The Dixie Cups: "Chapel of Love"

June 22, 1964 (1 week)

And so the RPM era begins. Before moving on to more pressing matters, I'd like to quibble with the release of the first issue. Couldn't they have waited a few days so that they could have had it coincide with Canada Day — just as, I might add, a humble blogger would do some sixty years later? Perhaps they were going for a soft launch or the proximity of Dominion Day didn't have anything to do with it.

The CHUM hit parade was out as the national listing but that didn't mean it was going anywhere. I thought it might be worth looking at that week's CHUM and RPM charts just to see how they compare. (Please note: chart positions falling outside the Top 10 on competing listings are marked in parentheses)

The CHUM Top 10

1. Peter and Gordon: "A World Without Love"            
2. Lucille Starr: "The French Song" (14)
3. Millie Small: "My Boy Lollipop"
4. The Dixie Cups: "Chapel of Love"
5. Gerry and the Pacemakers: "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"
6. The Dave Clark Five: "Do You Love Me" (13)
7. Elvis Presley: "Kiss Me Quick" (—)
8. Gerry and the Pacemakers: "I'm the One" (—)
9. Johnny Rivers: "Memphis"
10. The Wailers: "Tall Cool One" (—)

And now the RPM Top 10

1. The Dixie Cups: "Chapel of Love"
2. Peter and Gordon: "A World Without Love" / Bobby Rydell: "A World Without Love"
3. Millie Small: "My Boy Lollipop"
4. Gerry and the Pacemakers: "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"
5. Dionne Warwick: "Walk on By" (16)
6. The Beach Boys: "I Get Around" (13)
7. Mary Wells: "My Guy" (11)
8. Johnny Rivers: "Memphis"
9. The Searchers: "Don't Throw Your Love Away" (22)
10. Chuck Berry: "No Particular Place to Go" (25)

As you can see, only five singles managed to make it on to both: "Chapel of Love", "A World Without Love", "My Boy Lollipop", "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" and "Memphis". It's more than a little odd that three releases that made CHUM's Top 10 — "Kiss Me Quick", "I'm the One" and "Tall Cool One" — failed to crack the RPM Top 40 entirely. Curious. The other quirk is Bobby Rydell's name appearing alongside Peter and Gordon. This is because the Canadian charts would recognize competing versions of the same song as one hit. In fact, we'll be getting to an example of a unique co-number one in the near future.

One more thing before we get to the chart topper in question. Though I'm no fan of Chuck Berry, I much prefer the look of the upper section of the RPM chart. Check out that trio taking up spots five, six and seven: "Walk on By", "I Get Around", "My Guy". Bangers all. Sure, they were all in the CHUM Top 20 at the same time but I'd rather see them closer to the top. (It's a little disappointing that we'll only be seeing one of them reach the very top but them's the breaks, I guess) Plus, The Searchers' "Don't Throw Your Love Away" is a minor gem, one that once again hints that they were The Byrds before The Byrds.

With so many discrepancies between CHUM and RPM, it's nice that the official number one single in Canada that week was a smash on both charts. And it's a good one too. "Chapel of Love" is pretty hard to dislike. (A horrible cover by The Beach Boys on their shitty 1975 album 15 Big Ones is the only poor rendition I'm aware of) Darlene Love had initially tried it out under the auspices of eccentric producer Phil Spector but it was shelved and wouldn't be released until 1991 when it was included on his Back to Mono boxset. Yet, the great big evil weirdo looms large over The Dixie Cups' recording. With the use of some echo and reverb, it is Spector-lite though it isn't anywhere near as grandiose - but maybe that's a good thing all things considered.

While you might expect that the trio of Barbara Ann and Rosa Lee Hawkins and their cousin Joan Marie Johnson would have had a lot of fun with "Chapel of Love", there isn't a whole lot of evidence of it, as if they're unsure of themselves or something. It's not a big problem and even adds depth to the song if the girls singing about their wedding day are in fact dreading it but it's still worth pointing out. My memory told me that they were a lot more upbeat but that is not how they sound.

Finally, "Chapel of Love" spent just one week at number one which would be the first of many one week wonders to top the RPM chart. While I don't know quite what to make of this trend, I would say it tracks with the way young people used to consume music: kids would hear a song, love it to death then get sick and tired of it, rinse and repeat. Nowadays, singles may sit comfortably at the top of the charts for ten or twenty weeks so something changed over the past sixty some years. Perhaps I'll try to figure it out as this blog continues.

Score: 7

~~~~~

Can Con

Doing remarkably well over on CHUM while struggling a bit nationally is Boniface, Manitoba's Lucille Starr with "The French Song", aka "Quand le soleil dit bonjour aux montagnes". Renamed due to producer Herb Alpert allegedly not being able to pronounce the French title and, I presume, his assumption that no one else would've been able to as well. (At least the re-titling of "Ue o Muite Arkuō" to "Sukuyaki" was an acknowledgement of it being Japanese; would it have been so hard to have re-christened it "Bonjour" instead? Or, failing that, "Beef Bourguignon"?) Starr's voice quivers an awful lot — it was the style at the time — but her attempt at Franco-country music isn't bad. It is a little jarring, however, when she switches over to English, especially since this is "The French Song" and all.