Simple and Effective

Good day, y'all, 

I hope everyone out there is well. And stays well. 

Today, I have updated another month worth of moldy old broken posts, and made them shiny and new, none shinier than an absolutely wonderful early record from Norm Burns. The other corrected posts are those featuring a 1980 release on MSR featuring two of their stalwarts, a record on the Jersey label, a label not seen before or since, also featuring two singers, one of them not known to have made any other song poem records, and a nice supper club style record from Rodd Keith. 

Also, in our ongoing series of vintage song-poem ads, courtesy of Brian, here's an outstanding one, all about the "Composagraph" - no need for that fussy middleman at Sterling, Preview or Noval for you - the Composagraph will write your music for you!!!!

And speaking of Rodd Keith, which I was, briefly, before the Composagraph interrupted me... Today's feature is the first Rodd record I've featured here in nearly three months, which is quite an oversight. It looks like this:

Both sides of this record credit "The Raindrops" as the backing band, and both of which have a distinct country feel. And I must say, I am very much taken with the first on I'm sharing, "I Know". This could hardly be a simpler record. Don't let that "2:10" timing on the label fool you - this record is barely 105 seconds long. And Rodd, by my count, only sings for about sixty seconds of that time. And what's more, the song title, "I Know", is only uttered once, in the middle of a much longer string of words.

And yet... these words genuinely get to me. These are effective, concise lyrics, painting a full picture of the singers experience and state of mind. The first verse is literally only three lines longs, ending with:

"There in the debris is a part of me, I know it so well, today"

That's almost Roger Miller worthy - and there is hardly higher praise from me. The second verse is just as short, and just as good.

Download: Rodd Keith and the Raindrops - I Know
Play:

The flip side, "I'll Never Hold You Again", lasts just about twice as long as its flip. What seems to be a simple after-the-breakup song turns out to be something quite a bit more by the end. This doesn't grab me to any degree close to "I Know", but , it's another solid song-poem country turn by Rodd and the band.

Download: Rodd Keith and the Raindrops - I'll Never Hold You Again
Play: