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

Play:

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

Play: