The Top Hits Of 1958 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Patricia

"Patricia" reached number one on July 28, 1958 and would have the distinction of being the last number one song on the Disc Jockey and the Top 100 charts. The Jockey chart was discontinued forever and later in 1958, the Best Seller chart would also meet its demise. The Top 100 chart became the Billboard Hot 100, a name that has been maintained right up to the present - Sept. 2005 - and this resource has been the only tracking mechanism to measure the hits for close to fifty years.

"Patricia" would be Prado's last chart success, Latin music starting to lose its appeal to American listeners. He didn't do bad though... two hits, both number ones, the other being the smash 1955 chart topper "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White". "Patricia" recorded 1303.18 points.

Answer: The Purple People Eater

Sheb Wooley recorded this novelty number and it topped the charts for six weeks. The problem with these songs is that they can lose their "novelty" pretty quickly and that was the case here. It was on and off the Hot 100 charts in about three months so it didn't have much time to accumulate ranking points. It ultimately scored 1311.57 points.

This would be Sheb Wooley's only hit on the pop charts although he would have several more on the country charts under his own name and under that of his alter ego, "Ben Colder".

Wooley lived an eclectic life. Born in Oklahoma in 1921, he grew up there during the depression and showed an early aptitude for both music and bronc busting. Neither was particularly lucrative during the depression so he worked the oil fields until he moved to the west coast, like so many Okies, in the late 1930s. Exempt from service during WWII because of rodeo injuries, he eventually gravitated back into the entertainment field as a supporting actor in several movies. This ultimately led to being cast in a starring role in the TV series "Rawhide" at about the same time as he recorded this song. It was his own composition and later in his career, he was almost exclusively a songwriter for the TV series "Hee Haw". He passed away in 2003 at the age of 82.

Answer: Silvery

Another old chestnut that could easily be confused with this song was "Shine On Harvest Moon", but that particular composition was never a hit during the rock era.

Harry Tobias, a long time resident of "Tin Pan Alley", composed "Sail Along Silvery Moon", including lyrics, back in the mid 1930s. Bing Crosby recorded it in 1937 and scored a number four hit with it.

Billy Vaughn would have 12 charting hits between 1955 and 1962 and all were straight instrumentals. The arrangement for this song was pretty basic - drums and a couple of rhythm guitars backing up three or four saxophones delivering the melody... Vaughn was fond of saxes and used them extensively in his recordings. When he wasn't recording his own releases, Vaughn was the conductor/arranger for Dot Records and, as such, backed up such vocalists as Pat Boone, Gale Storm and The Fontane Sisters. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Vaughn recorded a number of albums of the "easy listening" ilk, similar to this song, and 36 of those albums made an appearance on the Billboard album charts. Perceiving that his style of music was slowly losing an interested following, he retired in 1970.

"Sail Along Silvery Moon" only peaked at number five on the charts but maintained a spot in the top 100 for 26 weeks, thus earning a total of 1329.18 points.

Answer: Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)

Domenico Modugno's version of "Volare" was sung entirely in Italian, just as he composed it. It only spent 16 weeks on the Top 100 chart altogether but for five of those weeks, it was number one to earn a total of 1331.35 points. Dean Martin also cut a mixed English/Italian version in 1958 that did not rank in the year-end top 100 but peaked at a respectable 12th on the charts.

Modugno was born in 1928 and started dabbling in show business right after WWII as an actor/composer/singer. This was his only foray into the American market but he established himself as a major talent in Europe until his death in 1994.

"Vaya Con Dios" pre-dated the rock era, "Sukiyaki" and "Dominique" were not released until 1963.

Answer: Sugartime

In a strange quirk of chart dynamics, "Sugartime" was number one on the Jockey chart for four weeks but the best it could manage on the Top 100 chart was number five. If those peak week statistics counted from the Jockey chart, this record would have moved up about four spots on the year-end rankings.

The McGuire Sisters were the most famous female vocal group of the 1950s, not necessarily because they sold records, but because they were regulars on the Arthur Godfrey Show for seven years from 1952 to 1959. That was top rung of the ladder for vocal groups of the day... there was no higher plateau!

By the early 1960s, the sisters were developing other interests. They recorded one last album in 1965 then after an Ed Sullivan appearance in 1968, they collectively bid show business adieu. They came out of retirement in 1986 for a "one-off" series of Las Vegas performances but have continued to make the odd appearance, at their leisure, ever since.

Answer: All I Have To Do Is Dream

Boudleaux Bryant who with his wife, Felice, would write several of the Everly Brothers biggest hits wrote this one too. Here's a few of the other Everly hits they composed: "Bird Dog", "Bye Bye Love", "Love Hurts", "Problems", "Take A Message To Mary" and "Wake Up Little Susie". By the end of their careers, the Bryants had a roster of 3,000 compositions that had been recorded although almost all were of the "country" genre. Only the Everlys seemed able to translate their lyrics into a "pop" sound.

With three weeks at number one on the Top 100 chart, the song lost ground to the hits that ranked higher due to the relatively short periods it spent on the various other segments of the chart - 12 weeks in the top 10, 14 weeks in the top 40 and only 17 weeks in the top 100. It totaled 1336.29 points.

Answer: It's Only Make Believe

That singer, of course, was Conway Twitty.

Twitty always intended to be a pop/rock singer, intent on emulating Presley. This song, his initial chart success that was the first number one on the new Hot 100 chart, augured well toward those dreams. Subsequent releases didn't do badly but they also didn't achieve the same level of success as this song. After 1961, he was spinning his wheels and none of his pop songs were charting. Finally, in 1965 he cast the die and threw in his lot with country music, a very, very wise career move! In 1968, he had his first number one on the country charts and would have an amazing 40 more over the course of the next twenty years. It's a standard that likely will never be attained forever more. Sadly, he passed away suddenly in 1993 at the age of 59 from an abdominal aneurysm.

This hit recorded 1345.08 points based on a 21 week run in the Hot 100 and two weeks at number one.

Answer: The Witch Doctor

"The Witch Doctor" was the brainstorm of David Seville, real name Ross Bagdasarian. He gravitated to the L.A. area from his hometown of Fresno in the late 1940s and worked as an actor and songwriter, then later, as a recording artist himself. Early in 1958, he began experimenting with varying the playback speed of stuff that he recorded on tape. This led to the novel sounds introduced in "The Witch Doctor" and then later in 1958, the creation of what would become a full-scaled cottage industry - "Alvin and the Chipmunks". Although Bagdasarian passed away in 1972, his son, Ross Jr., revived The Chipmunks in 1979 and they live on to this day. They even have their own website!

Like "The Purple People Eater", "The Witch Doctor" earned most of its 1355.84 points due to a three-week stint at number one, although it was in the top forty for the entire duration of its 16-week run on the charts.

Answer: True

The song was indeed based on a true story and the folk song was composed anonymously in 1866, the year the event played out.

Tom Dula (Dooley) was a civil war hero when he returned to his home in North Carolina in early 1866. Two of the prettiest gals in the area were hot after him, Laura Foster and Annie Melton. One day, Laura is found dead, stabbed to death. Dula is arrested by Sheriff Grayson, tried, found guilty and executed by hanging although there was no conclusive evidence of his guilt. Prior to Dula returning, Sheriff Grayson had been courting both women himself. Eventually, Grayson and Melton would marry and have a family.

Years later on her deathbed, Melton confesses that it was she who killed Foster in a jealous rage. Dula was present at the time and helped Melton to bury Foster's body but that was the extent of his guilt. She let Dula take the rap with her silence at his trial. Grayson was so upset and shamed by the revelation, he took his children and moved to Tennessee a broken man.

Answer: April Love

This record by Pat Boone had wildly different statuses on the charts of the day. It was number one on the Jockey chart for six weeks, number one on the Best Seller chart for two weeks but number one on the Top 100 chart for only one week. Altogether, with its 26-week residence on the chart, it totaled 1497.87 points.

The song was featured in a movie with the same title starring Boone as a juvenile delinquent who falls in love with nice girl Shirley Jones. It achieved a certain notoriety when the movie studio, 20th Century Fox, announced prior to the movie's release that Boone and Jones would not be sharing a kiss even though they're madly in love. This was a concession to Boone's religious convictions - he refused to kiss a woman that wasn't his wife. Bearing that in mind, he wasn't a very convincing delinquent... but he did sing the song well!

Answer: To Know Him, Is To Love Him

"To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him
Just to see him smile, makes my life worthwhile
To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him
And I do"

This particular stanza was repeated five times during the song, thus comprising 20 of the 24 lines of the lyric! Spector created the lyric after visiting the grave of his father who had committed suicide in 1949. The line "To Know Him, Is To Love Him" was etched on the tombstone.

The Teddy Bears were essentially one hit wonders. They recorded enough numbers to fill an album including two songs that were released as singles, both of which barely eked into the Hot 100 in 1959 at positions 91 and 98. Engaged in a royalty's wrangle with their record company and unable to work out alternative arrangements, the group simply disbanded. Spector, of course, would go on to great fame as a record producer.

With its three weeks at number one and 23 weeks in the Hot 100, this million selling record would garner 1511.31 points.

Answer: Tequila

The group took its name from Gene Autry's horse, Champion. After this smash, the group struggled mightily to repeat their success. With several personnel changes along the way, they continued to release dance instrumentals with a Mexican theme like "El Rancho Rock", "Too Much Tequila" and "Tequila Twist". All to no avail... these efforts barely made the top 40 charts! By the mid-1960s, instrumentals were passé and the group called it a day.

Answer: It's All In The Game

Tommy Edwards recorded this song in 1951 and had a modest number 18 hit with it. He had a few moderate hits during the pre-rock era but after a long dry spell, his record company, MGM, was prepared to release him from his contract. In a last ditch effort, they persuaded him to re-release the song in 1958 with a couple of twists. First, the arrangement was updated into a more rock ballad motif and the song was released in stereo, a first for 45 RPM disks. With this major success, the inevitable occurred - the catalogue of Edwards' 1951-52 hits was re-released under this new format. The formula only worked once... all the subsequent recordings were again only moderate hits. Almost all of them charted at about the exact position they had seven or eight years earlier or worse. His last top 40 hit came in 1960. He died suddenly at the age of 47 in 1969 of a brain aneurysm in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia.

The song itself has an interesting history. An amateur flautist and professional banker, Charles Gates Dawes, later to serve as Vice-President to Calvin Coolidge from 1925 to 1929, wrote the music in 1912. At the time, the tune was entitled "Melody In F Major". When Carl Sigman wrote the lyrics to accompany the music, it was renamed "It's All In The Game".

Answer: At The Hop

A review of the top ranked songs of the year reveals that only one, "Tequila", was a genuine rock & roll number. The others were novelty tunes, folk songs, dreamy instrumentals or ballads. Well, this one by Danny and The Juniors rocked. It truly symbolized the spirit of rock & roll and it's easy to visualize teenagers jiving to the song at sock hops in school gyms.

The group hailed from Philadelphia and was actually performing at those sock hops in the area. Their manager tried to get them on a local TV show, Dick Clark's "American Bandstand". Clark auditioned the group, liked them but the show was fully booked for several weeks. When Little Anthony and The Imperials had to cancel their gig on the show, Danny & The Juniors were hasty replacements, performed the song and it immediately became a regional then national hit, a number one song for seven weeks! Their follow-up, "Rock & Roll Is Here To Stay", also charted in the top 20 but future releases lacked the magic and by 1963, the group parted ways. Sadly, lead singer Danny Rapp committed suicide at the age of 41 in 1983.

"At The Hop" scored 1988.88 points primarily based on that seven week run at number one, the longest any chart topping hit would have on any chart that year.

Answer: Twilight Time

I admit to my bias... I love the Platters and I especially love the poesy of Buck Ram's lyrics. "Twilight Time" was a number one song for one week in 1958.

"Little Star", recorded by The Elegants, just missed a top 15 ranking by finishing in 16th place. Jimmy Clanton's "Just A Dream" was number 26 and "Secretly" by Jimmie Rodgers was ranked at number 50.