66 a Guitar Player, Leroy Had Spent Part of His Time in Korea

A guitar player, Leroy had spent part of his time in Korea entertaining his buddies. It was during this time that he wrote “The Auctioneer,” about the life of his cousin, National Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame member Ray Sims. The song gave Van Dyke an opportunity to show off one of his growing list of professions, that of auctioneer (he himself was also later inducted into the Auctioneers Hall of Fame). The composition brought not only smiles from those who heard it, but also encouragement from a host of top brass who thought their man should try to market the tune. After his discharge, Van Dyke took their advice and performed “The Auctioneer” live on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” television show. Leroy won first place that night and was rewarded with a recording contract with Dot Records. Then he went to Chicago to perform the song on WGN Radio where he met Buddy Black, who was an announcer at the station. Black signed on to be Van Dyke’s manager, but during the legal negotiations, he sneaked in a document listing himself as co-writer of “The Auctioneer,” therefore giving him half the royalties for the song. Leroy was reluctantly okay with Black’s rather shady agreement, but he couldn’t follow it up with another hit. However, Van Dyke remained in the public eye by joining the cast of the highly- successful “Ozark Jubilee” television show, broadcast live each week from Springfield, Missouri on the ABC-TV Network. After that program ended its run in 1960, Leroy landed a new recording contract with Mercury Records, and was looking for a song that would re-start his career and place him back on the charts. Bill Lowery was hoping this could be accomplished with the Hayes number, but the proceedings reached a bit of a snag. The session at which Van Dyke recorded “Walk On By” turned out very well, with A-Team member Hank Garland in top form with his snappy lead guitar, and Buddy Killen walking the bass. But while Leroy agreed with Singleton that “Walk On By” was a good song, neither of them felt it was strong enough to be marketed as the “plug” side, and recommended the tune be placed on the “B” side of the record. That might have been the end of Hayes’ best work, if not for Lowery Music’s all-out marketing campaign. While artist Van Dyke, producer Singleton and Mercury Records all began pushing radio stations to play the “A” side “My World Is Caving In,” Bill Lowery and Gary Walker were promoting the flip side “Walk On By.” In a rare move, radio programmers all over the country went against the record label, artist and producer, and “Walk On By” quickly took off. In just three weeks, the Hayes composition had gone from being a throwaway piece to the #1 song in the nation. Mercury’s pressing plants were overwhelmed trying to keep up with the demand. Leroy’s record would remain on Billboard’s country singles chart for 37 weeks, holding the top spot for nineteen of those, making “Walk On By” the seventh biggest hit in country music history, and the biggest since the introduction of Billboard’s all- encompassing “Hot C & W Sides” chart in October, 1958 (that chart is now known as “Hot Country Songs”). Hank Snow’s 1950 monster “I’m Movin’ On” remains the all-time champ, logging 21 weeks at #1 out of its 44 week total. Incidentally, the mark for the longest chart duration is an amazing 54 weeks set by Eddy Arnold’s “Bouquet Of Roses” in 1948. It held the summit for the same number of weeks as “Walk On By,” (nineteen), and is ranked fourth biggest overall. Music publisher Gary Walker had no idea just how much his one-line contribution “wait on the corner” would mean to both “Walk On By” as well as himself. One of Kendall Hayes’ greatest concerns centered around what he needed to do for Walker. Kendall talked to Bill Lowery about how he should reward the man who had come up with the key line that had made his song. Without offering any suggestions, Bill left it up to him. Later it was revealed that Hayes gave Gary one quarter of all the royalties on ‘Walk On By.’ Not bad for contributing just a single line. Of course, without that line, the song might not have become the massive hit that it was. Over the years, a host of different artists have charted with the Hayes classic, but none has been able to follow the success of the original release. By the same token, Leroy Van Dyke could never follow his top recording either. He never again ruled the charts. There are songs and people whose talents shine brilliantly, but briefly. Such is the case with this artist and this song. “Walk On By” was a failed effort that found life through a four-word editing suggestion. The song was a “B” side that was supposed to drift 66 .

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