Althouse: "he was never miserable... he was always happy. shy, sweet, humble, never ever miserable."

July 17, 2012

"he was never miserable... he was always happy. shy, sweet, humble, never ever miserable."

"don't know what you've read but it 's wrong- he was happiest as a kid and teenager and had a great life, too short, but great. He was my father, my name's tracy nelson, his oldest, and so i should know. and sarah, yes, he kicks elvis' ass. :-)"

I found that after looking at List-a-Beefy's spotlight on the #2 hits of 1957. List-a-Beefy is counting down the top 100 songs in the history of the top 100 that reached #2. "A Teenager's Romance" did not make the list. The only 1957 song that did is "Bye Bye Love," by The Everly Brothers, which "establishes the forlorn bellow of the slighted teen that would grow to be the most popular of voices in the coming five years, yet it did so with rhythm and poise." 1957 was apparently a big year for teenagers. There was also — reaching #2 — "Young Love," by Sonny James and "Teen-Age Crush" by Tommy Sands.

10 comments:

Comanche Voter said...: 1957 was a very good year for teenagers--I'd turned 13 in November 1956--and with Young Love, Raunchy, A White Sport Coat and A Pink Carnation, and Little Darlin' and a set of raging hormones---it was a very good year. And to top it all off I'd just moved to Southern California from a small town in Washington State. Who knew what earthly delights lay in front of you at the time?; 7/17/12, 4:53 PM
rhhardin said...: They're girls' songs. The radio biz distinguishes the audiences.

The girls' songs have better musicality in addition to girly lyrics, not that that musicality buys ratings.

I like early (Nino's Cafe, Looking for Signs) Tiffany Eckhardt, for musicality and actually good girl lyrics.; 7/17/12, 5:12 PM
edutcher said...: If memory serves, rock 'n' roll hit its stride late in '56 (I think "Heartbreak Hotel" went #1 in December), so, yeah, '57 was the year it all broke loose.

PS I've heard that about Ricky Nelson elsewhere, that, as a person, he was pretty well-adjusted, etc. A good guy.; 7/17/12, 5:16 PM
wyo sis said...: Young Love
Wow, it's been a long time since I thought of that song. I think I'll get it in my iTunes.; 7/17/12, 5:18 PM
ricpic said...: The amazing thing is that Ricky White Bread Nelson wasn't sedated, he actually was that mild and low key. This was the ideal WASP type at midcentury that all the over excited Hebes longed to be but in their hearts knew it was futile and the best they could do was go to NYU become dentists and move to Levittown but it would never be the real America for them just an ersatz stab at the real America.; 7/17/12, 5:31 PM
SunnyJ said...: What, no Pat Boone?; 7/17/12, 5:40 PM
edutcher said...: Pat Boone traded the #1 spot with Elvis on a weekly basis, covered "Ain't That A Shame", and was so clean-cut, even my father liked him.; 7/17/12, 6:11 PM
ORWoody said...: Once while I was sitting in the lounge at an airport general aviation company waiting for my passegers, Ricky happened to come in and sit down across from me. We'd been visiting for a little while when his pilot came in and told him that because of some little problem, they would not be able to leave for an hour or so. His response was that everything would work out all right and for the pilot to just do what he needed to do and they would leave when they could leave.
My passengers arrived just as Ricky got the news that his plane was ready to go. He came back over to our group and shook my hand and said that he was pleased to make my acquaintance. I was really stunned at what a nice thoughtful person he was to have done and said that.
That's the Ricky Nelson that I know.; 7/17/12, 6:32 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Wow. Young Love one of my favorites. Those tunes bring back memories of us driving across country and listening to the AM radio, singing to pass the time. Great memories.

A few years later it was El Paso by Marty Robbins . You couldn't avoid it. Every station on Route 66 carried the damned thing.; 7/17/12, 7:17 PM
Astro said...: I'll grant that Elvis had a lot of great songs. Nevertheless, he was a manufactured talent, a bit sleazy and a lot tacky. That sense of tacky has been reinforced over the years by the hordes of Elvis impersonators.

I never got the sense there was anything tacky about Ricky Nelson. An honest, talented class act. His daughter Tracy was/is a talented performer herself.; 7/18/12, 7:41 AM