# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1959
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 27, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618 "2014-08-27T07:34:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/1 "2014-08-27T07:34:54Z")
Time for part 4 in our Hot 100 retrospective series. Doing these every other day seems to be about the right pace for the conversation to happen, so I think I’ll keep doing it at this pace for now unless we get an especially lively year going.
We’ve now reached 1959 - the year in which “the music died”, and the beginning of the period in between the first boom of rock & roll and the British Invasion. The 16 songs that topped the charts this year were a mixed bag of rock, folk, R&B, standards, and all what-else, including two songs from a band that lived right here in my adopted hometown and took their name from the local telephone exchange.
What’s your favorite?
Previous polls: [1955-56](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731649) [1957](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=731871) [1958](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=732021) [2012](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=675664) [2013](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=710843)
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/2 "2014-08-27T11:16:52Z")
Tough. Both _Sleep Walk_ and\* Mack the Knife\* are the greatest singles of all time.
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### Author:  [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/3 "2014-08-27T12:43:19Z")
Mack the Knife whips the buttocks of all the other songs on this list.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/4 "2014-08-27T12:46:12Z")
> [@Ponch8](#):
>
> Mack the Knife whips the buttocks of all the other songs on this list.
Yeah, it really isn’t much of a competition.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/5 "2014-08-27T13:36:51Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> Tough. Both _Sleep Walk_ and\* Mack the Knife\* are the greatest singles of all time.
They sure as heck are up there. Stagger Lee has so many versions and remains an enduring song to this day.
Those three are at the top of the pack and everything else is far distant.
Here is an absolutely \*killer \*version of Sleepwalk by Brian Setzer solo: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDvfzxVDxl8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDvfzxVDxl8)
Dude can _play_.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/6 "2014-08-27T13:51:44Z")
Once again, I’ll rank the ones I cared about, High-to-Low, and omit the ones that were not among my faves:
Bobby Darin - “Mack the Knife” (my Vote)
The Fleetwoods: “Come Softly To Me”
Frankie Avalon: “Venus”
Santo & Johnny - “Sleep Walk”
Dave “Baby” Cortez - “The Happy Organ”
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### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/7 "2014-08-27T16:11:15Z")
Sleep Walk, for me. This is the golden age of instrumental rock, and it might be its pinnacle.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/8 "2014-08-27T23:51:48Z")
Gotta go with “Mack the Knife”, myself.
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/9 "2014-08-28T00:10:10Z")
“Sleep Walk”. It’s otherworldly. That version of “Mack the Knife” sounds like some supper club/lounge singer bleeding all the menace out of the song.
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### Author:  [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/10 "2014-08-28T00:18:35Z")
“Come Softly To Me,” by a mile.
JMHO YMMV
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/11 "2014-08-28T00:33:10Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#):
>
> That version of “Mack the Knife” sounds like some supper club/lounge singer bleeding all the menace out of the song.
Yeah. I might have voted for “Mack the Knife”, but, damn, it’s easy listening. Or maybe Muzak.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/12 "2014-08-28T00:44:00Z")
I have an irrational and absolutely maniacal love of songs with those “chorus of angles” female voices, so “Venus” is a song I will listen to over and over.
Realistically, though, it’s just a pleasant pop song. “Mack the Knife” is a special and totally unexpected achievement from someone once put on the same level as Frankie Avalon. Darin got the arrangement from Louis Armstrong so it can’t be considered lounge-singer.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/13 "2014-08-28T08:47:04Z")
A no-brainer: _Mac the Knife._
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/14 "2014-08-28T14:17:46Z")
Darrin’s song was iconic, certainly, but it was lounge music and a knockoff of Sinatra’s styling. For pure, soaring vocals, I have to go with _Smoke Gets In Your Eyes_ (yes, The Platters again), followed by Santo and Johnny in _Sleepwalk_ for best instrumental of the decade.
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### Author:  [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/15 "2014-08-28T14:36:18Z")
It’s a measure of the rather quick decline of rock ‘n’ roll after its initial outburst that I’ve voted for ballads in the last two polls. Ballads, certainly, that came out of the rock ‘n’ roll tradition, but still, it’s interesting that so few truly worthy rockin’ songs hit #1 in 1958 or 1959. (Well, I do dig “Kansas City” a lot, but it’s more old-school blues/R&B than rock.)
My vote this time went to “Come Softly to Me,” a remarkable achievement. The song was originally recorded _a cappella_ by The Fleetwoods, with only the jangling of car keys to keep the rhythm. Subtle instrumentation was overdubbed after the fact.
It’s a great arrangement, with ever-shifting lead and backing vocals and wonderful harmonies. There will always be a place for music like this in the rock ‘n’ roll canon — soft and subtle but still impactful. While I can respect Tony Williams’ vocal prowess and like Platters’ songs well enough, they’re still just a little too bombastic for my tastes.
I agree with others that, while “Mack the Knife” is OK for what it is, on the other hand it’s an example of the kind of music that rock ‘n’ roll saved us from. I’m simply not gonna go there.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/16 "2014-08-28T14:56:01Z")
> [@DChord568](#):
>
> I agree with others that, while “Mack the Knife” is OK for what it is, on the other hand it’s an example of the kind of music that rock ‘n’ roll saved us from. I’m simply not gonna go there.
Darin’s version of “Mack the Knife” is fun track, and it’s the first way I heard the song, but after being exposed to the real Brecht & Weill tradition I realized that it’s not all that different in principle from what Pat Boone did with Little Richard. (The same goes for the Doors’ smoothed-out arrangement of “Alabama Song.”)
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/17 "2014-08-28T15:06:06Z")
I never thought of myself as a big Platters fan, but so far I’ve voted for them twice!
Take a classic song, add Tony Williams’ voice… how can you miss?
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/18 "2014-08-28T21:49:09Z")
> [@DChord568](#):
>
> My vote this time went to “Come Softly to Me,” a remarkable achievement. The song was originally recorded _a cappella_ by The Fleetwoods, with only the jangling of car keys to keep the rhythm. Subtle instrumentation was overdubbed after the fact.
I almost went with this one for the reasons you state, but the lyrics were just. . .blah.
Compare:
I want, want you to kno-o-ow
I love, I love you so
Please hold, hold me so tight
All through, all through the night…
To:
Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
🙂
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### Author:  [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)
#### Post date: [August 28, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/19 "2014-08-28T22:02:04Z")
As much as I try to like the 50s, I just can’t other than the novelty songs and Rock Around the Clock. Can’t wait to get to the British Invasion, which to me is when pop music started to get good.
But for now, the Chipmunks song is my favorite on the list.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1959/696618/20 "2014-08-31T00:45:45Z")
Off that list, I’ll go with _ **Sleepwalk** _.
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