His Name is Barker Bill

I thought I might toot my own horn here a bit, and share a little piece I recorded almost eight years ago. This was the first recording I did for what I'd hoped would be a quickly recorded follow-up to my 1996 collection of songs "The Many Moods of Bob". That collection was simply a cassette given out to friends and whoever else requested a copy. The new recording was to be a full fledged, well produced CD.

While I've been able to record many tracks since then, all of which sound much better than my earlier recordings, due to better equipment, time has been the enemy, and the project still sits unfinished, with about 35-40 minutes worth of material more or less ready, and another ten or twelve minutes of songs which I just don't seem to be able to find the time to complete.

This piece - a combination of nostalgia and my own strange taste in music - remains one of my favorites.

To fully understand, you have to first hear this Little Golden Record, a five inch yellow 78 which has been in my family's collection, and much beloved, for well over 50 years. It's called Barker Bill, and here is that original children's record:



During a visit to my brother's home in 2000, I used his home studio to record my own version of the song. After recreating the open bars of the Little Golden Record, things get revved up into a whole different style. I created the backing track, playing everything on my brother's keyboard (using midi software), and using all the singers in my family, professional and otherwise, to sing the lines from the two bridge sections. I'm the singer for the main part of the song, including the bass voice and most of the massed voices heard at the end.

On the first bridge, you'll hear the voices of my two daughters, ages eight and six at the time, as well as my mother. On the second bridge, you'll hear my sister, my brother and my neice.

Given that I love Caribbean music, and also adore marimbas, it's not surprising that I'm particularly fond of the little instrumental section in the middle of the song.

Hope you enjoy it.



When finished, the album will be titled "A Few More Plans", after a rather strange instrumental piece that I've been playing with for a decade or more. Maybe I'll share that piece, one of these days. In the meantime, if you're of a mind to, let me know what you think of "Barker Bill".

It's All Elvis' Fault

I love calypso music. Over the last several years, I've come around to the way of thinking that says that, at least in its original Trinidadian form, calypso may be the most perfect style of music ever developed by humans. 

Today's example is not part of the Trinidad tradition, and by its subject matter, quite clearly comes from the great mid-1950's revival of calypso. It's also more cute than it is "great" or "perfect". 

What little I can find out about this group, which went by the rather unweildy moniker of "The Fabulous McClevertys", is that this was in fact, the family name, and that the band was, for a time, the backing combo for the little known Calypso performer "The Mighty Charmer", a violinest and singer who later abandoned music and became better known under the name Louis Farrakhan. 

Each side of the record fits one of Calypso's typical subjects, with the A-side being quite topical, and the B-side being about one aspect of (as a great Calypso compilation once described it) "the human condition". 

I was rather surprised to find that this single was on Verve, a label associated at the time (1957 or 1958) with some of the best Jazz being made, and additionally, a bit later, with cutting edge comedy.  

The A-side: "Don't Blame It On Elvis": 

Download: The Fabulous McClevertys - Don't Blame It On Elvis

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And the B-Side: "Tickle, Tickle":

Download: The Fabulous McClevertys - Tickle, Tickle

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Mom

Well, there's been no activity here for some time, and that's almost entirely due to the death of my mother at the end of last year, after a series of illness over the past few years. 

I've written about her before, and rather than go into any great detail, since this is a music blog, and if I can indulge a bit, I thought I'd just share some of the music I was lucky enough to hear, while growing up, as well as one song I had the pleasure of introducing my mom to, and playing piano for. 

First, two acetates, both of which I believe are from around 1944, when she was perhaps 20 years old: I apologize in advance for how loud these may be coming out of your speakers. 

Download: Mary Frances Godwin - Je Suis Titania

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Download: Mary Frances Godwin - The Little Shepherd Song

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A Broadway standard, recorded in the late 1950's: 

Download: Mary Fran Purse - I Could Have Danced All Night

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A more gorgeous piece you're unlikely to find, than "Shepherd on the Rock", heard here from 1959. This is admittedly quite lengthy, but I love it. There is an unfortunate splice right near the end of the piece, which cuts out a few moments of the big finish: 

Download: Mary Fran Purse - Shepherd On the Rock

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The following version of Mozart's Alleluia, recorded around 1965, was played at my mother's funeral (despite it being marred by it's own glitch in the last second): 

Download: Mary Fran Purse - Alleluia

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And finally, a song by William Bolcom, which became mom's signature piece near the end of her life, particularly once her days as a soprano soloist were coming to an end. That's me fumbling around on piano on this recording. The picture below this link is of the two of us, performing the song (not the same time as this recording) at mom's 80th birthday party, in 2003: 

Download: Mary Fran Purse - Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise

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Thanks for everything, mom.

That's Rock and Roll

I think that sometimes I go on too long about the recordings I'm sharing here, so today, I'll just say that I'm offering up a classic by a lost father (or perhaps brother) of Rock and Roll, Mr. Barry Gordon, and his classic MGM release "Rock Around Mother Goose". Rock Me Another, Barry!

Download: Barry Gordon - Rock Around Mother Goose

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Drama Queen

I'll say right off the bat that today's selection is one which may have many listeners having the sort of negative response which may range anywhere from "no, that's not for me" to violently stopping the sound file with something approaching disgust. And I'll admit that the opening 19 seconds, which contain a dramatic recitative type introduction, are cringeworthy, and I encourage you to wait them out and try the rest of the song. 

There is simply something about a certain subset of teen girl records from the late '50's and early '60's that makes those records connect with me in a way few other records do. I've already shared the Merigail Moreland recording of "Oo-Lee, Papa", in this blog and elsewhere, and the masterful "What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)". 

In this case, the song is "She's Going Steady with You", by Janie Grant, the B-side of a hit song from 1962 called "Triangle". While the A-side visits much the same topic within the same genre of music, the real winner is hiding on the flipside, and should have been the hit. 

It helps that the song is, at times, taken almost directly from the song "A Fool Such as I", in terms of chords and melody, and that the overall feel is similar to Elvis' rendition of "Fool" (perhaps my favorite of Elvis' big hits). But there's something more to it, and for me, that's in the singer's performance. 

There are at least as many teen girl songs in this genre that I can't stand, the worst of all perhaps being "Bobby's Girl", and that's where I have a hard time explaining what's wonderful and what's horrid. For me the difference tends to be in what I perceive in the performance. 

In "Bobby's Girl" and its ilk, I don't sense for a moment that the singer or anyone else on the record believes the lyric - the singer sounds like she's there to do a job. On today's record and others I have shared and might share, I sense that the singer feels the lyric with every inch of her being, perhaps has even lived it, and I also find that the music sounds as if the musicians were trying to make a good record, rather than simply make something that 13 year olds might like for a month. 

Have a listen, and let me know what you think:

Download: Janie Grant - She's Going Steady With You

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ADDENDUM, 2021: After writing this post, I heard from Janie Grant herself, who confirmed that, yes, this was a song based on personal experience, as I had perceived upon hearing it. 

Guessing Game

I have no real clue how many folks are reading the these posts, but I wanted to involve as many people as possible by asking you to guess the recording act heard on this record. Comments are always welcome, and can be shared by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of any post. 

Anyway... The Golden Age of Novelty Records (roughly 1956 through the late 1960's) is, in my opinion, well named. There is a virtually endless list of funny, odd, and downright peculiar records from that era, hits, near hits and obscurities, that were made in order to deliberately make people laugh, become confused and/or collapse into bewilderment.

Certainly a favorite of mine from that era is Rolf Harris' "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport". It was a massive hit, one of the bigger hits of any genre in 1963, and like most novelty records, would seem to be the type of thing that wouldn't really work well as a cover record or remake. 

Novelty songs as different in style and quality as "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha", "Witch Doctor", "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" "My Boomerang Won't Come Back" and "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" are all so unique, and uniquely tied in with their creators that to have made another version, particularly while the song was still a hit, seems ludicrous. 

But here we have just such a cover version. I would never have expected this song to be covered, and I never would have expected this recording act to have done such a record. The charm of the original is completely lost in this overblown version, with it's sound effects, unnecessary additional shout outs, such as "in memoriam", and the sheer incompetence shown by the singing of the line "watch me wallaby's feed" as "watch me wallaby's feet".

Anyway, let's play guess who made the record. Here 'tis:

Download: Mystery Artist - Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport

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ADDENDUM, 2021 - The answer has long since been in the comments, below. Did you guess him? 

Frantic Pointlessness

I frequently buy used reel to reel tapes, if either the price is right, or the contents look intriguing, or both. I tend to come into possession of tapes quicker than I can find opportunities to listen to them, and so have a backlog of interesting listening at all times. 

This week, I listened to a tape made by someone in the Washington, D.C. area, of various public radio programs, one of which was a featuring on early 20th century recordings of ragtime music. It was quite enjoyable, but the first several records simply did not prepare me for the wonders of this recording of a song called "Oh! You La! La!", by Wilbur Sweatman and his group of apparently tireless instrumentalists and perhaps overcaffeinated drummers. 

There is more energy in this record than in anything else I can think of at the moment, particularly in the second half of the tune. I suspect that at least a few of these musicians had to lie down when they were done making this recording. I certainly would love to have had the opportunity to hear these fellows live! 

(By the way, the host of the radio show reported that the edge of this disc was "scooped" - I think that's the term - and that's what led to the first notes bending upwards as the performance begins.)

Click on the link, and enjoy!

Download: Wilbur Sweatman - Oh! You La! La!

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ADDENDUM, 2021: The Wikipedia page for Wilbur Sweatman is worth a read. He seems to have been quite the pioneer. 

Who Knows This Melody?

It suddenly occured to me that maybe, someday, someone will drop by my humble blog abode, someone who knows the name of this melody. 

The long story short here is that this unnamed tune was recorded at the tail end of the first reel of tape my family ever owned, a professional reel that otherwise contained studio outtakes by some of the big names of the early '50's. When the reel to reel tape recorder my father ordered in 1952, arrived, this reel was on the machine. I've written about it before, well over a year ago, in this blog.

My brother and I have identified the other five tracks (and the artists performing them) on the tape (even two instrumentals, which was a challenge), and we've confirmed that each of them has at least a slight difference from the released versions of the same tracks. But we are stumped as to the title of this short tune, which most certainly does not sound like a studio outtake by one of the big names of the early '50's! Does anyone out here recognize the melody?

Here 'tis: 

Download: Accordion and Tuba Polka

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The last note is gone, worn away after years of people playing this tape. 

There is actually more to this mystery than I've shared here, but I'll save that for another day.

Shame On the Man Who Tattooed Her!

Today's song is "TATTOOED LADY" by Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees.  

I just got this record, which I REALLY wanted for quite a while now. I found part of it on a tape of a radio show several months ago, and it's been rattling around in my head ever since. I'm getting to like Rudy Vallee more and more, just about every time I hear another one of his early records. 

There is much to love here, from the weird inflections he chooses at various points of the lyric, to the lyric itself, to the almost out of control little tag sung by the group after all but the first singing of the chorus. I love that 6th chord at the end, with the fifth-note wavering on top. 

I'm usually more verbose about what I post, but I think in this case I'll just let you hear for yourself. Tell me what you think! 

Download: Rudy Vallee and His Connecticut Yankees - Tattooed Lady

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Incidentally, you may have heard the "laughing" version of "Tavern in the Town", but in case you haven't, maybe I'll put that up here, too some time. That's a record I've wanted to own for at least 35 years, and it's on the flip side of this one, complete with a joke label replacing the regular RCA label!

Merigail Circa 1980

As promised at both the 365 days project and in my previous post here, I am presenting a short tape sent to me by one of Merigail Moreland's relatives, featuring five songs she recorded around 1979 or 1980, when she was have been in her mid to late 30's. For me, her performances here lack the spark, verve and pure joy of life that radiates from the earlier recordings. In addition, I don't really find the songs or the backing arrangements to be very interesting (with a few exceptions). However, in order to complete the picture, to honor the requests made, and also because others may enjoy these as much as the earlier tracks, I am including these tracks here. 

The best two songs, in my opinion, are versions of "Both Sides Now": 

Download: Merigail Moreland - Both Sides Now

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And "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You": 

Download: Merigail Moreland - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

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Also on the tape were versions of a song called "The Joker": 

Download: Merigail Moreland - The Joker

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And a song previously recorded by Barbra Streisand, "Why Did I Choose You?": 

Download: Merigail Moreland - Why Did I Choose You?

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The tape actually begins with this song, but as I find it the weakest, in recording quality, in performance, and particularly as a song (an abysmal song - what else would one expect from the mind of the execrable Bobby Goldsboro?) So I've included it last. It is called "With Pen in Hand": 

Download: Merigail Moreland - With Pen in Hand

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Perhaps there are yet more recordings to be heard, and if so, I'll be happy to share them here!

More Merigail

After my recent post to the 365 project, of a bunch of Merigail Moreland material, there were several requests that I post the rest of what I own of this wonderful singer. I'm going to do this in two posts, each containing multiple tracks. 

First up are three tracks that I skipped in submitting to the 365 days project, because I was unsure that they actually are Merigail. However, the more I listen to them, the more convinced I am, due to the little flip in her voice near the end of two of these three tracks. These are, however, the least of the tracks I am offering up today, in terms of quality, and I would guess that they predate the "Reputation" tapes from 1953 by at least some months, if not more, based on the (lack of) quality of her singing. 

First, she sings a song called "Why", a song her father appears to have been trying to turn into a hit (based on the number of versions of it that turn up on these tapes), presumably with her father, and perhaps the woman who joins in later is her mother:

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Why? (A Capella)

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Next, she sings the previously heard (at 365 days) "Mommy Daddy Bye Bye" again with a man I'm assuming is her father, Don: 

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Mommy Daddy Bye Bye

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Then she sings "Why", again, this time with an unidentified woman, probably the same woman as in the earlier version: 

Download: Merigail Moreland and Woman - Why? 

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Next up is a third version of "Head Cheese", which I left out of the 365 days post because it seemed sort of redundant. This is from the same recording session as the second of the two versions posted to 365: 

Download: Merigail Moreland - Head Cheese (Take One)

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The main focus for today, however, is the other 1953 versions of Reputation, which I left out of my post because there were just so many of them. Here we have the first recorded version with the guitarist, who appears to be still learning his part: 

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Reputation (Take One with Guitar)

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Next up, another take, one which came before the "you were sharp" version that I've already shared. Oddly, Don shouts "perfect" at the end of this take, although it quite clearly was not so perfect: 

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Reputation (Take Two with Guitar)

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Here is a tiniest fragment of a take, included for completests:

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Reputation (end of a take)

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And here is a version actually recorded after the "final 1953 version", but apparently rejected in favor of the better version done just before this one: 

Download: Merigail and Don Moreland - Reputation (Take Four with Guitar)

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And I believe that with the tracks featured here, I have now shared, between here and at WFMU, everything that is heard on the 1953 (and pre-1953) Moreland tapes which features Merigail's voice. 

After ten years, these recordings can still make me tear up more than just a bit. Her voice connects with me on some very basic level, the joy of a child combined, at times, with the abilities of a great singer in training. I love every minute of these tapes. 

Tonight's project is to digitize the circa 1980 tapes of Merigail which I was sent recently, and I hope to have those posted tomorrow.

I Won't Always Love a Cake of Ice

Listening to a new 45 aquisition this evening with a friend, I was reminded of a somewhat similar 45 from the same era, a bubbly b-side obscurity from 1954 by the trio of Don, Dick and Jimmy, called "You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too", on Crown Records. 

There's a lot to like in this goofy little number. The close, perfectly executed harmonies, and the swingin' backing, especially as it really kicks in at the start of the second verse.

But I actually get the biggest kick, as is often the case, out of one of the smallest moments. Each time the three part harmony returns, during a verse, with the word "listen", there is something irresistible about the voice of the guy with the top harmony. He doesn't sound quite like this anywhere else in the song, either in vocal tone or the way he says the words, and it really catches my ear every time. 

Quite a fun little record! 

Download: Don, Dick and Jimmy - You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too

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