The “Golden Hits Of The 50s” 

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Frank Pourcell’s French Fiddles  

“ONLY YOU“

(Buck Ram, Ande Rand)

Capitol 4165

No. 9    June 1, 1959

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MARGINAL REWRITE/INFORMATION UPDATE, April, 2015

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The Platters were the most popular vocal group of the ’50s; with Tony Williams up front, they soared.  They

seemed unstoppable.   But–as us wise ones know, TIME stops ALL.   Who–alive in that time frame and with

and ear–can ever forget “The Great Pretender,” “My Prayer,” and “Only You”?   Buck Ram–it’s said–

“discovered” the group, managed them, and penned the lyrics to some of the Platters’ great ones, including

“Only You.”

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Nearly five years later, Frank Pourcel (b . Jan. 1, 1915, Marseilles, France) stripped off the words to “Only

You,”  and with a  houseful of  strings and a touch of some clunky rock’n’roll piano; that’s high end triplets,

brought Buck’s ballad back as a lush instrumental.  By the ’80s, Frank’s collective record sales were

reported to have reached 15,000,000 worldwide.

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Frank studied at the Paris Conservatory days; playing downtown jazz combo jive by night. Beginning in

1942, he arranged, composed, and led his string orchestra through piles of recordings.  His  disks have been

available in the States for decades, yet aside from his Platters platter, Pourcel is a virtual unknown; to “Top

40″ listener, but then current ears are uninformed of the wonderful world of this dead breed of radio

programing.   Not one of his “stringbeat,” middle­ of-the-road with a slight rock beat, albums has made

Billboard‘s top pop albums chart.