They kept writing 'em like that anymore

My childhood fell between the middle 1950s and early 1970s...and for television fans here in the United States, that meant that variety shows were all over the dial. If you watched, for example, The Ed Sullivan Show, you'd more often than not get to see your favorite rock/R&B act...about a half hour after Ed introduced one of those smooth pop crooners on the show.

In fact, my first eight years of life (1955-1963) were a period when America's music industry was trying to figure itself out. In early April 1957, for instance, Perry Como's "'Round and 'Round" was Billboard's Number One pop hit...only to be displaced a week later by "All Shook Up," by Elvis Presley.

And "All Shook Up" rode high for nine weeks...until knocked off the top spot by "Love Letters in the Sand," by Pat Boone, a man whose records, by then, had one foot in the Presley ethos and the other in the Como system.

Industry leaders, as a group, loved the old Tin Pan Alley styles...but knew the newer styles were where the money was.

Even so, some of the biggest hits of the late 1950s through, really, the middle 1970s, owed something to the way pop music sounded in the 1890s-1920s period...when ragtime, followed by jazz, caught America's attention.

With that in mind, here's a list of ragtime/honky tonk-influenced rock/R&B/pop songs recorded from 1956 to 1974:

1. "The Green Door," Jim Lowe (Dot 14586; r*5, *1, 1956)/2. "When I See You," Fats Domino (Imperial 5454; r*14, *29, 1957)/3. "Sugartime," McGuire Sisters (Coral 61924; *1, 1958)/4. "The Stripper," David Rose (MGM 13064; r*12, *1, 1962)/5. "Alley Cat," Bent Fabric (Atco 6226; *7, 1962)/6. "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," Nat King Cole (Capitol 4965; r*11, *6, 1963)/7. "Washington Square," Village Stompers (Epic 9617; r*22, *2, 1963)/8. "(Down at) Papa Joe's," Dixiebelles (Sound Stage 7 2507; *9, 1963)/9. "Southtown, USA," Dixiebelles (Sound Stage 7 2517; *15, 1964)/10. "Java," Al Hirt (RCA Victor 8280; *4, 1964)/11. "Daydream," Lovin' Spoonful (Kama Sutra 208; *2, 1966)/12. "Spanish Flea," Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (A&M 792; *27, 1966)/13. "I Love Onions," Susan Christie (Columbia 43595; *63, 1966).

14. "Winchester Cathedral," New Vaudeville Band (Fontana 1562; *1, 1966)/15. "Lady Godiva," Peter and Gordon (Capitol 5740; *6, 1966)/16. "Words of Love," Mamas and the Papas (Dunhill 4057; *5, 1967)/17. "Hello Hello," Sopwith "Camel" (Kama Sutra 217; *26, 1967)/18. "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman," Whistling Jack Smith (Deram 85005; *20, 1967)/19. "Like an Old-Time Movie," Scott McKenzie (Ode 105; *24, 1967)/20. "Cab Driver," Mills Brothers (Dot 17041; *23, 1968)/21. "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde," Georgie Fame (Epic 10283; *7, 1968)/22. "Cinderella Rockefella," Esther and Abi Ofarim (Philips 40526; *68, 1968)/23. "Indian Lake," Cowsills (MGM 13944; *10, 1968)/24. "Those Were the Days," Mary Hopkin (Apple 1801; *2, 1968)/25. "Goodbye," Mary Hopkin (Apple 1806; *13, 1969)/26. "Abergavenny," Shannon (AKA Marty Wilde) (Heritage 814; *47, 1969).

27. "Is That All There Is," Peggy Lee (Capitol 2602; *11, 1969)/28. "Rag Mama Rag," Band (Capitol 2705; *57, 1970)/29. "Gimme Dat Ding," Pipkins (Capitol 2819; *9, 1970)/30. "Mississippi," John Phillips (ABC Dunhill 4236; *32, 1970)/31. "In the Summertime," Mungo Jerry (Janus 125; *3, 1970)/32. "Rubber Duckie," Jim Henson's Ernie (Columbia 45207; *16, 1970)/33. "Honky Cat," Elton John (Uni 55343; *8, 1972)/34. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,318; *1, 1973)/35. "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,374; *3, 1973)/36. "Who's in the Strawberry Patch with Sally," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,424; *27, 1973)/37. "Last Time I Saw Him," Diana Ross (Motown 1278; r*15, *14, 1974)/38. "Nothing from Nothing," Billy Preston (A&M 1544; r*8, *1, 1974)/39. "Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)," Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,601; *7, 1974).

The chart positions were taken from Joel Whitburn's "Record Research," compiled from Billboard's Pop chart, unless indicated otherwise; r*= the record's position on Billboard's R&B chart.

See you next time, and thanks for reading "Boston's Blog!"

I Couldn't Help but Move to the Groove

Time to end this month on a high note...in fact, a bunch of them.

Those notes came out of a venue called the Waiting Room (6212 Maple St., 68104; 402 884-5353), where today, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM, the featured artist was...actually, a bunch of featured artists.

The performers were the students and teachers from Omaha's very own School of Rock.

And man, they cooked!  

What attracted me to the outing was the fact that one of the rockers is young Ben Rosenberger, the drummer in our church's praise band. In fact, Ben's the praise band's youngest member...by far.

School of Rock Omaha's outing had a theme: "Rock Timeline."

And you bet your blue suede shoes the young rockers started out with some 1950s stuff. (They really had it going by the time I finally arrived at the Waiting Room...2:12 PM. So...if the SOR students played and sang "Blue Suede Shoes," I missed it.)

Now, I did get to hear "Hound Dog," "In the Still of the Nite," "(We're Gonna) Rock around the Clock," and "All I Have to Do Is Dream," among other items. [By the way...Ben played tambourine on "(We're Gonna) Rock around the Clock."]  

And right from the time I got there, I found myself toe-tapping...and/or dancing to the beat. Just couldn't resist.

Another thing about the whole operation was that the School of Rockers formed five or six different bands (Ben himself was in a couple of 'em). As a result, every student got to tackle a different decade in rock...and that piece of strategy put the accent on versatility.

It all became clear when "Rock Timeline" moved into the 1960s.  

School of Rock versions of "Little Sister," "You Really Got Me," and "House of the Rising Sun" got my attention.

And "Sugar Sugar" (as sung by a six-year-old girl who sang lead in a half-male, half-female band) and "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" (in which a male keyboard player and a female lead singer featured on a number before that swapped roles so that he ended up singing lead while she played the keys) really stood out for me.

When the show barreled into the 1970s, I was still movin' and groovin' to the music of the SOR gang. Matter of fact, I found myself singing along to songs like "Superstition" and "My Sharona." And I really enjoyed Ben's drumming in "Psycho Killer."  

Speaking of drumming...two little boys and a little girl (all three of 'em playing drums as well as handling the vocals) turned in a "We Will Rock You" that set the house on its ear. (Well, I like to think so!)  

We also got a rousing version of "YMCA." (Where else can you hear this 1979 Village People classic done as 100% power pop?)

The school's Rock 101 class drove the proceedings into the 1980s; the first song in the set was "Should I Stay or Should I Go." (I got a kick out of this version, too.)

"Just What I Needed" turned out to be something I needed as well. 

A few songs later came the same band that turned in "Sugar Sugar." This time, they came back for a fine, fine version of "Billie Jean."

Well, the timeline marched to a halt with the 1990s, where the set included songs like "When I Come Around."

In this set, every band that performed during the show did an encore song.

Tell you one thing: Next time Omaha's School of Rock takes to the bar called the Waiting Room, I want to be there...I can't wait to see what Ben and Co. come up with next!