Not only the first novelty record in this list to get to number two, but also the first number two with an erroneously-credited performer. Parsons, who came from Coalton, Ohio, was pals with the young Bobby Bare and “The All-American Boy” was apparently written by Parsons himself in collaboration with a strange, middle-aged Irish-Cherokee drifter named Orville Lunsford. However, when Parsons and Bare finally made it into a recording studio, Parsons preferred to sing a song called “Rubber Dolly” and asked Bare to do the talking blues narrative on “The All-American Boy.” However, when the single was released, both sides were credited to Parsons.
Indeed the
booming narrator we hear on this record is Bobby Bare, and it’s a very good and
purposeful send-up of the rise and conscription of Elvis; I wonder whether
Presley had this record in mind when he recorded “Guitar Man” a decade later.
More than that, it’s a useful snapshot of how so many rock careers would go –
hence the connection with the abovementioned Byrds hit from 1967 – with the
final advent of Uncle Sam, threatening to cut the rocker’s hair and replace his
guitar with a rifle, providing an ominous prophecy of today, when the
Establishment seems intent on depriving the young of any meaningful future
whatsoever.
Date Record Made Number Two: 7 February 1959
Number of Weeks At Number Two: 1
Record At Number One:“Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” by The
Platters
UK Chart
Position: 22
Other Information: After a few further unsuccessful
records, Bill Parsons retired from the music business in 1961. Bobby Bare went
on to become a significant name in country music – it is hard to imagine The
Proclaimers not being familiar with his signature song “500 Miles Away From
Home.”
Comments
Post a Comment