"Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus"--the 1950 version, that is.

Years before Disney made Mary Poppins, Alan Holmes and His New Tones recorded Patricia Smith and Don Fenton's Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus. You'll have to admit, that title looks (and sounds) a lot like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (the Disney title). Remarkably so. Anyway, when Disney was sued for allegedly swiping the earlier title, it successfully defended itself by claiming that Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus (a.k.a. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) was a common slang word. (Sure, it was.) A pretty fragilistic argument, if you ask us, but nobody did, of course. It's the opinion of MYPWHAE that Disney won because it had lots of money. That's our explan-aladojus. I mean, -alidocious. Click on the photo for the file:


















My, our cynicism is quite atrocious, isn't it?

The Volunteers of America where I found The Super Song was a super shop--until it was closed, along with three other VOA stores, a couple of years ago. I'll never forget its many rows and piles of vinyl. Or the broken 78s, the empty CD cases tossed in with the albums, and the occasional empty LP jacket. A magical thrifting experience.

Lee

Old-Time Country for Friday: Williamson Brothers and Curry

I've had these tracks running through my head, so I thought I'd post them. Now, maybe, they'll be running through others people's heads as well. Which isn't a bad thing at all.

The Williamson Brothers and Curry (don't know who he was) of West Virginia are way too old-time for O Brother, but that's not a bad thing, either--to quote a Spike Jones record, "In fact, it's good." I'm not much of a toe-tapper-along with music, but this stuff gets my whole foot in motion. Play without delay:

Cumberland Gap, Williamson Brothers and Curry, 1927.

Warfield, Williamson Brothers and Curry, 1927.

Gonna Die with My Hammer in My Hand, Williamson Brothers and Curry, 1927.

That last track is my favorite version of John Henry. I like it even better than Leadbelly's, which is really saying something. Repeat-play champs, all.


Old-Time Lee

Augh! I can't believe I forgot to post this file!!

Halloween is over, but I must retro-post this mp3. It's the Stan Freberg classic, The Honey-Earthers, a take-off on (guess which famous '50s TV program?). Voices were provided by Freberg, Daws Butler, and June (Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha, et al.) Foray.

The Honey-Earthers, Stan Freberg, Daws Butler, and June Foray, 1955. From Capitol 45.

June Foray also played Talky Tina in the Twilight Zone episode, "The Doll." Her other cartoon voices included Cindy Lou Who, Nell Fenwick, and (in the 1956 cartoon short, The Honey-Mousers) Alice Crumden. (Crumden! Ha, ha!)

Can't believe I forgot to post this one. How on moon did that happen?











Lee

Stan Freberg/Joseph McCarthy; John Denver/Spiro Agnew

Joseph McCarthy is back in the news these days--the entertainment news, anyway. The perfect time to present Point of Order, a 1954 comedy classic by Stan Freberg and Toledo's own Daws (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, et al.) Butler:

Point of Order, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, 1954. From Capitol 45.

And here's John Denver, from 1969, singing a touching, to-the-point tribute to Spiro Agnew penned by Tom Paxton:

The Ballad of Spiro Agnew (Tom Paxton), John Denver, 1969.

Gotta love that one. I know I do. Who says John Denver wasn't cool?


Lee

Halloween files; Crist Kindel

I keep thinking that today is Monday. But there's a problem with that theory: Monday was yesterday. So, we can say with complete certitude that my theory is incorrect, based on the evidence at hand.

Hope everyone has had a great Monday. I mean, Tuesday.

And... my Halloween files are going to have to go. Sometime within the next two or three days, I'll be deleting them from box.net. I have no choice, as storage space is getting low--and I posted a bunch of Halloween stuff. Blobs of it. I mean, globs. Er, gobs.

So, if you want to play and/or save (I didn't say that) any files, now is the time to do so. Unless "now" is later, in which case, it may be too late.

So, files gotta go. Christmas, after all, is only two months away. Not even two months away. And if you think my Halloween files were wild, you'll never know what hit you after I post my Christmas stuff. I mean, odd doesn't describe some of the stuff. Awful doesn't describe some of it, either. You'll mutter, as you stare striaght ahead in a glazed fashion, "Why... do they even... make records... like this?" But by then, it will be too late. Tooooo late.

Don't say you weren't warned. ("You weren't warned.") I asked you not to say that!

Well, maybe they won't be all that bad. Or maybe they will be. Dunno. I'd insert a "muwa-ha-haaa!" here, but that's too un-Christmas.

Yup, in no time at all, Santa Thor, our favorite gift-bearing fire god, will zip down and then up our chimneys after leaving gifts in the manner of Crist (or Christ) Kindel, a.k.a. the Christ Child.

No, no. Not Crist Kindel. I meant, Kris Kringle.

Funny how much those two sound alike, isn't it?

Lee

Finally, the final Halloween post for 2005

Here's Buck Owens with his very own (It's a) Monsters' Holiday, from 1974. Not unlike the 1959 Sharkey Todd record, actually....

It's a Monsters' Holiday (Buck Owens), Buck Owens, 1974.

I won't admit that I spent an hour editing that file, owing to crosscuts on the otherwise O.K. surface. Imagine a digital file spliced in, oh, fifty spots. Or thereabouts. (Am I dedicated, or what?)

No, I'm nuts! That's closer to it.

Anyway, the final track took no time at all to edit, especially since it consists of two excerpts joined by a cross-fade (love the two-track feature on my MAGIX!). This is Arthur Ferrante and Lou Teicher, wishing us a Happy Halloween. Thanks, Art and Lou! My favorite middle-of-the-road duo-piano artists....

Happy Halloween from Ferrante and Teicher, 1963.
















"Happy Halloween, MYPWHAE!"--Art and Lou


Lee

"Which Witch Doctor"--plus, Sharkey Todd and Eddy Arnold

Thanks to Byron for alerting me to this record's existence. From 1958, this is Which Witch Doctor, a story about either 1) a shady shaman or 2) a case of mistaken medicine-man identity. Which is it? You decide.

Which Witch Doctor (J. Neel--N. Venet), The Vogues, 1958. (Dot 15798)

Of course, I'm wondering if co-writer "N. Venet" is Nick Venet, the Capitol label A&R man who had the wisdom to sign up the Beach Boys after they were turned down elsewhere. That would be cool. Anyway, in case anyone asks you which Vogues did this song, tell them it was the earlier group that recorded for Dot, not the later group that recorded for Reprise (Turn Around, Look at Me) and which had earlier hits on the Co & Ce label (You're the One, for example).

And here's some Eddy Arnold for your Halloween--Sittin' By Sittin' Bull, a strange and spooky ditty written by Jimmie (Battle of New Orleans) Driftwood. And, by the way, weren't William F. Cody and Buffalo Bill the same guy? So, like, how can their ghosts be shooting it out?

Oh, I forgot--it's just a novelty record! It doesn't have to be logical. (Whew.) I was getting concerned, there.

Sittin' by Sittin' Bull (Jimmie Driftwood), Eddy Arnold, 1959. (RCA 47-7619) Produced by Chet Atkins.

A very strange record. And a very good one, thanks in part to producer Chet Atkins, who was condemned by NPR's Fresh Air for having allegedly ruined country music. One of Air's pop music critics had bitter words for Atkins--this was on the occasion of Chet's death. Made quite an impression on me. I'm still stunned by the meanness of it.

On a more pleasant note, here's Sharkey Todd and His Monsters with Horror Show, all about a family unit that makes the Munsters look like the Cleavers.

Horror Show, Sharkey Todd and His Monsters, 1959.

"Produced by Dracula's Mother," claims the label. I wonder.

I had one more to share, but box.net has gone bye-bye for the moment. First, Alltel DSL, now box.net. It's... it's a plot, I tell you!!! (Unintentional Halloween pun: plot!) More to come, hopefully.


















Lee

"The Night Before Halloween"

For the sake of this post, we'll pretend that it's last night. Of course, I would have had this posted in time if Alltel hadn't been messing up since Saturday (Arrrrggghh!). And, as I type this, our DSL is still down. It will "definitely" be fixed by 5 today, said the person on the phone. Uh-huh. We'll see.

Anyway, here's Bill Buchanan (one half of the famous "break-in" team Buchanan and Goodman) with The Night Before Halloween, from 1962, one of the big, big years for Monstermania.

The Night Before Halloween, Bill Buchanan, 1962. From United Artists 531.

Wow. Produced by Buchanan, Greenfield, and (Michael) Gordon, says the label. This was the flip side of Beware, (I mean, Be-varrrrre) which I posted previously.

More to come (I hope), including Which Witch Doctor by The Vogues. As long as I can keep a dial-up connection, that is....












The climactic battle from Godzilla vs. the UFO (2004)

As a last resort, I might send Godzilla after Alltel to get this DSL problem fixed. Then again, at about 5" X 6" (including his tail), he's probably not intimidating enough. He doesn't even have a built-in roar....

Lee

Napoleon Complex--the true story

Well, I got out my copy of Napoleon Complex (the bootleg CD posted in its entirety at WFMU's Beware of the Blog), and... Lars is right--the CD does include a number of cover versions of They're Coming to Take Me Away. D'oh! I wrote that Dr. Love's version was the first Napoleon cover I'd encountered. Not hardly. The worst part is that I've owned a copy of Napoleon Complex for a couple of years, so I must have been having a major brain fart.

Thanks, Lars, for correcting my error! And sorry for my incorrect response--cover versions abound on the CD.

Napoleon Complex also includes "answers" and follow-ups, such as the classic I'm Normal, by The Emperor (Bob Hudson of Hudson and Landry), Henry the IX's Don't Take Me Back, Oh-Nooo!, and Josephine XIII's Down on the Funny Farm (oy vey), plus Jerry Samuels' own The Place Where the Nuts Hunt the Squirrels and They're Coming to Get Me Again, Ha-Haaa!

My choice of words was poor--what I really meant is that Dr. Love's version is the first cheap-label, sound-alike cover of the record I've ever found. I.e., the kind of version that would have appeared in the past on crappy labels like Tops, Promenade, Remington, or Hit. Some of which, actually, weren't all that bad--but all of which were cheap. (Wow--I just read that Tiny Tim recorded a never-released version. That would be something to hear!) Dr. Love's cover was made for one of the chintziest CD labels out there, and with the intention, simply, of sounding like the original. No personal stamp intended. For years, I've wanted to find such a recording. (Why, I don't know. I never analyze things that far....)

I should have been a little more clear.

For what it's worth, They're Coming to Take Me Away's copyright was not the usual one. Reports Songfacts: "Once a song is released, it falls into the realm of compulsory licensing, which means anyone can record it if they pay the statutory royalty rate. (This is a very complicated issue - you can learn all about it in the book This Business Of Music). Since this has no melody, they were able to copyright it as a lecture intended for oral delivery instead of as a song. This meant other record companies couldn't copy it without permission."

That might have ruled out a Hit label version. Or even a cover, say, by The Kingsmen. Assuming there were bands lined up waiting to cover it. What I've always wanted to find is a sheet music version of the title, but I'm betting none exist, at least from 1966. Yes, such a thing would be pretty redundant, but that's the whole idea!

I speak as one who owns sheet music to Witch Doctor, Sh-Boom, and other songs whose lyrics are not exactly ranked up there with, say, Yip Harburg's. I'll be in heaven if I ever find a printed copy of Jimmy Liggins' Drunk, whose chorus goes: "Drunk. Drunk. Drunk. Drunk."

Anyway, the Poor Word Choice Police are knocking on the door. I'll pretend I'm not home....

Lee, still on dial-up

"Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte" and other Halloween cuts

Halloween cuts! Get it? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

It's been years since I saw Hush... Hush, but I believe it was Bruce Dern who got hacked apart in the opening scene. He had a number of thankless small roles and/or bit parts in those days. (Turned into a pig on Thriller, killed by a Zanti Misfit on The Outer Limits, and so on.) And I remember that Bette Davis wasn't the one who did it. That's all I recall, but it's enough to make me wonder what a pretty tune like this has to do with a 1964 slasher/aging-actress-playing-a-madwoman flick that's as grim as all get-out. But I like it, and I like Al Martino. Apparently, it showed up in the flick, and by Al.

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, (Mack David-Frank DeVol), Al Martino with Pete King and His Orch. (1964).

And here's Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians with Curiosity Killed a Cat. Not exactly a Halloween tune, in spite of "cat" (and "killed") in the title, but there is a verse about the men in white coming to take somebody away. And that's good enough for me. Nothing anti-cat about this, incidentally--I'd never post anything along that line, believe me.

Curiosity Killed a Cat (What'Cha Don't Know Won't Hurt'Cha), Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, with "Calypso vocal chorus by Kenny Gardner and The Lombardo Trio." Now you know.

1954, by the way. I forgot to add that. Of course, silly music knows no era. Fun stuff.

And, three more Drac tracks before we close the coffin on the vampire theme:

Carry Me Back to Transylvania, Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964.

Ghoul Days, Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964.

Monster Hootenanny, Dracula (Gene Moss), 1964. ("Waltzing Godzilla"--priceless!)

I forgot to mention that DSL reappeared this afternoon, only to (surprise!) vanish again. Bev and I are trying to laugh all of this off, but our laughter might turn to cackling before long. I hope we can hang on to our sanity. If not, this will be our theme song:

Laff It Off, Bob Haring and His Orch., 1924, from Cameo label 78.

A little noisy, but I managed to get a good file out of it, I think. I don't have the record handy, or I'd give the names of the two-person "laughing chorus." They pretty much steal the show....

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!"--Laff It Off.

And here's My Friend the Ghost, again--only, this time, in a children's version released on a Golden Records LP. Same guy on the vocal (Gordon Polk), but different lyrics and some less than skillful editing of the prerecorded backing track. I'm assigning it the same year as the Bell label original, though it's only a guess. Bell and Golden Records must have been related?

My Friend the Ghost, Gordon Polk with Tommy Dorsey and His Orch., 1954. (Children's version released on a Golden Records LP.)

Pity the poor guy with the tape splicer, preparing the track for its kiddie version. What a gig.

And here is Lee, in three (hopefully different-sounding) voices. "The Things from Hell" is the name of this chilling segment of Terrible Tales of Terror! Very high-tech: In the second part, I played the sound effects on my portable Phillips while reading the dialogue. (Sound mixing? What's that?)

Terrible Tales of Terror: "The Things from Hell" (Hartsfeld), performed by Lee Hartsfeld, 2003. Sound effects by Phillips.

And that exhausts my supply of uploaded Halloween files. I've got more that could go (to box.net), but being as how I'm stuck in dial-up mode, these may or may not see the light of blog. Still, I think we've had a pretty good Halloween at MYPWHAE.














The turntables never stop spinning at MYPWHAE.

"The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor," "Rocketship X-M," and more!!

Joe South, in singer-songwriter mode, won a Grammy in 1969 for Games People Play. He also wrote Down in the Boondocks, (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden, and Hush. He did not, however, write the following side for the NRC label, The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor. But it is him, singing. Or so the label says. My ears say they're hearing Carl Perkins, but I think we'll have to defer to the label. ("Carl Perkins!") Shut up, ears.

The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor, Joe South, 1958. From NRC 45.

Did you notice how the drummer was caught off guard after "One more time!" because the sped-up sax (or whatever it is) came in too early? I suspect there was some prerecorded-track-coordination issue going on. The lesson: overdub the sped-up voices and instruments after you've laid down the normal-speed track. Don't force the real-time session players to keep up (or down) with the Chipmunk stuff. So suggests MYPWHAE.

Enough of that. Now for the one and only cover version (!) of They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! that I've ever found. And it's pretty bad, though not as lame as it could have been. It sounds as if Dr. Love, whoever he is, managed to get his hands on the original rhythm track:

They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! Dr. Love, 2000.

No comma--tsk, tsk. The label has it wrong. (As if anyone in the world, except me, would notice.) Anyway, if Alltel doesn't get its act together, this is going to become my song, ha-haaa!

And here are four fabulous selections from Ferde (Grand Canyon Suite) Grofe's 1950 soundtrack for the sci-fi classic Rocketship X-M. I love this score; it's in a Dimitri Tiomkin vein, with lots of block dissonance (a term I just made up) and weird effects to spare, including the theremin of Dr. Samuel Hoffman. Many years ago, I caught a 3 am showing of the original print (not the footage-added video version) on a Los Angeles TV station--it was the first time I'd seen the flick in fifteen years, at least. The original, tacky rocket-take-off scenes are a lot of fun, and the Mars sequences are better without the red tint. No wonder I loved this thing as a kid.

Rocketship X-M Main Title (Grofe, orch. by Albert Glasser), from 1950 soundtrack.

Countdown; Launch; Into Orbit (Grofe, orch. by Albert Glasser), from Rocketship X-M soundtrack (1950). (The great middle cue was swallowed up by the sound effects in the movie; what a tragic loss. Part of it, however, is reused at greater volume later on.)

Approaching Mars (Grofe, orch. by Albert Glasser), from Rocketship X-M soundtrack (1950). (The best starkness-of-space music ever!)

The Martian Mutants (Grofe, orch. by Albert Glasser), from Rocketship X-M soundtrack (1950). (The scariest part of the movie. The music works beautifully with the action; by itself, it's highly repetitive. I edited it down considerably, from 6:13 to 2:47.)

Ferde Grofe reused some of the X-M music in his 1952 Valley of the Sun suite. How's that for trivia?

Enjoy!!


Lee, posting in dial-up mode.

Life in Inner Space

Thanks, Reverend Frost, for pointing out the problem with the Are You Ready for Life in Inner Space? file. Turns out that box.net doesn't like ?'s. So, I simply removed the ? from the title, and all is back to normal.

Or as close as things get to normal around this joint....

Meanwhile, I've been waiting three minutes for a photo to upload. Holy Halloween, is this what dial-up is like??

No wonder we got DSL from All-Hell. I mean, Alltel.

And the photo never showed up. The page said "Done," but there's no photo. Maybe it got lost between Daylight Savings Time and Not-Daylight Savings Time.


Lee