I’m a paleontologist listening to all the Billboard top 100s so I can learn something about popular music and history. Here are my previous years : 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947.

The eighth year of my run through the history of pop music, 1948, is after the establishment of the Cold War. We get a top 39 songs this year.

As I wrote in 1946, the period between WW2 and the Doo-wop era of the 1950s gets very little coverage in US popular culture, so I’m interested in building my knowledge of both the music and the evolution of US politics and culture through this time. Here are some contextual details:

The top grossing movie in 1948 was The Red Shoes ($5M), where a ballerina must choose between her career and her love for a composer. The Lawrence Olivier version of Hamlet won the Best Picture Oscar for the year. Also noteworthy was best director to John Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the movie that gave us the “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” line. Major US events in 1948 were: NASCAR was founded; SCOTUS outlaws religious instruction in public schools ; the Hells Angels were founded; the Marshall Plan was authorized; the US recognized Israel as a country; the Vanport, Oregon, flood happened; the US launched the first monkey into space; the Berlin blockade and airlift began; Truman issued the military draft to prepare for war with the USSR; Truman ended racial segregation in the armed forces; the Red Scare picked up speed with investigations in the House Un-American Activities Committee;  Truman defeated Dewey (and Dixiecrat Strom Thurman) in the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” election; and the first Kinsey Report was published.

As I go through the songs each year, I note the race and gender of the artists, so I can track how representation changes over the years. You might expect 50% of tunes to be performed by women if they were a random sample of the population, but I include the genders of all folks in the named artist on the track, so women could be on 100% of the tracks if all the named artists included both men and women. That hasn’t been the case at all so far: men dominate the charts. Based on the racial mix of the USA in the 1940s, you would expect about four of the top 39 tunes to be by a Black artist or artists and maybe one or two by another non-White racial group. Similarly, you would expect one or two songs by Latinx artists.

As before, I’m going to go through the songs in reverse order so I can count down to the big hits.

TL;DR notes:

1. The 1948 chart wasn’t really dominated by anyone, as four artists had two tracks and the rest all had one track each.
2. Black artists were 2 of the 35 artists on the 1947 charts, so 6%. When you go by tracks, Black folks are on 2 out of 39, so 5%. The expected rate for the 1940s would be 10%, so Black artists are under-represented this year. Compare that track percentage to 1941-47: 8, 5, 20, 28, 18, 8, and 9%. It looks like Black artists got a big boost during the war, returned to expected representation afterwards, and now have seen a dip below expected representation. I wonder if there was a backlash that will continue in the late 40s and into the 50s?
3. As with 1947, there are no Latinx artist(s) on the 1948 charts (0%), and Latinx folks were about 1.5% of the US at the time, so they’re underrepresented on the charts. This, combined with the last point suggests a whitening of popular music in the post-war era.
4. Women are in 11 of the 35 named artists (31%), and 12 of the 39 tracks (30%). You would, of course, expect them to be in half of the groups on average (maybe more: no reason you couldn’t have all the groups have men and women, after all), so women are underrepresented. Compare these numbers to 1941-47: 9, 12, 15, 38, 18, 21, 15%. Women have a big bump in 1944, which could be because of the war, or it could be related to the musicians’ strike, then decline for 45-47, but they are back up in 1948.
5. Notable songs include: #37 and #10 I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover; #34 and #15 Woody Woodpecker; #29 William Tell Overture (Spike Jones); #2 Manana. My favorite is #1 “Twelfth Street Rag” by Pee Wee Hunt. I gave 26 of 39 (67%) a <3 this year. Compare that to 57% in 1947, 46% in 1946, 65% in 1945, 60% in 1944, 63% in 1943, 45% in 1942, and 41% in 1941. This is my most-liked year so far, and it could reflect a change in the music to become more “modern”, or at least more “1950s”, which I have a soft spot for. I’m looking forward to Doo-Wop eventually.

The 1948 Charts:

1. Jo Stafford – Serenade Of The Bells – Bells, and an “ooh-aaah” chorus. Jo sings a Mexican story… Too bad they couldn’t have a Latinx person sing the tune. It’s a lovey-dovey love song, so it’s not really for me. White female artist.
2. Vaughn Monroe – How Soon – Strings sing a sappy, swelling tune, and we get Vaughn crooning relatively close to the start. It’s still a crooning song, though, so it’s not for me. White male artist.
3. Russ Morgan and Milt Herth – I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover – This is another one of the tunes my granddaddy used to sing to me when I was little. I have a real soft spot for it in my heart. It’s a marching-band arrangement, and the vocals are sung by a big male/female chorus, belting it out like they’re on the football field at halftime. I love this song, but it’s interesting how the words my granddad sang aren’t the words in the recording; he must have had some drift in the memory of the song between 1948 and 1984… Or else I’ve had some drift over my time. <3. White male artists.
4. Freddy Martin – The Dickey-Bird Song – Starts out like soft jazz, with a piano and bass, soft chorus, and now whistling of the melody. I like it. It’s a good, medium walking pace jazz song. It’s about animals singing about how great this time of year is and how great it is to fall in love. <3. White male artist.
5. Ray Noble – I’ll Dance at Your Wedding – Drumstick tapping, then slowly adding wind instruments to build the harmony and melody. It’s groovy, and had a solid big-band sound. Now we have a spoken-word intro with a woman telling Buddy he needs to stop dancing so he can get ready for the wedding. He’s singing how he’ll dance at the wedding in his old shoes. It’s got a good beat and I like it. <3 for its inventive lyrics and good musicality. White male artist.
6. Sportsmen and Mel Blanc – Woody Woodpecker – This seems to be the theme song from the Woody Woodpecker short subject movies! It’s pretty entertaining, featuring the characteristic Woody Woodpecker laugh and Mel Blanc’s voice work. This is actually one of two covers on the charts for 1948, with the other one (#15, Kay Keyser) the more famous. <3. White male artists.
7. Kay Kyser – On a Slow Boat to China – Starts with the male vocalist and then brings in the horns in a big unison. Then calms down to a groovy jazz tune that I can dig. It sounds like 1948 is going to be bigger on cool jazz (I hope, please I hope). I like this one and <3 it. It picks up the pace in the third section: is this the fast boat to China? White male artist.
8. Primo Scala – Underneath The Arches – YouTube to the rescue. This is an unimpressive tune with a rinky-tink musicality and unison chorus singing the words. It’s easy to hear why it’s not on Spotify. White male artist.
9. Tex Beneke – St. Louis Blues March – Bright trumpets and a march pace, with a marching beat start us out. We get a drum solo really setting the march scene. It’s basically jumping back and forth between a jazzy big-band tune and a marching modality. I like it (I like marches), so I’ll <3 it. White male artist.
10. Frankie Carle – Beg Your Pardon – Piano brings in a fast paced, jazzy tune. There are also fiddles? I wonder whether this will be an instrumental. It’s certainly acting like it will. I like the piano work here, and the violins (fiddles?) provide an interesting contrast. OK, pretty sure it’s instrumental because theres’ only 20 seconds left and still no voices. Yes it was. <3. White male artist.
11. Spike Jones – William Tell Overture – Oh, boy. I love Spike Jones…. It starts out as a cacophony. Then a gunshot and it starts back to the idyllic opening of the WTO. Then it goes into a cowbell and car-horn interpretation. Now we have gargling singing. On to the fast, cavalry part of the tune. Now we have a horse race announcer introducing a horse race…. We’re going to get a whole imaginary horse race. OK. All set to the WTO. I can’t imagine this on the radio, it’s so absurd. That’s why I love Spike Jones. Who wins???? Beetlebaum? <3. White male artist.
12. Tommy Dorsey – Until – YouTube to the rescue. It sounds like an archetypal slow, jazzy big band tune. It has a unison chorus singing about all the things that have to happen before a love better than you will arrive… Now we get a lead male singer crooning through the lyrics. It’s OK, but not great. White male artist.
13. Sammy Kaye – Serenade Of The Bells – Second cover of this tune this year…. YouTube to the rescue. It sounds very much like the Jo Stafford version, but with a male vocalist. Not to my taste. White male artist.
14. Perry Como – Because – Swelling strings set a sentimental scene. Ugh. Now we get Perry crooning out the lyrics: Becauuuuuse… Hoooold my haaaand. Not for me, this song is. White male artist.
15. Ella Fitzgerald – My Happiness – Doo-doo chorus starts us out, and then we get Ella’s great voice. She wants to be with you at the end of her long days. You’re her happiness. It’s a very well performed song, and I think it a cappella! <3. Black female artist.
16. Arthur Godfrey – Too Fat Polka – This song was gross in 1947 and I refuse to listen to it again. White male artist.
17. Art Mooney – Baby Face – YouTube to the rescue. This sounds familiar. It’s another band-sounding tune with a big unison chorus singing the lyrics. That seems to be a trend for 1948. This song isn’t great, and I can understand why it’s not on Spotify. White male artist.
18. Peggy Lee – Golden Earrings – Charted at #46 in 1947 and in 1946. I gave it a heart the first time… so <3 this time too, I guess. White female artist.
19. Dinah Shore – Buttons & Bows – Starts out with a western/country feel. It’s a jaunty little town about a country gal who wants to go to the big city and stand out in buttons and bows. It’s pretty good, and Dinah has a great voice, so I’ll give it a <3. White female artist.
20. The Andrews Sisters – Toolie Oolie Doolie – Subtitled the Yodel Polka, this one promises to be entertaining. Accordion features prominently. Then we get the AS signing about a poor Swiss boy who has to sing “toolie oolie doolie” to charm a Swiss miss. Apparently yodeling is the way to a Swiss miss’s heart beneath the Alpine moon. I’ll <3 it because I just <3 the Andrews Sisters. White female artists.
21. Ken Griffin – You Can’t Be True, Dear – Electric organ starts us out with a carousel tune! Interesting choice for an infidelity song. It’s really oom-pah-ing along here. For a long time. Like 40 seconds. This may be an instrumental. Can you imagine this coming on the car radio in the Hot Pop songs show? It is, indeed an electric organ instrumental. Wow. (no from my son!) <3 for the oddity of it all. My son hates the organ and would downvote this song if he could, but he doesn’t get a vote. He’ll have to make his own blog. White male artist.
22. Francis Craig – Beg Your Pardon – YouTube to the rescue. This one starts out with very expressive piano. I think this may be another instrumental. It’s a more conventional pop piece, played on the piano, in contrast with the organ. Oh, wait, there is a male vocalist after 1:10. Wow, that’s a long intro, which is a throwback to the early 40s. It’s good, in a jazzy, non-crooning way. I would <3 it if it were on Spotify. White male artist.
23. Gracie Fields – Now Is The Hour – Weepy strings start us out, making an airy feel. Then Gracie sings, with a high-pitched, kind of weepy voice. She’s got to say goodbye now. She’ll be sailing across the sea, apparently. It’s not a compelling song for me. White female artist.
24. Doris Day and Buddy Clark – Love Somebody – Light, happy intro with guitar and big band sound. Doris Day has a great voice. She loves somebody but won’t say who. She then goes on to describe him… Then Buddy Clark sings the same verse but from the male perspective. It paints a picture of two people in love who haven’t told one another yet. It’s a nice, happy song. <3. White male and female artists.
25. Kay Kyser – Woody Woodpecker – Well-orchestrated, using the full big-band, as Kay Kyser does. It’s great, and I loved Woody Woodpecker cartoons when I was growing up, so this hits my nostalgia spot, too. It’s better than the Sportsmen version, so I approve of its higher ranking. <3. White male artist.
26. The King Cole Trio – Nature Boy – Big French Horn opening sets an epic scene, complete with flighty flutes. Then Nat King Cole comes in with his beautiful voice, and it really doesn’t matter what the rest of the arrangement is. The ultimate message is that love is the most important thing in life, and that message is delivered beautifully. <3. Black Male artists.
27. Vaughn Monroe – Ballerina – This is a throwback to 1947, where it charted at #11. It must have had some sticking power. I don’t understand it: I don’t like this song. White male artist.
28. Gordon Jenkins – Maybe You’ll Be There – YouTube to the rescue. Big chorus in harmony to open, singing a sad song, I think? It sounds like the lyrics are asking whether the lover will let it end like this after all of their promises. Then a male vocalist sings about his sad, lonely walks. It’s really not for me: it’s a maudlin song and not musically interesting. White male artist.
29. Doris Day – It’s Magic – Big strings open to paint a sentimental picture. Doris has a great voice, but the song is so sappy I don’t think she can save it. This really reminds me of “Que Sera Sera”, but without the emotional oomph of that song. Oh, wait! This is a song that Bugs Bunny is always singing while he’s bathing in the Looney Tunes cartoons! How about that. He sings it better, I think. White female artist.
30. Art Mooney – I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover – YouTube to the rescue. This is a slightly better version of the song than the Morgan and Herth version. It still has the big unison chorus, but the instruments are down-homey, like a banjo and a glockenspiel, I think. It’s OK, and for the sentimental reasons I outlined above I would <3 it if it were on Spotify. White male artist.
31. The Pied Pipers – My Happiness – How can this chart higher than Ella Fitzgerald’s cover? It’s only OK, and her cover was *amazing*. Even so, I’ll give this quaint, happy song a <3. White male and female artists.
32. Al Trace – You Call Everybody Darlin’ – YouTube to the rescue, again. Nice, fast-paced walking beat. It’s really more of a locomotive beat. It’s a song about a woman who is playing the field and the singer is admonishing her that she won’t ever find true love because she’s not focusing her affections. It’s a theme that makes its way into songs even today. If it were on Spotify, I would <3 this song.
33. Dick Haymes – Little White Lies – Harp strums to open, then a big harmony from a big chorus. I’m about done with this song after 20 seconds. It’s sappy, and it has a doo-doot chorus. So sappy. White male artist.
34. Ken Griffin and Jerry Wayne – You Can’t Be True, Dear – I think this is a different version of the one I covered above, but I can’t find it. I’ll <3 it on principle. White male artists.
35. Jon and Sondra Steele – My Happiness – YouTube to the rescue. Tinkly piano starts us out, then we get a more archetypal reedy female jazz voice. I can hear a male voice there, too, but the mix is focused on the woman’s sound. It’s OK, but really, not as good as the Ella Fitzgerald version. I would give it a <3 if it were on Spotify. White male and female artists.
36. Margaret Whiting – A Tree In The Meadow – Woodwinds set up a pastoral scene. Then we get Margaret Whiting singing about that pastoral scene. Apparently, someone has carved a love message onto the tree… “I love you til I die”. I get the feeling that won’t hold to the end of the song. In fact, it only makes it two verses in, before he’s untrue. So sad. It’s a pretty well put-together tune, so I’ll <3 it. Maybe I’m happy just because it’s not crooning…. White female artist.
37. Bing Crosby – Now Is The Hour – This one is subtitled “Maori Farewell Song”. That could be good or bad… Piano and an “oooh” chorus start us out. Then Bing comes in with his velvety tones. He’s singing a goodbye song (unsurprising, given the title). He’s bidding farewell to a person who is going across the sea. It’s not crooning, exactly, though those vowels are hit pretty hard. It sounds like holiday music to my ears because that’s where so much of this sort of music has been pigeonholed in our modern musical landscape. I’ll <3 it. No clear mention of the Maori, so it seems to have avoided any overt racism. White male artist.
38. Peggy Lee – Manana – Oh, man, this song is clearly a Carnival song. It’s got the Latin beat and hits you over the head with it. Peggy Lee is singing with a Latina accent, too. It’s a catchy song and I like it. It’s a song about putting things off, and I can’t complain about that. <3. White female artist.
39. Pee Wee Hunt – Twelfth Street Rag – Rag suggests a piano tune! It’s a New Orleans Jazz Band tune! It’s great! I love it and it’s the best song this year, by far! <3 <3 <3. White male artist.