| Track | Single |
|---|---|
| Tallahassee Lassie | Swan 4031 (1959) |
| Way Down Yonder In New Orleans | Swan 4043 (1959) |
| Fractured | Swan 4043 (1959) |
| The Urge | Swan 4053 (1959) |
| Muskrat Ramble | Swan 4066 (1960) |
| Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It | Swan 4071 (1960) |
| Palisades Park | Swan 4106 (1962) |
| June, July And August | Swan 4106 (1962) |
| Abigail Beecher | Warner Bros 5409 (1963) |
| Action | Warner Bros 5645 (1964) |
Frederick Picariello was born in Massachusetts in 1936 and grew up in the state with music all around him. The songs he listened to as a kid – rock, r&b, blues – would be a great influence on him. Adopting the stage name Freddy Cannon, he released his first 7 inch record in 1959.
THE HITS
This was the one that started it all for Freddy, reaching #6 in the States in May 1959. He was the co-writer of Tallahassee Lassie along with Bob Crewe and Frank Slay and this one was our introduction to the big bass drum sound of his future records. Crewe would go on to write all those wonderful Four Seasons sides and become one of the greats of American popular music. Tallahassee Lassie was covered by Tommy Steele in the UK where it peaked at #16 in the summer of 1959.
For his next top 10 hit, Freddy Cannon journeyed back to 1922 with his recording of Way Down Yonder In New Orleans (reputedly the first track of the rock era to include a full brass section). It peaked at No.3 both in the US and the UK. I was one of the buyers who contributed to its top 10 status over here although I much preferred the B-side, Fractured. Another Crewe/Slay composition, it is two and a half minutes of classic pop with one of Freddy’s best vocals. Sadly it probably remains mostly unheard:
You got me fractured
I’m practically split in two
I’m torn in half I’m really gassed over you
Like a rocket that’s about to blast off
The Urge was the American B-side of Jump Over, a top 30 hit towards the end of ˈ59. In the UK, the record was flipped and The Urge made it to #18. Both are Slay/Crewe numbers. I didn’t buy it but I did/do like it and Freddy Cannon found the opportunity to fine-tune what was becoming his trademark “whoo!”:
When I first laid eyes on you
I got the urrrge to hold you
And the way you move your lips
I got the urrrge to kiss you
Every single little movement
Filled my heart with desire
Sends electric current through me
Like a forest fire
Have a listen and see if you can spot the obviously intended homage to Clarence Henry’s hit of a few years earlier, Ain’t Got No Home.
Another oldie, Muskrat Ramble, came out in ˈ61; once more, a UK top 40 hit for the Top Rank label. I’m fond of it and have been known to sing along.
Freddy’s debut album, The Explosive Freddy Cannon, was released simultaneously US/UK in February 1960, spending 11 weeks on the UK albums chart and hitting the No.1 slot. Four albums followed on the Swan label up to 1963: Sings Happy Shades Of Blue, Solid Gold Hits, Palisades Park, Steps Out. A lot of thought went into the title selection of Sings Happy Shades Of Blue with every song including the word ‘blue’ or ‘blues’ in the title. I’ll come on to Palisades Park in a minute – the song not the album.
But before then, Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It (yet another song from the Bob & Frank writing stable) sounds as if it should be dreadful but is actually pretty darn good with its Bo Diddley beat and Chuck Berry inspired lyrics:
Well, I was goin’ down the highway
To see my baby Ruth
Car broke down, tyre blew out
Found a telephone booth
I tried to call my honey
What was the sound I had to hear
Buzz-buzz a-diddle it, buzz-buzz a-diddle it
It was some old shakin’ hound dog
Obviously talkin’ to my dear
And now, pop pickers, it’s time to refer – with all due deference – to Palisades Park, one of the great tracks of the golden era, and by far the best Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon record. Coming from the pen of Chuck ‘The Gong Show’ Barris, it still sounds as fresh and vibrant today as it did in 1962. “Last night I took a walk in the dark …”
The flip side, June, July And August, has serious echoes of Chuck Berry’s Too Much Monkey Business which Freddy also recorded a couple years later. In fact, there’s also a bit of Little Richard in June, July And August thrown in for good measure. All in all, though, it’s a real rocker.
Two top 20 US hit songs from 1964 and 1965, respectively, wrap up this Toppermost. Abigail Beecher is a total classic:
Hey, everybody get out of the street now
I hear the roar of an XK-E now
Sloppy sweater and a pony tail
And the cop on the corner is turning pale
Woo! It’s Abigail Beecher, our history teacher
Action, a Tommy Boyce co-write, was the theme song to the pop music TV series Where the Action Is, and it was a #13 hit for Freddy.
Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon certainly kept at it, releasing over 40 singles up to the end of the 1960s. A dozen more singles followed but there was to be no late-career breakthrough. He continued touring and performing, however, like the rocking ‘n’ rolling legend he undoubtedly is.
THE MISSES
Where The Action Is – Freddy Cannon’s memoir
Music Museum of New England: Freddy Cannon page
10 Albums That Changed Freddy Cannon’s Life
Merric Davidson is a retired publisher who started this site in 2013. He posts toppermost on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram.
TopperPost #1,155
Lo Moon
Well done, Merric.
This very good Toppermost brought back many memories of when I first got into music. Freddy was a big name in that post-Rock’n’Roll and pre-Beatles era (c.1959-1963). I think, historically, that in-between period is now looked upon a bit negatively but getting into music at that time, to me it produced a lot of good stuff – including that by Freddy.
‘Palisades Park’ is my favourite Freddy Cannon record, too. It was released as the very first record on the Stateside label that went on to give us so many fantastic records throughout the 1960’s.
Two bits of trivia – the XK-E referred to in ‘Abigail Beecher’ is the iconic E-type Jaguar and Freddy, who is still very much alive, now 88, is an honorary fire chief where he lives in Tarzana, California.
Thanks, Freddy for brightening up our lives.
What a great list and selection. Regarding Palisades Park, the interested reader is directed to the memoirs of its writer, Chuck Barris, ‘Confessions of a dangerous mind’ in which Barris talks about Palisades Park, his hosting of the Gong Show and the Dating Game, and claims he was an undercover hit man for the CIA.
Also, it never clicked that the Band’s recording of ‘Way down yonder in New Orleans’ was Freddy …
This is a great article.