I dedicate my song today to my friends from the ‘Batley Rock and Roll Club’, Barbara and Lewis Howcroft who live in Guiseley, near Leeds.
Today’s song is ‘Chantilly Lace’. This is the name of a rock and roll song written by Jiles Perry (‘The Big Bopper’) Richardson, who released the song in August 1958. The single was produced by Jerry Kennedy. The song reached Number 6 on the ’Billboard Hot 100’ and spent 22 weeks on the national Top 40. It was the third most played song of 1958. On the ‘Cash Board Chart’ it reached Number 4.
A 1972 version by Jerry Lee Lewis was a Number.1 hit on the ‘Billboard Hot Country Single’s Chart’ and a top-50 pop hit in the US and a Top 40 pop hit in the UK.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was sixteen years old when this song was first released, and no other artist has ever come close to ‘The Big Bopper’s’ version, even the great Jerry Lee Lewis, in my view. I had been unable to walk for a few years between the ages of 12-15 years of age due to a serious accident that damaged my spine. When I regained my mobility and had started walking again, my next thing to re-master was dancing. I had always loved music, songs and dancing and when the ‘rock and roll’ era hit the music scene and ‘bopping’ became the ‘in thing’, I wanted to be up there among the best and so I went out dancing as many times a week as I could.
The first time I heard ‘The Big Bopper’ sing this song, I was lost in utter admiration. Within the short space of a year, along with American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, ‘The Big Bopper’ was killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson on February 3rd, 1959.
I dedicate my song today to my Facebook friends Barbara and Lewis Howcroft from Guiseley, near Leeds.
I started going to rock and roll nights outs in Batley with my sister Mary and her partner Richard after my marital separation and divorce. I thoroughly enjoyed my nights out on the Rock and Roll scene again after a gap of almost fifty years when I first learned to bop. When I met Sheila in 2010, although Sheila didn’t bop at the time, because she realised that dancing had always been an important part of my life’s pleasures, she took up bopping.
For over two years, we attended the Rock and Roll Club in Batley every Wednesday night. Unfortunately, my bopping days came to an abrupt halt after I developed a terminal blood cancer in early 2013. My leukemia depleted me of my energy after receiving two nine-months courses of chemotherapy, along with leaving me without any effective immune system. I could no longer mingle in crowds without severely risking my health and even endangering my life. Merely coming into contact with anyone with a cold would give me instant pneumonia and even the slightest of bugs could kill me off. For the first five years of my illness, nine months of each year was spent by me in hospital, in my sick bed or confined to the inside of my house, and on a couple of occasions, I was close to death.
We will never forget how our Mary’s friends, Barbara and Lewis Howcroft, instantly welcomed us into their circle when we started attending the Batley Rock and Roll Club, and we became good friends. Rock and rollers are the friendliest of people and it is an unwritten rule that all newcomers to the scene are made welcome by all.
Every decent rock and roller love to dance with the best boppers on the dance floor, and I would often dance with Barbara, who was a right little mover. She is a woman whose agility and quickness of foot belies her age and grandmother status. Barbara could turn on a sixpence faster than any spinning top I ever saw and make whoever bopped with her look a far better dancer than they actually were.
Her husband, Lewis, is a gentleman in every respect. Indeed, he is the very last type of refined person who one might expect to see in the full rock and roll regalia of the 1960s. There was nothing garish about his rock and roll dress and teddy boy suits, which were purchased from the most expensive of bespoke tailors and cut from the finest cloth with taste and style.
Thank you, Barbara and Lewis, for being our friends at the start of Sheila and my life together. We will never forget your warm welcome and kindness and hope that you are both well, along with your children, grandchildren and extended family. Love you both. Bill and Sheila xx
Love and peace Bill xxx
Today’s song is ‘Chantilly Lace’. This is the name of a rock and roll song written by Jiles Perry (‘The Big Bopper’) Richardson, who released the song in August 1958. The single was produced by Jerry Kennedy. The song reached Number 6 on the ’Billboard Hot 100’ and spent 22 weeks on the national Top 40. It was the third most played song of 1958. On the ‘Cash Board Chart’ it reached Number 4.
A 1972 version by Jerry Lee Lewis was a Number.1 hit on the ‘Billboard Hot Country Single’s Chart’ and a top-50 pop hit in the US and a Top 40 pop hit in the UK.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was sixteen years old when this song was first released, and no other artist has ever come close to ‘The Big Bopper’s’ version, even the great Jerry Lee Lewis, in my view. I had been unable to walk for a few years between the ages of 12-15 years of age due to a serious accident that damaged my spine. When I regained my mobility and had started walking again, my next thing to re-master was dancing. I had always loved music, songs and dancing and when the ‘rock and roll’ era hit the music scene and ‘bopping’ became the ‘in thing’, I wanted to be up there among the best and so I went out dancing as many times a week as I could.
The first time I heard ‘The Big Bopper’ sing this song, I was lost in utter admiration. Within the short space of a year, along with American rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, ‘The Big Bopper’ was killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, together with pilot Roger Peterson on February 3rd, 1959.
I dedicate my song today to my Facebook friends Barbara and Lewis Howcroft from Guiseley, near Leeds.
I started going to rock and roll nights outs in Batley with my sister Mary and her partner Richard after my marital separation and divorce. I thoroughly enjoyed my nights out on the Rock and Roll scene again after a gap of almost fifty years when I first learned to bop. When I met Sheila in 2010, although Sheila didn’t bop at the time, because she realised that dancing had always been an important part of my life’s pleasures, she took up bopping.
For over two years, we attended the Rock and Roll Club in Batley every Wednesday night. Unfortunately, my bopping days came to an abrupt halt after I developed a terminal blood cancer in early 2013. My leukemia depleted me of my energy after receiving two nine-months courses of chemotherapy, along with leaving me without any effective immune system. I could no longer mingle in crowds without severely risking my health and even endangering my life. Merely coming into contact with anyone with a cold would give me instant pneumonia and even the slightest of bugs could kill me off. For the first five years of my illness, nine months of each year was spent by me in hospital, in my sick bed or confined to the inside of my house, and on a couple of occasions, I was close to death.
We will never forget how our Mary’s friends, Barbara and Lewis Howcroft, instantly welcomed us into their circle when we started attending the Batley Rock and Roll Club, and we became good friends. Rock and rollers are the friendliest of people and it is an unwritten rule that all newcomers to the scene are made welcome by all.
Every decent rock and roller love to dance with the best boppers on the dance floor, and I would often dance with Barbara, who was a right little mover. She is a woman whose agility and quickness of foot belies her age and grandmother status. Barbara could turn on a sixpence faster than any spinning top I ever saw and make whoever bopped with her look a far better dancer than they actually were.
Her husband, Lewis, is a gentleman in every respect. Indeed, he is the very last type of refined person who one might expect to see in the full rock and roll regalia of the 1960s. There was nothing garish about his rock and roll dress and teddy boy suits, which were purchased from the most expensive of bespoke tailors and cut from the finest cloth with taste and style.
Thank you, Barbara and Lewis, for being our friends at the start of Sheila and my life together. We will never forget your warm welcome and kindness and hope that you are both well, along with your children, grandchildren and extended family. Love you both. Bill and Sheila xx
Love and peace Bill xxx
