Frank Manell's Greatest Hit

Before I get to this week's record, I want to share that I have updated a posting from two weeks ago, in which I had somehow forgotten to add the label scans. That was especially important, as this was the first time I had shared a record on that label. They are there now. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Frank Manell: 

When I first played this record, I knew I wanted to feature it very soon in a post, but I also thought it was one of the many cases where a song-poem company mislabeled the artist on a 45. Because the record shows the performer to be Frank Manell, and I was sure the singer of this song was a woman. 

It wasn't until I listened to the flip side that I realized that Frank Manell was a male singer who possessed a very high tenor, sort of a song-poem Clyde McPhatter. 

Not only that, but the song ("Diamonds and Rubies") is bouncy, energetic and winning all the way around, as is Mr. Manell's vocal. I find this record pretty irresistible. The TPA folks again demonstrate that, unlike many of the other companies, they were well aware of the styles and trends in music, and made their records sound like the hits of the day, the day in this case being 1957. The guitar during the bridge, in particular, sounds like it was lifted from any number of early Elvis records. The weird drop out just before the sax solo (which is part of the record, and not a error made in digitizing) is the only flaw here.

So who was Frank Manell? Danged if I know. He is only listed on the AS/PMA website on one record - this one - and Discogs has one more listing, for the release immediately before this one ("Having a Gay Time"). Then he disappears into whatever ether he arrived from. But he surely left us better than we were before he arrived, because this is a wonderful record. 

Download: Frank Manell - Diamonds and Rubies

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Sadly, I cannot work up any enthusiasm whatsoever for the flip side, "My Treasures", a dirge of an arrangement which buries any charms that might have been from the words or the vocal. The song is 30 seconds longer than "Diamonds and Rubies", and seems five times as long. 

But I will say that Mr. Manell continues to impress with his vocal prowess, with the exception of a tendency to over-enunciate some words to the point of mispronunciation, much in the way Nat (King) Cole tended to do. 

Download: Frank Manell - My Treasures

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HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY!!!!
 

Christmas Eve Dream

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

We're going to have a Bob Storm Christmas this year. And what's more, we have DUELING BOB STORMS. 

As discussed in this post from about 16 months ago, intrepid Song-Poem detective Bruce Baryla got to the bottom of the two different sounding voices all attributed to one Bob Storm, on a number of Halmark (and related label) releases. There was a man with a typical baritone voice, perhaps truly named Bob Storm, and there was another man, who tended to go comically over-the-top in his delivery, named Marshall Young, who was also billed as Bob Storm, for unknown reasons. Read the post linked above if you'd like more information. 

Anyway, BOTH of them show up on this record, which came out not on the Halmark label, but on the related Grand Recording Co. label, which tended to use the same singers and use and reuse the same backing tracks that Halmark employed. 

That said, the first track, and the feature track for this post, actually seems to have a music bed specifically created for its lyric. Either that, or the folks at Grand chose, from their library, an unusually appropriate backing track. I've don't think I've heard this track before, although I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Given that it's a Christmas lyric, the opening musical quote from Silent Night fits it nicely (although I suppose that could have been spliced onto an existing track). I also think the words are sort of sweet, about children dreaming of Christmas morning and presents, and quite without some of the pretentiousness and over-seriousness that tend to weigh down so many Halmark compositions (ahem, the other three songs on the EP...).

The real Bob Storm sings here, and another sign that the backing track for "Christmas Eve Dream" might have been unfamiliar to him is that it sounds to me like Ol' Bob trips over the rhythm and melody a few times. That wouldn't have been the case with the dozen or more backing tracks he knew inside out, but maybe it would have happened in a one-and-done take over an unfamiliar track. Just speculatin'. 

Also speculatin' that perhaps the lyricists name was Dick Tracy. 

Download: No Artist Named - Christmas Eve Dream

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~~

That first song was Christian related only in that it mentions Christmas, although it does so without touching on any of the religious aspects thereof. The remaining songs are unabashedly Christian in nature, although none are Christmas-related. The real Bob Storm returns for "The Power of Prayer".  

Download: No Artist Named - The Power of Prayer

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The same singer - and an EXTREMELY familiar backing track, return for a song about "A Dream" about visiting heaven. 

Download: No Artist Named - A Dream

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And now, the moment that you fans of the Ridiculous Bob Storm have been waiting for. Your man shows up to sing the all-too-brief, uncatchily titled "Evening Visit to the Sacred Shrine", complete with everyone's favorite feature, the short spoken word portion. And like the previous song, it's paired with one of those moldy, deeply familiar Halmark backing tracks. 

Download: No Artist Named - Evening Visit to the Sacred Shrine

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Re-Writing a Christmas Hit Song

Howdy, folks,

I haven't posted in almost two weeks, and there's a reason for that. In fact, for those of you who don't read my other blog, I will explain here that I need to acknowledge my most important news of the year. This past Saturday, my wonderful daughter Molly got married to the equally wonderful Sean. Here they are, stepping out into a swarm of bubbles, just after the ceremony: 

~~

I also have a little bit of housekeeping to do. Last time around, I shared a record on Preview by a singer whose name I couldn't find anywhere else in the song-poem world. Sammy Reed has posited, and quite rightly, I would say, that the singer identified as Terry Stillwell on "Santa's Visit" is the same person as the "Terri Wells" who sang the all time bizarro song-poem champ "My Doll Jane", another name that seemingly only appears once on the Preview label. Good ears, Sammy! You win a genuine imitation invisible facsimile! 

~~

For today's feature, "I Won't Tell On Santa", by Mickey Shore, I will basically say two things.

The first is that this is a new label for the blog, Star-Light. I believe this is the second record I've ever owned on this label. 

The other is that this is another example of the sort of song-poet behavior I simply don't understand. Close relatives of this type of record are the ones where someone simply submitted the lyrics to an existing song, claiming authorship. In this variation, Fred H. Smith took the subject matter of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and simply retold the story, using his own words but barely anything in the way of a new angle or other originality. Did he present this near-theft as his own work? Did no one say "hey, that same story was a hit song seven years ago"? I honestly don't get it. 

Download: Mickey Shore - I Won't Tell On Santa

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For the flip side, "The Little Pet Shop", someone at Star-Light took the time to go out and get some sound effect records of animals, and layered them over the track, which is more work and creativity than one finds on a lot of song-poem material, even if they did place them too high in the mix at times. 

Download: Mickey Shore - The Little Pet Shop

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~~

HE'S GOING TO BUILD A MAN!!!

Yo, 

Before I get to today's seasonally appropriate offering, I wanted to offer a bit of housekeeping. First, I got a couple of responses to my "possibly missing link" post from last time around. Sammy Reed has identified that the pressing is from 1961, and Snoopy offered up a legitimate release from, perhaps, the same singer (see the comments of that post). I'm not sure that calls into question the provenance of the 45 as a song-poem or song-poem adjacent record or not, but I remain interested in what people think about my conjecture, and I welcome those two pieces of information. 

I also want to thank both Timmy and Stu for their frequent, and typically very entertaining comments. Please know that I read and appreciate every single comment I receive, and please keep them coming. Apologies to anyone who commented recently who I may have missed, in offering these thanks. 

Okay, so today, I thought I'd kick off the winter/Christmas festivities with a song about winter and a song about Christmas, the latter featuring an artist billing found nowhere else in song poem land (although I'm guessing I'll hear from someone - maybe several someones - that she is clearly <this or that> west coast song-poem stalwart).

We'll start with the better of the two, a little Gene Marshall special called "Mister Snowman". This one appears to date from 1967, based on the known dates related to similarly numbered Preview releases, but the production, instrumentation and poor production certainly sounds to me like the product that Preview put out in the early '70's. Just one of those song-poem mysteries. 

The words are cutesy, but surprisingly effective, at least to me. And I genuinely find some of the melodic turns here to be extremely appealing, particularly what I would call the chorus - the section about him being "a temporary pal". That ran through my head for a few hours after I listened to this song for the first time. A silly little record, but enjoyable. I hope you agree. 

Download: Gene Marshall - Mister Snowman

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I cannot summon up any enthusiasm for the flip side, a bit of treacle called "Santa's Visit", except for the billing. The song is credited to a female singer billed as Terry Stilwell, who shows up nowhere else in the Preview (or in the AS/PMA) discography. I will (as I have before) readily admit that I am not a connoisseur of the women of either Preview or MSR, so maybe this is a commonly recognizable member of that cohort - Bobbi Blake, maybe? (I'm not aware of her working on Preview, or as early as 1967) - anyway, if so, I'm sure there will be several chime-ins. But even so, why the one-time moniker? 

Download: Terry Stilwell - Santa's Visit

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Finally, and most importantly, Cheers, Best Wishes and All My Love to my daughter Molly and her fiancé Sean, who will be getting married on December 10th. 

A Missing Link? One That No One Was Looking For?

 Greetings, song-poem fans. 

Today, I'm going to take a deep dive into a couple of the dustiest corners of the song-poem world, so if you're not well versed in the minutiae of the subject, this may be Greek to you, and it may or may not be interesting. 

Anyway, the story starts with what has to be the most mysterious of all the known song-poem labels, Noval. I've featured the label from time to time, most recently just a few weeks ago, and you can find all of the posts about Noval, including this one, in backward chronological order here. If you want to hear Noval's two greatest hits, which were on the same 45, and one of which ("Rock, Rocking All the Time") is in my all time top 25 song poem list) that posting is here. 

Anyway, even the great song-poem detective skills of those who put together the AS/PMA website couldn't find out anything about Noval - not an address, not a related label, not a time frame, nothing. The page for Noval is one of the most sparse on the site. Their records listed the songwriter, an arranger (usually "Jay" or "Fred"), and no artist, their numbering system seemed virtually random, and their records typically involved a piano, a drummer, sometimes a guitarist, and, rather bizarrely (although very appealingly to my ears), a vibraphone. 

So when this record popped up on eBay a few weeks ago I was certainly intrigued: 

Now, this looks nothing like the other Noval records, in any way, so clearly, the label name might just be a coincidence. After all, the songwriter's listed name is Cy Novak, meaning it could just be a vanity label. And yet, the record is "Arranged by Fred", who in this case has acquired a last name, "Holovnia".  And while the record sounds nothing like anything that was released on the familiar Noval label, it does contain a musical sound that is equally out of time and space with the music of the '60's and '70's, much as Noval's music did, just in a different way. 

In fact, I'd venture to say it sounds quite a bit like what the Halmark label was doing, by the late 1960's. It's got the echoey production, the stale, even moldy sounding canned backing track, and the general feel of a Halmark release, even if the vocalist herself is different than those heard on Halmark. Here's one of the sidees, "Willow Tree", sung by Arlene Martel. Have a listen and see if you share that observation. 

 

Download: Arlene Martel - Willow Tree

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Okay, so maybe it's just a coincidence. But maybe not. Assuming this is the same company, this is the first Noval release to bear an address, and that address is in.... Boston, just ten short miles from the home of Halmark, in Quincy, MA. 

None of this proves anything, and I am sure that if someone has competing information, I'll eventually hear about it. And if so, you all will be the third to know (after me and my correspondent). But the trail here suggests to me that maybe Noval morphed into Halmark (or perhaps into Chapel, which preceded Halmark in the development of that label). Or perhaps the person behind Noval (Cy Novak, presumably) worked with Ted Rosen of Halmark on this release. 

But I'm now betting that there was some link between these labels and companies. And I will forgive you for thinking I'm strange, when I tell you that I find this discovery sort of exhilarating.

Here's the flip side, "Easter Time", which amuses me in a couple of lyrical turns of phrase, the first being when we're told that, during Easter Time, it's "almost spring" (huh?) , and the second being when  the writer observes that "Easter Time is Here to Stay" (again, huh?). 

Download: Arlene Martel - Easter Time

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I welcome anyone who'd like to weigh in on this. 

She BEGGED Me!

Before I offer up today's record, I want to make sure you have a chance to view this eBay auction. It may not be there for long, so have a look soon. The asking price, if you ask me, is ridiculous, but the item is quite worth perusing. 

For here we have Sandy Stanton's own Film City flyer - the document he sent to potential customers, to sell them on the product - and the quality thereof - that he was offering. 

Please be sure to note the different price ranges and the various combinations of instruments and styles that he was offering, anywhere from a piano or organ with no vocal, up to a 20 piece orchestra. While you're reading that, keep in mind that virtually EVERY record that came out on Film City actually featured one musician playing an early sampling keyboard called a Chamberlin, and one vocalist, possibly the same musician playing the keyboard, and possibly with overdubbed vocals. There was not orchestra. There wasn't even a choice between a one, a few or many musicians. 

Also please note that these prices are for demonstration records - Acetates. If you liked the sound of your record, then you could probably buy 25, 50 or 100 of them, for considerably more. Also please note the promise to have your record played on the air, and that the station was in Mexico. My guess was that Stanton bought airtime at 3 AM on Sundays, and played all of that week's compositions. 

A fine document which explains the scam extraordinarily well, for those in the know. 

I'm featuring Norm Burns today, for the first time in six months, which is far too long. My stash of unshared Norm Records, though, is getting thinner and thinner, so that explains it. 

Today, we have a tale of a lover swept from her home in the far east after insisting that her lover do just that. In fact, as Norm tells us, "She Begged Me". Lyricist Olive La Grow spends the first few bars sharing three stereotypes about Japan which were particularly common to those who had not been there, without actually saying anything about what drew our protagonist to his lady, aside, perhaps, for a potentially scandalous reference to things going on behind "A Japanese Door". 

But then we settle into a sort of slow, supper club version of a Cha-Cha groove, the likes of which I'm sure was massively popular in East Asia in 1966, and Norman (as he's billed here) proceeds to tell us... the rest of the story. 

Download: Lew Tobin's Orchestra, Vocal, Norman Burns - She Begged Me

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On the flip side, Norm takes the role of a man who has cheated on his lady most fair, and asks if she will "Just Give Me One More Chance". With musically challenging lines such as "don't let us separate too long" and "our love used to be grand" alternating with cookie cutter rhyming lines, this is not much of a lyric or a song, and no one sounds terribly engaged. And then Norm starts talking, which is the death knell of many a song poem, this one included. 

Download: Lew Tobin's Orchestra, Vocal, Norman Burns - Just Give Me One More Chance

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Couldn't Get Away

It's been many more days than I planned since I last updated the site, and I'll get right to it without a whole lot of words. I've just taken possession of two Rodd Keith preview 45's, both of which have fairly horribly damaged labels, yet each plays quite nicely. 

On this record, the clear winner of the two is the very hard to read "I Couldn't Get Away From Love", a mid-tempo lounge-ish number. The words are much, but some nice chords, really nice piano, a cool organ solo, and a winning vocal make up for any deficiencies in other areas. . 

Download: Rodd Keith - I Couldn't Get Away From Love

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As for the other side, "I Left My Heart in Prayer", well..... "I Couldn't Get Away From Love" is nice. Seriously, this is as unctuous and bland as some Halmark releases I could name, and the backing track even resembles a Halmark track, to my ears, anyway. 

And I'm pretty sure that either "I Left My Heart in Prayer" is a typo, or the lyricist didn't know the difference between the spelling of "Left" and "Lift", as the title, as written, doesn't make any sense AND doesn't appear in the lyric. 

Download: Rodd Keith - I Left My Heart in Prayer

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Cuckoo for Coco Records

Greetings!

Before I get to this week's offering, I have a bit of housekeeping. 

First, I received the following interesting query from a new visitor to this blog: 

Hello Does anyone know where I could get a copy of the Cinema Records & Action Music Compilation of various persons . Who entered the 73 or 74 "American Song writers Compition"

It's a 45 rpm with several songs on each side. My copy was destroyed.

It includes; "Those happy days that we once knew" written by myself:

Merv 

I know nothing of this record, but if anyone out there does, please write me, and I'll try to put you and this long-ago song-poet together. 

And second, with regard to my fanciful mocking of last week's posting, specifically my amusement at the line "our song was worthless", Sammy Reed has pointed out that the line is probably "our song was wordless". Undoubtedly so, I suppose, but it still sounds more like "worthless" to me. 

And now.....

I believe I have a brand new, previously unknown song-poem label for us to gawk at and enjoy. The product on the record is from the Globe song-poem factory, which rarely used its own name for releases, and there is really very little indication of quite where (or when) this record came from, other than that someone named Chloe was definitely involved. 

The winner of the pair, for my money, is this genuinely oddball Sammy Marshall track, "Goodbye Mister Blues". Why oddball? Well, if you're going to use the word "Blues" in the title, you are very likely to use one of the standard settings for blues. And while this fits the bill in terms of instrumental backing and general groove, it's also a fact that blues typically comes in 8 bar, 12 bar and 16 bar forms, as well as a few others. And, in fact, the solo section and the bridge are both standard 8 bar blues patterns.

But oh, my, those verses! They are 7 1/2 bars long - bar six of each verse is two beats long. What the hell? Pretty damn disorienting for a simple song-poem, or for a standard blues arrangement, let alone both. What were the people at Globe... oh, sorry, Coco, smoking? Cocoa-Puff fatties? 

Download: Sammy Marshall with Orchestra - Goodbye Mister Blues

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On the flip side, we have occasional Globe performer Mary Kaye, with the somewhat more sedate "Sad Heart". This has a nice, loping beat, a pleasant melody and an engaging vocal, but nothing else about it really connects with me. Oh, and I do greatly enjoy the last two seconds. But otherwise, a fairly standard Globe offering.

Download: Mary Kaye with Orchestra - Sad Heart

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Some Stunningly Bad Lyrics, A Typically Terrible Performance

I was surprised to note that I hadn't featured the resolutely awful Noval label in just under four years, and thought I'd probably rectify that. 

I think that if you weren't paying close attention to "Our Song", it would just sound like another terrifically terrible Noval musical and vocal performance, with its plodding music and a male singer whose sense of pitch is akin to what a sense of balance is to someone with vertigo. 

I, on the other hand, was dialed into the words right away. From the first moment, I got a chuckle out of a song called "Our Song", which starts with the phrase "Our song had no words".... and yet, you're singing words in a song called "Our Song". 

But that was just a start. Consider these pearls of songwriting craft: 

"Our lips hummed our song" (not sure I've ever heard a reference to lips humming before)

"Oh yes, our song was worthless" (I dunno why, but that just cracks me up)

"but told of love so true" (recall that the lyrics made a point of saying that the song has NO WORDS)

The vocal performance at 1:35 is pretty special, too. 

Download: No Artist Named - Our Song

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The flip side features the other most common singer on Noval releases, a female vocalist who, unlike her male counterpart, seems to have a bit of style, although she also seems to find melody - any melody - challenging. This record - "Loved and Lost" - is as equally plodding as the flip side, and has the disadvantage of an extra 35 seconds, but is otherwise much more forgettable. 

Download: No Artist Named - Loved and Lost

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"Lance" Boils Over

Howdy, everyone, 

I'm always jazzed when I can take ownership of a previously unheard record by my favorite incompetent Tin Pan Alley vocalist, Lance.... er, "Lance", so I rushed this one to my turntable to share it with you. 

On "I Wish I Was a Cowboy", "Lance" does not disappoint. The song, as written, does not require a lot of vocal talent or versatility, and since "Lance" was lacking in those very qualities, he was perfect for the role of (Yee-Haw) Cowboy Wisher. The folks at Tin Pan Alley apparently thought playing Oompah chords would qualify as cowboy music if someone rubbed some sandpaper together, as was being heard at the time on the occasional Johnny Cash record, among others. It works spectacularly, if you define spectacularly as meaning "not at all". 

It rather amazes me that the folks at AS/PMA had access to this record, from the early days of their MP3 offerings, yet didn't see fit to share it. 

Download: "Lance" - I Wish I Was a Cowboy

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The reason I know they had this record, is that early on in the days that AS/PMA began sharing MP3's, they DID share the flip side, and it's still available out there in a couple of places. So I broke my rule of not featuring songs already in the song-poem ether because the "Lance" side is so entertaining. 

Anyway, my guesses are that they shared the flip side, "I'll Follow" because 

A.) it's also incompetent, although to my ears in a far less entertaining way than "Lance"'s performance. This is a group performance of a waltz, which is sung badly out of tune (when it is sung, including the backing vocals), and which quickly moves to the talking that has doomed many a song-poem record. Your mileage may vary, but my response is "boy, that was bad.. and boring", and not "boy that was bad.... and funny!" or "boy that was bad... and entertaining". 

B.) perhaps there was also an element of just being amazed that TPA would name the group on the label, "The Silhouettes", given that that was the name of a still active singing group with a not-so-old number one hit to their credit ("Get a Job") at the time of this release. Presumably, trying to get either the buying public or the song-poet to think they were getting that hit group's latest release? 

For my money, I don't think there was even a real "group" here. This is the only known billing of "The Silhouettes" on TPA, and the lead singer sounds like Phil Celia on an off day,. My guess is that the song-poet asked for a group, and as there were no groups on TPA at the time, one was created for the moment. 

Anyway, this is already out there, but I thought I'd include it for completeness sake. But I think AS/PMA missed a bet by not going with "Lance". 

Download: The Silhouettes - I'll Follow

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Or Wait.... Maybe THIS Burning Is an Eternal Flame!

So, I thought to myself... "I haven't featured Halmark for awhile. I should feature a Halmark record". 

And within the first four or five I selected to sample, in advance of such a feature, I found I owned one with the exact same title and subject matter as the song I featured in my last post - John F. Kennedy and the "Eternal Flame". 

My first comment here is that the "Bob Storm" who is credited on this record is the tinnier, higher pitched vocalist who went by that name. Sorry for everyone who loves the ridiculous, deep voiced Storm. 

And the other comment is one which piggy-backs onto a great comment offered up by "Snoopy" to last week's Sammy Marshall JFK record. He wrote, about that song's lyrics, "what an odd lyric for what is supposed to be a solemn dirge, 'They shot him with a rifle; used a telescopic sight.'"

I will see him that observation, and make an observation of my own about another odd lyric in the midst of a solemn dirge, in Bob Storm's JFK tribute, in which he warbles "the life a man gave for the passage of one civil rights bill". (By the way, was that a theory at the time - that Kennedy was killed to stop a civil rights bill? I've not heard that before.)

Your homework for next week is to compare and contrast the Sammy Marshall and Bob Storm JFK tributes, including historical accuracy, musical merit and lyrical and compositional strengths and weakness. You can e-mail me your papers. 

Beyond that, please.... Enjoy!

Download: Bob Storm - Eternal Flame

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On the flip side, we have another example of a song-poem lyricist who didn't quite understand the difference between prose and song lyrics - or even the difference between poetry that's meant to be read and song lyrics. How is anyone supposed to make a decent song out of lines like "A Paragon of Excellence", or "Rage Ye Cyclones". Not that the folks at Halmark were trying, but even a master composer would probably throw up his or her hands if assigned to do something acceptable with these lyrics. 

Download Bob Storm - The Majestic Oak

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Is This Burning An Eternal Flame?

Greetings!

Before I get to this week's song-poem feature - and a most massive cut-up - I wanted to share a comment by stalwart blog reader Sammy Reed, which played up something I really should have caught, too. In response to the song I shared one week ago - "If I Holler, Let Me Go", he pointed out "another song which could be a 'companion piece' to that song, specifically, the peculiarly spelled "Enny Minnie Mighty Moe". Thanks, Sammy!

And now, let's move on to another Sammy: 

The JFK tribute record was a hoary tradition both within and without of the song-poem world within six months of Kennedy's death. I've featured a few of the song-poem variety here, and there are certainly others out there, surely enough to fill a CD. 

And... here's another one. It's got martial drums, a minor key, an ethereal choir, and cloying words. And it's all about "The President's Eternal Light". And speaking of all the features of this 45, don't be fooled by that 2:03 time listing. That's about how long the song is, but the entire record is nearly a full minute longer. Can you guess what fills that final 54 seconds? I bet you can. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - The President's Eternal Light

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On the flip side, the song is about "Eleanor", and it's got quite a bouncy and appealing feeling, which sadly retreats into the background. At first, the lyrics Sammy is singing indicate that he's happier with his new gal, and wants "Eleanor" to go away and stay away. But by a minute in, it's clear that the protagonist is still very worked up over whatever happened between them, and the new gal is never mentioned again. I actually find this lyrical construct to be fairly weird, which is about the 700th time I could say that about a song-poem. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - Eleanor

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And now for a cut-up. 

And I think maybe, after today, I will have run out of really good cut-ups to share. I mean, I made about six 90 minute cassettes of them, when I was in my early to mid '20's, but there was far more dross than gold, plus I often chose to "cut-up" songs that I love, but which are unknown to 99% of the population. 

I may come across a few more that I think are worthy of your time, but I truly always intended to end this particular side feature with, first, my favorite of my cut-ups, and second, the biggest cut-up project I ever tackled. 

Last week, I shared my favorite, and today, it's time for this nearly eight minute spectacular. And the source material was that most gigantic of gigantic-lengthed hit songs, "American Pie", by Don McLean. 

(I certainly did longer efforts where I played with sound, including a massive, 30+ minute montage of sound clips, but American Pie was the longest song I attempted to slice and dice.) 

Two final thoughts - first, I was, at that moment in my life, in the thrall of Gary Owens and his wonderful radio show, "Soundtrack of the '60's", in which Gary was prone to throwing out ridiculous phrases and completely cockamamie fake names. This track is LOADED with Gary Owens drop ins. 

And second, as with many of my other cut-ups, this is not safe for work. Four letter words absolutely abound, and they are joined by a few other unpleasant images.  

Please let me know what you think. 

Download: Don McLean - American Pie (cut-up)

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If I Holler, Let Me Go

 

I sure would like to know what it was about Tin Pan Alley, and presumably its advertising, which drew in so many aspiring lyricists who had cockamamie or at least out-of-left-field lyrical ideas. While every song poem label has some odd or downright bizarre submissions, Tin Pan Alley seemed to have an outstandingly weird title on about one out of every four releases, for a while there, in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Just click on the Tin Pan Alley link at the bottom of this page and read through the dozens of previous TPA postings, and see if you don't agree. 

Anyway, while today's offering is not among the strangest titles ever to appear on TPA, it's still pretty far outside the mainstream, and I was happy to see that it was sung by Ellen Wayne, who offered up some of the most ridiculous performances ever heard on song-poems. 

The song is "If I Holler, Let Me Go". I was hoping for another off-the-wall performance along the lines of Ellen's previous masterpieces, "Chicken Neck Boogie", "Don't Touch Me There!" or the bewildering "Bellingham Playday Song". However, the actual song is much more sedate, a 6/8 ballad, which, to me, throws the weird lyric into even greater relief. And Ellen's vibrato is a thing everyone should experience.

Download: Ellen Wayne - If I Holler, Let Me Go

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On the flip side is "Never Say I Didn't Tell You", which musically is pretty straightforward, too. I think the title conceit is a little weird, and certainly doesn't roll off of Ellen's tongue. But if you did not speak English, and were listening to this record, you probably wouldn't suspect it was an amateur submission, or at least not until you perhaps started wondering why it was only 100 seconds long

Download: Ellen Wayne - Never Say I Didn't Tell You

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And now, for the cut-up du jour. 

I've been sharing these, off and on, since almost the beginning of the year. And now, we've finally come to the cup-up of mine that I love the best. And in a coincidence, it's a song that could not be more perfect for labor day. I didn't plan it this way (in fact, I had this one ready a month ago), but as I was preparing it today, I thought, hey, this works out fantastically. If you don't mind, a bit of a road trip before the track. 

The source material of this song is the socialist anthem "The Banks of Marble", written in 1949, and which focuses on how the working poor provide all the labor, while the bosses get all the money and stick it in the bank, well protected by guards. True in 1949, true today. 

The song was either the first or the second song released under the name of The Weavers, in 1949. 

The version I used  here is from Pete Seeger's 1974 album, and is the title track of that album. He duets on it with his Weaver compatriot Fred Hellerman. If you want to hear the original track, it is here, in rather poor sound quality. There is also a wonderful rendition featuring Pete on banjo, and sung by a bunch of kids, just about 18 months before Pete's death. (I've been to that same festival in Pete's hometown, by the way, in 1986.)

Anyway, the Seeger/Hellerman version from 1974 is one of my top 25 tracks ever released by anyone, and that, and its storytelling style, made it a natural for me to do a cut-up with. 

A couple of things here - there are a couple of four letter words here, including a spot near the start, where I shortened the fifth word of the song, not with an insert, but with a pause button, to create a very rude word indeed. So this is not safe for  work. And second, my single favorite non-sequitur that I ever created in a cut up occurs half-way through the third chorus, the one that starts at 2:35. That's some stuffing. 

Anyway, of all of my cut-ups and mash-ups, this is my favorite. 

Download: Pete Seeger and Fred Hellerman - Banks of Marble (cut-up)

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Norridge Mayhams - The Story Continues!

I have just a couple of near-absolutes here, in putting this site together. But one of those few is that ANY new and previously unshared records connected to Norridge Mayhams (aka Norris the Troubadour) will be shared immediately upon my obtaining of them. 

In this case, that means that today's record is not exactly a song-poem, but it is connected to that world due to the fact that Mayhams used the song-poem companies so often. But not, it would appear, in this case. But still, I like to think of my site as, among many other things, a one-stop-shopping spot for anyone who falls under the sway of the great - if spectacularly weird - Norridge Mayhams. 

In this case, this record, released on his own mouthful of a label, Co-Ed Sorority Fraternity Record Co, and credited to the equally lengthy billing of "Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac)", features a song called "Jeanie". Mayhams very likely hoped that inserting the names of then-current country and western hitmakers (along with that of the multi-genre hit machine known as Elvis Presley) might garner some interest, so he loaded up his lyric with references to more than a half dozen of them.

My thought upon hearing this record was "that's got to be from 1956", given the artists mentioned. And whattaya know, Billboard actually reviewed this record, on June 2, 1956. You can see that review here, on page 42. 

Download: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac) - Jeanie

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Interestingly, just about two years later, in June of 1958, Cash Box magazine reported that the song was "clicking on the collegiate group circu't (sic)", as seen below: 

Norris B. Mayhams, Prexy & Gen. Mgr. of Co-Ed 
Records infos that the Newcomb-Rayner Cannonball- 
ers, Buddy Rayner, Jerry Newcomb, Eddie Seabody 
and Charlie & Sonny, are currently clicking on the 
collegiate group circu’t with their latest waxing of 
“Run Away Heart” and “Jeannie”, and that they’re 
starting out on a series of engagements, this month, 
made possible thru the Intercollegiate Broadcasting 
System airing of their disks. 

And two years after that, a web search finds that Cash Box again reported on the group, in a May 21st issue. I've been unable to find the actual text in that issue, but maybe someone out there wants to spend more time on it than I did. The issue can be found here. The Google search provided this partial segment of the story: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers, Co-Ed recording group, have changed their name to the Collegiate Cannonballers. According to Co-Ed prexy N. B. May-

And that's it. 

For the flip side, we have "Run Away Heart". Billboard, in the review linked above, was even more dismissive of this performance than of its flip, but Mayhams believed in the song, or at the very least had a soft spot for it, as he released it at least seven times during his lifetime, although some of those - including the 1961 release on the Mayhams label - credited to Georgie's C & W Collegians, and also featuring a flip side of "Jeanie" - were probably duplicate versions. 

Perhaps just reading all of this insanity helps explain why I love the Norridge Mayhams story so much. 

Anyway, this may well be the first version of a song that clearly was close to Norris the Troubadour's heart. Here it is: 

Download: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac) - Run Away Heart

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More cut-ups in the near future!

They've Got English Beatle-Itis!!!

Well, what a fascinating little disc I've come across in my collection today. It's one of the earliest releases on the Film City label, and is credited to the otherwise undocumented duo of Pat and Patty. Patty is almost certainly Patty Stanton, a relative of Fable and Film City owner Sandy Stanton, and who turns up on about a half-dozen known releases on the two labels. Is Pat just Patty, overdubbing herself, or is she someone else? 

Regardless, and although it's not given away at all by the rather bland titled, "Young Hearts Can Cry", this track is actually all about the way young women of that day felt about The Beatles. Or at least I think it is. I have listened to this thing five times, and I can't quite make out the basic idea? It seems like maybe they're asking the Beatles to go away - that young women are unhappy in ways they didn't used to be, since the unattainable Beatles showed up. If so, it's sort of the female version of one of my two favorite song-poems ever, "The Beatle Boys" (also on Film City), in which a young man complains that all the girls want to do these days is pine over the Beatles. 

But maybe I have that wrong. I'd love to hear what others thing this sort of contrived lyric is going for. And while I'm not saying that this is the equal to "The Beatle Boys" (precious few records are), but it's a pretty fascinating little song and performance in its own right, with a weirdly meandering melody and those dang lyrics. Have a listen! 

Download: Pat and Patty - Young Hearts Can Cry

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The other side of this disc has actually been on YouTube for a few years now, but it's only been viewed twenty-some times, and bizarrely, with "Young Heart Can Cry" available, the poster only chose to feature the flip side, "Blue Heart". 

This is a deep dive into the song-poem world, but the melody that the folks at Film City chose for this song reminds me of nothing so much as the repetitive and sing-songy tunes favored by William Howard Arpaia. I haven't posted enough of his stuff here to indicate what I'm talking about (and there's a reason for that - it's bottom of the barrel stuff without being entertainingly bad), but if you listen to the piano playing the melody while Arpaia himself talks himself into a lather on this track, you might hear what I'm talking about. 

Download: Pat and Patty - Blue Heart

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And now, back to cut-ups. Not long ago at all, my best pal Stu suggested that I really needed to do something with the record "Popcorn and a Coke Please", by Acoustifone, which I posted to WFMU's blog ages ago. It is a record meant to go along with a filmstrip, the purpose of which was to assist some population of young people with spelling. You can hear the whole thing, here, and I encourage you to listen to at least part of it to get a sense of what I was working with, when I chopped it up. 

For my re-imagining, which I did while I had some unexpected time off this past spring, I ended up doing two fairly distinct segments. In the first part, I simply created silliness, and at times gibberish, out of the various things the narrator said. Then, at the 1:25 point, I took it in a more, um, carnal direction, where it stays for the last 70 seconds. 

Download: "Coke-Corn" (cut-up)

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Rodd Sings Again

Ah, yes, Beatlefest weekend! First time in three years. I will, as a result, be brief. 

But first, I want to thank friend-of-the-site and massive Rodd Keith-head Roaratorio for stopping by and catching up on several posts, leaving interesting comments on about nine of them, chiming in on a few questions, casting doubt on a few tracks I identified as being by Rodd Keith, and even passing along the lucky find, a few years ago, of that Halmark album I posted, for a buck. I'm not going to copy/paste nine comments here, but I appreciate the comments, thoughts and input!

And reviewing those commented-upon posts, I did find that I made a statement, a few months ago, to make a concerted effort to post the remaining Rodd Keith records from my collection, and that, after doing so a few times, I sort of... stopped again. So here is another one which does not previously appear to have been shared anywhere: 

"Evening Shadows" is no great shakes, I suppose. You might even call it Rodd on autopilot, but it's certainly a pleasant enough mid-tempo number. Rodd offers a just-this-side-of-unctuous vocal which is probably what the material called for. 

Oh, and at the one minute mark, I'm I the only one who hears "we've been farted" instead of "we've been parted"? 

Download: Rodd Keith - Evening Shadows

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Oddly enough, the flip side of this record contains a backing track that was also featured on the last Rodd Keith record that I shared, albeit without the sax part which is prominent on that version of the track. One thing I really like here - and enjoy any time I hear it on any record - is the sharp intake of breath before the music starts. Here's "We Kissed Goodbye":

Download: Rodd Keith - We Kissed Goodbye

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Cut-ups will return soon!
 

Phil Is a Beat Off

I have a lovely treat for all of you today. Well, at least, it's a treat for me. It looks like this: 

As frequent readers of this site know, I love Calypso - whether the authentic model from the 1930's in Trinidad or the Americanized version from the mid-1950's - more than just about any genre of music that's ever existed. And Tin Pan Alley was active right in the middle of the Calypso boom of 1956-58. And as one of the few labels who actively sought to make their releases sound like the current trends, TPA released several calypso flavored singles during that time period. 

That includes today's 1957 model, which not only lifts the Calypso feel, but also makes reference to one of the biggest hits of the previous year, "Blue Suede Shoes". The track is "Off Beat Blues", and it features frequent label warbler Phil Celia doing his best (or perhaps worst) Caribbean accent. Please note that the lyricist for this number - I think it's Francis M. Kadolph - inscribed this copy with a signature and gave it to someone named Jack. I hope Jack enjoyed it as much as I do, as I think it's is wholly wonderful. 

Download: Phil Celia - Off Beat Blues. 

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The flip side is no slouch, either. In this case, Phil is joined by The Silver Tones, who only turn up on one other documented TPA release (and who are not to be confused with The Silva-Tones). The Silver Tones, presumably, are the chirpy singers who back Phil up here, and who clearly only knew how to sing one wordless phrase. The other TPA release featuring the Silver Tones - titled "Keep On Smiling! Pay Your Taxes!" can be heard here, and as you'll hear, they sing nearly the exact same part on that record! In this case, the guitarist and the pianist play the same chirpy pattern, when the girls aren't singing. Anyway, this is a fun side, as well, even though Phil sometimes seems to be imitating Paul Anka here, something that no one, should ever, ever do. . 

Download: Phil Celia and the Silver Tones - Too Late! 

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 Okay, today, I also have what I think is the last of the mash-ups I made in 2005 - at least the last one which will make sense to those of you out there (I also made a few using parts of Star Ads on top of each other, and using other private recordings that I own). 

Anyway, this one was pretty easy. I just took the entirity of The Beatles' "Wild Honey Pie" (well, it's actually Paul McCartney by himself), and added a looping of the drum intro from Adam Ant's "Goody Good Shoes", and labeled it "Two Shoe Pie". 

I'm not claiming any greatness or even anything special for this one, but as long as I was digging into the mash-ups, I thought I'd share what I had left. 

Download: The Beatles and Adam Ant - Two Shoe Pie (mash-up)

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