Norman Loves the Mississippi

Howdy, 

I won't have a lot to say today. I found a Norm Burns record that hasn't yet been shared anywhere, and I thought I would offer it up. The first song is called "Mississippi" and it's a straightforward paean to America's greatest river, one I have crossed and marveled at least a few dozen times. It can't hold a candle to any number of tunes that John Hartford wrote about the river and its environs, but it's sweet, and I almost always enjoy hearing Norm (or, in this case, Norman). 

Download: Norman Burns, Lew Tobin's Orchestra - Mississippi

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There's something more than a little bit sly about the lyrics to "That Hurt Inside". The song-poets (two of them, in this case) want to sound as if their protagonist is simply trying to cheer up a person with a broken heart (although I'm not sure "you meant nothing to him" is helpful). By the second half of the song, though, it's clear that the singer is promoting someone else (himself, most likely) who would be much better for her. It's not a cheer up song at all, it's more of a seduction. 

Download: Norman Burns, Lew Tobin's Orchestra - That Hurt Inside

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A Quartet of Globe Acetate Demos

I thought I'd do something I haven't done in a while and offer up a few examples of one early stage of the song-poem process. Now, what I'm sharing here is not how things always worked, and it certainly didn't work like this at all at some of the labels. But, this was at least the way it sometimes worked at the massive Globe song-poem factory. Globe seems to have been about the biggest of the song-poem companies, although they never released anything but acetates under their own name. All of those Sammy Marshall (et al) releases were Globe products, as were those by several other singers. 

Anyway, one choice the Globe company customer had was to pay for a simple demo - a few instruments and a singer doing the song the Globalists had created from the submitted lyrics. Sometimes, I'm sure, this was to demonstrate what Globe had done with the material and was the first step towards a full band performance with one of the company's regular singers. But even more often, I would bet, the process ended with the acetate - the customer got to enjoy his or her song on a real record to share with friends. 

Here are four examples which come from a larger collection I acquired somehow, all of which bear the lyrical credit to the team of James Fout and Dottie Orr. In all four cases, the accompaniment is just an acoustic guitar. The first two shared here are song by a woman, the last two by a man. A sense of loss, of nostalgia and memories of times past pervade most of the lyrics here. 

The only other comment I'll make is that "The Little Things" probably was not meant by its authors to be sung by a woman, given that it is about missing a female sweetheart. Today, such a combination would likely not even cause a raised eyebrow (and we're a much better society for that), but in those days, I doubt it's the lyricists had in mind. 

Here, without further comment, four songs from Globe acetates:  

Download: No Artist Named (Globe Acetate) - The Little Things

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Download: No Artist Named (Globe Acetate) - The Little Rascal Next Door

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Download: No Artist Named (Globe Acetate) - A Beautiful Rose

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Download: No Artist Named (Globe Acetate) - I'll Be There

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Uggy Pugs I Have Done

I wonder if Phil Celia came to Tin Pan Alley thinking of himself as a serious vocalist, capable of great singing and hoping to be given wonderful things to perform. If that was the case, he must have been sorely disappointed, given that he ended up singing such classics as "Moaning and Groaning Twist", "I'm Sorry I Put On Charlie's Shoes", "It Butch the Rough Barber Man Shaves Castro", "A Fat Man in a Compact Car", "Tin Cans, Tin Cans, Tin Cans", "You Made a Boo Boo, Lula", and of course, "Keep On Smiling! Pay Your Taxes!", nearly all of which can be found on this site by plugging them into the box at above left (or just clicking on the Phil Celia tag below this post). I think only one or two of them got posted to the now defunct WFMU blog, rather than this site. 

Poor Phil. He landed at Tin Pan Alley during one of those periods when they seemed to have been attracting lunkheads who thought they were funny, or at best, people who wanted to have something goofy recorded for them. Today, Phil is "Doin' the Uggy Pug"

Like a lot of Phil's records from this era, this song is set to the backing of a three piece jazz combo. The lyrics describe a dance style unlike any you've ever heard, with mixture of things people don't generally (or ever) do while dancing ("He hunches over with a razzle bristle back" "he slithers like a python") and phrases that are not explained, but seem to be dance moves ("She gives the cat's meow" "<she acts> like a cat upon a track" - huh?). I'm also not aware of eagles listening to music as the fly away. 

Looking over that list, one thing that pops out at me is that the brain-trust at Tin Pan Alley usually actually did a good job, and sometimes an excellent job, of tying music styles and arrangements to the goofy words they had received. That wasn't so often true of other labels. 

Download: Phil Celia - Doin' the Uggy Pug

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The flip side is named "Orbit Rhythm", and this is apparently another dance move song, although there are far fewer directions at how to do the "Orbit" than there were for doing the "Uggy Pug". The drummer is doing some fun stuff with his sticks and the pianist on these records is never less than steady and professional, but I don't get much from this one. 

Download: Phil Celia - Orbit Rhythm

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