A look at some of the more remarkable items found during 40 years of collecting all manner of recordings. For information on saving these files, see the top box on the right.
If you're at all familiar with the world of song-poems and the people who made (and make) them, you know that it, and they, exist for little more than one reason - that being: to separate people from their money, often through barely legal methods, which often cross a line into a rather elaborate scam.
That's not to say that there weren't people in the business who chose to try and do something original, or which reflected the actual talent of the musicians involved (and, when it occured, the actual talent of the lyric writers). Certainly, men like Rodd Keith, Norm Burns and Lee Hudson, among many others, made it clear by many of their arrangements and performances that they were, at least at times, trying to do something decent, even good.
However, the underlying money-making remained the reason for the business, and a few labels, notably Preview, MSR and Halmark, were not opposed to using the same backing tracks, slightly altered (or not altered at all), for multiple releases. But today's example may be unique - I'm certainly unaware of any other song-poem 45 or EP which makes the scam quite as clear as this one does.
Imagine if you will, that you are the writer of the lyrics of Rodd Keith's release, "Playboy's Paradise", an indictment of a certain type of lifestyle. You receive the 100 or 200 copies of the record, as paid for and promised, and listen to the music that Preview records has built around your record, featuring the country stylings of Mr. Keith. It sounds like this:
You, the writer, are very happy with the product, play it for your family and everyone you know, and give out the copies you've received to your friends. The folks at Preview recorded a track, based on your lyrics and your request for a country setting, and made a unique record from your poem.
One day, you think, "Hey, I wonder what the song on the other side of the label sounds like". Flipping the 45 over, you see that it's called "Take Two Lips", and you plop it on the turntable. Being, by this point, quite familiar with "Playboy's Paradise", from the A side, you immediately notice that the "Take Two Lips" is set to THE EXACT SAME BACKING TRACK as your song.
Today's song-poem offerings come from two labels which are not featured as often as others, when song-poems are a compiled, shared or discussed. In the case of both these labels, it appears they released song-poems, legit singles and vanity recordings. I am sure today's first offering is a song poem, and am not quite as sure to which world the second one begins.
First is a record on the Tin Pan Alley label. Tin Pan Alley dated back earlier than most of the song-poem labels which get more attention, and released enough legit or borderline legit records to have been the subject of an anthology of their "best doo-wop records", although whether that CD is, itself, legit, is anyone's guess. They soon moved into the song-poem game full time, and produced some of the weirdest records I've heard from the genre, including "It's Spring", which I recently featured here. Today's featured record comes from the earlier years of the label, however.
And this one seems made just for me, as it combines the song-poem concept with perhaps my favorite genre of music, Calypso. Phil Celia, previously heard on this site performing the classic "Atom Dynomic Dance", here tries his hand at "If Mama's and Papa's Would Stay At Home". Views reflected in this song-poem do not necessarily reflect those of the management:
Next up is a favorite from the Fable label. This label seems to have been all over the map. I have vanity pressings, novelty records, and song-poems on Fable, and I've seen early rock and roll and doo-wop from the label go for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Whether today's feature was an attempt at an actual country hit or a song-poem is a mystery to me. It does feature label head Sandy Stanton doing the music, but so do some of the label's legit releases. Whatever it is, you're not likely to hear anything else quite like it today. Enjoy Little Donnie Lane with "Go Away":
Please excuse the interruption to this music blog.
It has become necessary to reboot the system titled "United States of America".
The problem has been present at length and has become chronic. It appears to date back to the instillation of defective software eight years ago. That this software was likely invalid was known at the time, but it was installed anyway, and the result has been a system rendered almost unusable, due to erratic behavior, unpredictable actions, and on several occasions, illegal operations.
An uninstall, attempted four years ago, failed, but it is hoped that today's reboot will be successful, and that the system has not already been permanently corrupted.
As promised in a previous post, today I'm writing a tribute to a woman whose name I'd never heard six months ago, but whose records I've been collecting ever since finding out who she was, back around August.
It was some time last year, I think, that I posted a recording of an obscure 78 that I've loved since childhood, a version of The Three Little Pigs, which I only had on a reel to reel tape. I have long been head over heels in love with the singer on that 78. When I asked the readers of this blog who the singer might be, I got no answers, so I turned to the readers of the WFMU blog.
I was quickly informed to seek out an online children's record expert, who just as quickly told me that the woman's name was Toby Deane. After further contact with Irwan Chusid of WFMU, I learned that she had died earlier this decade, and that she had made at least one other amazing record, "Alice in Christmas Wonderland", which I shared a few weeks ago.
This set me off searching for more Toby Deane records. I immediately found out that another of my childhood 78's, one greatly loved by my mother and sister, of the story of Peter Pan, also featured Toby Deane, and then I started buying records.
Just recently, after I wrote about her, a fellow named Thomas contacted me, and has sent me a photo of Toby Deane, with Benny Goodman, which appears above. Many thanks to him.
The following is the story in sound. While I think most of these are great, I will also admit that not all of these are good - in fact, I'd say a couple of them are downright bland, and one really grates on me. But I'll get to that, later. First, the record I grew up with, which I've always adored. Even if you've heard this before, when I've posted it, have a listen - I've found a 10" 78 of the record, which not only doesn't stop in the middle, but also is in MUCH better shape. Toby Deane, with Bob Mallit, sing about The Three Little Pigs:
Next, although I just posted it a few weeks ago, for the sake of completeness, here is Toby Deane and the Hummingbirds, with "Alice in Christmas Wonderland":
Here's a remarkable record, which I mentioned above. Victor Jory narrates the story of Peter Pan, while Toby Deane performs as both Peter and Wendy, using completely different voices for each. This is a fairly scratchy, much loved record:
For a change of pace, here she is, singing a major hit from the early 1950's, on one of those budget label EP 78's which contained the hits of the day, sung by people no one had heard of, in this case, a fairly complete reworking of Rosemary Clooney's Come On-a My House. I would assume that this was her "normal" singing voice:
Moving into a somewhat less-than-great category, here's a Toby Deane record from a little 7" picture disc from the Voco label (the same label which supplied the first three tracks posted above). "'Round and Round the Village" is no great shakes, but there remains something quite magical about her voice, which gives this record a sweetness and pull on me that most other vocalists would have been unable to provide with such material:
Another record which might be consider more than a little cloying is "Jingle Dingle", another 7" 78, in this case on both sides of the record. There are moments here, again, where Toby Deane's vocal magic lifts this above the mundane material. She's actually credited as "Toby Dean" on this record:
Moving another step down, the following track, "Songs of the Farm", is the B-Side of "The Three Little Pigs". It's really nothing special, except again, the voice draws me in here and there:
Next up is a track from an apparently much beloved 1950's children's Christmas album, "Christmas is For Children". Toby Deane is credited on the cover, and this is the only track where it sounds remotely like she might be involved. Curiously, this is a much sought-out track among those of a certain age - repeatedly asked for and posted on blogs, and the album sells for many dollars on eBay.
I say "curiously" because, to be honest, I found the album wholly wretched, and the best things I can say about this track is that it isn't as bad as most of the others, and more than that, that it plays up her strengths as a voice actress - in this case, portraying a boy of about eight, yet another characterization! It's called "I've Got 18 Cents":
Finally, a change of pace. A decade or more after all of these records were made, Toby Deane took part in a sort of "answer record" to the massive hit album "The First Family". This was called "The Other Family", and she appeared on about half the tracks, playing Mrs. Kruschev to Larry Foster's Nikita. While I didn't find this album funny, perhaps you hadda be there, and it's worth hearing her do a version of the original "First Family" album's Jackie, reimagined as a Russian Woman. This is called "Another Saturday Night":
And here is a picture and some text about Toby Deane, from the back of that album:
I sure wish I'd known of Toby Deane and her work earlier. I'd have loved to be able to contact her, as I have with some of the other wonderful singers I've been able to reach via my posts - I'd like nothing more than to tell her home amazing and wonderful I think her work is. Anyone having more knowledge of and/or recordings by Toby Deane is welcome to contact me either by posting to this blog or by writing me at Rasmaster@aol.com or Bobpurse@gmail.com
Hot off the Preview Label presses came this song-poem tribute to... well, one of the Beatles. Which that might have been is anyone's guess, since the lyrics are so generic as to not give the slightest clue. The title, "Big Beatle" doesn't give much away, either.
Also worth noting is that this record, with its references to hairdos and "yeah yeah yeah's", was recorded and released around the time of "Magical Mystery Tour" and the "Hello Goodbye" single, in the winter of 1967-68.
As a bonus, here's a unique track by Rodd Keith, unique in that it's the only time I know of (or that I can find referred to) that he recorded as "Rodney Rivers". This is clearly a Film City Label production, but instead of coming out on that label, this one is the only one thus far found on the Starlet label. Please enjoy "This Old World":
I've received a few requests to make this a more frequent feature. While I don't think I can post often enough to make that happen, I can try to share more than one at a time, on some occasions. Today, for the second installment of "Song Poem of the Week", I have three prize items from my collection.
First up is a treat from "The Real Pros", the only artists that I know of to ever appear on the Cinema label. "The Real Pros" were whoever happened to be present, from the Hollywood talentpool (and hack-pool) at a given session. I'm partial to two low-number (ie) early Pros 45's that I own, one an EP, one a single. The single contains one of my top five song-poems, "I'm Having My First Heartbreak", which was at the MP3 page of AS/PMA. The EP features "Teenage Queen", which was on one of the compilations released online some time ago. Here's another track from that EP, featuring the same insane early '70's keyboard, and the same overly "hot" recording of the lead vocal. It's called "Deep Freeze Mama", and yes, it really does end like that, on the EP:
Next up, a Film City special, by Rod Rogers and the Swinging Strings (aka Rodd Keith), the one man band playing and singing about that Ol' Time Religion on "You Better Believe":
Finally, a suggestion from a friend, a Tin Pan Alley number, by Mike Thomas, "It's Spring". There are a lot of things I love about this one, from the constant rhyming of the word "Spring", to the use of the word "Croon", to the way that the solo momentarily morphs into a late '60's rock solo with some out-of-place upbeat drumming providing a kick to the organist, to the way a rockin' bit of solo guitar sneaks in, seemingly from another (better) song, about 80 seconds in. Enjoy:
Happy New Year! In the spirit of starting new things, I'm going to do something here, and I'm hoping I can hold myself to this....
Someone commenting on my recent post to the WFMU blog asked if there were any song-poem sites which are currently active, since the AS/PMA site has been present, but without updates, for several years now.
In answer to this, and hopefully for the interest of many others, I'm going to try and post at least one song-poem, from my rather large stash of same, per week.
To start, a record from one of the most obscure of labels, Iris. This label, from the Lee Hudson production machine, was named after songwriter Iris Tipton, who wrote the words for all of the records released on the label, including the extremely memorable "I Spent My Last Three Dollars On an Irish Sweepstakes Ticket", sung by Cara Stewart.
Cara's unique vocals will be the first thing you hear here, as well, but the lead singer for this tune is Jeff Reynolds, who I'm sure you'll agree does a stellar job on this patriotic number, "In God We Trust".
I love everything about this one - the snare drums, the back and forth between the Cara backing vocals and the manly men on loan from "The Ballad of the Green Berets", and the rather simplified, glossed over view of both the American War of Independence and the religious views of its leaders, all in less than 90 seconds.
After I posted a 78 of "The Three Little Pigs" both to this site and to WFMU's blog, asking who knew the name of the singer, I was quicly able to learn that it was Toby Deane, a specialist in the fields of both children's records and unique vocal performances. I will do an entire multi-song post about her, soon, as she is my 2008 chioce for the greatest singer I'd never heard of before.
Many thanks to Irwin Chusid, who sent me what appears to be Toby Deane's greatest moment, a Voco records 78 from the late '40's, which is quite unlikely anything else I've ever heard. It's called "Alice in Christmas Wonderland", and it's been in nonstop rotation here in my world, since I first heard it, in late August of this year.
There is so much I love here, I don't know where to start. The whole arrangement is so beautifully odd, what with the multiple female backing singers, who sound at one moment like they are in a halloween cartoon, and another moment like they belong in the "You're Out of the Woods" scene from "The Wizard of Oz". Then there's the one singer who swoops in with descending broken chords (then echoed by the clarinets) at the 1:30 point.
Speaking of those clarinets, the sheer business of this track is a wonder to behold. The various sections played by the piano, in particular, just takes my breath away at times. And the double bass adds a lovely feel, too. All that work, for a children's record. I would LOVE to have been at this session.
Then there's the song. Most songs of this type would wear out their welcome with me by the end of the first minute, but somehow, this one is a joy in that area, too.
And all of that leaves out the main show, which is the lead vocal. I've not grown the least bit tired of listening to this, over the past four months, primarily because of Toby Deane's stunning and wonderous singing. There are moment, such the second time she sings "Alice", about 25 seconds in, that just give me chills.
The ability of a singer, who was apparently in her 20's or 30's at this time, to fully and convincingly sing as if she was, oh, about 12, astonishes me. And the little laugh on her voice, as heard at about 1:16, and again at 1:43 - well, I don't think that's something that can be taught.
I suspect I like this more than anyone who may hear it here on my site, but that's okay. Hopefully, you'll like enough to make my lengthy post worth reading.
(Addendum, 11/30/21 - having just fixed this post, I thought I'd add that, in the ensuing 12 years, this has become my second favorite Christmas record ever - one of my top 50 favorite tracks ever - and I've obtained a copy, complete with a wonderful picture sleeve (see below). And it still gives me chills.)
Since you've probably got your tree decorated by now, perhaps you'd like to hear how someone else's decorating is going. Here's Ben Light and the Surf Club Boys, to tell you about the "Christmas Balls" on the tree of someone very special!
I guess this song is well known to a lot of people, and I've even seen it listed in a few places as one of the Worst Christmas Songs. Happily, I've not heard the versions of this song that are typically referred to. They are described in terms of this being a novelty song, or a redneck Christmas tribute, or something like that.
Again, luckily, I never read any of that until I had grown to love this song to death, without any irony needed. This version grabbed me from the first moment, and from that time on, I've loved it as a real slice of life look at one (fairly bemused) woman's Christmas memory. I live fairly far from redneck central, and yet (apart from the parents getting drunk in the first line) I've always been able to picture the video of this recording, in my head, as taking place at my own home.
The song is "Merry Christmas From the Family", and it's sung here by Jill Sobule, from a long out of print Various Artists Christmas album. She reminds me here of Melanie, a singer whose best work I adore, and she has the same passionate, if slightly overwhelmed and confused tone about her, which fits this wobbly Christmas story well. I am in awe of someone who can sing the verse about the lights blowing out, with the same emotional conviction as Melanie employed on "Candles in the Rain".
And the arrangement, with accordion, a lead clarinet, and all sorts of acoustic strings and drums, resonates with me and rings in my head throughout the year, not just for the last three weeks. I'm often a fan of music that sounds like it's about to fly off the rails, and at times, that's the case here, especially in terms of the electric guitar which enters the song here and there after a minute or so. Going into the second bridge there is an especially nice moment.
I guess I have to accept that this was written as silly satire, but it works better as a more nuanced, Randy Newman style number (and comparing someone's work to Randy Newman is about the highest praise I can give - he's the greatest American songwriter of the last 50 years).
(Addendum, 11/29/21: This has, in the ensuing years, become my all-time favorite Christmas record, one of my all time top 40 tracks. The singer's bemused, and achingly pleading voice resonates with me more every time I've heard it. The sheer perfection of this track can bring me to tears.
And I have since heard the "comic" country versions of this - they are uniformly stupid and genuinely awful. It's amazing how different settings can serve to make something either unlistenable or perfect.)
There really is no competition, as far as I'm concerned, for the best or most beautiful Christmas song. Far and away, that vote goes to "Silent Night". By the same token, there's no race for second place, either. That one is "O Holy Night", which is well above all the others, apart from the one at # 1.
Here are two unusual versions of "O Holy Night", both of which I love. First up, The Christmas Jug Band. I've enjoyed several tracks by this group, more often than not, because of the involvement of Dan Hicks, surely one of the greatest singers I've heard. But here, in my favorite of their tracks, it's not Hicks' singing on display. And anyway, in any version of this song, the song itself needs to be the focus, as it surely is here.
And what a singularly marvelous piece of work this is. Start with this great song, and apply a wonderfully loose, folky arrangement, with altered (but still wholly appropriate) lyrics here and there, sung by a cadre of folks who sound like they might be trying out this arrangement for the first time. It’s just that free and joyful. And then there’s a perfect recorder solo, and when the vocals come back, there are two magical moments on the word “divine”, where the three main singers hit a major triad as if the whole song had been waiting for them to get there. This is on my very short list of the best Christmas records ever made, and one I’ll never get tired of.
In a completely different direction, I offer up Ellis Chadbourne, a singer I was introduced to by my friend Citizen Kafka, a man I have subsequently lost touch with. Also offering up rewritten text, in this case significantly so, to remove all Christian references, Mr. Chadbourne instead is seeking for a Holy Night in which the Bomb has been banned, and peace reigns over the Earth.
This (and all of Mr. Chadbourne's work) tends to be quite divisive - either you "get it" or you don't. It was a early moment of bonding between me and Citizen Kafka when I focused in on Chadbourne's material as the real heart, the key material within what he had shared with me.
Yes, some say he can't sing, and/or even that this is painful to listen to. I won't disagree with anyone about taste, and I recognize that there is one howler of a note here.
But I will disagree (and have, quite forcefully) with those who have said there is nothing to "get" - there is a passion, a life-affirming spirit captured in Ellis Chadbourne's records, particularly this one, which gives me chills. When he gets to "O Night Divine", and seems at the very top of his range, it takes my breath away - and yet then, I realize there is a higher note yet to come - will he make it? When he reaches that note, just at the end, I feel I am hearing a man singing directly to God, and I rarely can hear this track without tearing up.
(Addendum, 11/30/21: See the comments, below. Citizen Kafka reached out to me, via the comments, to try and reconnect, and to tell me of an then-upcoming Ellis Chadbourne CD compilation. Sadly, Citizen Kafka died just a few weeks after making that post, and as far as I can tell, that CD compilation was never produced.)
I'm going to try an provide several obscure and (in most cases) wonderful Christmas recordings over the next week or so. First, two tracks that couldn't be more different. We'll start with the sublime, in this case, a performance that doesn't seem like it would work well: A New Orleans styled version of "Silent Night", performed by one of my '50's heroes, Huey "Piano" Smith and his group The Clowns. Even though they repeatedly get one of the chords here wrong, this is still a peerless, exquisite performance, filled with deeply emotional singing, a rollicking beat, and great instrumentation:
On to the ridiculous. All thanks to Dr. Demento for this one, which I'll let speak for itself. Ladies and Gentlemen, "The Chipmunk Song" as performed by The Whales:
I'm the father of two amazing young adults, married to the most wonderful woman in the world, and I work in the mental health field. I play several instruments and record my own music. I'm a long time record collector, hoarder of unusual, rare or unique recorded sound, musical, spoken word or other, and am glad to have found this outlet to share some of my favorite parts of it with others.
If you're at all familiar with the world of song-poems and the people who made (and make) them, you know that it, and they, exist for little more than one reason - that being: to separate people from their money, often through barely legal methods, which often cross a line into a rather elaborate scam.
