Patti Page, “Changing Partners” and Old 78s

Well, I’ve just bought myself a turntable, but a bizarre thing has happened. After first trying out my old vinyl on the new turntable, I ended up going on to enjoy the sound of the old shellac resin 78s the most. Possibly reminded me of my very first musical experiences when at around six or seven years old, I was deemed old enough to play my mum and dad’s records on their little mono record player. One of my favourites back then was Changing Partners by Patti Page so that was the first one I listened to. This song was recorded by at least three artists in 1954 (the others I know of being Kay Starr and Bing Crosby) but this is a beautiful, slow and gentle version.

Patti Page was a big American recording artist who hailed from Tulsa, Oklahoma and had her roots in country music. She’d already had a really big hit with Tennessee Waltz and Changing Partners had definitely borrowed heavily from that earlier song (very heavily). She was also the artist responsible for How Much Is That Doggie In The Window which had appeared in the fledgling UK charts in 1953 but I’ll forgive her for that one it was after all, the decade of the novelty song.

In my last post I wrote about Crazy For You by Madonna which had really conjured up memories of my late teens and the ritual of the “last dance” of the evening. This song was from 25 years prior to that and from my parents’ ballroom-dancing days. Every generation has its “last dance” ritual and this song reflected their one, although unlike us they were dressed in beautiful gowns, evening suits and had immaculately coiffed hair. So many of my generation owe our very existence to those ballrooms – It was where many of our parents would have met, fell in love and started on the journey that would have become the rest of their lives. Simpler times in lots of ways but very, very important to choose your dance partner well I imagine – Not the time to be bowled over by good looks, a sharp suit and a brilliantined pate as many who married in haste, later “repented at leisure”.

There were so many great American lady singers during that era – Dinah Shore, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Patsy Cline, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, the list goes on and on. Their songs can seem old-fashioned and overly sentimental today but they were of their time and these ladies were the big stars of the day.

Something else however that they had in their favour – Not a lot of colour photography in those days and boy did they look great in pictures. Flawless skin and alluring décolletage.

Note to self – Close-up photos now to be taken in black and white. Much more forgiving!

Changing Partners Lyrics
(Song by Larry Coleman/Joe Darion)