A Halmark Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! In case you were wondering what Thanksgiving is, here are the fine folks at Halmark Records, to offer up their version, one I find nearly completely unlistenable. Actually, this song's lyrics present Ernest V. Krider's interpretation of the answer to the question, "What Is Thanksgiving?". Your own mileage may vary: 

Download: Halmark Productions - What Is Thanksgiving

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The flipside, "Perfect Living", is notable for being sung by someone who doesn't sound (to me, anyway) like either of Halmark's usual male singers (Bob Storm and Jack Kim). Also, Halmark often listed the author's name and address on the label, and this is the first one I've ever seen that wasn't written by someone in the USA, being composed by Ernest L. Martin, a resident of West Germany at the time: 

Download: Halmark Productions - Perfect Living

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On a Bender

I'm dreadfully late this week, but I think that not only will today's posting make up for it, but an on-time posting for Thanksgiving, this Thursday, will also be worth making time for. I had great hopes upon getting this record, and while the original reason for my excitement did not pan out, the actual subject of this record is in no way a let down. I did think that maybe a record called "The Bender Song" would be about binge drinking, and was really interested in hearing what Sammy Marshall would do with that subject. But it turns out that the song is actually about a famous 19th century family who lived in Labette County, Kansas, and who are known to history as "The Bloody Bender Family", due to their having been serial killers. You can read about them here. Sammy Marshall and the Sun-Rays (how's that for a mismatch of group name and song subject) sound almost giddy in singing about mass murderers, as you'll now hear:

Download: Sammy Marshall and the Sun-Rays - The Bender Song

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Good to know that this record was FREE! What's even more amazing is that this 45 was meant to promote Kansas, on the occasion of the state's Centennial, which is spelled "Centenial" on the label! The flip side, "Come to Kansas", which was also co-written by the wonderfully named Clavelle Isnard (along with Jimmy Holland), can't possibly live up to the song it is paired with, but it's got a typically strong Kris Arden vocal, and more peppy accompaniment by the Sun-Rays:

Download: Kris Arden and the Sun-Rays - Come to Kansas

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Patriotism - With Gene Marshall

On this national and international day of remembrance and patriotic thoughts and feelings, I thought I'd share a song titled "This is Your Country - This is My Country", sung by the always enjoyable voice of Gene Marshall:

Download:  Gene Marshall - This is Your Country - This is My Country

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The flip side, "The Hanging Tree", couldn't be on a more dissimilar subject. I'm most taken here by the way Gene Marshall sounds more or less happy during the first few lines. Perhaps he was sight-reading it, and didn't realize until the third or four lines that he was singing a first person ballad by a man about to be hanged. That ridiculous synth sound doesn't help, either, but I'm not sure if there's ever been a record that that particular sound would improve:

Download: Gene Marshall - The Hanging Tree

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On a side note, regarding the authors of these lyrics, does anyone name their children Bertha or Gertrude anymore?

The Country Side of Rodd

Things have been crazy busy the last week at home and work, so I'm a little late with this week's record, plus, I really don't have the time to offer up much comment, aside from pointing out that the Chamberlain backing heard on this early MSR release of Rodd Keith's "The Old Swinging Gate" is not exactly the best accompaniment to what appears to have been an attempt at a countrified vocal performance and setting:

Download:  Rodd Keith - The Old Swinging Gate

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And here's the flip side of the same, "Treasure": 

Download:  Rodd Keith - Treasure

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Oh, Happy Day

I'm repeating myself a bit today, but I hope readers will indulge me, as I've just become the proud owner of a copy of one of my favorite records ever. I have posted the A-side of this 45 before, 18 months before I began this "song poem of the week" project, but the MP3 shared at that time was cribbed from an eBay auction, and I never actually owned the record before this week. This means I can now share a higher quality MP3, can offer up the B-side, and can share scans of the record itself. The record is "What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)", and I wrote about it at length in July of 2007, in a posting you can find here. Without repeating much of that post, I will say that my love and admiration for this record continues to grow, and in particular I adore the lead vocal, and the masterful bridge, one of the best I've ever heard, made all that much better by a guitarist who had clearly been listening to "Love is Strange", but whose work here is superior even to that great guitar performance. There is some question in my mind as to if this is actually a song-poem. Carellen Records was a hybrid of sorts, releasing song-poems, vanity records and maybe even some records which were legitimate bids for hit status. And Edith Hopkins, the author of this song, and my all-time favorite song-poet, also commissioned both song-poems and more legit releases. I'll say this: If this is a song-poem, it's the best one I've ever heard, by a significant margin. If it's a legitimate late '50's release, it's among my favorite records of that era (and that's saying something, as that is my favorite era for pop music). This is, in my opinion, a perfect record. 

Download: Betty Jayne - What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)?

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  The flip side, "Cry Baby Heart", is more of a standard late '50's rock-a-ballad, brought to above-average quality by another singularly great vocal by Betty Jayne, who clearly deserved to be a big star (I say this based on this and other records by her in my collection). My view of the likelihood of this being a song-poem record goes way up, when I hear that another take was not attempted, after the bass singer sang a a truly horrible note, right at the end of this performance.

Download: Betty Jayne - Cry Baby Heart

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Our World in Song

One thing I haven't featured much on this site are song-poems from the last three decades. I just don't find the vast majority of what I've heard from perhaps about 1976 or so on to be as compelling, as interesting or as wonderfully weird as what came before. The two biggest reasons for this are probably: 1.) The music styles which song-poem companies had to work with (to appeal to the most likely taste of their customers), after the mid-70's are not nearly as interesting or appealing as those that came before, and 2.) I think a larger percentage of the customers of these products were probably in on the scam by 1980, leading to a small pool of contributors, and a less interesting group, at that. An album I just bought, however, "Our World in Song", on the Brea label, contains a few exceptions that just about scream out for attention. Most of the songs, and all three of my selections, are sung by someone named Steve Jennings.   

First up, and offered with very little comment, is a song making a linkage between elements of two "real" things that I don't believe I've seem compared in this way before, "Paychecks and Abortions - Both Are Real". I'm sure everyone listening will be singing the insanely catchy chorus by the second time around: 

Download: Steve Jennings - Paychecks and Abortions - Both Are Real

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And where to begin in discussing the deep weirdness that lurks within the song "Walking While She's Talking In Her Sleep"? It starts so normally, if you look past the nonsensical line about oysters and pearls. Before long, we come to the multiple repeats of the words "mumbling" and "over", as well as a truly incompetent guitar solo. The mile-a-minute words near the end are an added bonus. 

Download: Steve Jennings - Walking While She's Talking In Her Sleep

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Finally, we have the simply titled "You Know". The painfully awful (and poorly conceived) accent adopted for this song does not hide the fact that the singer is the same Steve Jennings who sang most of the other songs on the album. One wonders what Pedro Graejeda thought of his song being done in a faux ethnic arrangement and vocal. But beyond that, have a close listen to the lyrics! The author describes sums up love as being the act of his lost lover returning to him, and compares her leaving to treason. He bars her from loving anyone else, and insists that she return, because that's what he wants, and after all, "love is like God"

Download: Steve Jennings - You Know

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Gotta Love Tin Pan Alley!

Today, another one of those "stop the presses" moments. I got this record this past week, and wanted to share it right away. Often, when a song-poem song title seems particularly ludicrous, the song itself can be a let down. But not this time, as Tin Pan Alley, circa 1958, offers up Marilyn Fiore with "Come On and Right, Right, Right the Wrong You Done Me, Baby!". Ms. Fiore - who is otherwise unrepresented in the AS/PMA database - provides just the right sort of vocal for this lyric, and the band has the sound and feel of late 1950's down, too. Incidentally, the opening moment of this song, in which the original tape appears to be speeding up to the right pitch, is on the record itself, and is not from my turntable or any other source. Enjoy!

Download: Marilyn Fiore - Come On and Right, Right, Right the Wrong You Done Me, Baby!

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The B-side, "Me He Didn't See!", aside from another great title, could be accused of being essentially the same record heard on the A-side, but that's not always a bad thing, is it? Besides, the lyrics here are just as fun as those on the flip, plus, there's a wonderful - if fairly unsuccessful - attempt at a rockabilly guitar solo on this one. This is what I call a great song-poem 45.

Download: Marilyn Fiore - Me He Didn't See!

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Sandy Stanton

I haven't given enough attention either Film City, one of my favorite song-poem labels, or its owner, Sandy Stanton. I did do a feature on Stanton's earlier label, Fable, over at WFMU, earlier this year, and will offer up part two of that post at some future point. But what Stanton brought with him to Film City was the amazing early keyboard, The Chamberlain, and today's offering not only features that instrument, most likely played by Rodd Keith, it also features - like many of Film City records - the Chamberlain being completely unable to keep up with itself. If one didn't know this was a basic synthesizer, one might wonder if there were two different bands working at the same time, or if perhaps the drummer was in another room, particularly at the end of the track. This is what the label describes as "New Sounds From Hollywood". Odd that those new sounds didn't become all the rage. Not only that, but the song itself - "You Yum" - is fairly ridiculous. For example, the line about vitamins made my younger daughter (who was in the room as I digitized this) to laugh out loud both times. And Stanton's vocal gives some indication as to why he was only occasionally the vocalist on the records his labels produced. 

Download: Sandy Stanton with "New Sounds From Hollywood - You Yum

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The same writer who gave us "You Yum", is also the writer of the B-side, "Turn Back the Clock". While she clearly wrote the song out of some deeply painful experiences and life lessons, the resulting lyric is unfortunately fairly repetitive and monotonous, and leads to the same qualities in the song.

Download: Sandy Stanton with "New Sounds From Hollywood - Turn Back the Clock

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Watergate Blues

Here, from a late-era Preview 45, is one of my favorite singers, Gene Marshall, offering up the lament of so many Americans of that day, the “Watergate Blues”. Although the lyrics (supplied by Ernestine Gee) are clunky in places, there are some pretty good turns of phrase here and there, and I think maybe someone could have cleaned this up a little and made it into something, if that was the business they'd been in. Either this one was played to death, or (more likely) it’s just an example of the dreadful pressings produced by Preview near the end of their run. Hopefully, the poor sound won’t impact your enjoyment of the performance. 

Download: Gene Marshall - Watergate Blues
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The flip side, “Nice Day” has even worse sound quality, but what shines through here is the head scratching lyrics. Not only were they apparently so non-musical that Gene Marshall had to go straight to the recitation, just 23 seconds into the performance, but there are a couple of phrases here which are not, as far as I know, part of the English language. I guess “Cheer Lobber” could mean something or someone that throws good cheer to you, but “Picks Up Your Dobber”??? Maybe a listener out there can explain that one to me. Feel free to feel completely bemused:

Download: Gene Marshall - Nice Day
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Phil 'Er Up!

I haven't offered up nearly enough of Phil Celia's records here. I think they are, in their own way, just as unique and interesting in sound and performance as Rod Rogers Film City records or Norm Burns Sterling label releases. Here's an ideal example, a song-poem containing the clunky title of "Let Me Baby, Sit With You, Baby Mine". A nice swing combo provides the fast moving backing, while Phil offers up a winning vocal. A nice piano solo follows, then, this being a song poem, there's a nice little error, in which the band and the singer clearly had different ideas about how many times Phil was going to sing the final phrase, with the band heading for the end of the song before he gets there. No second takes in the song-poem world.

Download: Phil Celia - Let Me Baby, Sit With You, Baby Mine
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I had great hopes for the flip side, given the title "Riding with the Bar 2 Queen". There is some real weirdness here - the lyrics are fairly odd, and have put to a tune in which they simply do not scan. But the actual song and performance turns out a little bit to drony and morose sounding for my tastes. Your mileage, of course, may vary: 

Download: Phil Celia - Riding With the Bar 2 Queen
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Lost In Space

For a second straight week, here's one whose history and link to the song-poem field is more than a bit blurry. As with "Friendly Melvin", this record is certainly worth hearing, and the evidence is that it's a song poem. The presence of the name "Lee Hudson" caused me to purchase this one, unheard, due to the fact that a certain Lee Hudson was a central figure in the song-poem field in the 1960's. I bought even though that name is far from uncommon, and even though the name "Bob Brown", as a song-poem artist is unknown to me. The Luster label is not listed in the AS/PMA website, but on the other hand, there are records by a "Bob Brown" (again, hardly a rare name), and not only that, those Bob Brown records appeared on records with a Lee Hudson connection. That brings us to the record in question, "Space Flight", which certainly has many of the hallmarks of a Hudson production, from the thick string arrangement to massed backing vocals which (mixed low though they are) sound a lot like Cara Stewart (along with some male singer) to me. The song itself is a wonder to hear, a veritable composite of many of the thoughts about space exploration which might have been heard during the 1960's. 

Download: Bob Brown - Space Flight

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The flip side, in a real rarity for a song-poem record, is an instrumental version of the a-side, with piano taking over the melody, in the best Roger Williams style.

Download: Lee Hudson Orchestra - Space Flight
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Gotta Hear That Again!

Today, another one of those records - and it's been too long - that I get done listening to and immediately say "I've Gotta Hear That Again Right Now!". And to be honest, I have no idea where in the song-poem/vanity/unexplainable universe this record came from. A little sleuthing on the AS/PMA website shows a definite connection between some of the releases on this label (Meloclass)and other song-poem labels and acts, and the B-side (see below) sounds very much like a song-poem to me. What's more, that b-side involves some of the same people as this A-side, including the fabulously named Tumbleweed Thompson. But this song - "Friendly Melvin", credited (as is the flip) to The Fuddy Buddies, sounds too thought out, too deliberately weird to be a song poem. Then again, so does "Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Potassium", which is clearly a song poem. Anyway, this one, which may be the weirdest song-poem listening experience I've had since I found Jim Hall's version of "Hydrogen...", grabs me right from the start, with a startling open five second blast of organ, drums and trumpet, and continues with that wonderfully odd, slightly off kilter backing arrangement, while a trio of slightly drunk sounding guys, with just the slightest of midwest ethnic accents, sing a song "inspired by the Marines' Pal, Melvin Miller". Anyway, at the moment, I just can't get enough of this silly record...

Download: The Fuddy Buddies - Friendly Melvin

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Really, who among us wouldn't want to have all of our woes punched in the nose? 

On to the flip: Despite being credited to the same "Fuddy Buddies", the B-side, "I Dunno What to Tellya", sounds very little like the group on the A-side (although that title sounds like something the boys on side one might say). But in this case, there's a female lead singer, piano replacing the organ. guitar replacing the trumpet and minimal presence of drums. As I said above, this one sounds exactly like a song-poem. Oddly enough, this second song - with the same label number - was released on the same label, paired with a different flip side, by a different group, a song which had a non-matched label number (1002-B), and THAT other flip side also appeared on yet another 45, paired correctly with the other song labeled 1002-A.

Download: The Fuddy Buddies - I Dunno What to Tellya

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