“I’m gonna knock on your door
Ring on your bell
Tap on your window, too
If you don’t come out tonight, when the moon is bright
I’m gonna knock and ring and tap until you do.”
(Aaron Schroeder, Sid Wayne)
I still have my first 45RPM record, Eddie Hodges I’m Gonna Knock on Your Door. Although it came out in 1961 my aunt gave it to my a few years later, just before The Beatles came to America. Eddie was a child star who was drafted and went to Vietnam. When he came back from the war he became a child psychologist in New Orleans and stayed during Hurricane Katrina. Funny how one scratchy 45 tells a story, isn’t it?
At one time I was buying a 45 a week with my paper route money: Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Turtles, The Rolling Stones (I still have Ruby Tuesday).
The glamor behind 45’s was that, until downloading mp3’s came along - you could sample the band, a hit and a “B” side, for 98 cents without having to fork over $5 for the whole album. Because, with exception to The Beatles and their caliber of bands, most albums in the ’60’s were one hit song and a pile of filler tunes, sometimes played by studio musicians as in the case of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Dino Desi and Billy and many groups who got into the scene because of their looks or were sons of movie stars.
I recorded 4 of the little records with the hole. The first was in 1978 and when it came in I spent hours staring at it. I liked it so much I made 4 more.
Not that getting it played was easy. I got modest airplay because my label never had a distribution deal but hearing my song on the radio was a great kick.
The lowly 45 still exists in places where jukeboxes will not give way to the new technology. Because there’s something magical about watching a 45 being picked out its rack and placed on the turntable by a set of calipers followed by th low the rumble as the Wurlitzer speakers belt out the opening bars.
The 45 Adapters are from Chuck Miller’s site: