The Chordettes – Five Fan Albums

For those not interested in reading this article, I recommend starting The Chordettes with The Wedding, due to the earlier stuff being a little harder to get into as a new fan. Links are at the very bottom of the article.

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

I have taken quite a fascination in The Chordettes as of late. Most know “Mr. Sandman” and maybe some of their other hits, but if one digs deep they’ll find that they had a career full of great music. They weren’t just a one trick pony and are worth loving for a variety of well crafted barbershop and pop songs. From the group forming in 1946 to breaking up in 1963, there were nine Chordettes, though only ever four at once; despite some sources implying in their language that they were always the same four. In fact every role; lead, tenor, baritone, and bass, has had two or three singers. That being said, the studio recordings are more constant, with only three line-ups. The first line-up of the group was Jinny Osborn on tenor, Alice Mae Buschmann on baritone, Dottie Schwartz on lead, and Janet Ertel on bass. This line-up never recorded, though photos of them survive.

Alice Mae was replaced by her sister-in-law Carol Buschmann, thus leading us to…

The Jinny, Dottie, Janet, Carol Line-up

The group released a few solo LPs and singles backing other artists on Columbia records. The solo LPs are notable for having no instrumentation at all. This fact can make them less accessible than the later material. The LPs released at this time were 20-27 minutes, so I considered moving tracks around to make 30-40 minute albums, but the simplistic nature of them meant that they might drag like that. They work best in the 20s. The singles all have instrumentation. They’re more someone else’s song with The Chordettes on backing vocals than a Chordettes song. Almost all the tracks feature Arthur Godfrey on lead vocals, though two feature Bill Lawrence. These are among my least favorite material by the group, Arthur Godfrey is a pretty annoying vocalist. I wouldn’t consider this a true Chordettes album, but for the super fans like myself, it’s nice to have.

The one exception to “Every Chordettes track in this line-up is barbershop” is “O Joe”. It was the b-side to a Godfrey song and features none of his vocals, though he plays piano. It’s pretty straightforward, but a piano is still an instrument. There’s a few different albums this track could go. It could go on the instrumental-less Harmony Time (1950), but it’d be out of place. It could go with the Godfrey comp, but it wouldn’t fit in with the non-solo tracks. It could go on the first solo album with instruments, but it’s noticeably more simplistic and early than the others. The solution will be addressed later…

The Margie, Lynn, Janet, Carol Line-up

Both Dottie and group founder Jinny left the group for their own reasons. The sound noticeably changed at this point, seeing as half the line-up differed. This line-up was very much a transitional period. Their first release was in keeping with the previous line-up, a vocal-only LP. Shifts followed when they left Columbia Records and joined Cadence. They released a few singles, their first solo single other than “O Joe” if you count that one. These had proper instruments, though after only two releases, they cut another vocal-only album, Close Harmony. One oddball release is the album, Robert Q. Lewis And His Gang. The cover features The Chordettes and Discogs credits them for only one song, “Dixie Danny”. Some tracks aren’t credited with any artist, so perhaps The Chordettes appear on more than one song? Who knows, because I was unable to find a copy? Another piece of lost media is “Dudelsack Polka”, which may just be the accessible “Dudelsack Song” under a different name.

In 1955, the group recorded around enough material for us to make an album. The Wedding (1955) features all the tracks with instrumental backing and this line-up. There’s some qualities of “getting the hang of this”. I wonder if they weren’t used to singing to a band, though the tracks are still good. “Sincerely” and “Humming Bird” are two particular favorites. “It’s You, It’s You I Love” is one that gets stuck in my head. This album also features the withstanding, “Mr. Sandman”. For my money, it’s not even the best of this album, and as we’ll soon see, it will be outshined by tracks which are almost all better…

The Jinny, Lynn, Janet, Carol Line-up

With Margie leaving and Jinny rejoining, we get the best line-up. These four have the best group performance of the others and the whole musicality and production improved. The group mostly stopped doing LPs and instead singles. One album that borders between proper studio album and compilation is their 1957 self-titled. It spanned from Sandman to the then present. The Margie stuff is better with the other Margie recordings and what remains is married with more time-appropriate tracks. The first fan album of mine from this era covers 1956 and 1957, Love Never Changes. The ballads are particularly good, though the lighter stuff is fun. There’s some unsurity over when Margie left and what she recorded. As an example, Jinny’s obituary claims she was on “Born to be With You”, though Margie claimed in 2018 that she sung on it. An argument can be made for both being the better source. That said, these tracks fit together well enough that they will stay. If they were moved to the Margie section, there’d either have to be one long album or two short ones. The Wedding, Love Never Changes, and the next two are all in between 32 and 33 minutes, not too long and not too short. The six 1956 tracks, which Margie credited to herself, but sound more Jinny to me are; “Eddie My Love” (I misheard as ‘Penny My Love’), “Whistlin’ Willie”, “Born to Be With You”, “Love Never Changes”, “Lay Down Your Arms”, and “Teen Age Goodnight”.

The next is I Call Him Lollipop!, named after my favorite or second favorite Chordettes song (it can fight Teen Age Goodnight. This album improves upon what came before it, featuring sharper tracks which can be more effectively dramatic or funny. “Lollipop” in particular is a great blend of light pop and well-communicated emotional feelings of love. The next album covers stranger material. Perhaps they were hoping to follow the trends of the 60s before deciding to break up? There’s some lowkey tracks and Civil War music. This also features their only acapella-only track after Close Harmony. It doesn’t sound quite like the rest, so it seems it was probably recorded in the early 60s. Next is the actually released album, Never On Sunday. The group decided to finally release an album, this time containing instrumentals. It’s a shame the group broke up, especially because they remained great, though they do seem like the kind of thing that has a time limit. They fit in well with the 50s, but how would they have handled concept albums and psychedelia, if at all? One member of the group, Janet, stopped touring (though continued to sing on the records) in 1958 because she felt she was too old. Maybe they would’ve allowed themselves to be replaced by younger women?

Still, what is available is timeless in its charm. Their music still appears in movies and shows and seems like it’s been around forever. Perhaps if the group had released albums of the golden era, their whole canon would be more known.

Oddities

Nancy in bottom right

There’s a decent amount of odd-ball material. This includes alternate versions of songs, mostly from the barbershop era; a solo single by Janet; and most interestingly, live recordings! All were recorded for television, but are still live. Sometimes these performances were literal live recordings and sometimes the group lip-synched to the studio version. My collection of odds and sods only includes what wasn’t lip-synched. I was hoping for a version of “Mr. Sandman” with Jinny, but no luck. Featured is a live recording of “Humming Bird” and “Dixie Danny”, dressing a line-up of Margie, Lynn, Carol, and Jinny. I could find no documentation of this line-up’s existence other than their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing Humming and Danny. Maybe Janet was unavailable? It’s interesting to hear what sounds like Jinny on bass. A live performance of “Lollipop” is the only recording of the group I could find with Janet’s replacement, Nancy Overton, other than performances she did with Lynn and two other women in the 80s and 90s. Nancy’s replacement, Joyce Weston, doesn’t have any recordings I could find and I barely found any information on her. There are many tv performances that I couldn’t locate and it seems there were many. If they were all found, many fan albums could be cooked up. Most of the tv material was posted by Margie herself on YouTube! If she hadn’t done that, the material might’ve been lost.

Joyce on far right

Conclusion

It’s a shame that there’s so much lost media and information. It’s not unlikely that there’s unreleased recordings which only remain unreleased due to people not caring about this “one hit wonder group”. In all the line-ups The Chordettes went through, they never turned in a bad job, giving a charming and lovable blend of vocals to soothe the ears in hard times. At their best, they captured a feeling; often of sadness or love, and portrayed it with a complex performance that most acts fail to come close to. It’s hard to say if there was a “genius” behind the group, who was making them great. My favorite line-up of Jinny, Lynn, Janet, Carol was at least three-fourths present on every recording, save for the 80s and 90s, and also three-fourths present at all known live outfits barring two brief periods. Janet and Carol were on every studio track. It’s possible that the four had a particular magic that made the music so good, though that’s not to discount Margie and Dottie. Margie and maybe Dottie seemed in-the-fold, with Margie doing some performances in 1959. Any other members weren’t around very long. This group does feel like a family and hopefully the warm and powerful feelings they gave me will the same with others. Just like love, their music goes on and on.

Tracklists

THE CHORDETTES – THE WEDDING

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “The Dudelsack Song”
2. “It’s You, It’s You I Love”
3. “Hearts Of Stone”
4. “I Don’t Wanna See You Cryin’”
5. “Sincerely”
6. “True Love Goes On And On”

SIDE B

1. “Lonely Lips”
2. “The Wedding”
3. “Humming Bird”
4. “I Told A Lie”
5. “I Don’t Know, I Don’t Care”
6. “Go Away From My Window (Long Version)”
7. “Mr. Sandman”

THE CHORDETTES – LOVE NEVER CHANGES

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “(Fifi’s) Walking The Poodle”
2. “Baby Of Mine”
3. “Born To Be With You”
4. “Soft Sands”
5. “Come Home To My Arms”
6. “Eddie My Love”
7. “Just Between You And Me”

SIDE B

1. “Photographs”
2. “Whistlin’ Willie”
3. “Lay Down Your Arms”
4. “Like A Baby”
5. “Echo Of Love”
6. “Love Never Changes”
7. “Teen Age Goodnight”

THE CHORDETTES – I CALL HIM LOLLIPOP!

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Lollipop”
2. “Zorro”
3. “Baby Come-A-Back-A”
4. “Love Is A Two Way Street”
5. “Pink Shoe Laces”
6. “I Cried A Tear”
7. “A Girl’s Work Is Never Done”

SIDE B

1. “No Wheels”
2. “Charlie Brown”
3. “No Other Arms No Other Lips”
4. “Tall Paul”
5. “To Know Him Is To Love Him”
6. “Tears On My Pillow”
7. “We Should Be Together”

THE CHORDETTES – FARAWAY STAR

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “A Broken Vow”
2. “All My Sorrows”
3. “Your Wild Heart”
4. “In The Summertime (You Don’t Want My Love)”
5. “Faraway Star”
6. “In The Deep Blue Sea”
7. “White Rose Of Athens”

SIDE B

1. “Waterloo”
2. “The Battle Of New Orleans”
3. “That’s Old Fashioned (That’s The Way It Should Be)”
4. “Lonely Boy”
5. “My Heart Stood Still”
6. “Adios”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 1 – WITH ARTHUR GODFREY AND BILL LAWRENCE (1950-1951)

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Candy And Cake”
2. “Hawaii”
3. “Down By The Old Mill Stream”
4. “If It Wasn’t For Your Father”
5. “Jingle Bells”
6. “A Marshmallow World”

SIDE B

1. “(Sweet Angie) The Christmas Tree Angel”
2. “Dance Me Loose”
3. “Can’t Seem To Laugh Anymore”
4. “Time Out For Tears”
5. “Driftin’ Down The Dreamy Ol’ Ohio”
6. “Love Is The Reason”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 2 – 1950-1955

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “O Joe”
2. “When You Were Sweet Sixteen (Alternate Version)”
3. “Moonlight Bay (Alternate Version)”
4. “Tell Me Why (Alternate Version)”
5. “When Day Is Done (Alternate Version)”

SIDE B

1. “For Me And My Gal (Alternate Version)”
2. “Wonderful One (Alternate Version)”
3. “Mr. Sandman (Live, The Ed Sullivan Show)”
4. “Humming Bird (Live, The Ed Sullivan Show)”
5. “Dixie Danny (Live, The Ed Sullivan Show)”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 3 – 1955-1962

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Janet Bleyer – ‘Cause You’re My Lover”
2. “Go Away From My Window (Short Version)”
3. “Born To Be With You (Alternate Version)”
4. “Just Between You And Me (Live, The Ed Sullivan Show)”
5. “Lollipop (Live, The Ed Sullivan Show)”
6. “To Know Him Is To Love Him (Takes 7 & 8)”

SIDE B

1. “The Archie Bleyer Show Appearance (1)”
2. “Wonderful One (Live, The Archie Bleyer Show)”
3. “The Archie Bleyer Show Appearance (2)”
4. “The Archie Bleyer Show Appearance (3)”
5. “Now Is The Hour (Live, The Archie Bleyer Show)”
6. “Never On Sunday (Alternate Mix)”
7. “Wooden Heart (Alternate Mix)”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 4 – 1980S

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “‘The Original Chordettes’ Documentary (Featuring Chatanooga Choo Choo, unidentified track, Orange Colored Sky, Mr. Sandman)”

SIDE B

1. “Beyond Vaudeville ’80s Public Access Cable TV Interview”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 5 – 1990S-2015

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Music City Tonight 1994 Interview”
2. “Eddie My Love (Live, 1994, On Music City Tonight)”
3. “Mr. Sandman (Live, 1994, On Music City Tonight)”
4. “Never On Sunday (Live, 1994, On Music City Tonight)”
5. “Lollipop (Live, 1994, On Music City Tonight)”

SIDE B

1. “Lollipop (Live, 1990s)”
2. “Mr. Sandman (Live, 1990s)”
3. “MRS. SANDMAN: A Chat with The Chordettes’ Lynn Evans 2015 Interview”

THE CHORDETTES – ODDS AND SODS: VOL. 6 – 2010

TRACKLISTING

1. “Oral History Project 2010 Interview with Carol Buschmann and Dottie Schwartz”

The Music

The Barbershop Era/Jinny, Dottie, Janet, Carol/Columbia Records

1. Harmony Time (1950) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify
2. “O Joe” – YouTube
3. Harmony Time Volume II (1951) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify
4. Harmony Encores (1952) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify

The Barbershop Era/Margie, Lynn, Janet, Carol/Columbia Records

1. Sing Your Requests (1953) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify

The Barbershop Era/Margie, Lynn, Janet, Carol/Cadence Records

1. Close Harmony (1955) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify

RECOMMENDED STARTING POINT – The Instrumental Era/Margie, Lynn, Janet, Carol/Cadence Records

1. The Wedding (1955) – Fan Album – YouTube

The Instrumental Era/Jinny, Lynn, Janet, Carol/Cadence Records

1. Love Never Changes (1957) – Fan Album – YouTube
2. I Call Him Lollipop! (1959) – Fan Album – YouTube
3. Faraway Star (1962) – Fan Album – YouTube – Spotify
4. Never On Sunday (1962) – Official Album – YouTube – Spotify

Oddball Releases

1. Odds And Sods: Vol. 1 – With Arthur Godfrey and Bill Lawrence (1950-1951) – Fan Album – YouTube
2. Odds And Sods: Vol. 2 – 1950-1955 (Partially Video) – Fan Compilation Album – YouTube
3. Odds And Sods: Vol. 3 – 1955-1962 (Partially Video) – Fan Compilation Album – YouTube
4. Odds And Sods: Vol. 4 – 1980s (Completely Video) – Fan Compilation Album – YouTube
5. Odds And Sods: Vol. 5 – 1990s-2015 (Completely Video) – Fan Compilation Album – YouTube
6. Odds And Sods: Vol. 6 – 2010 (Completely Video) – Fan Compilation Album – Namm.org

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

They’re Riding High!