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; seeBallad 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.
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) (seeMarch 21, 1952)
March 3, 1957: Samuel Cardinal Stritchbanned 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):
March 3, 1965: former chemistry student Owsley Stanleybegan 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)
In March 1960: recorded on 4 February 1959 in NYC’s Atlantic Studios, bassist Charles Mingus released “Blues and Roots” album.
Steve Huey at AllMusic writes: In response to critical carping that his ambitious, evocative music somehow didn’t swing enough, Charles Mingus returned to the earthiest and earliest sources of black musical expression, namely the blues, gospel, and old-time New Orleans jazz. The resulting LP, Blues and Roots, isn’t quite as wildly eclectic as usual, but it ranks as arguably Mingus’ most joyously swinging outing.
March Music et al
Bob Dylan
In March – April 1960: while a student at University of Minnesota, Dylan is introduced to marijuana at parties held at the home of David Whitaker. (see mid-December 1960)
John Coltrane
In March 1961: John Coltrane released “My Favorite Things” album. His cover The Sound of Music song became Coltrane’s most requested song.
Lindsay Planer at AllMusic writes: “Although seemingly impossible to comprehend, this landmark jazz date made in 1960 was recorded in less than three days. All the more remarkable is that the same sessions which yielded My Favorite Things would also inform a majority of the albums Coltrane Plays the Blues, Coltrane’s Sound, and Coltrane Legacy.“
In March 1961: Pete Seeger stood trial and was found guilty of obstructing House Un-American Activities Committee work. At his sentencing he asked if he could sing, “Wasn’t That a Time”? The judge refused Seeger’s request and sentenced him to a year and a day in prison. (CW, see Mar 1)
Our fathers bled at Valley Forge. The snow was red with blood,Their faith was warm at Valley Forge, Their faith was brotherhood. Wasn’t that a time, wasn’t that a time, A time to try the soul of man, Wasn’t that a terrible time?Brave men who died at Gettysburg Now lie in soldier’s graves, But there they stemmed the slavery tide, And there the faith was saved.The fascists came with chains and war To prison us in hate. And many a good man fought and died To save the stricken faith.
And now again the madmen come, And should our vic’try fail? There is no vic’try in a land Where free men go to jail.Isn’t this a time! Isn’t this a time! A time to try the soul of man, Isn’t this a terrible time?Our faith cries out we have no fear We dare to reach our hand To other neighbors far and near To friends in every land. Isn’t this a time! Isn’t this a time! A time to free the soul of man! Isn’t this a wonderful time!
March Music et al
Teenage Culture
In March 1963: Wolfman Jack began broadcasting on XERF, a half million watt radio station out of Mexico. The powerful “border radio” stations were famous for their wild on-air activities. The powerful broadcast signals allowed them to be heard across the entire North American continent, making Wolfman Jack the most famous rock ‘n’ roll DJ in the world. (see February 1, 1964)
March Music et al
Stan Getz and João Gilberto
In March 1964: recorded at the A & R Recording Studios in NYC on March 18 and 19, 1963, Stan Getz and João Gilberto released the album Getz/Gilberto album. It had The Girl from Ipanema on it.
Steve Huey at AllMusic writes: “One of the biggest-selling jazz albums of all time, not to mention bossa nova’s finest moment, Getz/Gilberto trumped Jazz Samba by bringing two of bossa nova’s greatest innovators — guitarist/singer João Gilberto and composer/pianist Antonio Carlos Jobim — to New York to record with Stan Getz. The results were magic.”
March Music et al
Jimi Hendrix
In March 1964: as a member of the Isley Brothers, Jimi Hendrix recorded the two-part single “Testify”. Hendrix then went on tour with the Isley Brothers. “Testify” was released in June 1964.
In 1965, Hendrix played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single “My Diary” Around the same time he also backed Little Richard on “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got, But It’s Got Me“. (see October, 1965)
March Music et al
LSD & The Beatles
March…July 1965: the precise date of the Beatles first encounter with LSD is unknown, although it’s likely to have been between March and July 1965. It is known that it took place at Flat 1, 2 Strathearn Place, London W2, in the home of 34-year-old cosmetic dentist John Riley. Riley had invited John and Cynthia Lennon, George Harrison and Pattie Boyd to dinner. After the meal he gave them coffee laced with LSD, which at the time was little-known and still legal. (LSD, see Mar 3; Beatles, see Mar 13; Beatles/LSD, see Aug 24)
March Music et al
Berkeley Barb
In March 1967: The Berkeley Barb started the smokable banana rumor. Barb editor, Max Scherr, hoping to trick authorities into banning bananas, ran a satirical story which claimed that dried banana skins contained “bananadine”, a (fictional) psychoactive substance which, when smoked, supposedly induced a psychedelic high similar to opium and psilocybin. The Barb may have been inspired by Donovan’s 1966 song “Mellow Yellow”, with its lyric “Electrical banana/Is gonna be a sudden craze.” The hoax was believed and spread through the mainstream press. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated and concluded that banana skins were not psychedelic. (see In April)
March Music et al
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