A Few Christmas Favorites

Today, a couple of Santa songs. First up, here's one of the first song-poem 45's I ever found, probably around 1998 or so. It's Sammy Marshall, performing here as "Bob Rule" with the group The Rays. I do love the ridiculous lyrics to this one, particularly the inspired verse line: "Dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing". To be fair, there are other lines here which work really nicely, including "they condition for their mission, and especially "feel that rhythm and you're in there with 'em".

This is the only record in my collection on the Dial label, the same outfit which brought us the fascinatingly off kilter "Our Hearts Were Meant to Beat as One". In this case, much as I enjoy "The Santa Claus Polka", I do wonder if the songwriter was the least bit upset that it wasn't set to music which at least resembled a polka.

On the other hand, this is more enjoyable record, in my opinion, than anything on the Song-Poem Christmas CD that came out several years ago.



For completeness sake, here's the flip side of the record, "That's My Desire, Dear".








Along with one of my first acquisitions, here is the most recent addition to the collection, a nice Frank Perry vocal on "Santa's Making History" from the Film City label. I sure do love that Chamberlain sound. Or should I call it "New Sounds from Hollywood"?



And again, for those who like to have the complete set, here's the flip side, "His Love". This song threw me off the first time I heard it, with its lines about outer space mixing with religious thoughts throughout. The instrumental hook from the Chamberlain is especially nice here. Both of these songs come from the pen of song-poet Sandee Shoare. Come to think of it, I think I vacationed at Sandee Shoare once. Nice.

Teaser

I don't know that I'll ever post entire albums here, but I have been working on a post to WFMU of a very nice Gene Marshall album. Time remains very tight at our home this week, and as a result, what I'm offering today is a teaser for a much bigger post which will show up around 11 CST tomorrow, 12/13/09 at blog.wfmu.org , the "Here's Gene Marshall" album, on Preview.

*Update: The album is now posted, HERE

Here is my favorite track from the album, a quick little number which manages to recall (for me, anyway) both the patriotic tune "Over There" and Edith Piaf's "Milord". It's called "I'm On My Way to Success".

It's Norm Time!

Time is very short today, so I'm going to dispense with my usual wordiness and just introduce one of my favorite song-poem singers, Norm Burns, sounding even more than usual like an early '60's teen crooner, on "Baby, Give Me Some Lovin'":



And here he is, in supper club mode, with "Golden Moments":





Finally, I'd like to say Happy Birthday, Dad, wherever you are. We miss you. 12/7/21-5/3/96

Norris Mayhams: The Early Years

Although I just featured a Norridge Mayhams single a few weeks ago, I'm returning to that well again today, because I've just obtained one of the earliest known Mayhams Co-Ed label singles. The AS/PMA site puts the date on this one at "1945?", and given the lyrics, it certainly seems to date from some time during WWII. It's also the second lowest number of the listed Co-Ed singles (most of which pre-date his Mayhams label records), meaning it is likely among his earliest self-released records. He made earlier records with the Blue Chips (and wondrous many of those are), but they were released on established labels.

I find the Mayhams story (what little I know of it) and his records endlessly fascinating. Today's feature carries the amazing name "The Hopewell Junction (To Wartime Function)" Those of you who have heard Mayhams later 78 - one with an far more amazing name - "Yamtang Yamtang Rankytang (No Meat Sweet Potato Swing", might notice a subtle similarity between the melody to the chorus and bridge of that record with the same sections of this record. For those of you not lucky enough to have heard "Yamtang...", here's a hint - the tunes to those sections of both songs are virtually identical. Please excuse the surface noise as you enjoy Carl Bostic and his Orchestra:



On the flip side is a real rarity on Mayhams' records - a song not written by the maestro himself. This song, "Married Man Blues", performed by "The Ministers of Melody", carries a writers credit to someone named "Lowe":

A Late One From Rodd

Today's offering appears to be among the final records made by Rodd Keith for Preview, at least based on the available evidence. As my friend Stu points out, the label number for this one is within 100 numbers of the highest one found in the song poem database.

And this is a pretty interesting one, at that, capturing in ballad style, the true story of a mining disaster. The details of this event can be found on this website, which (aside from being fairly difficult to read - at least on my browser) is quite fascinating.

Here's "The Explosion of Holden 22 Mine":



The B-Side, "Blue Baby" is more of a standard issue Rodd Keith record, although it's still fairly catchy, and features a soulful vocal, and a particularly great vocal finale.

What the Hell???

It's Tin Pan Alley Blowout Day here at the home of Song Poem of the Week, with six for the price of two. And the usual two are free!

Was there any other song-poem label which displayed more variety during its years of operation than Tin Pan Alley? From 1950's efforts in doo-wop, they moved into the sounds of the day, taking stabs at calypso, topical song, novelty pop, and 1960's pop, among many other genre's, and plenty of hard to define releases.

Beyond that, Tin Pan Alley records' lyrics can be among the weirdest I've found on song-poem records. Here, in chronological order, are three supremely odd releases. First up, an almost comical pairing of marital complaints, both from the pen of the perfectly named Larry Loco. First up, Billy Grey offers up Mr. Loco's views of Marriage, from the male perspective.



Then, on the flip side, Eleanor Shaw presents Larry's conception of the complaints of a woman, not only about her marraige, but about all men. The sound quality here is terrible, by the way, but the words more than make up for it.







Moving up several years now: Near the end of their days as a label, Tin Pan Alley stopped identifying the performers by name, and started slapping a couple of group names on their labels. The last four songs are by "New Image".

First up is "Pride", with the lyrics shoehorned - no, pistol-whipped - into a rockin' backing track. I've listened to this nearly a half-dozen times, and have no idea what the hell she's singing about.




No such problems with the flip side, "A Girl and a Guy in Love", the problems here, instead, being the sheer banality of the lyrics (have there ever been worse or more obvious rhymes than those featured in this record?), and the barely in tune vocal.







Leaving the best for last, here's one of the highest numbers I've ever seen on a TPA record - meaning it is among their last releases. Beyond that, it's easily one of the most unhinged things I've heard on a TPA record (on both sides) - in both cases, my first thought, again, was "what the hell???". But I think I'll let both sides speak for themselves. Here's "Fortune Teller":



And perhaps my favorite of the six, this little slice of Steppenwolf wannabe rock, "Lady Wildcat".

A Song For Jackie

It's EP day here! And what better kind of EP to share than a Halmark EP, or, in this case, a "Hallmark" EP. For their "Hallmark" releases, the label actually went so far as to bother to name the singers on the tracks, something they rarely did on the more common "Halmark" series. This EP is by Bob Storm.

As a special request to a blog correspondent, and in honor of the upcoming 46th anniversary of the death of JFK, here's a very vaguely written tribute to Jackie Kennedy, one which has always been a favorite of mine, "My Fair Lady".

It's worth noting that, like most of the Halmark records in circulation, this record came out some time in the 1970's, meaning that not only is it completely out of time with the pop music of the day, but that the song-poet waited about a decade to submit his Kennedy tribute to the song-poem mill, which would have meant that any audience the song might have had, had no doubt lost interest at least a half-dozen years earlier.

However, this is one Halmark (or Hallmark) record in which the song, as written, actually seems to go very well with the backing selected, rather than having been shoehorned in.



The second song on the EP was part of the AS/PMA download page for years, and no doubt circulates among collectors. However, it is one of the most amazing lyrics to be heard among song-poems, and an equally amazing match of lyric and singers (although it was written by a male, which surprises me), and perhaps there are those out there who have never heard it. Also, this version of the MP3 should be in significantly higher quality than the one which circulates. Perhaps one of you can make sense to the lyrics of "Let's Lay it On the Line".



Incidentally, if there's something any reader out there is looking for, or a genre, subject matter or label you'd like to see represented here, please don't hesitate to let me know, via a comment on this or any other posting.

Anyway, the songs on the flip side, "Michigan Baby" and "Ageless Love", don't hold the same fascination for me, but perhaps they will connect with you a bit more.