Big Irish Mike and The Fisherman

Hi!

Before I do anything else, I want to share with you a video that I made. Early in the shutdown, my church asked for happy videos - anything under two minutes - to send out to the congregation while we were alomst all spending lots of time at home.

My thought was to perform one of my favorite Ragtime pieces, a song I learned, by rote, off of an album when I was perhaps 16 or 17. As I say in the clip, I'm a sloppy pianist, but I make up for that in enthusiasm. And I've been forgetting to link to this client for two months now, so here it is. An added bonus (?) you get to see my charming visage and the rest of me, too. Click the link for the video!

A Ragtime Nightmare

I'm sure that was excitement enough, but I have also spent the early evening today fixing another month's worth of posts.. We're all the way back to January of 2013, so that's another year I've fixed!

That month featured a post featuring a classic Preview release owned by a friend of mine, which I identified as Rodd Keith, a statement which several song-poem fans disagreed with. I also shared a wonderful EP on Air records (featuring not one but TWO fantastic songs), two versions of the same song on an early Film City single, and a pair of songs with some interestingly odd lyrics, sung by Gene Marshall.

And speaking of Gene Marshall.....

Today, we have two interesting lyrics from the pen of one Myrtle Snow. I chosen to go first with "Big Irish Mike", a tale of Irish drinking, Irish brawling and an Irish punchline. Ho Ho Ho. 

Listen carefully to the story related by Gene Marshall: 

Download: Gene Marshall - Big Irish Mike

Play:  

On the flip side we have Bobbi Blake in her guise as "Barbara Foster", which Preview used on her releases. This is the tale of a woman who wouldn't mind her fisherman husband leaving her to go fishing so often, if only she didn't suspect he was fishing for something other than fish, and if only she didn't believe that maybe someone else was out there trying to catch him. This is a warm, inviting vocal, and she really sells the lyric. 

Download: Gene Marshall - My Fisherman

Play: