The Graduates

This is apparently genuine. I say it like that because there are no references to The Graduates on Billboard, and very little information is available. A google search of ‘Graduates “What Good Is Graduation” turns up 6 pages of results.

But at least those 6 pages assure me that the single I found one day back when was the real thing. There was no Google back then or course, so I had to go with my gut. My how the world has changed…

---

The Graduates:

• What Good Is Graduation – The Four Freshman celebrated their grad (Graduation Day) and The Cardigans saw only the sad side (Your Graduation Means Goodbye). This is the same idea as The Cardigans, but for The Graduates, all meaning is eradicated. This record did make the pop charts at all, but it seems to have been from 1959.

Jimmy Clanton

I was a stamp collector for one year. That’s when I was 12 years old. I got a stamp album, and I went to stores like Peg Stamp And Coin, and I bought big envelopes full of stamps at book stores. And I got approvals. That’s when some company sends you sets every month in the mail. And you keep the ones you want and send the money, and return the one you don’t want.

Well years and years later I got the same deal with CDs. I don’t remember where it came from, but the offer was try out each month’s selection. Keep it and pay, or return it and pay nothing. Sounds good. So I got the first one and I listened to it and it sounded terrible. It was a rock and roll revival CD, and the selections were good, but the sound quality was horrible. But before I sent it back I retrieved Don’t You Know It by Huey Smith & The Clowns and Just A Dream by Jimmy Clanton.

And I sent it back, and they never sent me another CD.

I can’t remember where the others came from, but I know that Go Jimmy Go came from the 45.

Clanton had 11 records in the top 100 between 1958 and 1963, then a freak record in 1969 called Curly.

---

Jimmy Clanton:

• Just A Dream – Everything’s gone up in smoke, was never very likely to start with. “Please leave me alone” cries Jimmy in desperation. Jimmy’s debut hit, from the summer of 1958.
• Go Jimmy Go – Talking, dancing, kissing, Jimmy is up for the challenge. And he is setting himself up for a standard that he will not be able to maintain. From the winter of 1960.
• Another Sleepless Night – Heartbreak manifested as insomnia. From the summer of 1960.
• Venus In Blue Jeans – There is something different about this one. Harp, for one thing. Strings and horns for another, an angelic chorus for yet another. If there was ever a better song about adoring a typical teenage girl I’ve never heard it. Masterpiece. From the autumn of 1962.

August, 1958

• Left Right Out Of Your Heart - Patti Page
• Everybody Loves A Lover - Doris Day
• Just A Dream - Jimmy Clanton
• Think It Over - The Crickets
• Somebody Touched Me - Buddy Knox
• That's How Much I Love You - Pat Boone
• Moon Talk - Perry Como
• Crazy Eyes For You - Bobby Hamilton
• Angel Baby - Dean Martin
• The Freeze - Tony & Joe
• Drip Drop - The Drifters
• Del Blue Di Pinto Del Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno
• Born Too Late - The Ponitails
• Queen Of The Hop - Bobby Darin
• Early In The Morning - Buddy Holly
• Early In The Morning - The Rinky Dinks
• Down In Virginia - Jimmy Reed
• Bird Dog - The Everly Brothers
• Western Movies - The Olympics
• Betty Lou Got A New Pair Of Shoes - Bobby Freeman
• Blue Boy - Jim Reeves
• Trudie - Joe "Mr. Piano" Henderson
• Come What May - Clyde McPhatter
• Devoted To You - The Everly Brothers
• Are You Really Mine - Jimmie Rodgers
• La Paloma - Billy Vaughn
• She Was Only Seventeen (He Was One Year More) - Marty Robbins
• Why Do I - Lee Andrews & The Hearts
• Alone With You - Faron Young

The Elegants

One after another after another. The Danleers, the last entry, they were a one hit wonder doo wop group from the late 50s. The Elegants were a one hit wonder doo wop group from the late 50s.

The Elegants were white. That’s interesting.

How many dances, talent contests, auditions did they do before they hit? How many recordings did they make of songs that were not released, or that were but which bombed?

And what happened after? Not much info on the web. Did they record follow-ups? If so, why did they bomb? They toured with star acts; we know that. So what happened?

Another rock and roll story whose details have yet to be told…

---

The Elegants:

• Little Star – This is, in theory, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It is, but only the words. The tune is different, though the cadence is the same – it has to be given that it has the same words. The children’s nursery is transformed here into the ultimate statement of romantic longing. A number 1 hit in the summer of 1958. And, contrary to popular belief, the original melody was not written by Mozart.

The Danleers

Another not-exactly-household name. They had 1 top 10 single and that was it.

---

The Danleers:

• One Summer Night – A great great romantic prom slow dance. A story that could only exist in a pop song, couldn’t even get it into a movie without losing something, especially that “you and I under the moon of love.” From the summer of 1958.

Toni Arden

No relation to Jann.

She was a bit of an anomaly when she had her biggest record in 1958, coming as she did from a different era and style. No matter. Music is where you find it…

---

Toni Arden:

• Padre – A marriage goes bad, and the brokenhearted wife turns to the priest who married her, looking for solace and understanding. A song about retracing one’s steps to the beginning, trying to find answers to life’s difficulties. From the summer of 1958.

Johnny Otis Show

Odds and end, odds and ends…

I found Johnny Otis’ sole top 40 hit on a multi-artist compilation on Capital, and that’s my entire experience of Johnny Otis.

He was huge though, the fewness of his chart placing notwithstanding (he had 4 top 100 records between 1958 and 1960). He wrote songs (Every Beat Of My Heart), he produced classic recordings (Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton), he discovered talent (Etta James, Hank Ballard etc etc).

And to me, he was reduced to a single random track on a random LP…

Life is weird sometimes.

---

Johnny Otis Show:

• Willie And The Hand Jive – A kind of mutated Bo Diddley thing going on here, as Otis sings of a “dance” that involves nothing but hand movements. One can only imagine. Go Willie… From the summer of 1958.Eric Clapton covered this on 461 Ocean Blvd.