Rosalee Baker's Greatest Hit

 Happy Almost New Year, everyone!!

Time is quite short round about our house during the last few weeks of the year, but I really wanted to actually get in one post for every week of the month at least ONCE this year, so here it is. As such, I have not had time to correct any old posts, but will get back to work on those next time. 

And today we have something possibly unique. This Tin Pan Alley release is the only documented appearance, on TPA or any other song-poem label, of a singer identified as Rosalee Baker. And I must say that her absence on other releases (unless that's a pseudonym for another TPA songstress) is our loss, as her deep, throaty style is quite appealing to me. 

This record appears to be from 1959 - or at least that's when one of the songs was copyrighted - and it fits right in, stylistically, with plenty of the records of that era: what Billboard Magazine of the day would have called "Rock-a-Ballads". 

The songs are almost interchangeable in sound, but I think I slightly prefer the side titled "I Want You, I Need You" (apparently she doesn't love him). It reminds me more than a bit of the few Connie Francis records that I really love - the section from 0:19 to 0:25 seems almost lifted out of "You Were Only Fooling", which is among my choices for the best records ever made. 

Admittedly, there is a considerably lower quality in the performers backing up the singer, and a much deeper voiced singer than Connie Francis. I really enjoy Ms. Baker's performance, and suspect that I'd have enjoyed her on records made by legit, big name labels, if that could have happened. 

Download: Rosalee Baker - I Want You, I Need You

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The flip side, "Under the Red Powder Puff Tree", is no slouch, either, but then, I'm a fool for this sound. In fact, I heard this one first, and thought it unlikely that the flip would be better. But that was mainly based on the sound of the thing - upon further listening, I find that the title and lyrics for this one are quite clunky, and would be unlikely to convince anyone that it was a legit attempt at a hit (which I think might be true for "I Want You"). Plus, Ms. Baker misses the mark in a couple of places, too, in particular right near the end, at 2:23. 

That said, most of the vocal is assured, and to these ears, anyway, quite sexy, if not as much as the flip, and the band does what the style requires. I dig it. 

Download: Rosalee Baker - Under the Red Powder Puff Tree

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Certainly Mellow, But Not Very Classy

Merry Christmas, Everyone!! Stay tuned all the way to the bottom for this year's offering in my family's series of Performance Art flavored Christmas Cards. 

I want to make sure I make sure that I offer up a last minute link to a site that long time reader and commentor JW put up last week, filled with Christmastime song-poems! It looks like he set up this blog specifically to share these Christmas treasures, so go and have a look. The first post, at the bottom, has nine song-poems available for download, while the second, more recent post, has a couple more songs you can download, AND a link to his "song poem yule log", with a veritable cornucopia of Christmas song-poems. 

You can find all of the above here!

I have also, as per usual, updated another month's worth of old, broken posts, in this case, August of 2011. These include a typically badly pressed MSR offering from Bobbi Blake, a typically inept performance by Gary Roberts, a fantastic early Tin Pan Alley number from Ellen Wayne, and a downright weird tribute to Elvis by The Real Pros. There is one more repaired page, as well, as I'll explain below. 

~~

The Meloclass label both fascinates and sort of confounds me. It seems to have been more of a vanity label than a true song-poem label, in that the songs sound like semi-professional work in a lot of cases, or at least as if they were written by people who had some idea of how music works, and with a definite sense of humor. And most of the releases boast credits showing a team of songwriters, often some combination of "J. DeFranco", "G. Vanderburg" and the fantastically named "Tumbleweed Thompson". 

That all spells out a vanity label, and yet... they returned to the song-poem market again and again for their singers. They utilized the Globe factory on a Sammy Marshall release on a small label, and Vandenburg was the co-writer of multiple songs on a Rodd Keith album generated by Film City. And after I posted another song sung by "Richard House" (who is credited on today's feature), at WFMU - labeling it as a vanity release - Sammy Reed was good enough to point out what I'd overlooked: that "Richard House" is an early nom-de-song-poem of the man later and better known as Dick Kent. 

On the other hand, my favorite release on the label seems to have been a straight vanity release on one side and what sounds like a song-poem on the other, although the two sides, which are extremely disparate, were credited to the same group. And I went out of my way to "fix" the posting of that song, more than three months ahead of schedule, as it is from 2010. It can be found here, and is absolutely worth hearing, again and again. . 

That brings us to today's feature. It is, as mentioned, sung by Dick Kent, under the guise of "Richard House", at least on the first side I'm offering up, and he is joined by what seems to have been Meloclass' house vocal group, "The Five Fellows". 

"Who No Pay José" is, from today's perspective, full of fairly obnoxious stereotypes and hackneyed soft racism towards Mexicans - although oddly, near the end, "Richard House" seems to sound more like the Italian stereotypes of the day than the Mexican ones. 

If you can overlook all that - and I'm sure there are those who can and will - this is an enjoyable-sounding record, with a bouncy track, a moment in the middle with some momentary, odd key modulations, and an honest-to-goodness jazzy solo by a muted trumpet, something I don't recall hearing on a song-poem record. 

And as was the case with the single that I shared in 2010, this record was released at least twice, with two different songs on the flip side. 

Download: Richard House and the Five Fellows - Who No Pay José

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On the flip side, is another song which is more clever and well put together, by at least half, than all but the best song poems. That's not to say that I enjoy this one. "Cinder Fella" is performed in the sort of pre-rock style, akin to the Four Aces or The Four Freshmen, that I simply cannot abide, at all. Ack. Your mileage may vary, of course. 

It's too bad, because the lyrics are clever, and I'd like to hear what someone else would have done with them. 

Download: The Five Fellows - Cinder Fella

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~~

Finally, as promised, my family's Christmas card. For most of the past decade - with a few exceptions - we have tried to create something interesting and different each year, and most of my late-December posts in recent years have featured a sharing of the latest card - you can click around in those old posts if you're interested. 

Anyway, here is this year's card. The concept was mine, but my older child Sage had the wherewithal to make it work via computer wizardry and such. For those who might ask (if any), the fifth person, a young man seen in our previous few pictures, is my younger child's boyfriend, and they are still together, but he couldn't be present for this photo. 

I'm Ashamed... But Just to Be Clear... It's NOT MY FAULT

Happy December 17th!!!! Only Four Shopping Days Before December 21st!!!!

First, I want to again thank JW for what has been a slew of comments on older and recent posts. I believe you have entered the top three or four commenters with your recent dozen or so comments. Thanks particularly for your comments on the quality of my own comments - I appreciate it. I did see your question about Rod Barton, and will try to answer that in my next post, although there's not all that much to tell, unfortunately.  

And thanks to everyone who comments. Please know that if you ask a question, or simply say something that I'd like to answer, I will answer in e-mail, but can only do so if you connect your commenting persona on blogger to your e-mail address - almost no one does this, though. 

Also, I have repaired yet another month's worth of posts, this time those originally posted in September of 2011, including a Labor Day related record, a rather ridiculous title from Cara Stewart, a very sweet entry from Gene Marshall, and a wispy set of tunes from Sammy .Marshall.

And now, it's time to board the S.S. Halmark!

~~

For the last several months, I have been engaged in a nice series of e-mail conversations with a song-poem fan named Tyler. I think each of us have learned a few things (or more!), and it's been quite an enjoyable interchange of thoughts, information and ideas about song-poems. 

Tyler is passionate about Halmark Records releases, and writes at length about various aspect of this most esoteric of song-poem labels. And I realized recently that it had been quite a while since I featured the label. So today, for Tyler, and anyone else who loves Halmark - or who just finds the label endlessly fascinating, I have one of their signature EP's today, featuring their greatest/most awful singer, Bob Storm. 

The EP starts a bit slowly, with Bob Storm in his less outlandish vocal mode, singing over a late '40's/early '50's style backing track, complete with big band and choir, and typically sad, regretful song-poem lyrics, in the song "You'll Never Realize". There is a moment at the end when it seems that Bob has more lyrics left than the backing track is going to make room for, and he squeezes a bunch in, in order to hit the last words on top of the last chord. 

Download: Bob Storm - You'll Never Realize

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~~

The highlight/lowlight here for me - both for the lyrics and the performance - is the second track, "I'm So Ashamed". This track is extremely peculiar. The lyrical conceit is that the protagonist is that the singer is apologizing and expressing his shame - except that he also keeps saying that "I'm not to blame". That's quite an apology. Essentially, he's saying he was entrapped by someone who he could not resist - all her fault, I guess. There is a stunning lack of recognition of culpability on the part of the person being portrayed, and I doubt this is an apology most people would accept

That's a good enough start. But it certainly sounds like a deeply felt lyric, perhaps one written by a regretful man as a sort of (poor) apology to his lady. But a close look at the label shows it seems to have been written by a woman, so perhaps it's just a fictional lyric, unless it was about a same sex relationship. That seems unlikely, though, especially in that a man is singing it. 

And that man. That manly man. Bob really Storms it up here, switching from that mild mannered vocal on track one to the voice he wants to use when he's really putting on the... smarm. This is as Bob Stormy a vocal as Bob Storm has ever offered, ridiculous, over the top and grandiose

Download: Bob Storm - I'm So Ashamed

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~~

The third song has perhaps the song-poemiest title I've ever seen, "Leave Me Alone With My Beautiful Dream". It's such an all encompassing title that Halmark couldn't quite make it fit on the label. Bob's still in smarm-unctuous mode here, toned down perhaps a notch from the previous track, while the lyrics are pretty much what you'd expect from that title. 

I did want to point out the horrid mastering that was done on this side of the record: the dip in volume at about 0:48 of this song is on the record. The remainder of the side continues at this lower volume. I thought about correcting it, but decided to leave things the way they are, as this is just another Hallmark (no pun intended) of the shoddy nature of many song-poem products. 

Download: Bob Storm - Leave Me Alone With My Beautiful Dream

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Before the Storm-clouds leave our area until another special day, Bob treats us to "Drop Me Love". His wobbly warbling is the main attraction, although I find myself caught up in the lyrics - maybe it's just me, but I have no idea what has happened, or what is going to happen, in the life of the protagonist or his love. The lyrics seem pretty tortured and obtuse, but maybe that's just me - I'm a bit frazzled this week, so maybe they're clear as can be. 

I also enjoy the fact that this track seems to be pressed off center, even though its partner on the side ("Leave Me Alone") does not - I wonder how that was accomplished. 

Download: Bob Storm - Drop Me Love

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By Special Request

First, this week, I would like to acknowledge that today is the 40th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Amazingly, and sadly, John has now been gone nearly as long as the time that he was alive. 

~~

Secondly, and as (almost) always for the past many months, I have updated yet another month's worth of old posts, in this case, October of 2011. These include a very early, one man band performance on Cinema, Norm Burns failing to sound angry on a song about being angry, a great, really early Rod Rogers record on Film City, and another ridiculous Tin Pan Alley offering. 

~~ 

I received a request a few days ago from an old friend, asking if I owned a particular EP, and if so, if I could make MP3's and send them along. 

As it happened, not only due I own that very EP, it was right near the top of the pile of "these would be good to share", that sits a few feet from my record player and computer. 

So that came together nicely, and I now have two reasons to share this EP: it contains two tracks which are two good not to share, and it was specifically requested!

So here it goes!

As I've mentioned before, Air records seems to have been less than a producer of song-poem records themselves, then a clearinghouse for the works of a few disparate song-poem factories. Today's EP features three song-poems from the early days of the Globe factory, and one from Lee Hudson and his favorite singer. 

We start with my favorite of the four - "Daddy-O", by Kris Arden ("with Orch.", which all four songs tag onto the singing credit). To my ears, the folks at Globe very quickly settled into a midtempo, bland sound, but at the beginning (and occaisionally thereafter), they were capable of swinging and creating an effective rockin' beat, and that's the case here. The fact that this one features such boppin' sounds (and the "zone" number on the address) dates this one to the early 1960, probably 1962, based on the documented dates of other Air releases. 

Love that stinging guitar intro!!!

Download: Kris Arden With Orch. - Daddy-0

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Almost as good, even more rockin' but with elements of a true car crash, too, is the second track, "A Dog Gone Good Gal", sung by Sammy Marshall, under the cunningly devised aka of "Sonny Marshall". 

The backing tracks got it going on, and Sammy gives it his all, but these are among the least sing-able lyrics I've heard in some time (are there any other songs that try to fit "how we both love hot dogs with all the trimmings" into a twist-style rocker?), and I'm sure his beloved was thrilled to hear herself described as she herself having "all the trimmings". 

Download: Sonny Marshall With Orch - A Dog Gone Good Gal

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Side two starts with the only non-Globe entry of the EP, and it's a unusually weak Cara Stewart entry from Lee Hudson's production stable, featuring the song "Dakota Hills". Interestingly, as Paul McCartney would do more than half a decade later, she refers not to the Black Hills of South Dakota, but of "The Black Hills of Dakota". I've never heard anyone else, besides on those two songs, describe that location in that way, leaving out the "South". 

For me, that's about the only interesting thing here, as this seems to drag on forever. Her voice is wonderful, as always, and the echoey production is right up my alley, but even with all that, it's just dull, dull dull. 

Download: Cara Stewart With Orch. - Dakota Hills

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And finally, we're back to Globe and Sammy, er, Sonny Marshall, with the song "Walking and Crying". This is one of those mid-tempo tracks that would eventually become the hallmark of Globe, complete with the sort of "you done me wrong" lyrics that are a dime a dozen (and that's being generous) among song-poets. 

Download: Sonny Marshall With Orch. - Walking and Crying

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Thanks for the suggestion/request!

SAY, JACK!!!

 First up, a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who are celebrating today!

Next, an update on my next round of rehabilitated posts. This week's focus was on November of 2011, and the posts in question featured a Sammy Marshall special, some sociological observations from Gene Marshall, another typically bouncy and lyrically interesting offering from Tin Pan Alley, a weird song from the Noval company, and, also from Noval, one of my half-dozen favorite song-poems ever, "Rock, Rocking All the Time". 

Finally, before today's feature, I want to thank everyone who continues to visit the site, and especially those who comment, and want to particularly single out JW. who has offered up about a dozen comments recently, to posts old and new. Keep those comments coming!!!

And now, let's get back to the countdown!

~~

I have tended to share records from the Film-Tone label sparingly here, first because I don't have that many, but more importantly, because most of those I do have are God-awful, usually without much in the way of car-crash worthiness to make them interesting. 

Well, they all have a sort of discombobulating out-of-time feel, and often feature their standard "Vocal Trio" singing songs that aren't meant for a mixed vocal group, but aside from that, they're mostly pretty samey. 

So I was delighted when I heard the ridiculous and wonderful first song on this Film-Tone EP (and all of their releases were EP's, as far as I know), "Say Jack", which is thoroughly worth hearing and sharing. The band at Film-Tone only had a couple of stock styles, and here they've chosen a sort of upbeat rock-a-ballad backing. But the pleasure here is in the lyrics, all about some missing money. 

The lyrics tell quite a story, in its on style. The best thing about those lyrics, however, is the way the song-poet endeavored to fit in as many rhymes as possible, of words ending with "ack" - I think he even outdid Billy Joel's similarly rhymed "Movin' Out". 

I like to imagine that the members of Film-Tone's  mixed trio were overjoyed to have something this offbeat to sing. 

Download: Film-Tone Productions - Say Jack

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I would love to say the remaining tracks hold my interest to even a fraction of the same degree as "Say Jack", but that would not be accurate. The next track, "I'm Locking My Door On You", is the quintessential Film-Tone number - someone with a heartache submitted lyrics, which were set to a minimalist background in an ancient sounding arrangement, primarily led by piano and a guitarist who thinks he's playing a solo, behind that same Vocal Trio, as well as the obligatory sax solo. 

Download: Film-Tone Productions - I'm Locking My Door On You

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Most of what I just wrote could also apply to "I'll Walk Again With You", although in this case, the author is bemoaning the conflict between lovers, and looking forward to reuniting, rather than being fed up for good. 

Download: Film-Tone Productions - I'll Walk Again With You

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And finally, "I Cannot Marry You Now", which demonstrates the odd choice that the folks at Film-Tone" regularly made: to ALWAYS use the mixed trio even when the lyrics would seem to demand otherwise. In this case, we have a heartfelt lyric from a man about to enter the armed forces, explaining why this will delay his union with the one he loves. 

Appropriately, the two men sing the first verse together, but then, for much of the rest of the song, the woman of the group not only sings the very male-centric lyric, but takes the melody line whenever she sings. I just find that a very weird choice - there is no reason for her to be on this song. 

On the other hand, this song was written by a woman, but the nature of the lyric is such that she clearly meant it to be sung from a man's perspective, at least in that era, when only men trained for battle. 

Download: Film-Tone Productions - I Cannot Marry You Now

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Please note that someone - perhaps one of the song-poets - submitted this record to radio station WDKN in Dickson, Tennessee, as seen by the stamp on the b-side label. I'm sure the program director pushed one or more of these tracks into heavy rotation, immediately. 

Rockin' Her, Rollin' Her, Holdin' Her, and I Wonder What Else!

 Greetings!

As it so happens - and in a complete coincidence - the next month for me to update, just as the Christmas ads and music start their far-to-early comeback into our lives, was December of 2011, a month when I featured four Christmas themed song-poem 45's. Those I fixed today include records by Cara Stewart, Gene Marshall, Jeff Lawrence (who made very few song-poem records) and Gus Colletti's "Santa is a Superman". I also wrote a post that month, with no music in it, but directing people to my WFMU posting of one of my favorite Christmas albums ever. 

We now join our program, already in progress

~~

Today, a wonderfully awful, or perhaps awfully wonderful selection from the folks at Tin Pan Alley, circa 1958. During that time period, the TPA folks seemed to have received more comic song poems and/or those with ridiculous titles, than ALL other labels combined. And since TPA, in those days, was more adept than their competitors, at turning out music that sounded at least roughly like the music of the day, the results are often extremely entertaining, as well as being ridiculous. 

This one may stretch the bounds of acceptability a tiny bit, from today's lens, in terms of its comic portrayal of a then-frequently stereotyped culture of the day, but boy oh boy, does it make me smile. 

The first voice heard is that of Margie Sands, who only turns up on one other documented song-poem record, which I've posted here previously. And the song is half hers, to be sure. But she is essentially the guest artist as far as the listing goes. The credits on the label to "He's A-Rockin' and A-Rollin' and A-Holdin' Me Tight" (!) is "Jack Verdi with Margie Sands". Jack Verdi made only a handful of records for the label himself, one of which I've previously featured. 

I'll leave it at that. The charms of this record have to be experienced first hand. Hope you love as much as I do. 

Download: Jack Verdi with Margie Sands - He's A-Rockin' and A-Rollin' and A-Holdin' Me Tight

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For the flip side, "If You Were There", it's Jack Verdi, solo, showing that perhaps he was not at his best on romantic ballads. This record seems to be the result of someone who listened to a bunch of Platters records trying to recreate the same, without any of the necessary skills needed to achieve that level of greatness. 

Download: Jack Verdi - If You Were There

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Tragic Song Poem

Well, it's been two weeks without a post - that's almost entirely due to me being a political junkie of sorts, and spending most of my free time obsessively watching the pre- and post-election news. And all I can say is... that's a relief...

Anyway, I have again updated a previous month's worth of posts, and not only does this mean I've completed the "fixing" of another year - 2012 is done, now, with the completion of January - but that January featured a bumper crop of song-poem records - twelve of them in all - so those who weren't reading/listening back then have, as of today, 14 new sides to listen to! Yay!

Among the posts I have rehabbed are: A Bobbi Blake record on MSR, an incomprehensible song sung by Norm Burns, a set of two early Preview offerings from Rodd Keith, a New Year's Day post from Sammy Marshall, and an impossibly rare and fascinating acetate from the pen of Norridge Mayhams, certainly the latter being my favorite of the bunch. 

And now....

It's back to Film City and the world of Rodd Keith in his Rod Rogers persona. Today's first offering is a tragic tale, perhaps inspired by all the teen tragedy records which peppered the charts in the first half of the 1960's. It's called "Lisa", and rarely has the appellation "Swinging Strings" seemed less appropriate to tie into the song being performed, than it does of the tale of a groom-to-be describing the scene as everyone learns that there is to be no wedding, and why. "Rod Rogers and the Dreary Strings and Woodwinds" would be more accurate. 

Oh, and the phrase "hit broadside" has to be among the least musical combinations of words I've ever heard in a song - song-poem or otherwise - although I do enjoy the fact that "broadside" is then rhymed with "bride". 

Download: Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings - Lisa

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On the flip side is a much brighter, shuffling, sun-shiny number titled "I Want Only You Sweetheart". The music is a bit deceiving - the protagonist of the song is suffering from a distrusting gal pal, and it's not clear if he's succeeding in convincing her of his trustworthiness. I greatly enjoy the backing track that Rodd put together for this one. 

Download: Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings - I Want Only You Sweetheart

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Hallus "Slim" Sargent and His Friends on The Mustang Line

Hi, how are you?

Today, I have again corrected the posts for a month from the distant past, in this case, February of 2012. In that month, I shared a song-poem which contained a bit of direct plagiarism, a particularly incompetent Tin Pan Alley release, a Halmark record for Valentine's Day, and a typically moldy Film-City EP. 

Enjoy!

And now: 

Add caption

Today's feature is the first in quite a while from Gene Marshall. And "The Mustang Line" features what I find to be a fairly weird set of lyrics. For most of the lyric, the song-poet, one Hallus "Slim" Sargent, seems to be paying tribute to two friends he made on "The Mustang Line", in quite positive terms, going so far as to credit them from saving him from being "out in the cold". He mentions them by name, over and over again. Then suddenly, about 2/3rds of the way through, his lyric turns against them, telling them they "know where they can go", saying that he needs to break free of them and of The Mustang Line before they "cook my goose". 

Anyone have any idea what the hell is going on here? I'm assuming "The Mustang Line" is a car factory, producing Mustangs, but perhaps I'm wrong about that. If it's not, I have no idea what it might be.  

Any insight would be appreciated. And if you, like me, have none, well, just enjoy Gene's masterful singing and the asinine background vocal arrangement. 

Download: Gene Marshall - The Mustang Line

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The flip side is "Leave Me Well Alone", a four word phrase I'd personally not encountered before, at least not without the word "Enough" in between the last two words. However, a web search finds it to be common, so what do I know? 

Aside from that, it's a pretty standard "I'm fed up with you and want to write about it" song-poem, one of the many standard templates used by song-poets since the genre was invented. 

 Download: Gene Marshall - Leave Me Well Alone

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VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Unless your candidate has an orange glow about him, in which case, please disregard. 

Moon Man - The Sammy Marshall Version

 Good day to you all!

First of all, let me know if you have any trouble playing or downloading tracks. Blogger overhauled their interface in the last few weeks, and as of today, I can no longer use their "classic" view, and I fear the new arrangement may have some bugs in it. So far, it's been a fairly irritating experience. 

And now, my latest updates - we've reached March of 2012 in my backwards repairing of old posts. In that month, I featured a nice Rod Rogers/Film City platter, a Cara Stewart offering with what I found to be confused lyric, a Sammy Marshall record about twisting, and a double helping of Gene Marshall, two Preview singles in one post, with both featured sides being about the moon. 

Speaking of Sammy Marshall twisting, AND of records about the moon, by coincidence, before I saw which tracks needed to be refurbished today, I had chosen a Sammy Marshall record about Twisting. And it's also about the Moon. It's about Twisting on the Moon. 

That title may well sound familiar to you. Just over seven years ago, I posted a Rod Rogers version of the exact same song, from a Film City pressing - same words, even the same melody, indicating that song-poet ????? wrote the entire thing. In that Film City posting, I even mentioned that there was a third version of the song, then-currently available to be heard in an eBay posting (alas, no more). I also mentioned the Sammy Marshall version, which I did not own at the time. 

But I own it now, and it's time to offer it up. A comparison with the Rod Rogers disc is unfair, as the level of attention to detail, craftsmanship and talent on many records involving Rodd Keith, as well as the typical otherworldliness of the Chamberlin's sounds, make the Rod version the winner almost without listening. But Sammy's version has its own charms, and it's always nice to hear Sammy on an upbeat number, particularly a twist-tacular one. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - Twisting on the Moon

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On the flip side, we have a track which, oddly, sounds more like Lee Hudson's productions than it does the usual Globe product. I don't find much to like in the maudlin "A Boy Like Me Needs a Girl Like You", but the violin is rather nice, and I must say that I do think he shows real vocal talent (which he certainly had) here, particularly near and at the end of the song.  

Download: Sammy Marshall - A Boy Like Me Needs a Girl Like You 

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Nancy and Rod Do It Again

Happy October!

First, for anyone who was interested in the section in my previous post about the early use of the term "Rock and Roll" in Billboard from the 40's, I encourage you to revisit the last post, and have a look at the comments, where a reader with a fantastic name has shared more information, indicating that the term was used considerably earlier in Billboard. Thanks for that!

I have also, as usual, updated another month worth of posts, in this case, April of 2012, which featured five posts (those were the days), one of which had four songs in it, for a total of 12 links fixed!. These include a largely religious Halmark EP, a silly but endearing record on Tin Pan Alley, an extremely early "Real Pros" record on Cinema, and both of song-poem records I've acquired which have picture sleeves, on on Sterling (featuring Norm Burns), and one on the tiny "Endeavor" label, featuring an instrumental song-poem. 

And speaking of tiny labels, let's bring on our friend Jerome. 

I only have a handful of records by either Nancy Sherman or Rod Barton (a singer who I spoke with on a phone a couple of times, a few years ago), but I tend to enjoy those records I have heard by each of them. And here they are, teamed up on a record which seems likely to be from 1961, based on the available information.

The opening 25 seconds of "Come On, Let's Do It Again" are not promising, but then a jazzy groove picks up, and a lounge style performance ensues from everyone involved. There's even a slinky guitar solo half way through, followed by an understated sax solo. All in all, a fun little record.

Download: Nancy Sherman and Rod Barton - Come On, Let's Do It Again
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The flip side, "I'll Always Care" is credited to The Coeds, a female vocal quartet which seems to be otherwise undocumented on song-poem records. They do an almost passable job, to the point that I'm sure some people would think this was just another failed girl group or teen record, but the harmonies turn ragged fairly often - several of the chords simply aren't quite there, if you know what I mean. That sixth chord at the end, for example, should make me swoon, but it fails to deliver.

Oh, and the song is pretty much nothing, lyrically and musically.

Download: The Coeds - I'll Always Care
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See the U.S.A., In Your... Airstream

Howdy,

Before getting to this week's corrected posts from the past, OR this week's feature, I wanted to share something I came across while engaging in another of my hobbies. I have been and continue to be fascinated by music charts of all eras, and it was while doing some research in issues of Billboard from 1946 at I came across a remarkable review.

To start, I'll say that versions of the phrase "rock and roll", specifically those alluding to sex, have been heard in blues records as early as the 1930's. But the use of the specific term in any popular written or spoken media is generally believed to have come about in the early 1950's. So I was startled to see this review in that 1946 edition of Billboard.

I've consulted with a friend who is a well known expert and published author on the subject of Blues and Rhythm and Blues and he agrees this is historic, and encouraged me to post it.

I would ask that any readers, if you're of a mind to, share this post with others who might be in the know and see if this is some sort of first, or nearly first from mainstream media. I'm really interested to hear what people have to say, and if this is as historic as I suspect it is, I would like it to be shared more widely than I'm capable of doing. I will also post this to my other blog the next time I post there.

UPDATE 10/3/20: Please see the comments section for this post = a knowledgeable reader with a most excellent name has offered up evidence of even (considerably) earlier use of the same phrase in Billboard. Details are in the comments. 

~~~

Getting back to song-poems.... I have now repaired the posts for the month of May, 2012. Included in this batch are two, back to back features in which I shared multiple tracks that had been sent to me by others, over the years, a pair of special posts meant to celebrate some exciting events in my life and that of my family, featuring some of my favorite song poems ever. Those repaired posts can be found here and here.

The other posts that month featured a comedic turn by Gene Marshall and a most excellent Rod Rogers on a Film City pairing. It was also at that time that my mid 1990's private album release of a set of comic songs was published by Happy Puppy records, and I announced that album in yet another post that month.

~~

Finally, here's today's stellar production. It features the always inept Bob Gerard, who seemed to usually be accompanied by perhaps the most hapless of all the bands Tin Pan Alley put forth over the years. Perhaps you remember Mr. Gerard from the stunningly awful song "Snow Man", a post of which I will be fixing in a matter of weeks, or perhaps the highly entertaining, and totally incomprehensible "The Proon Doon Walk".

Today's first side doesn't quite give those ridiculous records a run for their money, but it's still enjoyably off-kilter and stunning in its poor quality. I was going to write that it's all about traveling the USA in a camper, but "all about" is stretching it, as the lyric here is two four line verses and a chorus, followed by a repeat of two of them, and "Let's Get a Camper" is over in just about 90 incompetent seconds.

And those lyrics - grade school level, to be sure, obvious rhymes abounding and tortured turns of phrase throughout. Using the words "Trilled" and "Scamper" indicate how far the song poet had to reach to create something approaching rhyming poetry.

Musically, it's not quite as awful as the records I mentioned above, no one performing on this record could have conceivably used it to present themselves as worthy of a job in the music field. And Bob Gerard is his typical, aggressively amateur sounding self.

Please enjoy - to a ridiculous degree if you like - Bob Gerard's Tin Pan Alley release, "Let's Get a Camper":

Download: Bob Gerard - Let's Get a Camper
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The flip side, "My Blessings", doesn't have anything ridiculous on the scale of "Camper" to recommend it - it's largely just a boring dirge of a piece, badly played and annoyingly warbled without any of the fun of this ensemble's typical car-crash stylings. I'm sure the lyrics were heart felt and meaningful to the song-poet, but they're about as cookie cutter as these things ever get.

Download: Bob Gerard - My Blessings
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A Civil Rights Fable

Today, I have an extremely interesting record, one that is perfect as well for this particularly moment in history.

But first, I want to say that I have again updated another quartet of posts, this time from June of 2012. These posts include: a fun Gene Marshall record about an honest-to-goodness real sea-bound college, an interesting record from Norm Burns combining social relevance with supper club stylings, a Sammy Marshall special featuring some truly odd and interesting lyrical turns of phrase, and some less than competent garage band material from Mike Thomas and Tin Pan Alley. I must say, that was a particularly strong month of offerings.

And now:

I don't quite know what to make of this record, which I just acquired a few days ago.

I thought I knew that Sandy Stanton largely shut down his Fable outfit in the late '50's, with few documented releases after that point, and with Film City apparently coming to life by 1963 or so. A few much higher-numbered Fable releases exist, including one from the early '70's that I've posted, but nothing has been documented between release record # 714, circa 1958 or 1959, and record # 1060, which is undated.

Yet here's a record that has to be from at least the fall of 1963, based on one of the references (multiple sites indicate that year, but it could be guesswork), it features the Chamberlin, which was the hallmark of Stanton's releases on Film City and its offshoots (and never during the heyday of Fable), and it could be a vanity release or a hybrid or even some other category entirely, rather than a song poem.

Both sides of this record have been available online before, and one still is, but neither has been identified as a Fable release, or listed with the credit seen here, to Sandy Stanton's Orch and Chorus. The artist in question, Bob Starr, seems to have reissued the record, along with other recordings, naming his band "The All Star Band", at some point in the late '60's, entirely removing its link to the song-poem world.

None of that would be terribly interesting to much more than a few people, were in not for the fairly fascinating content of the record. For both songs on this record are about aspects of the civil rights movement in the early and mid 1960's. What's more, both are catchy and well made. They sound nothing like anything else I've ever heard on Fable, and I'm fairly certain that the drummer here is NOT the Chamberlin, but rather an actual drummer playing along with the Chamberlin player. which I'm not aware of ever being done on a Film City production.

The listed A-side, and the better of the two, to my ears, is the swinging, R and B flavored "The Freedom March". After the martial opening, the movin' and groovin' begins. The opening lines remind me of "Rockin' Robin" of all things, and I'm fairly certain that "Old Abe Lincoln" did NOT sign the Bill of Rights, but putting that aside, I find this record fairly addictive and even intoxicating in spots.

Download: Bob Starr with Sandy Stanton Orch and Chorus - The Freedom March
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The Flip Side, "The Jail House King" is no slouch either. It features a righteously proud lyric about Martin Luther King, Jr., referred to here are "Luther King", no doubt because it fit the pattern of the lyrics better.

This is a decent ballad-style record, especially for a song-poem record, and I really enjoy Bob Starr's Folk-Blues style of singing.

Download: Bob Starr with Sandy Stanton Orch and Chorus - The Jail House King
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I would be very interested in hearing anyone else's thoughts, information, insights or other input about this unique record.

A Tale of Two Bonnies

I've been a bit busy these last two weeks, hence there have been no posts. We had a pipe spring a leak in the basement ten days ago, and it damaged several stacks of my reel to reel tapes - more on this when I next post to my other site. But my free time since, until yesterday, was largely taken up with various ways of drying out and reviving the tapes and boxes that got damaged. 

But now I've had time to work up a new post, AND, as usual, to repair another month's worth of old posts. The big news, to me at least, on this front, is that I've finally gotten the chance to fix a post featuring one of the two or three best song-poems I've ever posted, Cara Stewart and Jeff Reynolds with  "Doc Nut", a song-poem so good I even got it onto the Dr. Demento show. Definitely one of my top ten favorite song-poems, as you may have heard if you listened to the podcast I was interviewed on. That post can be found here. 

The other posts I fixed include a rather horrible, very late period Film City record featuring Jimmie James, an even worse record from Cinema's catch all group "The Real Pros", and a truly curious release on Fable from well after that label was believed to have been defunct.

And now: 

Today's entry, from Preview, seems to be unique. It's credited to Bonnie Britton, and the few sites out there that have mentioned this record also mention that it seems to involve two different singers, singing under that name. I think it's possible that both songs are sung by the same person, using a different register, but concede that it's more likely that it's two different women. 

And I don't think either of them belonged in front of a microphone. 

This is the ONLY record known on Preview or anywhere else to be credited to Bonnie Britton. The same sites I mentioned above indicate that there is some suspicion that the singer on the b-side might be a singer who appeared somewhat frequently on Preview who was billed as Bonnie Graham, but even those sites are unsure, and I'm not familiar enough with Bonnie Graham to comment. I don't recall thinking that she couldn't sing, however, and I definitely think that's the case on both sides, here. 

The more blatently incompetent singer is heard on the A-side, singing a song apparently written by someone who lived in Alaska, as it's a peon to The Land of the Midnight Sun (I'm assuming the song-poet to have been an American, and not from any of the foreign "Lands of the Midnight Sun"). This singer positively warbles at times, with a barely controlled soprano drawing several of the words completely out of the shape the started in. The label helpfully made the song-poet believe that the record was a reasonable length for a pop record in the late 1960's, adding more than 45 seconds to its actual length.

Download: Bonnie Britton - My Land

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The flip side, "Kissin' Kinfolk", has some downright peculiar lyrics, as befits the title subject, and it's quite worth listening closely to them. This side's Bonnie has a pouty, teasing and whiny tone to her voice, no particular style, and a distinct difficulty staying on pitch.

I think this is a fairly odd record, from the lyrics, to the idiosycratic backing to what I find to be a genuinely irritating vocal style. And in this case, the label added nearly 20 seconds to the length listed on the label.

Download: Bonnie Britton - Kissin' Kinfolk
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When "Your" Ready - Be My Steady

Good Day, Y'all!

As usual, I have re-purposed another month's worth of posts, in this case, posts from exactly eight years ago this month, August of 2012. What a different world it was then. 

I actually made five posts that month - those were the days - and have repaired all of them. These include: A scratchy but very enjoyable Norm Burns record, a Sammy Marshall record with a very famous title, a Mike Thomas/Tin Pan Alley special with a ridiculous title, one of the last couple of records (and a terrible one, too) put out my Norridge Mayhams, and a bouncy, countrified Rodd Keith and the Raindrops number. 

And speaking of Rodd Keith: 

It has been quite a while since I featured Rodd Keith, in any of his guises, and that's why I turned to my pile of Roddeliciousness and selcted a platter from around 1964 or 1965. "When Your (sic) Ready - Be My Steady" features a frothy Chamberlin track, a Rodd-and-Rodd duet, and some cutesy lyrics that feature all of the most obvious rhymes possible.

An interesting sidelight here is that the song-poet, who wrote both sides of this record, covered up the publishing information with his own name. It's also not clear to me at all why they wouldn't have chosen to correct the song-poet's spelling...

Download: Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings - When Your Ready - Be My Steady
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The flip side, "Harbor of Love" is a down-tempo thing, which drags on and on, seeming to be much more than the 30 seconds longer than it is, compared to its fun flip side. This is only moderate on the Unctuous-Rodd scale, but it's too far up that ladder for my tastes.

Download: Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings - Harbor of Love
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Johnny Williams and His Hot Spot

First off, I must acknowledge that I've taken more time than usual (maybe than ever) between posts. I only posted twice in July. I'm hoping to not have this happen again.

 I have now returned to correcting/updating formerly broken links, and in my reverse chronological order pattern, I have now repaired posts from September of 2012, including a nearly unique Halmark entry - featuring a guitar and vocal specialty on one side! - a clever and funny Gene Marshall record, an early Real Pros 45 featuring their one-man-band performer on one side and Rodd Keith on the other, and another Rodd Keith record (as Rod Rogers), on the tiny Lutone label.

 And NOW!!!!

I may have mentioned a few times - such as every time I post one of his records - how much I love Johnny Williams and his decidedly unprofessional, off the cuff sounding and barely in control vocal style. So every time I manage to put my hands on one of his records, it's a sure bet that it will end up here within a few days or weeks.

And while today's offering is not perhaps among his masterpieces, it's close enough. As you can see above, it's got a superbly catchy titled, "I've Got a Hot Spot In My Heart For You", and it's got everything I could want from Johnny - a hyperactive guitar intro, a fun, bouncy backing, simple, but effective lyrics and a highly energized vocal from the lead singer, who as usual sounds like a 70 year old man who is missing some of his teeth.

 I really have to wonder what Tin Pan Alley was thinking in employing this guy, and putting him in front of almost comically revved up backing. What's more, I would love to know what the customers thought, upon hearing Mr. Williams' interpretation of their lyrical submissions.

On the other hand, it's true that Tin Pan Alley generally did a better job of superficially capturing the trends of the day in real time than most song-poem labels, and that by this point (this record is from around 1959) some rock and roll was getting fairly silly and at times frantic - this record does capture a bit of the energy of a record like "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" - if little of the talent or quality. But even compared with the hit records I'm thinking of, this is just over-the-top weird and ridiculous. And man, do I love it. 

Download: Johnny Williams - I've Got a Hot Spot In My Heart For You
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As I've also said before, I do not, however, believe that Johnny Williams was a singer capable of effectively putting forward a vocal on a ballad and/or on material requiring sensitive feelings. And that's what we have on the flip side "You Went Away". He is, typically, completely over his head. Also, what is that groaning sound that recurs at several points here - it sounds sort of like the bass, or its amp, is malfunctioning. Any guesses?

 Download: Johnny Williams - You Went Away
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Trouble, Trouble Blues

Greetings - updates to the old posts will have to wait until next time. It's been a terrifically busy 10 days, and I wanted to at least get a post up...

I've rarely featured the Ronnie label here. I find most of their records very bland and samey. I don't know if they were part of the Globe empire - there is some overlap in the quality of that blandness, and Sammy Marshall was the star of both companies. But I discern an even blander sheen on most Ronnie releases than I do Globe. 

Which made this record a pleasant surprise. I make no argument for "Trouble, Trouble Blues" (by May Redding) being great, or outstanding in any significant way, but it does have a bit of energy, mostly in the rhythm section, and even sounds a bit like an early Sterling release in certain aspects. Plus, the guitarist tries to actually do something during the solo. Something. All that said, I think it should be at least 20 bpm faster and then there might have been more to work with. 

Download: May Redding - Trouble, Trouble Blues

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The aforementioned Sammy Marshall shows up on the flip side, in the guise of "Ben Tate", a name he was only billed under on this label, as far as I know (another reason I'm doubtful as to the Globe link). 

This one is an out and out car crash, mostly because the bass player seems to think he's playing in a different song entirely. Aside from a couple of hysterical Tin Pan Alley records from the mid '60's, I don't think I've ever heard this many flubs on a song-poem record. I mean, the whole thing blows, but at least waiting for the next flub from the bass is entertaining. 

Download: Ben Tate - The Night I Lost My Love

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Dreamy Music to Make Your Inners Glo

Happy Second Half of the Year. Let's hope it's better than the First Half. 

I have updated another month's worth of broken posts, October of 2012 in this case. We're getting there.....

This week's fixes include a special post of a Bob Storm record sent to me by Darryl Bullock, a set of two disparate offerings from Tin Pan Alley, a pairing of Cara Stewart and "The Mystery Girl" singing a song with a mangled title, and a fairly awful Dick Kent number on MSR. 

As I do whenever I feature either an Edith Hopkins composition and/or a record on her custom label (out of Emporia, Kansas), "Inner-Glo", I will again explain that Ms. Hopkins is my favorite song-poet, based on the high quality of her (large number of) best songs, and also that she was a bit of a curio in the song-poem world in that, although she used the song-poem factories, particularly Globe, it appears that she wrote all the words AND music to her songs, so she was not technically fully part of the song-poem world. Additionally, although it doesn't apply here, she also wrote and commissioned records of certain songs meant to be directed at the legitimate radio/record store/Billboard magazine world, most notably with (but not limited to), the incomparable "What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)", by Betty Jayne.

Anyway, what we have today is a Hopkins special from that Inner-Glo label, from about 1964, and sounding all the world like some sort of brilliant mixture of a Patsy Cline song with production one might have found coming out of certain early '60's Los Angeles studios.

Whatever you want to call it, I think "That's the Place I Should Be" is just lovely. The lilting melody, the appealing duet vocals, and the loping 6/8 beat played by creating a wonderfully dreamy sound. And... I may have mentioned this before, but I adore the sound of a vibraphone, and the presence of one on both sides of this record (including a solo in each track!) is the perfect addition.

Download: Kris Arden - That's the Place I Should Be
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The flip side, "Should I Forget", doesn't have as much going for it - its main attraction for me is some fabulous vibraphone flavoring and another solo. Otherwise, while it's structurally somewhat similar to the flip side, and the lyrics are considerably better than the vast majority of song-poems, there's not much to set it apart from 100 other slow 6/8 weepers.

Download: Kris Arden - Should I Forget
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