On 9/16/2012 3:47 PM, The Bloomfield Bloviator wrote:
> On Sep 16, 1:16 am, BobbyM <
masseybNOS...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> On 9/16/2012 9:42 AM, Clifford Blau wrote:
>>
>>> On 13 Sep 2012 19:37:42 GMT, Taliesyn <
talies...@netscape.net>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>> As we all know The Beatles dominated North American charts in
>>>> March of 1964 with a handful (and then some) of singles - all
>>>> at the same time! But there was also a slew of artists along
>>>> for the ride, just singing about The Beatles!
>>
>>> Yeah, there were a bunch of anti-Beatles records then, too. Most
>>> of them seemed to involve the singer pretending he couldn't
>>> remember the name of the Beatles (either the group or the
>>> members) and I think all of them were awful. Don't know if any
>>> of them charted.
>>
>> Undoubtedly the biggest Beatles' related song to chart was Ringo
>> by Lorne Greene. Couldn't have picked a better to release that
>> song.
>
> That wasn't really Beatles related.
Duh! But don't you think it helped sales by naming the song, "Ringo",
instead of "Johnny Ringo" or whatever? Here's what wikipedia has to
say, which backs up why I mentioned it in the first place:
(quote)
Like "Bonanza", "Ringo" began as a track on Greene's WELCOME TO THE
PONDEROSA RCA Victor lp in late 1963. On the album, each track was
supplemented with an introduction to each song, separately tracked.
By October 1964, Ringo Starr's popularity in the Beatles prompted
"Ringo" to be released as a single, even though it was never about
him. The album's introductions were left off of the single release.
"Ringo" debuted in Billboard in October 1964. By the same time, a
special promotional recording by Greene (possibly Canadian only) was
sent to radio stations to promote the album, where he speaks about
seven of the album's tracks. "Ringo" was the lead track. On it, he
talks about the probable confusion between his song character and the
Beatles and the "wonderful drummer of theirs", assuring the listener
that it's not about him. About this time, the album had been upgraded
to include a notation on the front jacket, FEATURING THE BIG HIT
"RINGO". In 1965, Lorne Greene recorded a French version of "Ringo"
as well.
(end quote)
Here's one that was pretty big in Dallas, Rex Miller with Ringo's Doctor:
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxfBv6Disbw
The song is a break in record with all Beatles' songs but a local band
performs the songs. Rex Miller was a disc jockey on KLIF, Dallas'
biggest rock station at the time. It was 50,000 watts during the day
but when the sun went down their output dropped drastically. I lived 60
miles from Dallas & couldn't pick it up at night while WLS from Chicago
usually came in clear.