THE HIT HAMMER: Nino Tempo & April Stevens' "Deep Purple"

(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)

Nino Tempo & April Stevens - "Deep Purple"

Hit Number 1: November 16, 1963

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

Apparently one of the popular things to do in music at one time was to record "Deep Purple" and see if you could get a hit out of it. The song was around since it was published in 1933 by the pianist Peter DeRose, and several artists such as Bing Crosby and Guy Lombardo charted with this song. It was a favorite of Babe Ruth, and DeRose himself would perform it for Ruth on his birthday for about 10 years. Some artists even made instrumental hits out of it, with Larry Clinton and His Orchestra holding down the #1 spot for 9 weeks on the Pre-Hot 100 charts. So with the massive popularity of the song, and there being so many versions of it, it almost seemed inevitable that there would be a #1 hit with this song on the Hot 100.

The artists that took it to #1 on the Hot 100 were the brother and sister duo of April Stevens and Nino Tempo. Their version is widely known for having a part where Stevens speaks the lyrics of the song while Tempo continues to sing them. The idea to do this came from the producers, who thought that Stevens' voice was "cute" after she read the lyrics off to Tempo, cause he had forgotten them. According to Stevens, her brother wasn't 100% on board with that, as she would later say "He didn't want anyone talking while he was singing!" But obviously, everyone went through with it, and the song would become #1 for a week in November 1963, and would be the #1 song when JFK was assassinated in Dallas. (A lot of places say that "I'm Leaving It Up to You" by Dale and Grace was actually the #1 song when that happened, but according to Billboard, that song hit #1 on November 23, 1963. JFK died on the 22nd. I'll discuss that a little bit more on the next post, as "I'm Leaving It Up to You" is next on the Hit Hammer)

Despite that very somber note that will forever be associated with this song, it is a neat little song. One that could very easily be forgotten about, but nonetheless, it's still a decent song. Stevens and Tempo sing together in a close harmony, similarly to what we will see from future blog entry artists such as Peter & Gordon, and Simon & Garfunkel. The song is slightly upbeat, and is noted for its prominent harmonica being played throughout it. I myself am a fan of the section where Stevens speaks the lyrics while Tempo continues to sing, as I feel like it gives the song a sense of being unique, and it shows that the two are real true professional singers, not letting the other one distract them from what they're trying to do. It's a solid piece of songcraft, albeit not one that would likely warrant a lot of repeats from me on YouTube.

A couple of other notes on the song, with the first being more about the artists: As far as I know, I think the two still perform. So yep, they're both still alive. Stevens is at the age of 90, and is the second oldest living artist to have a #1 song on the Hot 100. (The oldest is C.W. McCall, at 91, who hit #1 in 1976 with "Convoy". I'm looking forward to that entry) And the other note being that "Deep Purple" was the 100th #1 song on the Hot 100, meaning this is my 100th post on this blog. I've covered all kinds of crap so far, but this journey has been a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to many more posts.

GRADE: 7/10