The Four Lads

Like The Crew Cuts and The Diamonds, The Four Lads were Canadian. Yay Canada. They were another vocal quartet; their style was very close to The Four Aces. The group’s first big hit was Istanbul in 1952, and between 1955 and 1959 they put 17 songs on the top 100. I have 9 of them here, plus a few earlier ones.

The album I had was probably called Moments To Remember, and I picked up The Four Lads’ Greatest Hits, and added those songs much later. Some songs here were from reissued singles.

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The Four Lads

• Moments To Remember – The song for which they are best remembered, this was a hit in the autumn of ’55. The Vogues put it back in the charts in the summer of ’69.
• Together Wherever We Go – This could be a song between lovers or between friends.
• Who Needs You – Not The Steppenwolf song. From the winter of 1957.
• The Mocking Bird – This song was originally release on Epic, and it charted in 1952, and then was reissued in 1956. But this is the remake on Columbia, which was a hit at the end of 1958.
• There’s Only One Of You – A hit in the spring of 1958.
• No, Not Much – Another cutsie poo love song. A hit in the late winter of 1956, and I remember the one by The Vogues in 1969.
• Tonight – This is from West Side Story. It was a hit for Ferrante & Teicher in 1961
• Somebody Loves Me – I wonder who?
• Standing On The Corner – From the spring / summer of 1956. Also a hit for Dean Martin. “I’m a cat, that got the cream…” Some creep stands around fantasizing about the girls he sees…
• Put A Light In The Window – This is kind of the same idea as Knock Three Times, or Tie A Yellow Ribbon. From late 1957.
• Down By The Riverside – Elvis did this also.
• Instanbul – Their first big hit, about the capital of Turkey. Never been there.
• The Bus Stop Song – Not to be confused with Bus Stop by The Hollies. A marriage proposal in song, and a bit of a strange one. Was a hit in the fall of ’56.
• Gilly Gilly By The Sea – This is from 1954, and I have reproduced the title here as it appears on the album cover. But I understand that the full title is in fact Gilly, Gilly, Ossenfeffer, Katzenellen Bogen By The Sea. David & Jonathan did this about a dozen years later.
• Enchanted Island – From the summer of ’58. Not so different for 26 Miles (Santa Catalina) by the Four Preps, or about 100 songs about Hawaii.