For today's post, let's stumble our way back to circa 1962, and the early days in the career of the man known most often as Sammy Marshall, but here identified as his second most often used aka, Sonny Marcell, heard here with the most excellent backing of the crack back up band, The Teenettes.
This record is on the tiny "Dub Records" label of Nashville, and dates to a point before the Globe song-poem factory developed the bland sheen that infects most of their product from at least the late '60's on, making a good percentage of those records indistinguishable from each other.
In this case, the song "Next Thing to a Living Doll", despite it's incredibly clunky song title, bops right along, and is the sort of record that serves Sammy's talents well. I must admit, though, that I'm taken right out of the mood the song has set so nicely when the lyrics quoted above come out of his mouth: "I'll Be Her Man-Daddy". Oh, will you now!?
Download: Sonny Marcell and the Teenettes: Next Thing to a Living Doll
Play:
The flip side of the single, "Idol of My Dreams" is such a smarmy teener that it fairly drips with Clearasil. A few of the lyrics are as weird, in their own way, as the one I quoted from "Living Doll". "Don't be like a graven image"??? Sheesh. I'll stick with Gene Pitney's absolutely wonderful record of "Mecca" if I want to go down the road of this particular metaphor.
Download: Sonny Marcell and the Teenettes: Idol of My Dreams
Play:
Incidentally, for anyone who might be interested, there is a copy of this record that has been put up for auction, repeatedly, on eBay, and it is available right now.
2 comments:
The a-side is a cracker, even with that ridiculous 'man-daddy' lyric. It's a cool little bopper, the kind of song it seems like Sammy was born to sing! Thanks for posting this.
Eeuw. Pervy.
Post a Comment