Here are the 1945 #1 hits, when World War II finally ended. Because there were multiple charts, there were 73 weeks of recordings. I recognize many songs, though I hadn’t been born yet.
Rum and Coca-Cola – Andrews Sisters (Decca), 10 weeks at #1, gold record
Till The End Of Time – Perry Como, the orchestra conducted by Russell Case (Victor), 10 weeks at #1, gold record. Based on Chopin’s Polonaise.
Sentimental Journey – Les Brown and his orchestra with Doris Day (Columbia), nine weeks at #1. gold record
On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe – Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol), eight weeks at #1. From the MGM picture Harvey Girls.
There! I Said It Again – Vaughn Monroe, his orchestra, and the Norton Sisters (Victor), six weeks at #1, gold record. The song went to #1, covered by Bobby Vinton, early in 1964; the next #1 was I Want To Hold Your Hand by some British Invasion group.
I Can’t Begin To Tell You – Bing Crosby with Carmen Cavallaro at the piano (Decca), six weeks at #1, gold record
A very goofy song
Chickery Chick – Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye with Nancy Norman, Billy Williams, and the Kaye Choir (Victor), four weeks at #1
It’s Been A Long, Long Time – Harry James and his orchestra with Kitty Kallen (Columbia), three weeks at #1. Written by Sammy Kahn and Jule Styne
I’m Beginning To See The Light – Harry James and his orchestra with Kitty Kallen (Columbia), 2 weeks at #1—Co-written by Duke Ellington, James, and two others.
Ac-Cent-Tch-Ate The Positive – Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers, orchestra conducted by Paul Weston (Capitol), two weeks at #1. Written by Mercer-Harold Arlen, from the film Here Come The Waves
It’s Been A Long, Long Time – Bing Crosby with Les Paul and his trio (Decca), two weeks at #1. Written by Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn
White Christmas – Bing Crosby with the Ken Darby Singers, orchestra conducted by John Scott Trotter (Decca), two weeks at #1. This is the 1942 version which was #1 for 11 weeks that year and a week in 1946. After that, the 1947 version predominated in recordings and airplay.
Candy – Johnny Mercer with Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, and Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol)
Dream – The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and his orchestra (Capitol). Written by Johnny Mercer
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‘60 Minutes’ Calls Out Paramount for Executive Producer’s Exit in Rare On-Air Rebuke; Has ’60 Minutes’ Run Out of Time? Shari Redstone’s Big Decision. The Paramount mogul is stuck in the middle of an impossible choice. Fight djt and blow up her $8 billion Skydance deal, or cave to the president and torch the most valuable news property in her media empire. Tick, tick, tick…
1975: On April 30, “the city of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was taken by the army of North Vietnam, ending the conflict that had grown out of the Vietnamese war for independence from France and a proxy war for the conflict between the US and the Soviet Union.”
1995: The bombing in Oklahoma City on April 19 killed 168 people. There was a woman I knew who worked for an SBDC in OKC. Her building was right across the street from the Murrah Building. She suffered severe injuries from flying glass and other items that acted as shrapnel. She wrote a very moving story about her recovery the following year, which I published in a newsletter. Another aftermath story, about forgiveness, I wrote about here.
The US intensifies its crackdown on peaceful protests. Forty-one anti-protest bills in 22 states have been introduced since the start of 2025, according to the law tracker.
DEI Programs Are Lawful Under Federal Civil Rights Laws and Supreme Court Precedent
A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data
Team That Investigates Line-of-Duty Fire Deaths slashed; cuts will also halt a first-of-its-kind study of the causes of thousands of firefighters’ cancer cases.
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Environmental rollbacks would boost pollution and endanger lives
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FOTUS Demands Investigations Into Negative Approval Rating Polls
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A collection of Street Academy of Albany / Harriet Gibbons High School yearbooks
Now I Know: Ben Franklin’s One Simple Trick to Save Sailors from Drowning and Maybe There Is an “I” in “Team” and The Childhood Terror That Turned Kind Of Nice and The Fashion Accessory That Prevents False Alarms and The Church of the World’s Oldest Tennis Ball
Every February, I play the American versions of the Beatles albums. Why is that? George was the first Beatle to visit the United States when he visited his sister Louise before Beatlemania broke. George’s birthday is in February.
Anyway, I’m reminded again of The Beatles songs, which were not on the US Capitol albums while the group was still together. I grew up on the Capitol and later Apple albums; for the former, it was what I got with my Capitol Record Club membership in 1966 and 1967.
I’m not talking about different versions of the same song, such as the single Love Me Do or even Sie Liebt Dich, the German version of She Loves You. The latter song appeared in the Rarities versions (1978-UK, 1980-US).
Misery and There’s A Place were both on the first UK album, Please Please Me, and the US Vee-Jay album, Introducing the Beatles. I heard them in the Beatles cartoons. But they didn’t make it onto The Early Beatles, Capitol’s belated version of Introducing. They finally showed up on the US Rarities.
From Me To You – a bust of a Vee-Jay single in the US in 1963, though it got up to #41 in ’64. Its B-side, Thank You Girl, was on The Beatles’ Second Album. From Me To You is not on The Early Beatles, either. It appears on the Red album (1973), functionally a greatest hits album for 1962-1966. It is the Beatles song I have the most difficult time recalling.
Movie non-soundtrack
A Hard Day’s Night—The movie soundtrack for the first Beatles movie was on the United Artists label in the United States. Capitol could use some of the songs – they did on the Something New album – but could not label the collection a soundtrack. I Should Have Known Better and Can’t Buy Me Love finally appeared on the Beatles Again/Hey Jude album. A Hard Day’s Night is first on the Red album.
I’m Down – The B-side of the Help single appears on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Music Collection (1976), the only new song on the double LP. I knew the song existed from the live version on the TV broadcast of The Beatles at Shea Stadium. It would have fit nicely on the Yesterday and Today album.
The Inner Light, the B-side of Lady Madonna, and You Know My Name (Look Up the Number), the B-side of Let It Be appear on both Rarities versions.
All of them, save You Know My Name, could/should have been on The Beatles Again.
Ah, the Beatles CDs
Of course, everything is made right in the CD era, using the British LPs plus Past Masters 1 and 2. I remember when the CDs first came out. There was speculation that the singles would be added to the albums. But why would they do that, aside from the fact that the early CDs were less than 40 minutes long and had a capacity of more than 70 minutes?
Still, From Me To You/Thank You Girl and She Loves You/I’ll Get You would easily fit on Please Please Me. One could throw in Sie liebt dich.
I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy plus Komm gib mir deine Hand might have appeared on With The Beatles; the first two were on the US near-equivalent Meet The Beatles.
The EP Long Tall Sally/I Call Your Name/Slow Down/Matchbox could have augmented A Hard Day’s Night.
Add I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman to Beatles for Sale.
Yes, It Is (the B-side of Ticket To Ride) and I’m Down (the B-side of Help), along with the US-only Bad Boy (from Beatles VI), could be added to Help.
Also:
Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out to Rubber Soul
Paperback Writer/Rain to Revolver
Lady Madonna/The Inner Light to Magical Mystery Tour
Hey Jude/Revolution to the white album
Get Back/Don’t Bring Me Down and You Know My Name (B-side of Let It Be) to Let It Be
Ballad Of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe to Abbey Road
Or maybe those latter singles in that singles-heavy period needed their own collection.
“In 1934, two separate top 20 charts began: one for best-selling records (based primarily on the record label charts and Murrells, supplemented by other sources such as Kinkle and Ewan) and one for Your Hit Parade and radio airplay. The latter charts were based solely on radio airplay in 1934 and early 1935. Starting in April of 1935, Your Hit Parade and radio airplay rankings were weighed together for” The Century of Pop Music Charts. Thus, the charts show 77 weeks of #1 hits.
Two weeks at #1
East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon) – Tom Coakley, vocals by Carl Ravazza (Victor) From the Princeton Triangle Club’s production “Stags At Bay.”
It’s Easy To Remember – Bing Crosby with George Stoll and his orchestra (Decca), “‘Mississippi’ was one of Crosby’s finest Paramount musicals” and boasted several Rodgers & Hart songs
What’s The Reason (I’m Not Pleasin’ You)? – Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, vocals by Carmen Lombardo (Decca)
Life’s A Song (Let’s Sing It Together) – Ruth Etting (Columbia)
Lullabye of Broadway – Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, vocals by Bob Crosby (Decca) Warren & Dubin tune from “Gold Diggers of 1935”
The Object Of My Affection – Boswell Sisters with Jimmie Grier and his orchestra (Brunswick). This was also a 1934 #1 hit by Jimmie Grier with Pinky Tomlin
Let’s Swing It – Ray Noble and his orchestra, vocals by The Freshman (Victor) from Earl Carroll’s “Sketch Book of 1935”
On Treasure Island – Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, vocals by Edythe Wright (Victor)
Rhythm Is Our Business – Jimmy Lunsford and his orchestra, vocals by Willie Smith (Decca) Written by Sammy Cahn (his 1st credit) / Jimmie Lunceford / Saul Chaplin
Soon – Bing Crosby withn George Stoll and his orchestra (Decca), another Rodgers & Hart song from “Mississippi”
And Then Some – Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra (Brunswick). Yes, the guy from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.
Paris In The Spring – Ray Noble and his orchestra, vocals by Al Bowlly (Victor). The title song from a 1935 Paramount movie
Catbird: “When I viewed it again, it looked like a heart that had been run over by a tire, which reflected my yet-unrealized reaction to what DOGE had just started. My conscious mind didn’t know yet, but my hand did. What a revelation!”
Patriotic Millionaires challenge oligarch power with sweeping economic plan: How to Beat the Broligarchs
EFF’s lawsuit against DOGE will go forward. ”Sweeping and uncontrolled access by DOGE agents who were not properly vetted or trained.”
Did you hear Canadians are wearing MAGA hats? There, they mean Make America Go Away
Working to Preserve .Gov Websites. “Web archiving is more than just preserving history—it’s about ensuring access to information for future generations. “
Tuberculosis Is Back in the Spotlight. Does the U.S. Even Care?
Buster Keaton made a silent film AND a talkie … in 1965
Lucille Ball – ‘America Alive!’ 1978 [Interview]. from that, a viral clip: When Lucy said, “Take your hands off her, David.”
Val Kilmer, An Unclassifiable Heartthrob Who Always Had an Edge
Jay North, Child Star of ‘Dennis the Menace,’ Dies at 73. He was best known for playing the towheaded Dennis Mitchell on a sitcom that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963, which I watched.
Goodbye Park City: Sundance Film Festival Heading to Colorado
Appeals Court Orders Thousands of Voters to Verify Information in Contested N.C. Election. The ruling was a win for the Republican who narrowly lost a State Supreme Court race in November. The case has tested the boundaries of post-election litigation.
His order on voter policy could disenfranchise millions, but multiple lawsuits have already sprung up to challenge it.
Judd Legum on Popular Information: “Musk has set a goal to cut $1 trillion annually from federal spending through DOGE. But his efforts have largely ignored the DoD, according to data compiled by the Musk Watch DOGE Tracker.”
HHS Job Cuts: Entire CDC Team Focused On Infertility And IVF Is ‘Gone’
Not to mention…
States Challenge Trump’s Effort to Dismantle Library Agency. In a lawsuit, 21 state attorneys general argued that the steep cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services violate the Constitution and other federal laws related to spending. Call on Congress to Protect Federal Library Funding
Smithsonian’s Chief in the Hot Seat. The executive order demanding change at the institution presents a perilous test for Lonnie G. Bunch III, its secretary, whom the White House calls a partisan Democrat.
‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors. “Elderly and disabled people — and those who care for them — are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions… ‘The system, it’s broken down,’ Veronica Sanchez, a 52-year-old medical practice manager in Canoga Park, said, after calling a Social Security hotline and waiting on hold for six hours.”
FOTUS Is Trying to Axe Collective Bargaining for 1 Million Federal Employees
LA Times: Regime “has issued an order demanding that all national parks remain open amid severe staffing shortages — an action that one conservation group called ‘reckless and out of touch’ as park personnel brace for millions of visitors this summer.
‘I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’
Trans Athletes and Tasers & Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Another rupture: Keystone pipeline shutdown threatens fuel prices and exposes pattern of failure
Critic’s Notebook: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and Trump, Reunited
An Experiment in Recklessness: The global trading system is only one example of the administration tearing something apart, only to reveal that it has no plan for how to replace it.
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I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.– Will Rogers
Former President Harry S Truman appeared on Jack Benny’s television show in 1959, when the show was filmed from the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO.
Was Binghamton unavailable?
Rhode Island plays a starring role in the forthcoming Rod Serling documentary:
“The state’s Film & Television Office… touted how the Ocean State is playing a starring role in a forthcoming documentary on the life of Rod Serling, the legendary mastermind and iconic narrator behind the pioneering, 1950s and ‘60s science-fiction television series, ‘The Twilight Zone.’
“The film, authorized by Serling’s two daughters, Jodi Serling and Anne Serling, is being produced by Verdi Productions, an East Greenwich, R.I.-based production company. State officials announced… that Leonardo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way Productions, has also joined the production…
“Although Serling, who died in 1975 at the age of 50, hailed from upstate New York, the documentarians used locations in East Greenwich, Providence, and Wakefield — the village in South Kingstown, R.I. — to help recreate moments in Serling’s life, ‘mirroring the same cinematic black and white style’ of his signature show, officials said.”
Here are the 1945 #1 hits, when World War II finally ended. Because there were multiple charts, there were 73 weeks of recordings. I recognize many songs, though I hadn’t been born yet. 
Every February, I play the American versions of the Beatles albums. Why is that? George was the first Beatle to visit the United States when he visited his sister Louise before Beatlemania broke. George’s birthday is in February.
Here is Part 2 of the 1935 #1 hits.
