A Devilish Walk and Standing with Jesus

As I have written about, ad nauseum, the earliest records on the Cinema label mostly feature a single solo male singing, accompanied by one of those all-in-one console organs, complete with drum effects and chording, that were so popular in living rooms in the '60's and '70's. I certainly always wanted us to get one. They are by far the most direct, simplest and perhaps most scammy of song-poem releases, although on occasion, they were brilliant. 

Here we have one which is not so brilliant. The song-poet who submitted "Pretty Red Curl", couldn't be bothered to submit a poem of more than nine lines, resulting in our friends at Cinema needing to pad the record, with an instrumental intro and solo section, and with repeated lines, just to get to 112 seconds. Note that the lyrics start at 0:13 and end 38 seconds later - everything else is just a repeat of earlier lyrics. At least the lyrics are stunningly well composed. Oh, wait, no they aren't. 

Download: The Real Pros - Pretty Red Curl

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The flip side, "For Jesus I Will Stand", contains precisely the lyric that you would expect from a song called "For Jesus I Will Stand", and the stultifying arrangement and performance leaves me cold, with nothing else to say about it.

However, I would like to refer you to the author credit, which is to Dovie Beanblossom, which has to be one of the great names of all time. Further yet, an online search tells me her full name was "Dovie Lenguilliams Beanblossom", and all I can say is, I wish that was my name (although I wouldn't want to sign for anything). 

Download: The Real Pros - For Jesus I Will Stand

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Two Insane Dance-Related Song-Poems from the Pen of John Lester

 

Okay, I must admit that when I first saw the title of this Barbara Foster (aka Bobbi Blake) 45, "Germination", I sort of assumed the lyrics would be some sort of play on words regarding certain reproductive activities. 

However, this only seems to sort of be the case - any such reference is buried in something entirely other. That is to say, not only this side, but both sides of this record seem to have come from a rather batshit crazy cranium. In the simplest terms, both songs seem to be about dancing. And yes, love-making certainly can be and has been described as a dance, and song-poet John E. Lester even makes reference to Cupid here, but the dance steps in "Germination" won't get you there. 

The opening lines of this song are a mystery to me. I've listened several times and simply cannot make out every word of what is being sung in the first verse. What I can make out is non-sensical (something about Java? "Delilah in Iceland without no fur"?, "Let's Begin like in 'Begin the Beguine'"?). We are then encouraged to "Germinate Love, It's Cupid's Thing". Having said that, though - as I mentioned, - we then are instructed in some very vague dance moves.

Maybe this makes more sense to one or more of you out there. 

Download: Barbara Foster - Germination

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The flip side features Gene Marshall doing "Cupid's Review" by the same song-poet. And it's worth noting that the only documented song-poem (other than these two) credited to this song-poet was called "Cupid's Thing", so Mr. Lester certainly had an area of interest. 

If anything, this one befuddles me even more than "Germination". You know you're in for a good time when Gene speaks over the introductory music. I can't make out one of the words for certain: 

"Make like you're on the way to the city, you know in your best <clothes?>

Know your color, love? Well anyway, you're it - YEAH!"

The rest of the song is about going to something called "Cupid's Review" (don't act too extreme, by the way). By the 38 second mark, Gene is talking again, explaining that apparently the review is a series of classic dances - whether we are watching or participating is unclear. There is an important moment when Gene questions what time signature is being used, and a bit later, he has a conversation with an unheard participant. The talking goes on for a full 70 seconds of this 150 second record.

I have literally no idea what this song-poet was on about. And I'd like to hear "Cupid's Thing". 

But - and I mean this entirely sincerely - Gene's last note is one for the ages, truly a thing of beauty, and deserved to be on a better record and song than this. 

Download: Gene Marshall - Cupid's Review

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Square Dancing With the Navajos

Hoo-boy do I have a backlog of comments and such to get to. 

Someone named Shane commented - while offering up some very nice words about my site - that he is trying to start up a song-poem page on Facebook. I am not really on Facebook, but I did try to find it, without success. Please write back if you have a page, Shane, and I will link to it. 

In mid-September, someone asked about a specific Noval song-poem called "Lonesome Cowgirl Blues," lyrics by Barbara Sylvester. Unfortunately, I would have to say that Noval is the single most mysterious label in the song-poem universe, and I've never heard anything about the label that has unraveled that mystery. I'd like to hear it though. I have a backup email address that is my first and last name, no spaces at Gmail, if you (or anyone) wants to send me song-poems. 

For another anonymous poster, I am diligently trying to get and answer regarding whether Rodd Keith played saxophone - efforts are being made to ask those who might know, on my (and your) behalf. 

Sammy Reed offered a link after I shared Gene Marshall singing about a nurse. His link was to a YouTube posting of another nurse song from the same vocalist, which is heard here.  

Apesville responded to my most recent previous post, agreeing with my about the timeframe on the record's release, despite the numbering system which would appear to indicate otherwise. He also linked to his Arco label website which is here, and which names some records not listed in the AS/PMA site for the label.

My best pal Stu pointed out that the songs on that most recent post, sung by "The Reputations" would have been considerably better if their labelmate at Globe, Sammy Marshall, had been assigned to sing them. I agree completely.

In more important news from Sammy Reed, though, he has found another one of those insane Bob Gerard Records - one of seemingly a dozen or so, perhaps all made the same day, where apparently no one present knew how to play a bass, so they had someone play the same three notes, in the same rhythm, on nearly ALL of them. These are nearly uniformly terrible records, in the most entertaining way possible (although "Snow Man" and especially "The Proon Doon Walk" are far more ridiculous AND far more entertaining). The songs Sammy posted are of the same quality, with that three note pattern recurring throughout the first side and, as a bonus, an absolutely incompetent guitar solo, too. 

Whew - that's a lot. Thanks so very much to everyone who writes in, and I'm sorry if I missed anyone. 

~~

It's Indigenous People's Day, and what better time than that for the following record: 

I feared that "The Navajo Reservation", warbled by Tin Pan Alley's Mike Thomas, would be one obnoxious misrepresentation after another, if not downright racist. My review of the lyrics does not really confirm the presence of those problems, although it is rife with stereotypical (if not truly inaccurate) descriptions. 

Actually much of the lyric is about the physical beauty of the land, and the biggest flaw of the song (aside from its gormless arrangement and performance), is the attempt to squeeze in such downright unmusical phrases "ceremonial clothes" and "turquoise jewelry". 

But my biggest grin came from the reference to the Navajos participating in a "Square Dance" as well as another dance whose name I cannot make out - all the spelling I tried failed to find any references. I did find that some tribes - Eastern, primarily, which makes sense - probably did contribute to the styles involved in square dancing, but only added to an existing dance form. The Navajos do not appear to have played a role in this development. I have a close relative of Native heritage and have been to many Native events, festivals and performances and have never seen anything called a "Square Dance". 

Perhaps the song-poet wrote "Squaw Dance", which IS a Navajo tradition, and Mike Thomas pronounced it wrong. 

My favorite Native American song-poem (or it may be song-poem adjacent) remains "Navajo" by Anne and Bill Calhoun, which I shared over 13 years ago, in this post. 

Sing it, Mike!

Download: Mike Thomas - The Navajo Reservation

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The flip side of this record "Right Way", poses a conundrum it never answers. What, exactly, IS the right way. I've listened to this record three times, and while Mike offers up some versions of what the wrong way is, he never tells us what the right way is. Maybe it's supposed to be self-evident, like these truths. 

Download: Mike Thomas - Right Way

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