One Night, once more once

Elvis Presley’s 1959 British chart-topper “One Night” has again hit number one in Great Britain: “Elvis still king with 1000th number one.” Elvis recorded the song at the Radio Recorders studio in Hollywood during the January 1957 recording sessions for the “Loving You” soundtrack. Elvis played guitar on the track and knew the record was a killer. If your seat belt is buckled, click here to listen to the song.
The original version of the song — “One Night of Sin” — was performed by Smiley Lewis in 1956. Elvis modified the lyrics for popular consumption. His performance of the song is also a highlight of the two live sessions that he recorded for the Christmas 1968 Singer Special television program that launched his comeback.
The linked Reuters story quotes Rocket Man’s and Deacon’s college classmate Paul Gambaccini, the guy who was spinning the platters at WDCR when I arrived on campus in the fall of ’69. It turns out that Gambaccini is a fixture at BBC 2 with a weekly show on which he plays the best of the current hits from American singles, albums, r ‘n’ b, rock and country listings.
UPDATE: Reader Kevin Ryan writes:

In your post you conclude with “…Rocket Man’s and Deacon’s college classmate Paul Gambaccini, the guy who was spinning the platters at WDCR when I arrived on campus in the fall of ’69. It turns out that Gambaccini is a fixture at BBC 2 with a weekly show on which he plays the best of the current hits from American singles, albums, r ‘n’ b, rock and country listings.”
It also turns out that Paul was in the media long before his Dartmouth days. He was a regular correspondent on the letters to the editor pages of the DC Comics publications edited by Julius Schwartz. Titles where Paul’s letters appeared included Strange Adventures, Mystery In Space, (Silver Age) Flash, (Silver Age) Green Lantern, Justice League of America, and others. This was at a time in the early sixties when the editors at DC, after much debate, had decided to print the full addresses of letter-writers. Perhaps no other factor spurred the rapid expansion of comic fandom. Key players included Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas, and Paul. Decades later, Paul wrote the introduction to one of the DC Archive Editions (a volume of the Justice League of America, I think); in his essay, Paul mentioned the radio work he does now. Paul was/is a superb writer. Those many years ago, his letters were so good that editor Julius Schwartz regularly rewarded him with gifts of original artwork or scripts. The editors stopped printing full addresses in 1965 or 1966, and many fans moved on. Paul’s work is still remembered with great affection. Thanks for reminding me of the work of a very talented person.
Thanks for a wonderful blog!

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