(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.)
Joe Dowell - "Wooden Heart (Muss I Den)"
Hit Number 1: August 28, 1961
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
It didn't take us long to get to our first song with lyrics that weren't in English. That was only the second entry in here, and it was with "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)". Then three years later, there would be another chart-topper that would have foreign lyrics in the song, but instead of Italian like in "Volare", it would feature German lyrics. I'm not sure what the point of the German lyrics were, cause a majority of the song is sung in English. The song in question, is an Elvis song originally, and it was a massive hit in England, where it was #1 for 6 weeks. His version, curiously enough, was never released in America. Instead Joe Dowell, some random, toothy dude from Bloomington, Indiana, recorded the song and took it to #1 for a week in the states. I'm discovering some pretty strange things as I go along in this blog.
In the Elvis version, there is an accordion meandering along with Elvis' voice. That's really all I've got with this song. See, "Wooden Heart" isn't a very good song, and the Joe Dowell version is just as corny as the Elvis original. If Elvis can't make it sound good, then there was no way in hell that some random 21 year-old from Indiana who never had any prior hits of his own would make it any better. Somehow, both versions turned into huge hits. In the Dowell version, there is an organ instead of an accordion, but he still sings those weird German lyrics. And how he keeps obsessing how his heart isn't made of wood is somewhat irritating too. I can see why some of these prior #1 hits were so big (even the dreaded "Chipmunk Song"), but I don't understand what was so great about "Wooden Heart". Maybe you can make the argument that Dowell has a sweet, innocent voice, and that can help make the song resonate to some. To me though, it's boring, it's corny, and it can really go without the random German lyrics that were thrown in there.
GRADE: 2/10
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