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so soon I forget!
Johnny Ray also did an obscure one called "What's the Use?" ("What's the use of my wine,
Cantaloupes on the vine,
You ignore me?") about a hapless desert nomad who is unsuccessfully courting a girl.)
His biggie was one that was actually from either the 1920's or 1930's, "Walking My Baby Back Home." The verse about "Hand in hand to a barbecue stand" was added for Johnny's version. I don't think barbecue stands were out there in either the Roaring Twenties or the Great Depression.
Most of the stuff we listened to in the 1950's was warmed-over 1930's and '40's stuff, or syrupy ballads. Rosemary Clooney and Peggy Lee brought some welcome relief. Everybody was nuts over "Pretty, Perky Peggy King" and I can't think why. I also didn't much like either Doris Day or Patti Page, though they enormously popular. I personally was nuts over Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine, and the aforementioned Johnny Ray. (Also anything in a minor key, be it pop, rock, classical, country/western, what-have-you. If it's minor, I'll listen, even today.)
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