Earlier this week, I spent a wonderful day with my best pal Stu, with whom I've also shared a love of, and a passion for collecting, song-poems. We dug through my unshared s-p records, as well as the pile of records I haven't even had a chance to listen to. From this latter pile came one of our choices for an upcoming offering, and I chose to make it today's record. It's from the Pacific Northwest.
Bremerton, Washington, is just a 55 minute ferry ride from Seattle across the Puget Sound, and is the home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It seems at least likely that this town of 40,000 (today - it was closer to 30,000 in the '60's) was home to Henry Ward, who just as likely was the proprietor of Puget Sound Records.
This is the only record I've ever seen on Puget Sound records, but the label number (503) leads me to believe that there were at least three others. For at least this record, Ward contracted to have Lee Hudson work his magic with his lyrics, and this resulted in the lovely voice of Cara Stewart singing the plaintive song of frustration, "I Got Gypped In My Love". And as with most of Cara's records, it's a lovely thing to hear.
I'd also like to point out the audible dips heard during part of the guitar solo, where it sounds like someone put a finger on the turntable, repeatedly. Those moments are part of the record - I played that section three times, on two turntables, and it played like that every time.
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The flip side (actually, this is the A-side, but I liked "Gypped" a bit better), also written by Henry Ward, is a nice one, too. This has the same groove, same sound and same style of vocal - Lee Hudson's styles were somewhat limited, although they are such winning sounds that I hardly mind hearing them over and over again. I hope it's the same for you.
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