THE HIT HAMMER: Connie Francis' "Everybody's Somebody's Fool"

Connie Francis' "Everybody's Somebody's Fool"

(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.)

Connie Francis - "Everybody's Somebody's Fool"

Hit Number 1: June 27, 1960

Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks

Connie Francis has appeared on the charts several times in the last couple years before her first #1, she just couldn't crack the top spot. Then in mid-1960, she finally accomplished that. Her first #1, "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", is an okay and somewhat fun song, but leaves no real impression on me. It's one of those that I would probably put in the boat of "okay enough, but forgettable". But man, it sure did not come easy at all for Francis.

Francis spent her first years in a Brooklyn neighborhood before her family moved to New Jersey, where she became fluent in Yiddish. She would later record music in Yiddish and Hebrew. A few years later, her family moved again, this time to Belleville, New Jersey. She graduated high school there and continued to perform at neighborhood festivities and talent shows, with some being broadcasted on live television. While doing this, she went under the name Connie Franconero, which she also used for her appearances on "Startime Kids" from 1953 to 1955. While rehearsing for an appearance on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts", she was advised by Godfrey himself to change her stage name to "Connie Francis", that way it would be easier to pronounce her name. And that stuck for the rest of her career.

Francis had a bit of a tough time, however, after "Startime Kids" went off the air. She struggled to get a recording contract because she didn't have a "distinct sound" of her own quite yet. Finally, MGM Records signed her, but only because of a track she recorded named "Freddy" which happened to be the same name as a son of a company co-executive, and they thought it would be a nice birthday gift. So "Freddy" was released, but ended up being a failure, along with eight following singles. Despite the hardships, Francis was hired to record for Tuesday Weld's singing scenes in the movie "Rock, Rock, Rock" as well as Freda Holloway in "Jamboree". In 1957, she had a minor hit; a duet with Marvin Rainwater, "The Majesty of Love" backed with "You, My Darlin' You". It peaked at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over a million copies.

Things were starting to look up for Francis a little bit, until she was informed that MGM Records would not renew her contract. She was on the verge of accepting four-year scholarship offer at New York University in Medicine, giving her singing career up altogether, but her father insisted that she record a cover of a 1923 song "Who's Sorry Now?", because he said adults already knew it and he thought teenagers would like to dance to it. It was her final recording at MGM Records before her contract expired, even though she didn't really like the song that much herself. The single had been unnoticed, as Francis expected would happen, but then debuted on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" and Francis recorded it on the first episode of "The Saturday Night Beechnut Show", which was also hosted by Clark. That gave Francis a lot of sudden attention country-wide, and "Who's Sorry Now?" started climbing up the charts, where it eventually peaked at #4. (It's a 7) With that success, MGM Records changed their minds, and renewed her contract.

Other hits would follow for Francis, though it would still be somewhat of a grind. She met future blog entry Neil Sedaka, and Howard Greenfield, and they sang a number of ballads that they had written for her. Francis didn't seem much interested in the songs, and actually began to write in her diary while they performed the songs. She told the two that she thought the ballads were too sophisticated for the younger generation, and she thought it would be better if they had a more lively song. The last one they performed was "Stupid Cupid", which actually peaked Francis' interest. She claimed that it was her next big hit. It eventually reached #14. That proved to be her major breakthrough, and just a couple years later, she scored a #1 hit.

"Everybody's Somebody's Fool" is an okay song, but I see nothing about it that makes it anything better than Francis' other hits that came before it. It's upbeat, and the narrator describes how this guy hurt her bad after a breakup, but she feels he doesn't care too much. But she knows that one day, someone will turn the tables on him, and he will cry the same way she is. Hence, everybody is somebody's fool. Again, I like the song okay, but there is nothing amazing about it, and I can't understand why this is the one that hit #1 for Francis, but whatever. She had a long, grueling grind for this moment, and had to work for this more than probably anyone else did before her in this blog. So good for her in that regard. We will see her again in this blog a couple more times.

GRADE: 6/10