Most baby boomers were too young to remember the songs of the 1950s, but plenty of older baby boomers out there were old enough to hear some amazing tunes from 1959. The following four tunes, in fact, were all massive pop hits that year. And if you heard them in your youth, you probably still remember them today. Let’s take a look!
“The Battle Of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton
This country pop hit can be traced back all the way to 1936, when it was written by Jimmy Driftwood. This song about the Battle of New Orleans tackles the serious subject matter of war through comedic lyricism, and it eventually became a big hit for Johnny Horton in 1959. His version of the song was a No. 1 smash hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it was particularly popular among teenagers at the time. The song has since been covered by countless others, from Deep Purple to Sha Na Na to Dolly Parton.
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“Venus” by Frankie Avalon
Frankie Avalon had a smash hit on his hands with the pop classic “Venus”, which became his very first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100 chart in 1959. Interestingly enough, when his career began to wane about a decade and a half later, Avalon decided to release a disco-flavored version of this song. It successfully revived his career and peaked at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart in the US. But baby boomers likely remember the OG version of this song best.
“Lonely Boy” by Paul Anka
Unsurprisingly, Paul Anka makes it to our list of baby boomer-beloved songs from 1959. I went with “Lonely Boy”, considering how huge of a hit the song was for Anka in 1959. It’s a lovely traditional pop tune, complete with gorgeous instrumentation a la Dona Costa’s New York orchestra. If you were a fan of the 1959 drama film Girls Town, you probably remember Anka singing this song in the movie. “Lonely Boy” peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100, where it stayed for four weeks.
“Mack The Knife” by Bobby Darin from ‘That’s All’
Another cover, “Mack The Knife” originally came from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, who wrote the song for the 1928 musical drama The Threepenny Opera. Decades later, in 1959, pop-jazz musician Bobby Darin covered the song for his 1959 album That’s All. His version was a smash hit, one that reimagined an old-timey tune for a swing-loving audience. “Mack The Knife” peaked at No. 1 in the US, UK, and Canada.
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