Date: Aug 28, 1961
Weeks: 1
I... er... what?
Okay, when I talked previously about Connie Francis trying to inject a polka sound into "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" (#30), I expected that to be the closest I would get to polka on the pop charts. Well, that and any songs that get used in a Weird Al Polka song.
I've seen and heard some rather unusual music on the list from the late 50s and early 60s, but an actual polka song? With a verse of German lyrics? How did that become the most popular song in the country? This merits research...
Oh, I see.
Joe Dowell's official website tells the story (and hooray for him for maintaining an official website that explains all this). The song was written for the Elvis Presley movie G.I. Blues, which is set in Germany. Joe Dowell (among others) recorded the song and released it as a single. But Elvis didn't release a single, possibly because he had another song on the charts at the time and his label didn't want to Elvis to compete with himself. So Joe Dowell's version, likely benefiting from the association with Elvis, went to the top of the charts.
This lead me to the question of how multiple artists could just hear a song and then race to record the best version and get it sold. That doesn't seem like something that happens any more. Maybe the answer to has to do with songwriters and record labels exercising stronger control over their songs these days. Perhaps I'll need to do some research and come back with a blog post with my findings. While I'm at it, I ought to analyze the large number of the pop songs that get to number one just because of their association with a popular movie.
Getting to the song itself, it's not great. It's far too polka for my tastes, even featuring a tuba and an accordion. Joe Dowell's site says they used a bass guitar and an organ, but they were trying to emulate the sounds of a tuba and accordion. I don't think that improves it. On top of that, Joe Dowell is a decent singer, but he's not Elvis.
I'm a bit lost in the lyrics. "Please don't break my heart in two. That's not hard to do, 'cause I don't have a wooden heart." Wait, what's not hard to do? Breaking your heart is not hard to do, or not breaking your heart is not hard to do? Is it easy to break your heart or easy to not? And is it easy or hard to break a wooden heart? Wood can be strong like a tree trunk, or weak like a branch. Is a wooden heart made of oak or balsa? Wouldn't a wooden heart be easier to break than a heart made of muscle? The muscle heart would bend but not break, whereas the wooden heart would resist bending initially but then break suddenly. Wood is a brittle material.
The point is, it's a confusing metaphor. The lyrics have me confused, and that's long before we even get to the German lyrics, which are apparently based on a 19th century German folk song.
My verdict: Don't like it. This is a classic case of a song that's pretty good within the context of its movie, but loses all meaning and appeal once separated from that context.
His German is terrible, too.
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