The Roots of Elvis, Part 1

I thought we'd take a break from Merv for a moment (while I catch up with my track-ripping, in case you're wondering why), and take a good, long look at the roots of Elvis.

The "roots of Elvis"? What does that mean? Actually, I'm not sure, myself, at this point. Maybe its meaning will emerge as we listen to the mp3s in question. That's the plan.

At any rate, Rock History tells us (every last chance it gets) that rock and roll started with Elvis. He may not have been the guy who invented it, but it started with him. (Don't think about that one too hard.) When pressed to explain, rock-started-with-Elvis people will point out that Presley did more than anyone else to bring rock and roll to the mass audience. To the pop charts, in other words.

Which Presley did, for the first time, at RCA in January, 1956. (That's right--by Elvis-started-rock logic, the 50th anniversary of rock and roll really is next year. But don't tell the media.)

Now, we know that, in spite of the tons of propaganda to the contrary, examples of rock and roll existed in the pop charts before Elvis. But how many of us know the extent to which this was true? Or, more importantly, the extent to which some of these records were every bit as good (and "authentic") as Elvis' terrific RCA sides? Or, in some instances, every bit as Elvis?

We start with (don't laugh) Patti Page and her pop cover of Ruth Brown's What a Dream, a tune written by Chuck Willis. It's from 1954, but if I lied and pretended it was made in 1956 in imitation of Presley... you'd believe me. I'd believe me.

However, Elvis wasn't making records like this in July, 1954. But Patti was!

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/183536.html What a Dream (Willis); Patti Page (1954).

(Save file for best downloading luck!)

Lee

Merv-athon, Part 2: Mystery Merv

Exhibit #1: I Don't Want a Thing to Remind Me of You: Art McCue on piano, Rex Kelly on guitar, Al Burns on bass, and vocal by Merv Griffin. Released on the Fulton label (Fulton was also the name of the song's publisher. Hmmm....)

I bought this one in a pile with other 78-RPM oddities, some of them radio-station-only pressings. (How I got in that pile, no one knows.) In July, 2003, I wrote to "Ask Merv," a service featured at The Griffin Group (www.merv.com) . I told Mr. Griffin about the mystery Merv and asked if it could possibly be a relic of his pre-Freddy-Martin, KFRC-radio-singer days? I closed with, "Thank you--and I hope we can count on another CD from you!" (A reference to his fairly recent digital effort, It's Like a Dream.)

Michael Hathaway responded, telling me, "Merv received this email and asked me to write back for him. He doesn't remember this record and would like to know if his name is on the label?Thanks, Michael Hathaway." Yes, I replied, Merv's name is on the label. I offered to put the selection on a CD-R, but I never heard back. Merv likely had other, more current, concerns.

However, here's your chance to hear the mystery Merv in all of its lo-fi glory: http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/177734.html

I'm guessing this is a 1944 song demo. Clues: the lousy sound, the fact that the record label and song publisher are the same, and the excellent chances that Merv might have made such a side during his radio-singer days (the label, like KRFC, was located in San Francisco). Plus, the song was copyrighted in 1944--therefore, probably the year of the demo.

Merv has an incredible memory, as evidenced by his ability to recount nearly every detail of his long career. So, it's kind of neat to have a Merv performance that even Merv doesn't remember.
As fate would have it, I was the one to remind Merv of ...Remind Me of You, but perhaps he didn't want a thing to do with I Don't Want a Thing. (How's that for a long build-up to some lame wordplay?)

Coming up: another possible Merv-demo (from 1946), plus samples from the first commercial release to be mastered on magnetic tape: Songs by Merv Griffin, on the Panda label.


Lee

Merv-athon, Part 1: Introduction to Merv

One website describes Merv Griffin as a "Singer, talk-show host, entertainment executive and billionaire." That about covers it, of course--save for Merv's short career as an actor at Warner Brothers in the early 1950s (So This Is Love, Phantom of the Rue Morgue, etc.).

Most of know that Merv started out as a band singer with Freddy Martin's orchestra, but most of us haven't heard (or haven't made an effort to hear?) many examples thereof. So I thought I'd start this Merv-athon with a generous sampling of Early Merv, including the modest-sized solo hit Twenty-Three Starlets (1951). These should provide the perfect intro for things to come (muwa-ha-haaa!).

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/180352.html: Jo-Ann, with Freddy Martin (1951).

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/177844.htm: Heavenly Symphony, with Martin (1952?).

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/180573.html : Knees Up, Mother Brown, with Freddy Martin (1950). Follow-up to Merv's big, big hit, I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/177843.html : The Song Is You, with Freddy Martin (1950).

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/180353.html : Twenty-Three Starlets, with Hugo Winterhalter (1951).

The journey continues....

Night Train is a famous number by Jimmy Forrest. It's also the title of a less-famous number by easy-listening maestro Otto Cesana, which you are about to hear. From 1953, this is pre-hi-fi lounge that cries out for big speakers. For stereo, even. From the 10" Sugar 'n' Spice LP of 1953, which was reissued in its entirety on the 1955 Ecstasy (Columbia CL 631):

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/177267.html Night Train (Cesana), 1953

Sinner's Train, from 1956, is one hell of a good Art Mooney side. By this time, Mooney and his orchestra had moved away from their Happy Banjo sound and into something more... serious. And sinister. And frightening! Take heed, sinner!! Buwa-ha-haaaaa!:

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/177282.html Sinner's Train, 1956.

And here's a kinder, less cautionary, train number. Morton Gould and His Orchestra, from 1947, elegantly glide down the tracks in this version of Beyond the Blue Horizon:

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/113503.html Beyond the Blue Horizon, 1947.

Please save the files for best results. Enjoy!

Lee

"Ida Red," before "Maybelline"

We al know that the country tune Ida Red became Chuck Berry's Maybelline in 1955. But it had made previous stops along the way--for example, as the melody for Eddie Kirk and Cliffie Stone's 1951 Freight Train Breakdown. Is this gem of a performance Western Swing? Rockabilly? Country jazz? (Or a combination of the three?) To use the UFO-documentary cliche: you decide.

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/167063.html Freight Train Breakdown, 1951. (Saving the file works best.)

Seven or eight years after finding this in a box in a thrift store (how I got in that box, nobody could figure out), I still marvel at the killer solo work, the fantastic drumming, and the great Capitol label sound.

Our second selection, Peggy Lee's hit version of Lover (1952), isn't a train number, technically, but anybody could be fooled by the "All aboarrrrrd!" sound of the opening bars. Arranged by Gordon Jenkins, who apparently decided that the song's days as a gentle waltz were over--as far he was concerned, anyway.

http://www.box.net/public/lee/files/167061.html Lover (1952). (Saving the file works best.)

More train tracks, er, numbers to come.

Lee