Scientists? WHAT Scientists?

Howdy, 

Before getting to today's offering, here is yet another vintage song-poem ad from Vinnie. I suspect this one may have been more for a book than for records. The limit on length and the suggestion that poets send in haikus suggests to me that no songs were being created. I have such a book, made up of somewhat fair to absolutely wretched poetry, produced by a company that was doing even less for the customer than the song-poem factories were, literally just compiling well over 1000 poems into one volume (this book is from the 1940's). There is hardly anything that could be more anonymous and would have taken less effort. 

And now, on with the Countdown: 

I'm always up for an astronaut related song-poem - as the compilers of the early song-poem album and CDs said somewhere, that's a subject that really seemed to fascinate a significant percentage of song-poets, being the subject of song-poems seemingly about as often as was John F. Kennedy. 

So I eagerly snapped this one - "The Ballad of Apollo 8" - on eBay not long ago, with the fond wish of sharing it with y'all. And it's a nice enough country groove with an effective musical and backing vocal arrangement, and a genuinely excellent vocal from Sammy Marshall. 

But ooof, those lyrics. Apparently the ENTIRE project was managed by God. The entire song is about what God did for us, including a reference to the Genesis description of the moon as "the lesser light". There is nary a mention of scientists or others who might have had just a tiny role in the project. 

The song-poet was thoughtful enough to make mention of the first manned attempt in the series - Apollo 1, which caught fire and killed three astronauts without ever taking off - but somehow.... SOMEHOW.... doesn't get around to indicating what role God's played in that disaster. After all, if he made the tin can go around the moon, then he must have made the other tin can go boom. Hmmm. Maybe it was his day off.

I suspect I can't say the following without offending at least a few readers, but this sort of thing just grates on me. As a cradle-to-grave Christian, I have yet to be able to understand the version of religion, ANY religion, that thinks God cares who wins ballgames, who wins awards, who wins wars, or who successfully circles the moon first. Maybe it's not quite as bad when someone does something singular, alone, like win a tennis championship (although I still can't stand it), but when you are literally ignoring a decade of work by thousands of people. No. Just no. As you can tell, I actually find it pretty obnoxious. Your mileage may vary. 

Science did it, Ms. song-poemist. Engineers. Science. Federal Funding (remember when that was a  thing most people supported?). Write a song about the scientists. Or the astronauts.  

Download: Sammy Marshall - The Ballad of Apollo 8

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The same song-poet submitted the flip side, "Memories of Schooldays". And while this doesn't rile up any emotions close to the other side, it does strike me that the other problem exists here. This is a sort of sweet lyric about the writer visiting her elementary school, no closed and in poor repair, and reveling in her memories, hearing the voices of those she knew in her head, and imagining children on the playground. 

It's sweet. Clunky in spots but sweet. And in this case, the music doesn't do the lyrics justice, at least not for me. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - Memories of Schooldays

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Sugah Sugah

Greetings, 

Sorry for the half-month without posts. My desktop was hacked early this month and I'm still working on getting it fully clean. I cannot access some of the sites I use for writing this site and saving the files, so I had to wait to get everything together on another machine. 

Anyway, first, here is yet another vintage song-poem ad, with all thanks to Vinnie. I have no idea what company this may have been, or which of the two composers of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" chose to go the non-legit route. Probably the one that died from alcoholism (and not actually from falling down an elevator shaft). 

As I've probably said before, too many times, Edith Hopkins is my favorite writer from the song-poem world. The records she wrote are technically not wholly song-poems, as she clearly wrote both the words AND the music for her songs. But she utilized the song-poem companies.She initially worked with the existing companies, most notably Carellen, where she also appears to have aimed some of her songs for the legit market, including one of the best records ever made.

Then she decided to form her own label, "Inner-Glo", but continued to use the various song-poem factories to record her songs, primarily the Globe factory (although a few Inner-Glo releases do not involve song-poem outfits, and appear to have been aimed at the legit market). You can hear all of the Inner-Glo postings I have shared (including this one), here. 

Today's offering, 1962's "Sugah Tongue", from Sammy Marshall (identified here as Sonny Marcell), is not one of her best, perhaps, but it is catchy and bouncy and Sammy/Sonny gives it his all. This was also recorded some time before Globe fell into the soulless, repetitive that is heard on most of their releases.  

Download: Sonny Marcell - Sugah Tongue

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As an aside, I have seen multiple copies of this record show up on eBay (none of which sold, I don't think), and every last one of them listed the name of the song incorrectly as "Sugar Tongue". 

~~

The flip side is "Was Young Love Born to Die", which is rendered without a question mark. And that might be the most interesting thing about it. The lyrics are not up to Edith Hopkins' standards, and while the echoey production and Sammy's effectively emotive pleading are appealing, there's not much else here to like. 

Download: Sonny Marcell - Was Young Love Born to Die

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"Hi-Fi Baby" and Three Other Non-Hits

Howdy, folks!

Right here at the start I want to share that a new online friend of mine named Vinnie has gifted me with nearly four dozen vintage song-poems ads. I got a bunch from another person several years ago and shared them on this site, one per post, and it's possible that there is some duplication here, but that's far more work of comparison than I am up for at the moment, so I'm just going to share them over the next few months in the order they were in the file he sent to me. 

Here is the first one: 

Thanks, Vinnie. Here is some information about what else went on at that address in the top ad. Oh, and if anyone wants to try calling that number and letting us know what happens, GO FOR IT!

And now, let's walk on Air. 

Today, it's another Air compilation 45 - an EP in fact, featuring three disparate song-poem stalwarts and one complete mystery (at least to me). 

The EP opens up with what is by far the best song on the record - no surprise there, as it comes from the often-above-average song poem mill run by Lee Hudson, and featuring his frequent male go-to, Jeff Reynolds on "Hi-Fi Baby"

I bought this EP (on eBay) solely because I was almost sure that Jeff Reynolds singing for Lee Hudson on a song called "Hi-Fi Baby" would be worth hearing. I was not disappointed. While the lyrics want to be about dancing to rock and roll, it's more of a swing record, with Hudson's typical small band arrangement, fantastic and thick backing harmonies - of the sort I swoon for - and a verse sung in what seems to be triple-tracked unison. I wouldn't be surprised if that section was inspired by Jim Lowe's "The Green Door", which in my book is one of the 100 greatest tracks ever recorded. Come to think of it, perhaps the whole record owes something to "The Green Door". This one's a keeper. 

Download: Jeff Reynolds With Orch - Hi-Fi Baby

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Are you ready now to go about as far in the other direction as possible, with a bit of mystery thrown in, too? Well, let me introduce you to "My Valentine" by Leo Lebow. The mystery here is that I have absolutely NO idea what song-poem outfit put this monstrosity together, or who "Leo Lebow" might be. I guess it sounds a little like Halmark, if their backing tracks had high fidelity sound. But they didn't, and this sounds like a live track, although Leo's vocal sounds grafted on to me. The whole construction reminds me of something that Star-Crest or Noval would have done if they actually had had money. 

I suppose that there are people who like this sort of musical setting and this type of singing, and for them, I would guess they'd say Leo Lebow does an adequate job (unlike the singers on Star-Crest and Noval). But good God, I hate this sort of music. 

But anyway, if anyone reading this has an insight into what company produced this track, please offer up thoughts. 

Download: Leo Lebow With Orch - My Valentine

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The flip side is all Globe all the time. Kris Arden is up first with "Suddenly I Knew". It's got an appealing, loping beat, and a sweet, engaging vocal. But oh, those lyrics. Not only is the title phrase uttered more times than ALL of the other lines of lyric combined, those other lines hit their peak with the writer's admission.... not that she'd pledge her life to the person she just met, but that she'd GIVE HER LIFE for this person. 

I actually get much of the lyric here. As a young, young man, I once spent two hours with someone and found my world turned upside down. I'll give the lyricist that. But has any person ever had the experience of meeting another person for the first time and immediately being ready to die for him or her? I'm guessing not. 

Download: Kris Arden with Orch - Suddenly I Knew

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And that leaves us with the King of the World.... er, the king of Globe, Sammy Marshall, technically  billed Sonny Marshall for this rendition of "Just Before Day. 

As far as the musical setting, this is one of Globe's early Twist-like records, at which Sammy/Sonny excelled, and enjoyable from that perspective, but again, the lyrics let us all down. Essentially, the lyrics describe, blow-by-blow, a lovingly teasing bit of conversation that the song-poet had with his lady. Not only is the story not very long (even at 104 seconds, half the story is repeated twice), but it seems to be meant as humorous. And the biggest problem for me is, it's just not humorous. Plus, the lyricist rhymed "five" with "five". Penalize, penalize - that rhyme is null and void. 

But the sound of the track is nice. If it in a language I didn't understand, I'd probably like it quite a bit more. 

Download: Sonny Marshall With Orch - Just Before Day

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He Does it ALL For You, But Apparently Only Once

 

Nearly three years ago, I shared my choice for Sammy Marshall's Greatest Hits, each of which are is one one side of the same 45. That post is here, and one of the songs is called "I'd Do It For You", and it lists all of the wonderful things that Sammy would do for his beloved, including obtaining "the B'loon, with a gold star in it". 

Today, we have the very similarly named "I'd Do It All For You", but in this case, Sammy is, for some reason, under the impression that his beloved wants him to do such things as jumping into mud, being swallowed by a whale, and even drowning and being blown up in a exploding rocket. And these are, literally, the only things he is choosing from. What the hell? 

The song is bouncy enough to be one of of Sammy's better releases - I love his rocking (and near rocking) numbers. But who wants to have their lover kill himself? And who wants to be the lover who kills himself? 

Incidentally, this label - Land Mark (not Landmark) seems to have been one of the most vanity-esque of vanity labels created by the Globe song-poem factory. I can find no trace of this label, and given that this is release 1001, it's possible that it's the only release on this particular Land Mark label. The fact that the same person wrote both songs also suggests this label having been a personal creation.

Download: Sammy Marshall - I'd Do It All For You

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On the flip side is "Your World of Pictures". Musically, this is pretty much a meh, but lyrically, it seems like it's meant to be an epic putdown of a well regarded stage and film actor, who the writer/singer apparently has nothing but contempt for. At least, that's what I get from it - the wording of the lyrics, particularly the use of the title phrase, comes across to me as downright weird. Maybe someone out there has a better take on this. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - Your World of Pictures

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Cara, Sammy and Marilyn

It's time for another Air EP, featuring a trio of Cara Stewart/Lee Hudson productions and one item from Globe headliner Sammy Marshall. 

It's always nice to hear Cara Stewart, isn't it. Today's items are perhaps nowhere near her greatest moments, and the last two songs sound are essentially two versions of the same track, but they all give the pleasure of Cara's voice, and this first one, "A Carolina Love Song", has a sweet lyric, that great atmospheric Lee Hudson production (has any other bass playing ever sounded exactly like the bass playing on Lee Hudson records?) and a creamy, alluring vocal from our Cara. 

Download: Cara Stewart - A Carolina Love Song

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The only non-Cara entry here is by Sammy Marshall, er, Sonny Marshall, who is heard in a typically anodyne Globe production, singing a lyric bidding a sad farewell to "Marilyn Monroe". The song-poets words would have us believe that Marilyn "conquered fame, love and glory", although it seems to me that's hardly what a review of her life story would lead one to believe. Quite the opposite, actually - I think those things conquered her.  

Download: Sonny Marshall - Marilyn Monroe

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As mentioned, the two remaining songs, both sung by Cara Stewart, seem to be cut from the exact same cloth - both being waltzes, at the exact same tempo, and both were even written by the same song-poet.  Only the keys were changed to protect the innocent. I listened to "Tell Me Now For All Eternity" and "This is the One" at least three times while digitizing them and writing this post, and I'd be hard pressed to make any further comment about either of them. 

Download: Cara Stewart - Tell Me Now For All Eternity

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Download: Cara Stewart - This Is the One

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You Gotta Have Faith

 Quick, shout out the first few adjectives that come to mind when you think of Santa!

"Jolly?" Sure. "Fat?" Of Course. "Pretend?" Shh. Don't Tell. "Giving?" Probably less common, but not inaccurate. 

How many of you said "Faithful"? How many other words did you get to before you got to "Faithful"? 

Well, Sammy Marshall, in his guise (for Ronnie Records) as Ben Tate, is going to tell you all about "Jolly, Faithful Santa". This being Ronnie Records, the band is, of course, almost frighteningly sterile in performance style, and the most interesting thing here may be that Sammy hits a few bum notes while (probably) site-reading the song - indeed, this is one of most low energy and generally poorly sung songs I can think of from Sammy. Anyway, can you imagine a child being captivated by any of this?

Download: Ben Tate - Jolly, Faithful Santa

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On to the next song, and I have this to say: Ronnie was the wrong label, and Sammy Marshall the wrong singer, to have sent a song called "The Blues and Me". This musicians are competent, and no doubt had an intellectual understand of what The Blues is - and perhaps even an appreciation of the genre. But they were in no way capable of producing a Blues number. See if that isn't clear within the first four bars of this track. 

And I have NO idea what the Blues "Usually Make a Home Run" means. 

Download: Ben Tate - The Blues and Me

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~~

I mostly posted this EP for the first song - I wanted to offer something Christmassy. And then there is the ridiculousness of that Blues song. But I have VERY little to say about the remaining songs. 

The two songs on the other side sound awfully to each other, at least to my ears. Neither has anything to recommend it. The first is "I'm Sitting Here Alone". 

Download: Ben Tate - I'm Sitting Here Alone

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"My Heart and I" is, as I said, similar to the above song, but it does have a nice, loping beat and as a result, it swings a little bit, making it, I suppose, my choice as the least-bad among four poorly written and performed songs. Even the guitar solo called for here seems to be more or less in this guitarist's wheelhouse. Or at least in that neighborhood. 

Download: Ben Tate - My Heart and I

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Piano Bar Sammy and Three Song-Poem Lesser-Lights

Today, it's another Air EP for y'all, featuring a Sammy Marshall track where he is heard in a setting I do not recall hearing Sammy in, before. 

I don't really want spend a lot of time recapping the Air Records craziness yet again. Suffice it to say that Air seems to had connections with several of the largely song-poem factories and released some of the product, more often than not with two or three labels represented on the same release. Again, I have no idea how this worked, but Air doesn't really appear to have done any in-house work at all. On this EP, there are tracks from at least Globe and Film City, and maybe another company, as well. 

But hey, whatever their story was, the did use, for a time, one of the best label designs I've ever seen:

Globe is represented - at least, if not more - by Sammy Marshall, identified here as Sonny Marshall. And as I said, I don't think I've heard him in quite this setting before. It's almost demo-simple - Sammy and a piano, in a very Piano-Bar-Like setting. The song is "Footprints on the Moon" - this is the second song I've shared with that exact title, by the way (this one, unlike the other one, does not feature plagiarism). 

This one is an interesting little tribute, naming the Apollo 11 astronauts by name, acknowledging that there were voices in America who thought the whole endeavor was a waste of money, and praising them for having the "courage like a stone". I guess I'll need to start being more aware and impressed by the stones I pass, perhaps even basking in the radiance of their courage. 

Download: Sonny Marshall - Footprints on the Moon

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Next up is another piano-and-voice number, so this could be from the same company (Globe) as the previous track. But compared to the ultra-professional Sammy Marshall - well, compared to 98% of the vocalists ever recorded on a vinyl release - the singer here, identified as Andy Gordon, is a rank amateur, and he offers up a laughably bad performance. It's not quite as bad as Bob Lloyd's greatest hit, but it's in that ballpark. I am reminded of the Stan Freberg record where the producer grabs the first kid he runs into on the street and asks him to sing on his teen pop travesty. 

The song-poet, meanwhile, clearly had Gilbert and Sullivan on his mind when he wrote "Sing Willow, Willow, Willow", but sadly, did not have the lyricism of W.S. Gilbert and did not pay for music to be created at the level of Arthur Sullivan. 

Download: Andy Gordon - Sing Willow, Willow, Willow

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~~

Side two gives us two Christian-themed songs. The first of the two is credited to Jack Carver, but even a momentary listen proves that the singer is none other than Film City low-light Jimmie James, who made a series of terrible records - and one hilariously bad two sided disc - at the very end of that label's existence. You can hear the other Jimmy James tracks I've shared here with this link, two more tracks I've credited to "Jimmy James" are here (including one credited to "Tony Markham"), and the two ridiculous tracks I just referred to ("Free Love For Sale" and "Mini Girl Song" are buried inside this WFMU post. There is also this Christmas song. 

Anyway, if the voice of Jimmie James didn't give away that "There is Something" is a Film City production, there is the omnipresent Chamberlin backing, as well. The song is a somnambulistic two minutes, with the most boring backing imaginable and that inimitable, awful voice. 

Download: Jack Carver (Jimmie James) - There is Something

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We finish up with yet another piano-and-vocal thing. Perhaps all three are from Globe, but I don't recognize two of the three singers, so who knows. The piano and the production does sound the same on all three. 

This one is sung by Margie Murray, who shows up on about a half-dozen Air releases around this time. She's not as bad as Andy Gordon, but she's several steps below good, and at least a few below okay. I'll say this, I'm glad there's not an Andy Gordon/Margie Murray duet on this record. I'm picturing them doing a version of that stupid Lita Ford/Ozzy Osbourne song now. Actually, they'd likely improve on the original...it'd be a challenge not to. 

Anyway, the song is "Jesus Suffered", which, in its construction, sounds to me like the song-poet was trying to capture some of the intense energy and feeling of the song "Where You There?", without any of the effectiveness of that songs tune or affectivity of its lyrics. 

Download: Margie Murray - Jesus Suffered

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Sammy Marshall and the Teen Notes on Crescendo Records

Here is a record that has been sitting on my "consider using these" pile for at least six months, possibly a lot longer. And I'm not sure why I've left it sitting there, as it is quite good. Also, I've barely featured Sammy Marshall this year, so that's another reason to grab it right now and plop it onto my site. 

This is early Sammy Marshall (identified on this record as being backed by "The Teen Notes", for the first and likely only time). This is an early entry from the Globe song-poem factory, before they threw up their hands and started making every record sound lifeless and very much just the same. It's one of a handful of records that Globe released on their Crescendo imprint (not to be confused with the LA label GNP Crescendo, which was a legit outfit and had hits with both 45s and albums).

I have only heard a few Crescendo records (there only are a few), but most of those I've heard are much better than the average song-poem at sounding like what was being released by the "real" record companies of the day - they consistently sound like something which could have been legitimately produced for, and targeted at, the teen market in the early 1960's. Maybe not the best effort in the world, but there is nothing here to indicate that amateurs or scammers were involved. 

The only other Crescendo record I've featured here - 14 years ago - is the most excellent "Picture in the Fire", which you can hear here. 

If you play a Halmark, Film City or Noval record for a music buff who is unfamiliar with song-poems, that person is going to wonder what the hell produced such an odd, weird or perhaps awful record. If you play this record for the same music fan, the response is likely to be that it was a failed attempt at a hit. 

The A side is "Tinsel and Tin", and it has a loping beat, an effective piano part, winning backing vocalists, a memorable and catchy melody, and a first rate vocal from our man Sam. 

Download: Sammy Marshall and the Teen Notes - Tinsel and Tin

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The flip side is called "Outside of That", and I would say that most of what I said about "Tinsel and Tin" applies here. In fact, the lyrics here are pretty damn effect and fit quite well into what one might have heard on what Billboard would have called a "Rock-a-Ballad" in 1961, which is when this record was released. In a somewhat different arrangement, I could absolutely hear Gene Pitney (a favorite of mine) singing this song and these lyrics. 

Download: Sammy Marshall and the Teen Notes - Outside of That

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A 1960 Wolf-Tex / Globe EP

I've only shared two posts this month, but I made both of them EP's, to make up for that low number of posts. Today's offering is from the Wolf-Tex label, a somewhat schizophrenic outfit that seemed to sometimes serve as the outlet for the song-poems of Carrie Biggs and Stanley Herron, among others, while also releasing rockabilly and country records by a few acts, including one Harold Montgomery, the father of John Michael Montgomery, as well as another which fetches over $400 on the rockabilly market. And yet... some of those records may have also been song-poems. 

Their record number system also went through a few revisions, with records sporting three digit, four digit and even five digit label numbers across what were a small number of releases. The song poems on Wolf-Tex seem to have all (or nearly all) come from the Globe song-poem factory. I get much of this information from the Wolf-Tex page at the AS/PMA website, where you can also view a photo of the delightful Carrie Biggs, although I also own several records on the label not reflected on that page, and there are multiple YouTube videos of records on the label - although not this one.

Three of the four songs on this EP are listed as being sung by Kris Arlen and John Hurley. "Kris Arlen" is most certainly the singer variously identified elsewhere on song-poem records as Kris Arden, Joan Auburn and Damita. I have identified her as Kris Arden in the tags, as the Arlen name seems to have been limited to Wolf-Tex releases. Who John Hurley is/was, I have no clue.  

Two of the three songs are most definitely songs sung from a male perspective towards/about a female, and the main vocalist is John Hurley, yet Kris Arlen is listed first for all three, even on our first track, "Be the Little Girl I Used to Know", where she is barely present aside from a few harmonies and wordless backing vocals. 

More curious still: The three Arlen/Hurley tracks are listed as featuring the "MG Orchestra". MG appears to have been a vanity label with no direct link to Wolf-Tex, aside from the common link to Globe, and what's more, the label appears to have only ever issued one album, and it has no songs written by those song-poets whose name appear and recur on Wolf-Tex releases. The mysteries of the song poem world.  

Download: Kris Arlen and John Hurley, MG Orchestra - Be the Little Girl I Used to Know

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The second song on side one is "Little Nobody (Somebody Loves)", and if anything, first-billed Kris Arlen is even less featured on this track, providing multi-tracked harmony backing vocals and not sharing the lead with John Hurley at all.  

Download: Kris Arlen and John Hurley, MG Orchestra - Little Nobody (Somebody Loves)

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~~

The Globe factory's MVP, Sammy Marshall, shows up for one song on this record, curiously also assigned an orchestra, rather than a singing credit, and assigned not to MG, but to the parent company, Globe. The song is "If You Forget Me, I'll Die". Interestingly, this lyric (but not, technically, this song) is available on YouTube, in a version on a Wolf-Tex single (not an EP) and also sung by Sammy Marshall, but that version is completely different - and superior, I'd say - to this one. It's got a different melody, chord structure, rhythm, everything!

Download: Sammy Marshall Orchestra - If You Forget Me, I'll Die

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The record finishes with another "duet" featuring Kris and John, but really mostly John (again). At least on "Miss Belle of the Blue", they due sing in harmony here and there. This song is about a beauty contest in Kentucky. You'll be glad to know that the first two qualities upon which the winner is chosen is her figure and how she does her hair. And as with the previous Sammy Marshall track, this one is ALSO available on another, at least somewhat better Wolf-Tex 45, which is somehow identified on YouTube as Bluegrass (??), and which can be heard here. 

Download: Kris Arlen and John Hurley, MG Orchestra - Miss Belle of the Blue

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A Great Day... Just Before... A Not So Great Day

Right off the bat, I want to correct an oversight, something I meant to link to two months ago. Sammy Reed has posted several songs from the ultra-rare JOiFU song-poem label, including Gene Marshall singing a song that I posted in a completely different, Tin Pan Alley recording, nearly sixteen years ago. Have a listen!

And now, for something I ALSO forgot to do when I intended to: 

I totally meant to share this one for St. Patrick's day. Perhaps still being in March and only two weeks late will suffice. It's no great shakes, but it does have that St. Patrick's day tie-in, and it's also about someone who was a favorite of song-poets for a while, John F. Kennedy. Now most of the JFK records came out after his death, just as most legit albums about JFK came out after his death. But I don't think this one did. 

No, "A Great Day for J.F.K.", as sung by Sammy Marshall under the name Ben Tate, which was always his credited name when he sang on the Ronnie Label, makes no mention of JFK's death, and quite clearly was a lyric full of pride, by the extremely Irish-ly named Marcella Ridenour, about the current president being Irish. 

The song itself is another one of these nearly soulless Ronnie performances. Sammy provides a nice, warm vocal, but the backing band could be playing any of at least 50 other Ronnie tracks. I wonder how many of these they did in a day or week. 

It's also worth noting that, although there is no copyright date on this 45, dates are known for other Ronnie releases, and 2043 seems to have been the first 1963 release on the label. Then, by Ronnie 2151, it was 1965. The label seems to have released fewer and fewer records per year as the decade continued - and almost certainly fewer than 100 records during 1963. As this is number 2099, I suspect it was made well after the half-point of 1963. If so, or even if it was made in the spring of that year, Ms. Ridenour probably only had a few months - perhaps only a few weeks - to play it for her friends before a certain world famous event caused her to throw it on the pile with Vaughn Meader's "First Family" albums and not think about it for a long, long time. 

Download: Ben Tate (Sammy Marshall) - A Great Day for J. F. K.

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The less said about the lethargic flip side, "Thinking of You", the better. 

Download: Ben Tate (Sammy Marshall) - Thinking of You

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Where Else Would You Put a Rainbow?

I find that it's been more than six months since I featured Sammy Marshall, and thought I'd better remedy that. Here he is, on the tiny, tiny Sigmar Records label. This label seems to have been created in order to have a place for the Globe Records song-poem factory to release songs written by a Mr. or Ms. Severtson, and is only documented to have released two 45s (although there may, of course, be more).

The first side - "Rainbow in Your Sky" - is a pretty typical Globe production, sounding like it's from early in their existence. It's got a bouncy feel, some nice echoey production and guitar playing that sounds a bit like Les Paul on an off day, but otherwise a bit sterile (Globe leaned further and further into that sterile sound as time went on). 

Download: Sammy Marshall - Rainbow In Your Sky

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On the flip side, "The Old Songs", is about just that. It's just about as bouncy as the other side, but less engaging, at least to my ears. And the song-poet made his or her job a bit easier by shoehorning in the names of at least a half-dozen "old songs", rather than writing a complete lyric from scratch. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - The Old Songs

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When the Rooster Crows...

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all Mother's who are reading this post, and all those who have or had a Mother. 

Today I have an Air label EP, on which just one of the four songs is really and truly worthwhile, and for those of you who want to skip the dross, I encourage you to skip to the last song, after which this post is named, for something fairly entertaining. 

Very briefly, the Air label, for whatever reason, seems to have existed to put out singles and EP's containing the works of multiple song-poem factories, often two or three different producers on the same 45. I'd be lying if I said I understood how this worked or why such an arrangement existed. At least occasionally, songs appearing on an Air release also came out on the home label of the production company, too. 

In the case of today's record, all four songs come from the Globe song-poem factory, with three of them being by that singer most often credited as Sammy Marshall, here cunningly hidden behind another false name, Sonny Marshall. 

The one non-Sammy/Sonny tune leads us off, and it's by one of the lesser-used Globe thrushes, Mary Kaye. "Why Can't You Tell Me" has lyrics which feature that artless quality that I've found myself writing about lately. I was particularly taken with the point at which the word "reason" is rhymed with "treason" although the latter word is meaningless, in the context of that line. It also seems to me that Mary Kaye was not the right person to record in a trio with herself - some of the chords that result are fairly painful. 

Download: Mary Kaye - Why Can't You Tell Me

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On to Sonny-land. His first offering here, "Hopeless Love" portrays a painful situation for its protagonist, and Sammy/Sonny has just the right catch in his voice for this material, which he proved again and again and again. It's too bad, because this could have been something moderately okay, what with that voice of his. But the lyrics are pretty cookie-cutter, and have been revisited a million times, and the band offers a level of uninspired support which matches the quality of those unoriginal words. 

Download: Sonny Marshall - Hopeless Love

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Flipping the record over, we have the song "Rose Marie My Love", written by Buddy Gay, who I'm sure had no idea that if he just changed one letter in his name and picked up the blues guitar, he could have been world famous. This is nearly as faceless a track, lyric and vocal performance as I can imagine. I really can't work up anything else to say about it. 

Download: Sonny Marshall - Rose Marie My Love

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Now for some fun! That title - "Where the Rooster Crows" - suggests something entertaining might be coming, and the quote from "The Chicken Reel" at the start of the track confirms it. What a set of fun, ridiculous lyrics! We're told that it's fun to be on a farm in Arkansas, and the examples of the fun are.... a broken toe, falling in a pond, and being blown 10 miles away in an explosion. Oh, and "all you can hear is Bim Bim Bim", whatever the hell that means. Okay, okay, so this record is aggressively stupid. I know. But I'd rather that something like this exist than to not have it exist, and it makes me laugh.  

Download: Sonny Marshall - Where the Rooster Crows

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Cardinal Rodd

Before I get to today's songs, a bit of a backstory. Nearly four years ago, in this post, I shared an EP of Sammy, er, Sonny Marshall singing four songs by Michael Rose. Within that post, I commented that I'd already shared one of those songs, "A Little Bird", in a post nearly three years before that. I also mentioned that, although Michael Rose was listed as the composer of "A Little Bird" on the Air release, on the earlier Cardinal post, the song was credited to a different person Margaret A. Rosenberger (although I didn't provide either of their names at the time). 

Now, I have another Cardinal release and it continues the weirdness and confusion. It also features four songs credited to Ms. Rosenberger, two of which were ALSO on that earlier Sonny Marshall EP from 2020, where they were also credited to Mr. Rose. 

Rodd Keith, in his guise as Rod Rogers and with Film City's Chamberlin, performs the songs on the first side. "If I Could Have One Wish Tonight" is 110 seconds of midtempo nothingness, made into something by the creative arrangement that Rodd worked out on his one-man-band machine. From the oboe introduction to the choral oohs to the "hey-let's-make-this-into-a-long-enough-record" instrumental section in the middle - which is simply masterful for about 33 seconds - this is true demonstration of what Rodd could do with that weird machine .

Download: Rod Rogers - If I Could Have One Wish Tonight

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The second song on this side is the stronger of the two, I think. "Oh, How I Miss You", starts with a well worn idea about looking at the moon and knowing she can see it, too, but it's phrased very effectively, and the words continue to be nicely put together for much of the rest of the song, too. The tune for this one is considerably more memorable, and again, Rodd's use of voicings is again very effective. 

Download: Rod Rogers - Oh, How I Miss You

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As mentioned, the two Sonny Marshall songs on this EP were already heard, in identical versions, with different writer credits, in this post, and I am not going to repost them here. They are available in that post. I will say that "My Second Home" is the strongest track on this EP, just as Sonny's "A Little Bird" was the best song on that previous Cardinal record I shared. That's twice that Sammy/Sonny and his Globe band outshone Rodd Keith, and that's a rarity indeed. 

She Wants Him Back. He's Just Passing Through

 Greetings! 

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season, whatever it is you celebrate or don't celebrate. Here's hoping for a fabulous 2024. 

Whatever happens next year, though, it will happen without one of my favorite people in the world. Tommy Smothers died this week, and I want to just say a word or two here. That's because I think The Smothers Brothers - in addition to what they did for the expanding of boundries in television (and for letting Pete Seeger back on the air) - they were, in my opinion, one of the half dozen greatest comedy acts of the 20th century. I'm probably forgetting someone or some team, but I'd put them with Monty Python, The Marx Brothers, Shelley Berman, George Carlin and David Letterman and the staff of "Late Night" on that short list. 

And specifically for Tommy, I'd say that I'm not sure anyone ever had better comic timing or a more fully realized comic persona. And he was a hell of a guitar player, too, something that flew under the radar, but of which he was very proud. 

My favorite political site, Electoral-Vote.com has a nice write up about Tommy, saying far more than I want to here, and doing it better than could. 

Here are my two favorite Smothers Brothers tracks, both of which make my personal all-time favorite top 200 tracks ever recorded: Mediocre Fred and Crabs Walk Sideways.

Also, please keep reading after the song-poem post below, as I am debuting my latest recording, a parody song I've been working on, off and on, for the last seven months or so. 

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For the last post of the year, I have a sweet record from the early days of the Globe song-poem factory, featuring the honey-voiced Kris Arden and the ubiquitous Sammy Marshall, both acoompanied by the usual gang, here identified as "The Keys". This record is from early enough in Globe's existence that they hadn't fallen into the bland, interchangable backing sounds that crop up repeatedly on later releases. 

Oddly, the AS/PMA page for this label has the artists reversed, each credited with the wrong side, and that error has made its way onto other discographies, as well. AS/PMA also dates the release to 1962, but this three star non-recommadation ("moderate sales potential") from Billboard says 1961. I was amused to see, a few slots down from that listing, Eddie Holland's "Jamie" - which is a GREAT record and which did chart top 40 pop and top ten R & B - relagated to a very poor two star rating. 

Kris Arden's offering, "Sundown Valley" is particularly nice, a country flavored shuffle in which the singer tries to coax a someone special to come back to her hometown, with a few enticing things about the town that they experience together. Kris' vocal is just lovely, the equal (in the song poem world) of a Cara Stewart performance, and that's high praise from me, indeed.  

Download: Kris Arden and the Keys - Sundown Valley

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It strikes me that Sammy Marshall's turn, on the flip side, could be considered the answer record to "Sundown Valley", and the fact that both of the songs were written by the same song-poet makes that even more possible, although I have no way of knowing for certain. 

Anyway, in "Just Passing Through", Sammy sings of a woman who has fallen in love with him, despite his best efforts to let her know he wasn't going to stick around, which could certainly explain why Kris' man is no longer in "Sundown Valley". 

The music here is a little less compelling - I could certainly do without the sax solo, for one thing - but I am a sucker for that pained tone on certain words and notes, something that Sammy excelled at. 

Download: Sammy Marshall and the Keys - Just Passing Through

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And now for something completely different. About six years ago, something inspired me - something insistent - to write a parody lyric for the song "Up Up and Away" by the Fifth Dimension. This is not even a record that I like - not when it came out when I was seven, and not now - and although I've written and recorded parodies in the past, all but one were of records that I love. Anyway, it wasn't until April of this year that I decided to make a track of my parody. 

Anyone my age or perhaps even 10-15 years younger will likely know the song this is based on, but for those who don't, the original can be found here. 

I decided along the way that I wanted my music track to sound as close to exactly like the original Fifth Dimension track as I could possibly get out of my Midi set-up, and I think I succeeded to the point that the track sounds like a Karaoke track. It is not - I built it from the ground up, instrument by instrument. I worked on it off and on, sometimes on weekends, mostly when I took days off from work. It took me over seven months! 

I am very happy with the final product.... except that I can't settle on which prospective title is better, the one that reflects the original song's title ("Come, Come in and Play") or the one which better reflects the text of the parody ("My Curio Filled Room"). Regardless, I hope you enjoy it, and would love to hear comments, including thoughts on the better title. 

Download: Bob Purse - My Curio Filled Room (AKA Come, Come In and Play)

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This One Can't Wait for March 31st

Christmas is a-coming and it's a-jumping

 Christmas is a-coming and it's a-jumping 

 Christmas is a-coming and it's a-jumping 

Boy it won't be long

 - Lead Belly

I wanted to start out by making sure everyone knew that I know what time of year it is, and that Advent starts this Sunday. Because I'm going to share a record which was created for use on an entirely different Christian holiday, but I just obtained the record this week, and I can't wait four months to share it. It looks like this: 

When a song-poem shows up for sale or auction with a title as ridiculous as "I Love My Little Red Nose Rabbit the Best", the chances are - always - that the actual recording will be a let down. That's absolutely usually the case. But I went for it anyway and was delighted to win the auction at a low price and no other bidders. 

It is, as you've no doubt guessed, an Easter-themed record. And Sammy Marshall, under the frequently used name Sonny Marcell, is the performer. And I think that's almost all I'll say, as I'd like you to experience all aspects of this 85 second masterpiece for yourselves. I'll only say that Sammy gives it his all, and never for a moment sounds like he's contemptuous of the material.  Here 'tis. Happy Easter.  

Download: Sonny Marcell - I Love My Little Red Nose Rabbit the Best

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Incidentally, this song was copyrighted on May 18th, 1964, and song-poet John Hansen clearly had big intentions for it, as he took out classified ads in at least three issues of Billboard Magazine in 1964 and 1965. Curiously, only one of those issue dates was before or anywhere near Easter in those years. Also please note that in one of those ads, Mr. Hansen was additionally plugging his song "I Hire a Monkey". Who wouldn't pay to hear that one?  

The flip side is "My Love Letter Came From Paris", and like "Red Nose Rabbit", it just featuring Sammy and a pianist (as stated in those ads, by the way). The narrated part of this record in the middle has some marvelously lyrical phrases, such as "In the state of New Jersey", "Every time I see long, cold winters", and "annual rainfall". In fact, that entire section is one clunky phrase after another, to the point (at least for me) of hilarity. Oh, and don't miss the end of the sung sections, where we learn that receiving a letter from Paris reminds him of.... their time together in Paris.  

Incidentally, I'd like to dedicate this post to Sammy Marshall - real name Marc Simpson, as I learned only recently that Sammy Marshall/Ben Tate/Sonny Marcell/Marc Simpson/Etc.... died five years ago, in May of 2018. Here is his obituary. 

Download: Sonny Marcell - My Love Letter Came From Paris

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Today's BROSH-Ball Score: Cara 3, Sammy 1

This is post # 700. Wow. 

Today, let's attend a little BROSH-Ball game. You remember the BROSH label, right? I don't actually understand how this works, but it released the products of a variety of other small and large song-poem outfits, often mixing two to four different outfits on one EP. And what's more, given the address on this record, it seems to have operated out of a non-descript four bedroom house in the middle of nowhere, better known as the furthest reaches of the Chicago suburbs, a town called Carpentersville, IL

Today's game features a match-up between the Globe company stalwart Sammy Marshall, playing against Lee Hudson's favorite chanteuse, Cara Stewart 

Sammy Marshall, playing for the Nashville Globes, scores first, with "The Chimes of Heaven", although given the nature and low quality of this song and performance, I imagine his run came in on a cheap error or a wild pitch, 'cause he didn't earn his run honestly with this track. It's as sappy as they come - it's a wedding song, backed by a truly bland and boring band arrangement, and bathed in echo. 

Download: Sammy Marshall - The Chimes of Heaven

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Up comes Cara Stewart, the star player of the California Lee Hudsons, and she ties the game, hitting one - a number called "Dance With Me" - right out of the park. The debt owed to Les Paul and Mary Ford has rarely been more clear on a Lee/Cara record than it is on this number. Slinky and sexy, with some great guitar, and yet another killer vocal from Cara, and a lovely overuse of reverb (there is no such thing as too much reverb, in my book). The song is cool, too. And instead of the usual Lee Hudson "downward chord" effect at the end, in this case, the chord moves up a notch for the final bit.  

Download: Cara Stewart - Dance With Me

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The Lee Hudsons take the lead for good, with what must have been a workmanlike series of walks and hits, with the second side opener. This one isn't really much better, as a song, than Sammy's number, sort of draggy and some stale "poor little me" lyrics, but Lee and Cara elevate the material, as they so often do, with that same winning combination of slinky guitar, sexy vocal and irresistible reverb. 

Download: Cara Stewart - Love, What Is It All About

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Cara scores an insurance run with the final number, "I'm Coming Home to You", perhaps a single and a double, or vice versa. Honestly, much of what I wrote about "Love, What Is It All About" would apply here, and yet.... well, Cara Stewart is one of those proverbial people who could sing the phone book and make it sound great. I'll just let her voice wash over me, and wish that I was the one she was coming home to. 

Download: Cara Stewart - I'm Coming Home to You

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