Phil Carroll

Phil Carroll was one of the more productive song-poets of the golden age of the genre. He even appears to have had an entire label-number series dedicated to his works, on the MSR label. 

In addition, in the eyes of at least a few people that I know - and probably many more - he was one of the best. Many of his compositions call them his "hits" - have appeared on the various compilations which have been released, or are part of the many tapes which circulate among song-poem collectors. These include "Yippee Hippee", "Dreams of Love", "Watch Johnny Carson", "I Take a Fancy to Nancy", and my personal favorite, "Dreams of Love".

I've found several Phil Carroll records over the years, perhaps because he was from Chicago, and that's where I've done the majority of my song-poem digging (well, my non-online song-poem digging, anyway). Here, as a sort of indirect suggestion by my friend Stu, a big fan of Phil Carroll's "hits", and who said he wasn't familiar with this one, is a Phil Carroll record from my collection, Dick Lee (AKA Dick Kent) and the Swinging Strings, on the Action Label, with "When They All Go to Chicago":

Download: Dick Lee and the Swinging Strings - When They All Go to Chicago

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The other person I know, who has had a "thing" for Phil Carroll, is Phil Milstein, creator and former master of the American Song-Poem Music Archives. As a way of making a vague connection with the above song, here's a song that Phil found particularly "out there" (my words, not his - I believe his word was "wack") upon his first hearing it - it's Bobby Boyle's Nu-Sound Label recording of "Daisies On the Land":

Download: Bobby Boyle - Daisies On the Land

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By the way, although the singer better known as Bobbi Blake released some records under the name "Bobbi Boyle", this record is not by Bobbi Blake.