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:


1 comment:

The Cheese Knees said...

Bob, I've sent you a few more ads. Pete