Mary Jo and Ted "Millionaire" Kennedy

Today's record is called "The Spoiled Millionaire" and it's by the great Gene Marshall. I'm sure that when I got this record, and looked at the title - that is, if I gave it a second thought at all - I thought it was some screed, an indictment (probably fairly vague) of some generalized, very likely fictional "millionaire". 

That is most definitely not the case. This is, instead, a story song about Mary Jo Kopechne and her July, 1969 death in a car driven by Ted Kennedy. I found the lyrics hard to understand at times, given how Gene's vocal is buried in the mix. This is even though the chirpy backup singers repeat some of what he sings, a choice which strikes me as aggressively inappropriate for the story being told. However, the song-poet clearly thinks the other person in the car should have died. 

Beyond that, I'll let the song tell the story. 

Download: Gene Marshall - The Spoiled Millionaire

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The flip side is a tribute to the credited author of the last book of the New Testament, The Revelation to John, and is therefore most logically titled "John the Revelator". I was hoping for something more interesting, because if there's one thing that book is not, it's boring. But this IS boring. There are a couple of references to what is written in the book, but nothing very interesting. Where are the Eyes of Fire? Where are the Four Horsemen? Where is the Defeat of Satan? 

No, most of this is about the writer, not what he wrote. Like I said, boring. 

Download: Gene Marshall - John the Revelator

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This Record Goes Round and Round

It's been a bit of a crazy month, and I've only just barely gotten two posts out, for the first time since last June. And I'm still crazy busy so I won't have a lot to say. 

BUT, I do want to think a new reader/listener/commenter who goes by the absolutely delightful posting name of "Asphalt-Type Person", who has been methodically going through a lot of my posts - primarily older ones, including from the pre-Song-Poem days - and commenting like crazy. I count 22 comments from this person since the first one, just four days ago! The posts have been very idiosyncratic and tons of fun. Well, Mr. or Ms. Person, I'm not sure you'll see this, as you were most recently looking at 2011 posts, but I'm glad you found me, and I'm glad you're enjoying the show. 

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Today's feature stars Cathy Mills, one of a few female vocalists who showed up on Tin Pan Alley in the mid 1960's. You could be forgiven for thinking that you were about to hear a rendition of "Twist and Shout" during the first ten seconds of this record, But no, "Everything Goes Round and Round" immediately turns into a midtempo number with a bit of a Latin beat. The song has a philosophical lyric about doing what's right and thanks God for making things spin and keeping them spinning. The guitarist clearly has an idea of what he wants to play - something perhaps approaching the solo Jimmy Page played on ":Sunshine Superman" - but his desire had a greater reach than did his talent. The note at 1:22 is particularly special. All that said, it's a peppy number and I enjoy her nearly artless vocal here and the general groove of the band. 

Download: Cathy Mills - Everything Goes Round and Round

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The flip side is a dirge titled "You Said Hello", which has nothing whatsoever to recommend it, at least not to these ears. 

Download: Cathy Mills - You Said Hello

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A Very Noval Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day!

There is no better way to celebrate such a day than with a dull and dreary sounding small combo, led by an unidentified singer who can barely sight read, even when the piano is playing the melody along with his vocal. 

"What is Noval Records, Alex?" DING DING DING DING DING!

Here I have that fabulously weird label, producing a typically flaccid record, in this case, a song called "The Voice of Love". I admit for having a soft spot for these records because I genuinely adore vibraphones, and that instrument is sometimes all over Noval releases, including this one. Certainly the vibraphone is the only thing stellar going on here. On the other hand, the Noval male vocalist's inadequacies continue to amaze me. 

Download: No Artist Named - The Voice of Love

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The flip side - a tale of lost love called "Waiting for a Dream", so still appropriate for today - features a female vocalist, one with more character in her voice and far more accuracy in her ability to find the correct notes than her male cohort. The piano is still copying her melodic line, but it's more buried in the mix and I doubt she needed to have the pianist hold her musical hand in order to perform. And your mileage may vary, but a dreamy vibraphone will make nearly any record listenable for me.  

The interestingly named Ferris Paxton wrote both of these songs. There is a self-published book out there containing the poems of someone by that name, compiled by one of his children. I wonder if that's our man. 

Download: No Artist Named - Waiting For a Dream

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Guess Who's Gung Ho!!! It's Gene "Go Hung" Marshall!!!!

 

Last week's post contained one song which was indirectly about Vietnam, or at least had lyrics which would have been at least less likely outside of things that went during, and in part because of, that conflict, specifically, in that case, Woodstock. 

I thought I'd continue the theme today, with a 45 featuring not one, but two songs which certainly owe at least part of their existence to the Vietnam War. Beyond that, how could I possibly not share a song-poem titled "Gung Ho", particularly with perhaps the Gung Ho-iest song-poem singer of them all, Gene Marshall, singing it. 

Now, to me, "Gung Ho" has always meant to do something with great enthusiasm. But its original meaning to Americans, as explained on this page, was "Work Together", which is the basis for this song.(According to that site, even that understanding of the Chinese phrase is inaccurate.) Again, I didn't know this, but the phrase was specifically associated in this country with the Marines, and I suspect that the song-poet (who wrote both of these songs) was inspired by the then-current military activities in South Asia 

Anyway, here's another martial number, and Gene does his typical excellent work. I can't imagine another song-poem singer who would have been suited for this material. 

Download: Gene Marshall - Gung Ho

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Before I get to the flip side, I want to acknowledge that, again in the last post, I mentioned my friend Stu's speculation that the female singer accompanying Rodd Keith was Bobbi Blake. Sammy Reed, who I suspect knows more about Bobbi Blake than anyone else outside of her family, tells me that's not the case. Both Stu and Sammy know - and care about - the female voices of Preview much better than I do, so I don't know, or honestly care, where I land on that debate. 

But now I have a performance which is undoubtedly by Bobbi Blake, or, as she was known on her Preview releases, Barbara Foster. The narrator of "White Crosses" is, believe it or not, America herself, and herein, she laments and pays tribute to her war dead, saying that each of those deaths caused her pain, and that they were not in vain. Again, given that this was written and recorded during our misadventure in Vietnam, I beg to differ on that last point. 

Download: Barbara Foster - White Crosses

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An Important Find: "The Revox Singers" AKA Rodd Keith and Friend

I have something outstanding for you today, and it's another piece of the Rodd Keith story which has not previously been identified as such. And I'm going to share it even though the A-side has been available, on a rarely watched YouTube posting, for eight years, because it's not even identified as Rodd's work, there. But I'll start with the b-side, which is the better of the two tracks anyway. 

It looks like someone named John Sullivan, presumably from Chicago or nearby (the listed zip code is one used solely for high volume P.O. boxes), hired Sandy Stanton's Film City company to provide the music, arrangement and performers for two of his songs. This was to be released on the tiny (perhaps one-release) Aladdin Records and credited to The Revox Singers.

Please note that Sandy Stanton used the same numbering system for ALL of his Film City offshoots, so that if his last Film City release was #2022, and he then put out something on his "Action Records" sub-label, that would be #2023 and the next Film City release would be #2024. I add this because the number on this disc, #4150, appears to be the highest number on a Film City related record ever found, and may well be the last Film City related product released. I am speculating more than a little, but there is certainly evidence to support this. I am, of course, happy to revise this if someone has other evidence. 

Anyway, Stanton clearly handed these lyrics off to Rodd Keith. His fingerprints are all over this record - particularly "These Things For Remembrance" - from the style of the Chamberlin arrangement to his voice in the mix, to the astonishingly complex and beautiful vocal arrangement - almost like the close harmonies of a Big Band singing group. 

A handful of people who know me very, very well, know that the only thing I like better in music than a close harmony dominant seventh chord is a close harmony major sixth chord. Sixth chords send me straight to heaven. I'm certain I've mentioned that here, before, as well. And this record is chock full of them. 

Rodd arranged this for multiple voices, sung by himself and a female accomplice. I am admittedly a dunce when it comes to the female voices of the standard MSR/Real Pros gang - for the most part, I just don't care - but my best pal Stu suggests this is Bobbi Blake. If so, it's another clue that this record came out at the end of Film City's days. 

Anyway, I consider this an almost otherworldly beautiful vocal performance, and find it to be an essential addition to the Rodd Keith canon. The words are sweet, too, but in terms of my enjoyment, very much an afterthought. See what you think: 

Download: The Revox Singers - These Things For Remembrance

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As mentioned, the flip side - which is the A-side, has been available for many years as part of The Vietnam War Song Project, run by a man named Justin, with whom I have corresponded many times regarding song-poems. He does excellent work. 

"The Woodstock Message" has only a secondary connection to Vietnam, but I get why he considered it part of the oeuvre. Again, it's a male/female duo, this time with fewer vocal overdubs in the mix, but still a nice, harmony laden number. 

And it certainly contains some nice ideas, suggestions and entreaties, which, sadly, have clearly not become the norm in the ensuing years, and the possibilities of which might be, just now, experiencing their dying gasps, given the news of the last few weeks, and especially, the news as I type this today. And I say that as someone who is usually the most optimistic person you'll ever meet. 

Download: The Revox Singers - The Woodstock Message

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Gibberish From Halmark!

 

Hello! 

I'd wish you a Happy New Year, but that concept doesn't seem possible already, just 14 days in.  

I took a bit of a break to start the year, and to make up for it, I have an EP. a HALMARK EP. It looks like I've only featured Halmark once in the past 18 months, and that was almost a year ago. The big focus here is on the first song of the EP, something called "The Sketch". 

Label stalwart Jack Kim sings "The Sketch", and what comes out of his mouth is, as far as I can tell, is a mish-mash of nearly random words tied together just enough to make it clear that it's about an artist of some sort. I would love it if someone else would take a stab at figuring out these words. I just spent about ten minutes on the first half of the song, and here's what I came up with: 

"Amid the shavings, tools and winch, a burden task obscured to win that fight for accomplishment as his specialty of skeptic tour. Oh, wait, sigh, the way it goes. Our shrub or skeptic snarls. The ruined old be must sash door, my lore, the way of toils. The thought afflicts for reason sits....."

And then I gave up - I could not make out the next phrase at all. I'm sure I have some of those words wrong, but I'm also sure I have most of them correct. Anyway, I think this bunch of gobbledygook is worth the two week wait, and I hope you do, too. 

Download: Halmark Productions - The Sketch

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Next up on side one is "I Love You Only", with Jack Kim sounding, to my ears, remarkably like Dick Kent. This is a largely boilerplate "You are everything to me" lyric, although it's fun to hear what the writer finds to be "classy" about his gal. The writer apparently didn't write nearly enough words to fit over the endlessly reused backing track, so we get some "do-do-do's" and a recap of earlier lyrics in the second half of the track. 

Download: Halmark Productions - I Love You Only

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Side two starts with "A Hero Unsung", sung by Jack Kim's wife Mary, and which a grieving daughter clearly wrote about her coal miner father, and how he died from Black Lung Disease, apparently not living quite long enough to benefit fully from a crusading labor agitator, if I'm understanding the lyrics correctly. I guess that makes him her hero, because otherwise I'm not getting what was heroic about him. If everyone who works hard for their families at an awful job are heroes, the word loses pretty much all its meaning. 

Download: Halmark Productions - A Hero Unsung

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