If We Give You The ‘50s Lyric, Can You Tell Us Who Sang It?
by Carolyn Fleming
Wiki Commons by The Library of Congress; Wiki Commons by William P. Gottlieb
Popular music in the 1950s was a unique mix of big band, blues, ballads, novelty tunes, and early rock and roll. During this time of change and racial tension, some songs were originally released by Black artists and then rerecorded by white artists. For example, Pat Boone covered the Little Richard song Tutti Frutti. Of course, we know which version is still loved today. Let’s test your knowledge of ‘50s hits. We’ll give you a lyric, you tell us who sang the most famous version!
1: Who sang, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie / That’s amore”?
Dean Martin made That’s Amore famous. He sang it in the 1953 movie The Caddy, in which he starred with his comedy partner Jerry Lewis. By the way, “amore” means “love” in Italian.
2: What artist made this lyric famous: “Let’s rock, everybody let’s rock / Everybody in the whole cell block / Was dancin’ to the Jailhouse Rock”?
Jailhouse Rock is from the 1953 movie of the same name. In the original script, the movie was titled Ghost of a Chance, but the song was so good that it inspired a title change. Many people say that Jailhouse Rock is the best of Elvis’ 31 movies.
3: Do you remember which singer/songwriter promised to be true when he sang, “Because you’re mine, I walk the line”?
Johnny Cash wrote I Walk the Line as a reminder to himself to be faithful to his first wife, Vivian Liberto. Ironically, the 1956 song brought him more fame, which brought more women and temptation into his life.
4: Who sang these words: “I’ve got you under my skin / I’ve got you deep in the heart of me”?
Sinatra performed I’ve Got You Under My Skin in the 1940s on his radio show, and he recorded it for an album track in 1956. In 1993, he recorded a duet version with Bono of U2, which hit the U.K. charts.
5: Which singer sang these Spanish words: “Para bailar La Bamba / Se necesita una poca de gracia”?
These words translate to “To dance La Bamba, you need to have a little grace.” Ritchie Valens charted with La Bamba in 1958. He died in a plane crash in 1959, along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Singer Don McLean called the crash “the day the music died” in his 1971 single, American Pie.
6: Can you tell us who sang, “You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain / Too much love drives a man insane”?
Jerry Lee Lewis released Great Balls of Fire in 1957, but scandal damaged his career soon after, when he married his 13-year-old cousin. She was the third of his seven wives, so maybe it’s true that “Too much love drives a man insane.” Dennis Quaid portrayed the singer in the biographical film Great Balls of Fire, which hit theaters in 1989.
7: Who harmonized on the lines “Whatta we gonna tell your mama / Whatta we gonna tell your pa / Whatta we gonna tell our friends when they say, ‘Ooh-la-la’?”
The Everly Brothers, famous for their tight harmonies, sang Wake Up Little Susie in 1957. The song is about a young couple who fell asleep at the drive-in and woke up at 4:00 a.m. The very first drive-in theater opened in Camden, New Jersey, in 1933.
8: Who wrote and sang, “There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood / Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode / Who never ever learned to read or write so well / But he could play a guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell”?
Chuck Berry famously sang Johnny B. Goode. The “Johnny” came from Johnnie Johnson, who played piano on many of Berry’s hits, and “Goode” came from 2520 Goode Avenue, where Berry grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.
9: Can you name the band who performed this song: “Put your glad rags on and join me, hon / We’ll have some fun when the clock strikes one / We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight / We’re gonna rock rock, rock, ‘til broad daylight / We’re gonna rock, gonna rock, around the clock tonight”?
(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock was the first rock song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart, on July 9, 1955. Few people had heard of rock and roll at the time, so the label on the single said it was a “novelty foxtrot.” It was the theme song for the TV show Happy Days in its first two seasons.
10: Who sang this lyric: “Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear / And it shows them pearly white”?
Mack the Knife is about a character named Macheath, from a 1700s British play called The Beggar’s Opera. The play was revived in the 1900s in Germany as The Threepenny Opera.
11: Do you remember who crooned these words: “At first I thought it was infatuation / But, woo, it’s lasted so long / Now I find myself wanting / To marry you and take you home”?
Sam Cooke crooned the romantic hit You Send Me. He was born Sam Cook, but he added an extra “e” for a bit of class. Good advice about the name change, perhaps, but it came from a man known as “Bumps” Blackwell.
12: Which group gave us the lyrics “Earth angel, earth angel / Will you be mine? / My darling dear / Love you all the time”?
Earth Angel was the only hit for the Penguins, a doo wop group. It was recorded as a garage demo, and they muffled the drums with pillows. Many takes were interrupted by a neighborhood dog, so we’re lucky to have this great version of their song.
13: Can you tell us who sang these sad lines: “I go out walkin’ after midnight / Out in the moonlight, just like we used to do / I’m always walkin’ after midnight / Searchin’ for you”?
Walkin’ After Midnight was Patsy Cline’s first hit. She did not even like the song, but she performed it on a TV show called Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1957, and the huge audience response froze the show’s applause meter. Needless to say, Cline won first place.
14: Who sang these romantic words: “Chances are ‘cause I wear a silly grin / The moment you come into view / Chances are you think that I’m in love with you”?
Johnny Mathis had a hit with Chances Are in 1957. His 1958 album Johnny’s Greatest Hits is considered to be the very first greatest-hits album. Chances are that it included Chances Are.
15: Can you remember who sang this: “Peggy Sue, Peggy Sue / Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty Peggy Sue / Oh Peggy, my Peggy Sue / Oh well, I love you gal and I need you, Peggy Sue”?
Believe it or not, this 1957 Buddy Holly song is called Peggy Sue. However, it was originally written about a girl named Cindy Lou. Holly’s drummer asked if he would change the name to Peggy Sue to impress the woman he was dating at the time. The couple eloped in 1958; they divorced in 1959; they inspired this song for the rest of us.
16: What famous group sang “When your heart’s on fire / You must realize, smoke gets in your eyes”?
The Platters were not the first to record Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, but their 1958 version was the biggest hit. The song was written for the 1933 musical Roberta, which starred comedian Bob Hope.
17: Which singer had the biggest hit with this lyric: “I found my thrill / On Blueberry Hill / On Blueberry Hill / When I found you”?
Fats Domino sang Blueberry Hill. Fats Domino was born Antoine Dominique Domino Jr; then he was nicknamed Fats as a teenager. Later, another singer named Ernest Evans was nicknamed Chubby by his friends. The wife of American Bandstand’s host Dick Clark said that if his first name was Chubby, like Fats, then “his last name should be Checker, like Domino.” And the rest was history.
18: Who brought us the musical question: “Oh, I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who / Who wrote the Book of Love”?
Who Wrote the Book of Love was inspired by a Pepsodent toothpaste commercial. Mascot was the original label to release the Monotones' song, in 1957, but they could not keep up with public demand. The song was rereleased in early 1958 on the Chess Records subsidiary, Argo.
19: Which singer crooned: “Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa? / Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art?”
Before he sang Mona Lisa in his smooth voice, Nat King Cole was primarily known as a piano player. The songwriters of Mona Lisa, Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, also wrote the Christmas classic Silver Bells. Oh, and the painter of the Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, also painted The Last Supper.
20: Who sang the fun lyric “R / I say R-A / R-A-G / R-A-G-G / Rag / R-A-G-G M-O-P-P / Rag Mop”?
Rag Mop, by the Ames Brothers, sounds like a song from the ‘40s, but it squeaked through to a new decade and was released in 1950. It was the last song to hit No. 1 that was released only on a 78-rpm record. It's catchy—give it a listen.
