]http://youtu.be/_WaurrZ-snw[/video]

A little bit of trivia here: The inspiration for Sweet Caroline was Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight," as recorded by Lonnie Donegan. It may not have been a Big Hit, but it's the first record I remember owning, at the age of three, and I used it to drive my mother to violence.

We didn't have any top-forty oriented radio stations in our area when I was small, so I had no childhood awareness of rock/pop of the time. I do remember seeing "Herman's Hermits" on a variety hour circa the mid-sixties, probably Red Skelton's show, and being more entertained by the colorful vocabulary my grandfather hurled at the screen while they were on than by their music.

 

[lolly_loisides]

^^^^^^^
Lonnie Donegan was huge in the UK & Australia. Oh me oh my oh you, what ever shall I do........


He was banned by the BBC in the 50's. I wonder why?
[video=youtube;utDxMtKXs3A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utDxMtKXs3A&feature=fvsr[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hallelujah, the question is peculiar...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

First hit song that I remember as a young child. My Mother played it over and over starting in 1951.

[video=youtube;44B6B1OycgI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44B6B1OycgI[/video]

 

[DNO]

Hound Dog by Elvis...1956. I was only 4 but I still remember doing my version of the hit while holding the plastic guitar that I received that Christmas.

Still like Hound Dog, though now I tend to prefer Big Mama Thornton's version.

[video=youtube;V_nNNIYTy9g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_nNNIYTy9g[/video]

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

The first hit song that I can remember really catching my attention was "Don't be Cruel" coming over a truck radio. I remember being electrified by it... I think my reaction must have been similar to kids hearing Elvis for the first time in the 1950's. I knew who Elvis was, but I was really into bluegrass at the time and had never really heard his best tunes. I have been a fan ever since...

 

[scooter]

Like DNO, I remember Elvis with "Hound Dog", and Johnny Horton with "Battle of New Orleans" and "Whispering Pines".

 

[AtomicEraTom]

It hadn't been a hit for many years, by the time I heard it, but I remember it well playing on the radio in the kitchen when I was 3 or so.

[video=youtube;vWr-5CitbIg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWr-5CitbIg[/video]

 

[scooter]

Nice, I've just killed the last half hour or so, listening to Big Mama, Ruth Brown, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, and , of course, the great Sam Cooke.

Another great, great singer is Delbert McClinton. "Lay Around and Love on You"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Carpenters -- Yesterday Once More (1973)
I remember the Carpenters were very big when I was in elementary school.

[video=youtube;YTaWayUE5XA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaWayUE5XA[/video]

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I have to admit, I like the Carpenters, particularly this song. My parents listened to them a lot when I was a kid. Their wedding song was "We've Only Just Begun"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I have to admit, I like the Carpenters, particularly this song. My parents listened to them a lot when I was a kid. Their wedding song was "We've Only Just Begun"

I just posted it on another forum but We've Only Just Begun was originally written for a bank commercial. I remember that commercial too.

[video=youtube;TVGmdwHTP1I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVGmdwHTP1I[/video]

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The Carpenters -- Top Of The World (1972)

[video=youtube;M1u6628Rdqs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1u6628Rdqs[/video]

 

[Espee]

My first LP (a gift from my parents) was Close to You. The only place to play it was on the living room stereo. Then their next album... was it a tan and brown sleeve?
Around the same time, they got Glen Cambell's Gentle on my Mind.
My mom bought everything John Gary recorded... she said he was too good to really catch on with the general public, or words to that effect.

 

[DNO]

Nice, I've just killed the last half hour or so, listening to Big Mama, Ruth Brown, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, and , of course, the great Sam Cooke.

Another great, great singer is Delbert McClinton. "Lay Around and Love on You"

Love Wilson Pickett...I remember having this album when I was a teen..