Today, another one of those records - and it's been too long - that I get done listening to and immediately say "I've Gotta Hear That Again Right Now!". And to be honest, I have no idea where in the song-poem/vanity/unexplainable universe this record came from. A little sleuthing on the AS/PMA website shows a definite connection between some of the releases on this label (Meloclass)and other song-poem labels and acts, and the B-side (see below) sounds very much like a song-poem to me. What's more, that b-side involves some of the same people as this A-side, including the fabulously named Tumbleweed Thompson.
But this song - "Friendly Melvin", credited (as is the flip) to The Fuddy Buddies, sounds too thought out, too deliberately weird to be a song poem. Then again, so does "Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Potassium", which is clearly a song poem.
Anyway, this one, which may be the weirdest song-poem listening experience I've had since I found Jim Hall's version of "Hydrogen...", grabs me right from the start, with a startling open five second blast of organ, drums and trumpet, and continues with that wonderfully odd, slightly off kilter backing arrangement, while a trio of slightly drunk sounding guys, with just the slightest of midwest ethnic accents, sing a song "inspired by the Marines' Pal, Melvin Miller".
Anyway, at the moment, I just can't get enough of this silly record...Download: The Fuddy Buddies - Friendly Melvin
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Really, who among us wouldn't want to have all of our woes punched in the nose?
On to the flip: Despite being credited to the same "Fuddy Buddies", the B-side, "I Dunno What to Tellya", sounds very little like the group on the A-side (although that title sounds like something the boys on side one might say). But in this case, there's a female lead singer, piano replacing the organ. guitar replacing the trumpet and minimal presence of drums. As I said above, this one sounds exactly like a song-poem.
Oddly enough, this second song - with the same label number - was released on the same label, paired with a different flip side, by a different group, a song which had a non-matched label number (1002-B), and THAT other flip side also appeared on yet another 45, paired correctly with the other song labeled 1002-A.
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3 comments:
The A-side is, as you say, much more thought out and carefully arranged. The "hup-two-three-four" at the end is especially charming. The b-side is the usual dragginess.
So are we forever to remain clueless as to who Melvin Miller was, and why he was so friendly? Nothing on the net...how frustrating!
Thanks for posting these!
Great tune, that "I Dunno Whata Tell Ya"
The A-side was good. No doubt about that. It's very well done. Very much planned.
But, I like the B-side better. It's just a really quirky little number that seems to stick in your head. I don't know why, but I picture Elaine Benes, from Seinfeld, singing this.
Thanks for sharing!
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