(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post)
Bobby Vinton - "Mr. Lonely"
Hit Number 1: December 12, 1964
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
The Beatles derailed a lot of careers. You didn't hear anything from guys like Bobby Vinton anymore, who were pre-Beatlemania stars. But he was one of the few artists who seemed to prevail, as he hit #1 one final time in 1964, when the Beatles along with other British acts were hijacking the charts. Vinton returned with an ultimately depressing ballad called "Mr. Lonely". The song was first released on Vinton's album "Roses Are Red", which brought us the song with the same name earlier in this blog, but it was a non-single. In fact, the song was given away to Buddy Greco, who was a fellow artist signed to Epic Records.
Epic thought that they had their new big potential star in the making with Greco, and thought of Vinton more as a musician and songwriter, rather than a singer. Greco did record it and had a minor hit with it, as it peaked at #64 on the Hot 100 in 1962. (His version is a 5) Vinton, after hearing Greco's version on the radio, had to be confessed to by Epic that they didn't believe that he had what it took to be a big star. The music business can really be cruel sometimes. Vinton would go on to prove them wrong, as he developed into a pretty big star in the early 60s. In 1964, Epic was preparing a Greatest Hits album for Vinton, which they already had 11 cuts for, and they asked him what he would like as the 12th. Of course, he wanted "Mr. Lonely" as he probably never got over how Epic did him wrong on his own song 2 years earlier. Many disc jockeys began to play Vinton's version after that, and there became instant demand for the song to be released as a single. It was finally released as its own single the same year, when it became a #1 hit.
This wasn't just any ordinary song, this was a song that you can tell truly came from Vinton's heart. He wrote the song while he was serving in the Army, and the song describes the loneliness being felt by a soldier who was drafted overseas. He has no contact with his home, and all he wants is someone to talk to. It should be pointed out that the Vietnam War was beginning to escalate around the time "Mr. Lonely" was released, so many of the soldiers who were being drafted for it probably felt the same way that the narrator in "Mr. Lonely" felt. And boy, Vinton pours a lot of emotion into this song. The second verse is noted for Vinton's sobbing sounds, so he does a good job "selling" it, but that part is a little bit ridiculous, and it's hard for me to not mock it. But that's all I got on the negative side for Vinton's version of "Mr. Lonely".
While there was nothing wrong with Greco's version, the song isn't HIS, and it's not HIS own experiences that he's singing about. While listening to Vinton's version, you can almost feel the sadness and isolation that he, along with other soldiers, probably feel while they are away at war, with them missing the hell out of their families. There are weeping strings in the background, that cry along with Vinton as he sings about his loneliness. Vinton also proves that he has a solid falsetto, as the falsetto is what really makes the song, which Greco lacked. Also knowing that the song was released when the Vietnam War was rising, makes it particularly haunting. I'm usually not a fan of these slow ballad type songs, as they easily bore me most of the time. But I tip my hat to Vinton on this one, as I can only imagine how he was feeling while writing this song in the Army, and he put on a good performance with it. We won't see him again in this blog, but he leaves us with quite possibly his best #1 song, and maybe even his best song ever.
GRADE: 8/10
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