KF7TBA+K7LWA's Friday Insomniac-Net BLOG: 2015[37]A -- Ins-Net As for Sep 11, 2015: "Mitch's Yellow Rose of Texas" [B-B-B]

Insomniac-Net ANSWERS -- Friday[37], Sep 11, 2015 [ B - B - B ]
Tonight's Topic: "Mitch's Yellow Rose of Texas"
ANSWERS = [ B - B - B ]
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    According to The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, sixty years ago this week in 1955, Mitch Miller's single, The Yellow Rose of Texas, charted as the second rock and roll era No. 1 Billboard Hit.
    (Of course, as some of you probably know, based on Billboard's Best Sellers in Stores chart, the first No. 1 Hit (of the rock and roll era) was Bill Haley's pulse-pounding Rock Around the Clock.
    Discovering The Yellow Rose of Texas on an album of American Civil War songs, Mitch Miller, a record company executive, gave it a new arrangement.
    Augmenting the song's marching cadence with a vocal choir, Miller's single sold over one million copies, reaching No. 1 in early September 1955 and staying there for 6 weeks.
    So, accordingly, for tonight's questions, how much more do you know about... Mitch Miller and The Yellow Rose of Texas?
   Please choose from any of the 3 (reuseable) answers of "A", "B", or "C" (if applicable!) for each questions listed below.
   Good Luck and remember YOU are always a WINNER with us, regardless of your actual answers!
    OK, Let's guess "what's the Texas Trend will be for tonight?"....

++ "Mitch's Yellow Rose of Texas" ++
Question #1: In 1951, Columbia Records hired Mitch Miller as the head of their A&R department. What does the term "A&R" mean?
        A. Acquistions and Retention, or
        B. Artists and Repertoires, or
        C. Arrangements and Recordings
Question #2: When Mitch Miller recorded his arrangement of The Yellow Rose of Texas, he included a unique musical sound -- one of the first times it was featured in a pop record. What was this musical sound?
        A. Ringing of the Alamo's mission bells (San Antonio, Texas), or
        B. Snare drums, or
        C. The U.S. Coast Guard Marching Band (listen to them here)
Question #3: Mitch Miller like the finished record so much that he ordered 100,000 singles to be pressed. When a Columbia Records executive objected to the large order, what did Mitch do?
        A. Quit Columbia Records and joined MCA's Decca Records as a consultant, or
        B. Said he would buy back all the unsold records at cost -- 15¢ apiece, or
        C. Left Columbia Records to star in the NBC television show Sing Along with Mitch (a Karoke-styled -- "follow the bouncing ball" -- community-sing program) for the next 6 years.

    It is no small irony that Mitch Miller's "The Yellow Rose of Texas" became the second number one single of the rock era, for Miller was a frequent critic of rock and roll at the same time he was one of the chief architects of pop music
    While he would never claim to have the same kind of influence as a Bill Haley or an Elvis Presley, in his position as [Q1] head of artists and repertoires for Columbia Records he was responsible for the successful careers of Frankie Lane, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray, Patti Page, Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and the Four Lads.
    Mitch remained one of the most important behind-the-scenes figures in the music industry until he was thrust into the public spotlight by the success of "The Yellow Rose of Texas"*, an 1853 marching song written for travelling minstrel shows by an anonymous author, known only as "J.K.".
    It became popular during the Civil War in both the North and the South,...
    ... The song appeared in an album of Civil War songs, where Miller discovered it.
    He gave it a new arrangement, [Q2] adding snare drums (one of the first times they had been used featured in a pop record).
    Miller liked the finished product so much, he ordered 100,000 singles to be pressed.
    A shocked Columbia Records executive protested the large order, so [Q3] Mitch offered to buy back all the unsold copies at cost -- 15¢ apiece.
    Mitch never had to lay out a penny
    The record sold over a million copies.
        [SOURCE: TBA -- LW's The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, p2]
*LW's NOTE: As I was researching this topic, there appeared to be a lot of mis-information and contradiction about the source, content, and meaning about "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
In fact, much of this unreliable material has been promoted by academic historians, reporters, and special-interest advocates -- using uncited sources and even rumor about the authenticity surrounding this popular song.
    Yes, even historians lie!
A fairly comprehensive and well documented review about the history "The Yellow Rose of Texas" can be found here:
Jeffrey D. Dunn and James Lutzweiler, "YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xey01) Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
VIDEO: Your Hit Parade - 12 November 1955 (includes Yellow Rose of Texas -- starts at 2:02)

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++ QUOTES OF THE DAY ++ -- From the 1955 Mitch Miller rendition:

There's a yellow rose in Texas, That I am going to see,

Nobody else could miss her, Not half as much as me.

She cried so when I left her It like to broke my heart,

And if I ever find her, We nevermore will part.

[Chorus]

She's the sweetest little rosebud That Texas ever knew,

Her eyes are bright as diamonds, They sparkle like the dew;

You may talk about your Clementine, And sing of Rosalee,

But the YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS Is the only girl for me.

When the Rio Grande is flowing, The starry skies are bright,

She walks along the river In the quiet summer night:

I know that she remembers, When we parted long ago,

I promise to return again, And not to leave her so. [Chorus]

Oh now I'm going to find her, For my heart is full of woe,

And we'll sing the songs together, That we sung so long ago

We'll play the bango gaily, And we'll sing the songs of yore,

And the Yellow Rose of Texas Shall be mine forevermore. [Chorus]

[SOURCE: University of Texas, Austin archives -- Yellow Rose of Texas]

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Good luck everyone!
Shelley [KF7TBA] & LW [K7LWA]
K7LWA.INS@gmail.com

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