Monday, July 25, 2016

A National Songwriters Guild Acetate

First up, yet another song-poem related ad, many thanks to Pete! This one a generic, straight to the point for lyrics and songs, from way back in 1935:
 
 
And now, here's something a bit unusual:  
 

Here we have an acetate from the National Songwriters Guild organization. This label was associated with the much larger Tropical label, and the more often fairly interesting Carellen label. Read all about it here (with more information on the Tropical page, to which that page links). many of the known National Songwriters Guild records are unnumbered acetates.

And I zoomed out a bit on the label scan of this one so that you can see the decrepit condition of this record, which will be confirmed when you hear it, particularly the other side of the record. There are no artists listed here, just the lyricist (same person on both sides), and I'm particularly amused by the incompetence displayed on "There is No Ending".

There is a sing-songy nature to the rhyme scheme, where the easiest and most obvious rhyme is grabbed 90% of the time - you can guess what word is coming next. The exception is my favorite word use, in which that lyricist, having discovered that "ending" rhymes with "pending", uses that word, one that does not occur often in song lyrics, and which (to my ears) keeps on drawing attention to its use, and the lazy quality of the lyric writing that causes it to be there. That's how I reacted, anyway.

Download: No Artist Named - There is No Ending
Play:

On the flip side is the upbeat "I Gambled with Love and Won", sung by a different singer than "Ending". This one, as mentioned, is beat to hell, but the fun, bouncy organ playing drives the song for all of its 100 or so seconds, and the jolly singer (and surface noise) keeps me from focusing quite as much on the equally obvious lyric work.

Download: No Artist Named - I Gambled With Love and Won
Play:


Tuesday, July 12, 2016

He Don't Wanna Be Right



Here's everyone's favorite Norm, Norm Burns, this week masquerading as "Norman Burns and Singers", with a bouncy, peppy little number, titled "Is It Wrong?". This features the lovely, sterling work of the Sterling combo on piano, guitar, bass and some wonderfully brushed drums. The words are pretty durn simplistic and direct, but I sure love the sound of that little combo, and I'm always up for Norm on an upbeat groover like this one.

Download: Norman Burns and Singers - Is It Wrong?
Play:

I'm not, however, always up for Norm in mid-tempo mode, singing ponderous, earnest lyrics set to a dull tune. That's my description of the song "Friendship". It does have a weird solo on harmonium (or something...), which is quite unusual for a Sterling disc, but that's as far as my interest goes. My guess is that there are others who will like both songs equally, or like this one better, or not like either of them. Such are the ways of song-poem love.

Download: Norman Burns and Singers - Friendship
Play: