3 Nostalgic Songs That Anyone Who Was Young in the 50s Will Remember

The 1950s have song since passed, but it really was a bit of an underrated era for music. Rock and roll was on the rise, a movement that would continue to evolve in a big way for decades. The old-school sound of rock music still has its appeal, and I bet anyone who is feeling nostalgic for their youth in the 50s will be able to identify the following three songs right away. Let’s take a look!

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“Donna” by Ritchie Valens

Remember this classic 1958 doo wop tune from Ritchie Valens? This sweet little song was penned as an ode to Valens’ high school sweetheart, and the tribute ended up being a massive hit for the artist. It’s his highest-charting single of his career, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959. If you were a kid in the 50s, you probably heard this one on the radio well into the 60s. Nostalgia galore!

“(Till) I Kissed You” by The Everly Brothers

This wouldn’t be a solid list of nostalgic 50s songs without mentioning at least one Everly Brothers tune. I went with the classic 1959 release, “(Till) I Kissed You”. This successful pop song peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart. And if you’re really a snob for the mid-century greats, you might just recognize that guitar track immediately; it’s Chet Atkins, as well as Jerry Allison of The Crickets on the drums. This song is so nostalgic, and an excellent example of what pop music was like at the tail end of the 1950s.

“There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters

This nostalgic 50s song is an absolute classic. “There Goes My Baby” was a smash hit for the R&B doo wop group The Drifters in 1959. It peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart, just barely missing that top spot held by “A Big Hunk O’ Love” by Elvis Presley, who also could have made this list. Consider this entry a twofer.

“There Goes My Baby” is also a unique piece of music history. The loose structure of the song, complete with nearly free-form lyrics, was considered against the norm of the time. Rhyming lines in songs were basically mandatory at the time. And the creative use of strings and very elaborate production techniques on this R&B song makes it a legendary one in the history of Black music.

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