What was the number one song in the UK on 10th September 1954?

By Hayley Beasley Dye

American singer Kitty Kallen was at number one for a week with Little Things Mean a Lot.

Aah, well isn’t this just lovely? I adore the sentiment of this song. Flashy jewels and expensive gifts mean very little and it’s just the little signs that someone still loves you that mean the most. A very pleasant tune with a very pleasant voice.

Wikipedia

“Little Things Mean a Lot” is a popular song written by Edith Lindeman (lyrics) and Carl Stutz (music), published in 1953. Lindeman was the leisure editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Stutz, a disc jockey from Richmond, Virginia. Stutz and Lindeman are also known for writing Perry Como’s 1959 hit, “I Know” (which reached No.47 on the U.S.Billboard chart and No.13 on the UK Singles Chart).

The best known recording of “Little Things Mean a Lot,” by Kitty Kallen (Decca 9-29037), reached No.1 on the U.S. Billboard chart in 1954, and also reached No.1 on the Cash Boxchart the same year. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song of 1954. In addition, the track climbed to the top spot in the UK Singles Chart in September of that same year.

A cover of the song was done by Alma Cogan with orchestra conducted by Frank Cordell in London on May 22, 1954. Cogan’s recording was released by EMI on the His Master’s Voice label as catalog number B 10717 and reached No. 11 in the UK. The flip side was “Canoodlin’ Rag.”

Harry James recorded a version in 1955 on his album Jukebox Jamboree (Columbia CL 615).

The song reached the Top 40 again in the U.S. in 1960 when a recording by Joni James reached No.35, “Little Things Mean a Lot” was a U.S. C&W hit in 1978 for Margo Smith, whose version reached No.3 C&W and also charted at No.37 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In 1985 a remake of the song by Dana reached No.27 in Ireland. “Little Things Mean a Lot” has also been recorded by Cilla Black, Anita Bryant, Patty Duke, Julie London, Susan Maughan, Cliff Richard, Bettye Swann, the Teddy Bears and Little Shoes Big Voice for a 2013 AXA television advert in the UK. The song was also recorded in 1976 by Gene Rondo and TT Ross.

Lyrics