[78-L] 16 Tons of Urban Legend?

[Michael Biel]

OK, I'll drop the other shoe.  The reason I asked about Capitol A sides 
is that there is a archive web site that you would think should be 
fairly reliable that in a discussion of the Merle Travis original of 16 
Tons mentioned that the Tennessee Ernie Ford recording had been issued 
as the B side to "You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry" and that "two 
months later it was the greatest selling single of all time."

That's why I have been looking thru late 1955 Billboards.  I found the 
review in the Oct 15 issue which listed the 16 Tons side first, the 
first ad for the record in the Oct 22 issue BEFORE the record had hit 
any charts, and the ad is definitely for 16 Tons, and in the Oct 29 
there is a huge ad and a review for Johnny Desmond's (!!) cover of 16 
Tons on Coral and the review mentions that Ford's original is starting 
to move.  It doesn't hit the charts for another week, so it is obvious 
the Desmond recording was in the pipeline before Ford's record was released.

So I don't believe it was meant to be the B side, nor that it became the 
greatest selling single of all time by Jan 56.  Any comments?

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com