March 20 Music et al

Lawrence Welk

Calcutta

March 20 – April 9, 1961: Lawrence Welk’s Calcutta  was Billboard #1 album. The single Calcutta the most successful of Welk’s career, and the only tango-based recording to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

March 20 Music et al

Elvis

 Surrender

March 20 – April 2, 1961: “Surrender” by Elvis Presley #1 Billboard Hot 100. It is an adaptation by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman of the music of a 1902 Neapolitan ballad by Giambattista and Ernesto de Curtis entitled “Torna a Surriento” (“Come Back to Sorrento”). It hit number one in the US and UK in 1961 and eventually became one of the best selling singles of all time. This was one of 25 songs Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote for Presley. (Apr 10)

March 20 Music et al

Goldfinger

March 20 – April 9, 1965: the Goldfinger soundtrack is the Billboard #1 album.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

March 20, 1969: a week after Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman, John Lennon and Yoko Ono married in Gibraltar. According to John, “”We chose Gibraltar because it is quiet, British and friendly. We tried everywhere else first. I set out to get married on the car ferry and we would have arrived in France married, but they wouldn’t do it. We were no more successful with cruise ships. We tried embassies, but three weeks’ residence in Germany or two weeks’ in France were required.”

From Classic Rock site: Lennon later crafted an autobiographical Beatles song titled “The Ballad of John and Yoko” that laid out the rest of their journey: “Finally made the plane into Paris, honeymooning down by the Seine. [Apple assistant] Peter Brown called to say, you can make it okay; you can get married in Gibraltar near Spain.” The couple arrived at the British Consulate Office there, and they were married in a 10-minute ceremony performed by registrar Cecil Wheeler. Since Gibraltar was a British colony, and Lennon a British citizen, there was no issue.

“We went there and it was beautiful,” Lennon said. “It’s the ‘Pillar of Hercules,’ and also symbolically they called it the ‘End of the World’ at one period. They thought the world outside was a mystery from there, so it was like the Gateway to the World. So, we liked it in the symbolic sense, and the rock foundation of our relationship.” (next Beatles, see March 25 – 31; see Ballad for expanded story)

March 20 Music et al

Knight Ringo

March 20, 2018: Prince William knighted Ringo. Ringo became the second Beatle knighted. Paul was knighted in 1997.

According to a BBC report,  “The 77-year-old added he knew exactly what he’d do with his medal.

“I’ll be wearing it at breakfast,” he joked.

March 20 Music et al

March 3 Music et al

Woody Guthrie

March 3, 1940, activist and American Communist Party member, Will Geer, introduced 27-year-old Woody Guthrie to 21-year-old Pete Seeger. (listen to/read NPR piece: Pete Seeger Remembers Guthrie, Hopping Trains And Sharing Songs

Roots of Rock

March 3 or 5, 1951: Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, recorded “Rocket 88” (originally written as Rocket “88”) at Sam Phillips’s Sun Studio. The record reached #1 on the Billboard R & B chart.

Many experts acknowledge its importance in the development of rock and roll music as the first rock and roll record. (Discogs site info) (see March 21, 1952)

March 3 Music et al

see Fear of Rock for expanded story

March 3, 1957: Samuel Cardinal Stritch banned rock ‘n’ roll from Chicago archdiocese Roman Catholic schools. He had condemned by saying, “ “Some new manners of dancing and a throwback to tribalism in recreation cannot be tolerated for Catholic youths. “When our schools and centers stoop to such things as ‘rock and roll’ tribal rhythms, they are failing seriously in their duty. God grant that this word will have the effect of banning such things in Catholic recreation.”(see July)

The Beatles

March 3, 1963: The Beatles were at the bottom of the bill in the last show of their tour supporting Helen Shapiro in Hanley. Other acts ahead of them included The Kestrels, The Honeys, Dave Allen, Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams.

A typical Beatle set on this tour was (lead singer in parentheses and an * indicates alternative song for set):

1. Chains (George)
2. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby (John)
3. A Taste of Honey (Paul)
4. Please Please Me (John/Paul)
5. Love Me Do (John)*
6. Beautiful Dreamer (Paul)*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEtdnex1M-A&list=PL027407F340CB8EAA

March 3 Music et al

LSD

March 3, 1965: former chemistry student Owsley Stanley began to provide L.S.D. in large quantities for San Francisco “happenings.” Today in the Oxford English dictionary, the word “Owsley” is listed as a noun describing a particularly pure form of LSD. (see Mar 30)

March 3 Music et al