Little Things Mean A Lot - Great Hits Of The Fifties

It opens with the happy "Little Shoemaker", which was originally a French song "Le Petit Cordonnier". A 1954 hit for The Gaylords, in Britain it was covered by future international singing star Petula Clark. The Canadian group The Crew-Cuts scored big with "Sh-boom", stealing the honours from its Rhythm & Blues originators The Chords; Stan Freberg had fun at everyone's expense with his own comical interpretation. "Skokiaan" is actually a potent drink prepared by African Zulus; the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band made it an international hit but were out-performed in America by both Ralph Marterie & His Orchestra, and The Four Lads. Don Cornell reached the 'Pop' charts on both sides of the Atlantic with "Hold My Hand", but Patti Page wasn't quite so successful with "I Cried". Now associated with an altogether more refined kind of performance, earlier in his career Tony Bennett was happy to sing the up-tempo "Cinnamon Sinner", Rosemary Clooney was certainly happy to make the number one position with "This Ole House", even if honours were shared with the coupling "Hey There".It was suggested at the time that the German-language hit "The Happy Wanderer" ("Der Fröhliche Wanderer") by the Obernkirchen Children's Choir was a deliberate attempt by the 'authorities' to rehabilitate Germany in the eyes of those English-speaking countries who had fought so hard against the Nazis in the Second World War. Whilst Britain accepted the Children's Choir original (it spent 26 weeks in the charts), the Americans appeared to have shunned it, and it was an English version by British orchestra leader Frank Weir which scooped the honours over there.