Raindrops Downtown

Just a word at the top of the post to share that fellow blogger, song-poem fanatic and great friend of the site Sammy Reed has returned to blogspot and reopened his "Music from the World of the Strange and the Bizarre" at this location. The link to Sammy's site, below and to the right, has also been updated. There's only one post so far, but it's a doozy - another example of someone literally taking the words, verbatim, from a pop hit and submitting them as his or her own, to a song-poem company. 

On the preview label, Rodd Keith most often appeared under his own preferred name (Rodd Keith), and sometimes, particularly on poppy, lightweight numbers, he was credited along with a backing band labeled "The Raindrops", and, on less than two dozen occasions, Rodd tracks were released credited to "The Downtowners". On even fewer occasions (three which are listed at AS/PMA), those latter releases were credited to "Downtowners", sans "the". This is one of those releases. 

Given it's light pop feel, this certainly could have been one of those records which were credited to "Rodd Keith and The Raindrops". However, in a bit of a coincidence, given that name of Rodd's typical backing band, the song itself is titled "Raindrops". Rodd offers his typical sterling arrangement, melodic excellence and heartfelt vocals. 

Download: Downtowners - Raindrops

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The flip side of this record has actually been available, off and on (currently "on") for several years now, but I thought it was worth posting this record since "Raindrops" doesn't appear to be previously available anywhere, and also, the flip side, "My Wife Ain't Lazy" is downright funny and clever. 

Plus, it gives me an always welcome chance to again link to Darryl Bullock's wonderful "World's Worst Music" blog. This song was part of a full CD length set of mostly terrible song-poems (this was no doubt one of the exceptions, as he explains in the post), that you can download, complete with a CD booklet, in this post, and I heartily recommend doing so. 

Anyway, "My Wife Ain't Lazy" is, as I said, catchy, bouncy and fun, with some great lyrics. The verse that starts around 1:30, and the spoken word section at the end feature one comical image after another.  The band is cooking, as usual, and Rodd again chooses just the right tone and style of vocal to match the material. 

Download: Downtowners - My Wife Ain't Lazy

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