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: 

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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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