I first got the idea to do this blog a few years ago. I think it was one of many things I toyed with during the Covid pandemic just to try to keep busy. It seemed like everyone took on extra projects back in 2020 but I only got to the point of considering doing this one. In fact, I came closer to starting up Life Ends at 40: The Hits That Peaked at the Bottom (about singles that only managed to make the lowest spot on either the US or UK Top 40s; I still haven't ruled out getting to it eventually) instead.
One of my main concerns with a blog on number ones in Canada was that the songs covered on it would be too similar to the US Hot 100 chart toppers. So far that would seem to be the case. Of the six hits I have written about, five went to number one in both the States and Canada. The lone exception, Jimmy Dorsey's "So Rare", still managed to make it to number two south of the border. So far, so very similar.
It is only with the seventh entry in this space that we begin to see some real differentiation. The Bobbettes' "Mr. Lee" only go to number six in the US but it managed to strike enough of a chord to go all the way to the top in Canada. Not a huge gap but a sign that the Canadian public wasn't just going to copy whatever had tickled the fancy of their neighbours to the south. Spoiler alert: in time we'll see the likes of The Hollies, Supertramp, INXS and Rick Astley go on to chart success in Canada that would eclipse their popularity Stateside. Beating them all to it was The Bobbettes all the way back in the autumn of 1957.
A quintet from New York, The Bobbettes had originally billed themselves as The Harlem Queens even though they looked much more like princesses. Their oldest member was sixteen-year-old Laura Webb while Jannie Pought, the youngest Bobbette, was just twelve. Not only had they become an accomplished professional R&B group while still just schoolgirls, they had even begun songwriting together. Appropriately enough, their first composition was about a teacher at their school who they all had a crush on.
Actually, this initially wasn't the case at all. "Mr. Lee" was originally a song about hate and revenge. Convinced that he was out to get them, Jannie, Emma, Reather, Laura and Helen plot to bring the old grouch down. Kids around their age would've obviously identified with it but adults around them seemed to be less convinced. It was only after their record company Atlantic insisted they take it in a different direction that it became a love song. Once the "ugliest teacher", he was now the "handsomest sweetie that you ever did see". Nevertheless, traces of the original may still be found in the line "here comes Mr. Lee, he's coming for me", which, admittedly, takes on an even darker tone in its altered form.
Though compromised, The Bobbettes give a very energetic performance on the recording. One of its two lead vocalists — either Emma Pought or Reather Dixon — even unleashes some near-guttural screams. Backed by a house band at Atlantic, the music is disciplined but someone in the studio — possibly a musician or maybe someone behind the mixing desk or perhaps even a Bobbette — also managed to come up with some amusing squeaks that pop up every now and then. Come for the cutesy doo-wop, stay for something much more impassioned and real even in the rather contrived setting.
The promise of such a big early hit didn't result in much, however. Atlantic decided that they should remain tied to novelty songs which became the focus of The Bobbettes' songwriting. Subsequent singles "Speedy" and "Zoomy" were fun but they were cartoonish and didn't come from the reality that spawned "Mr. Lee". Eventually, they decided to revive what had first made them famous with the updated "I Shot Mr. Lee", which saw them go back to portraying the titular character in a negative light. Once again, their bosses didn't much care for it and so the group chose to have it released elsewhere which then got them in trouble for breach of contract. Unfortunately, it was simply too much of a blatant re-write to work. Plus, it's over-written with far too much detail of Lee's downfall thrown at the wall. A shame since I like the idea of an R&B take on the country music murder ballad. There's just no way they were going to match the magic of the original.
Score: 9
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