[Vintage-Audio] Alert! Historical Error Or?

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hi All,

I got a bit of a surprise in the mail today. Now you know when something 
surprises the old blind dude, well it is time for the rest of you to get a 
firm grip with both hands of your buttocks, make sure your life insurance 
premium has been paid and park yourself in a solid wooden chair that does 
not rock or roll or fold up and store itself while you are sitting on it!

Supposedly Floyd Cramer released a "single" in 1957 titled "That Honky Tonk 
Piano". It was followed in 1958 by a second single, "Flip, Flop And Bop" 
that was a minor hit. Now other than several singles in the early fifties, 
about 1953, the release of "That Honky Tonk Piano" was supposed to be his 
"first" real release.

Then he released an album in 1960 entitled "Hello Blues". I thought that was 
his "first" album release.

What I received in the mail today is a 1957 MGM album titled "That Honky 
Tonk Piano! Not a single! There is no song on this album bearing a title of 
"That Honky Tonk Piano". I am forced to conclude that there never was a 
single by the name of "That Honky Tonk Piano", it was the name of an album.

There is a release by MGM in 1964 titled "Floyd Cramer Goes Honky Tonkin'" 
and it has the same songs on it as does the 1957 release of "That Honky Tonk 
Piano". However, unless the sighted people reading the cover to me are 
mistaken, the 1964 album does not indicate it is either a re-release or a 
re-issue!

Gentlemen, help me out here, please! Was there truly a 45 rpm single in 1957 
titled "That Honky Tonk Piano"? If so, where is it? Was this Floyd Cramer's 
first album, not "Hello Blues" in 1960?

Now, I am pretty sure the "Flip, Flop And Bop" minor hit was released on a 
45 rpm single in 1958. Can anyone confirm that it was truly a single?

Thanks for your assistance!


Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net