The “Golden Hits Of The 50s” 

Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After

 

JESSE LEE TURNER

“ THE LITTLE SPACE GIRL“

 (Jesse Lee Turner)

Carlton 496

No. 20    February 9, 1959

.

.

.

.

Almost nothing is known about Jesse Lee.  Born in the late ’30s in Bowling, Texas, he had an Elvis-like

quiver in his voice.  “Teen-Age Misery” b/w “That’s My Girl,” his first waxing for Fraternity, sold

miserably.  The ducktailed kid next brought forth a tale about a sexually charged, alien beauty with

“four arms, the better to hold/Three lips, the better to kiss you”–in n Alvin Chipmunk-like voice.  Like

many a novelty num­ber, it was cute the first time around but irritating after few listens.

, 

 Jesse’s immediate follow-up looked like two com­peting “A” sides, but both “Thinkin”‘ and “Baby

Please Don’t Tease” proved less than top-of-the·charts material.   Gosh, they were good for the time

Good, rockabilly.  It was clear, however, that Jesse Lee did have some innate rockabilly ability;

all the Texan needed was direction and some decent songs.  His next outing, “Do I Worry (Yes I Do)”

on the Top Rank label, was possi­bly his finest outing ever, but the record stiffed.  Turner was persuaded

by the lads at the Sudden label to record an embarrassing turkey about mismatched “Elopers.”

.

Moments before the arrival of the:  Beatles and the British lnvasion, J. L. Turner reappeared, one last

time, with two obscurities for GNP, silly creations by Sun Record producer Jack Clements, “The Voice

Changing Song” and “The Ballad of Billy Sol Estes.”