Fans of American Top 40 must have thought their ears were failing them when listening to the show for April 19, 1975.
How, you may ask? There were six debut songs in the Top 40, among those debuts songs were new ones by Grand Funk ("Bad Time"), David Bowie ("Young Americans") and the Temptations ("Shaky Ground").
But two of those debuts were, well, let's just say they were not in the category of "the normal."
Coming in at No. 38 was "Shaving Cream" by a man named Benny Bell. This song was recorded in 1946 -- some of the acts in the Top 40 this particular week weren't born then. And the song sounds every bit like a record put together in 1946 on a 78-rpm vinyl record, complete with record hisses and far from sounding as stereo as the records of 1975 and beyond sounded.
The key component of the song is its bawdiness -- the narrator of the song sings the first lines of the song and the last word ends with the letters "-it." Then he sings the second line -- something that has some kind of woe and misfortune to it -- and finishes it out by starting to sing "sh- ... aaaaaaaaaaving cream, be nice and clean, shave everyday and you'll always look keen."
For 1946 standards, the song was pretty risque. The song was released in early 1947, but couldn't make any dent on the national charts. But in the mid-1970s, a unique man with an even more unique record collection who called himself Dr. Dimento (born Barrett "Barry" Hansen on April 2, 1941, in Minneapolis) had a copy of the Cocktail Party Records song "Shaving Cream" in his record collection, and began playing it on his nationally syndicated show on a weekly basis.
Suddenly, fans began asking where they can find this little piece of obscure pop heaven. Unfortunately for them, unless you went to a novelty record shop, you couldn't find it. And the more Dr. Dimento played the song, the more the interest was for the song. Vanguard Records, which owned the rights to the song, decided on releasing "Shaving Cream" to the public. And as bizarre as it sounds, "Shaving Cream" hit the Hot 100 and swiftly moved up the Hot 100 and on the week of April 19, 1975, it debuted at No. 38, peaking at No. 30 a few weeks later.
It took 29 years, but Benny Bell had his Top 40 hit -- or did he?
Bell wrote and produced "Shaving Cream," but the vocals on the song were recorded by a man named Phil Winston, who went by the pseudonym Paul Wynn. The song, though, credited Bell as the main artist. After controversy involving the artists involved, Vanguard got the right name on the record singing the song (Wynn) in subsequent pressings of "Shaving Cream." However, Bell gets forever Top 40 credit for "Shaving Cream," the song he wrote and produced ... but didn't sing.
While Bell/Wynn were having their only Top 40 hit success with a song that was recorded in 1946 (Bell would pass away in 1999 at the age of 93), a man who was now embracing his new moniker as "The Polish Prince" was coming in with the highest debuting song of the week at No. 33.
But was Bobby Vinton taking his new image a bit too far? He introduced that image to his fans in late 1974 when "My Melody Of Love," which featured the song in part Polish, hit No. 3 in November 1974. Now he was hitting the Top 40 with a song that had all the makings of an Oktoberfest party.
The music for "Beer Barrel Polka," or "Roll Out The Barrel" as most people recognize the tune, was written by Czech musician Jaromir Vejvoda in 1927 and refined by Eduard Ingris, writing the first arrangement of the piece. In 1934, the first words for the song were written in Germany by Vaclav Zeman as "Skoda Iasky" or "Wasted Love." An accordion player named Will Grahe recorded the song that was now put into a polka melody. The song became a favorite in the middle of Europe, especially in Czechoslovakia where German music was becoming a major way of life in the time of Adolf Hitler's reign as leader.
Sensing that things weren't going to go well in their native country, Czech natives left their home country for the United States and in the process, some brought the music they were listening to on those 78-rpm records with them. And it seemed Grahe's version of "Rosamunde" was the most popular version. Shapiro Bernstein, a popular music publishing company, bought the rights to the song as well as the original Grahe version in the U.S. The song hit No. 1 on the Hit Parade chart in 1939 and soon after, English lyrics were written to the song by Lew Brown and Wladimir Timm and American artists such as the Andrews Sisters, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Billie Holliday and the man who made it most famous in the U.S., Joe Patek, soon took a crack at what was now "The Beer Barrel Polka." And no matter who recorded the song, it became a favorite during World War II among the soldiers.
Meanwhile, in Canonsburg, Pa., the home of crooner Perry Como, a young boy named Bobby Vinton (born Stanley Robert Vinton Jr. on April 16, 1935) was listening to the song on the radio. In 1962, Vinton became a star with "Roses Are Red (My Love)" and followed that up over the years with numerous hits like "Blue On Blue," "Blue Velvet," "There! I Said It Again" and "Mr. Lonely." His last Top 40 hit in 1972 was his remake of Brian Hyland's 1962 classic "Sealed With A Kiss." It had been two years since he was on the chart ... and then came the rousing Polish anthem "My Melody Of Love," sung partially in Polish. It hit No. 3 and introduced Vinton, now 39, to a new audience.
Cashing in on his new-found fame, Vinton recorded "The Beer Barrel Polka" with the whole oom-pah-pah feel to it, as if he were entertaining fans at the yearly Oktoberfest festival in Bavaria. And though Vinton hit the Top 40 with this version (the B-side to the 45 single being "Dick And Jane"), it died right there at No. 33, spending two weeks at that spot before falling off.
Unfortunately for Vinton, "The Beer Barrel Polka" would be his last Top 40 hit. His highest-charting single after that was the follow-up song, a remake of Joe Dowell's 1961 hit "Wooden Heart," also recorded by Elvis Presley, which included German lyrics. But it was after his comeback that Vinton was offered his own television variety show on CBS (produced by legendary game-show producer/host Chuck Barris and distributed by Canadian-based CTV), which he hosted from 1975-78. These days, Vinton, who turned 80 in 2015, remains active on the road, working the casino, retirement and small-stage circuit.
The music of the 1970s was very different at times. But on April 19, 1975, it was really different thanks to two songs that dated back to after World War II ... and before that.
As for the top of the chart for April 19, 1975, the Elton John Band (with John singing lead, of course) ended a run of 12 straight No. 1 songs that were at the top for just one week when "Philadelphia Freedom" held the top spot for the second straight week. B.J. Thomas' "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" moved up one notch from No. 3 to No. 2 and was poised to become the next No. 1 hit. But right behind that song was the biggest mover of the week -- Tony Orlando & Dawn's remake of Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart" re-titled "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)," which moved up 17 places from No. 22 to No. 5.
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