Thursday, September 23, 2021

THURSDAY BACKTRACK: Music and news from 60 years ago - week ending 23 September 1961

 At #6 this week, 'Michael Row The Boat' by The Highwaymen (and also at #7, by Lonnie Donegan!)



Some memorable events (via Wikipedia):

18 September: 'Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations was killed when his plane crashed while flying from Leopoldville in the Congo, to Ndola in Northern Rhodesia...
The sole survivor, U.N. Sgt. Harold Julien, was able to tell investigators that Hammarskjold ordered the pilot not to land at Ndola, and that there had been a series of explosions.' 
One theory, investigated in a UN report from 2019, is that the plane could have been shot down.

Image taken from Michigan Daily, 1961-09-19
Also 18 September: 'For the first time, troops from North Vietnam seized control of a provincial capital in South Vietnam, capturing Phuoc Vinh in a predawn attack, only 55 miles from Saigon. The ARVN recaptured the city the next day, but not before the Governor of the Phuoc Thanh province was publicly beheaded, along with the top military officers, and the government buildings burned.'


Flag of the West Indies Federation
19 September: 'Voters in Jamaica elected to withdraw from the West Indies Federation by a margin of 251,776 to 216,371. With Jamaicans comprising more than half (56%) of population and a majority of its income, the result was the end of the Federation, and, eventually, 12 independent nations.'


Image from a French account of the pirate station in Algiers, 'Radio France'
21 September: the OAS bombs the television station in Algiers just before President De Gaulle is about to broadcast; the rebel leader Raoul Salan then transmits 'a speech on the same frequency, taunting de Gaulle and calling for demonstrations against the separation of Algeria from French rule.'

UK chart hits, week ending 23 September 1961 (tracks in italics have been played in earlier posts)

Htp: Clint's labour-of love compilation https://www.sixtiescity.net/charts/61chart.htm

1

Johnny Remember Me

John Leyton

Top Rank

2

Kon-Tiki

The Shadows

Columbia

3

Wild In The Country / I Feel So Bad

Elvis Presley

RCA

4

You Don't Know

Helen Shapiro

Columbia

5

Reach For The Stars / Climb Every Mountain

Shirley Bassey

Columbia

6

Michael Row The Boat

The Highwaymen

HMV

7

Michael Row The Boat / Lumbered

Lonnie Donegan

Pye

8

Jealousy

Billy Fury

Decca

9

Cupid

Sam Cooke

RCA

10

Get Lost

Eden Kane

Decca

11

Ain't Gonna Wash For A Week

The Brook Brothers

Pye

12

That's My Home

Acker Bilk

Columbia

13

Together

Connie Francis

MGM

14

Well I Ask You

Eden Kane

Decca

15

Hats Off To Larry

Del Shannon

London

16

You'll Answer To Me

Cleo Laine

Fontana

17

Romeo

Petula Clark

Pye

18

How Many Tears

Bobby Vee

London

19

Halfway To Paradise

Billy Fury

Decca

20

Sea Of Heartbreak

Don Gibson

RCA


1 comment:

James Higham said...

Wonder if they’re still rowing that boat.