THE HIT HAMMER: The Rooftop Singers' "Walk Right In"

(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.)

The Rooftop Singers - "Walk Right In"

Hit Number 1: January 26, 1963

Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now. I'm no amazing Rockstar or anything on it, but I can play some pretty neat songs. The moment that you finally nail a song that you've always wanted to learn, is a pretty special feeling. Jamming alone in your room, with some friends around a campfire, or playing for that special someone in your life is also something that's really fun to do. It's amazing how a piece of wood with some strings on it can change a mood or a setting. There's some songs out there that steal the show with some pretty cool guitar playing, and "Walk Right In" by the Rooftop Singers is one of those songs.

"Walk Right In" was originally a song by a musician named Gus Cannon and his group "Jug Stompers" recorded it in 1929. Erik Darling recruited two friends of his to record a different take of the song. Darling had a folk vision in mind, so him and his fellow group member Bill Svanoe played 12-string guitars on the track. They had some trouble getting their hands on the guitars though, as they had to be ordered from the Gibson Company. Darling would later say "You couldn't buy a 12-string guitar. I ordered one from the Gibson Company, but in order to record [the song] with two 12-strings, we had to wait for the company to build a second one for Bill!" Since Svanoe was left-handed, it had to be built in a left-handed style for him. Gus Cannon himself benefited from the song, as he received royalties from the song after it had become a success. He had fallen on some pretty hard times the previous winter, pawning off his banjo just so he could pay his heating bill. He saw renewed interest in his music, and that led to him getting a recording contract of his own.

The thing that jumps out to me the most on "Walk Right In" is how fun the damn thing must be to play on guitar! Svanoe and Darling sound like they're flying around all over the place on the necks of their guitars, and that leads to a nice and twangy, steady song that won't necessarily be anything listeners will remember for a long time, but one that you can very easily enjoy in the moment that it is playing. The woman in the song is Lynne Taylor, a former Jazz singer, and she sings melody on the track. Svanoe and Darling provide a pretty nice harmony to her, just as any folk song should have. "Walk Right In" could very well be the first folk song to ever hit #1, and after its success, many others would follow. Folk music really began to take off in the early 1970s, and a lot of those songs are shades of what "Walk Right In" sounded like. There's usually some nice and steady guitar playing, at least a 2-part harmony, and the occasional guitar solo. I'm not talking Eddie Van Halen guitar solos, just a guitar solo that is best suited as a bridge to the last verse of the song. "Walk Right In" has all of that. It's your signature folk song.

Now is probably a good time to say that the thing "Walk Right In" lacks, is more of a personality. What do I mean by that? Well, it does repeat itself, and it really is just 2 and a half minutes of the same verse being sung over and over. That makes it pretty hard for me to get into, but I can say that as a guitar player, I can at least enjoy the track for what it is. I have a good amount of respect for what Svanoe and Darling were able to do with a couple of 12-string guitars on the song. It helped "transform" the song.

GRADE: 6/10