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

Play:

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

Play: