Norman (song)
Norman is a country song sung by US singer Sue Thompson and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962 .
The original
The American pop musician, composer and lyricist John D. Loudermilk (* 1934), who had already achieved a million-dollar success in the USA with his work Waterloo , sung by Stonewall Jackson , began playing songs for pop and country singer Sue Thompson in 1961 ( * 1926) to write.
After the song Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) became Thompson's first Top 10 hit (No. 5 on Billboard), Loudermilk wrote the song Norman that same year , for which he provided both the lyrics and the music. This 2:15 minute long piece tells of the lover of a certain Norman who, one after the other, rejects Jimmy, Bill and Joe because only Norman is her only love: "Norman is my only love." The rights to this title were dated Acuff-Rose Verlag , with which Loudermilk was under contract. Produced and published with Sue Thompson as singer, Norman was released by the publisher's own record company Hickory Records in October 1961 under catalog number 1159 with the B-side Never Love Again . The recording, which was produced with little effort and which focuses entirely on Thompson's distinctive voice, accompanied by wind instruments, was ranked 94 for the first time on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 4, 1961. On February 10, 1962, the title achieved its best ranking with third place, and it was able to hold its own in the Hot 100 for 16 weeks.
Sue Thompson had little success with the song in Europe. In Great Britain, the original, also published by Hickory, could not place in the leaderboards at all. In Germany, the Sue Thompson version was sold by the Dutch record company Fuckler under catalog number 45059. On July 14, 1962, the title was listed in the top 50 of the music market for the first time , achieved the best listing at number 27 and was listed for ten weeks.
Cover versions
The version starring British singer Carol Deene was much more successful in Great Britain than the original . Published by the record company HMV under POP973, Deene's version of Norman came on February 2, 1962 with number 37 for the first time in the British best lists. She was able to stay there for five weeks and achieved the best position with rank 24.
In Germany at that time it was common to bring successful English-language titles onto the market in German versions. In April 1962 the record company Electrola released with the German singer Dany Mann Norman under No. 22082 with a German text by the author Ralph Maria Siegel . In contrast to the English text, Siegel is all about the advantages of Norman: "Norman is a gentleman and also so pleasant ..." Like the original, the German-language title was also able to position itself up to 27th place at Musikmarkt.
literature
- Martin Reichold: The great rock & pop single price catalog 2001, Vereinigte Motor-Verlage Stuttgart, p. 322, ISBN 3-89113-120-8
- Günter Ehnert: German Chart Singles 1956-1980. Taurus Press Hamburg 1990, pp. 132, 204, ISBN 3-922542-24-7