Wake-up sounds for Friday, March 31!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a... (Splat!)

Never mind. It's a bird:

Superman, The Sandpiper Singers, 1959. From The Golden Treasury of Songs About Heroes.

We continue our wake-up festival with two by Rosemary Clooney. In addition to these, songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans gave us Que Sera, Sera; Tammy; Buttons and Bows; and the themes to Mr. Ed and Bonanza.

Lovely Weather for Ducks (Livingston-Evans), Rosemary Clooney with Paul Weston and His Orch., 1953. From Columbia 45.

Haven't Got a Worry, Rosemary Clooney with Paul Weston and His Orch., 1953. From Columbia 45. (Obviously written before global warming was front page news.)

If all those didn't wake you up, there's still hope in the form of Gil Trythall's Moog versions of two country standards:

Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Gil Trythall, from the LP Country Moog: Switched on Nashville, 1972. (I love the "Angry Insect" patch on this one!)

Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash, Gordon Jenkins), Gil Trythall, as above.


















Your blogger, plotting his next playlist....

Lee

"Tabby the Cat," and other Thursday morning sounds!

Good morning, all! Looks like my storage bandwidth will survive the month. This is good. My cats think so. Rosie does, anyway. She says, "Daddy, I'm so happy about that." No, wait--not "happy about that." She says, "Tabby 'bout cat." (Tabby 'bout cat??)

I must not be hearing her right. Ohhhh. Tabby the Cat. That's what she's saying. Rosie, bless her back and white fur, wants to hear Tabby the Cat.

I get it. And I got it. Yes, I just happen to have an MP3 of that very side, all ripped and ready to post:

Tabby the Cat (Dickinson-Gibeling), The Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orch., 1944. From Capitol 78.

Hope to find a better copy of that sometime. Rosie says, "Get on it." I think I'll rename Rosie "Bossie."

And here's another parody--this time, from 1958. It's the Archibald Players with a Gunsmoke take-off called Mr. Drillon. Another thrift store find:

Mr. Drillon, The Archibald Players, 1958. From 45.

Drillon--hm. As in, "drillon" somebody full of lead? That must be the pun. Dunno. I can't believe it's meant in a, um, dirty context, but who knows? Probably not.

Time to move on. Here are Mitch Miller's Horns and Chorus performing the clever 1954 novelty Napoleon, the theme of which we recognize from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture:

Napoleon, Mitch Miller Horns and Chorus, 1954. From Columbia LP.

If I could find the album that yielded Napoleon, I'd copy the composer credits, but I have no idea where it is. I probably stuck it in plastic-container storage. Managing my records has been fun ever since I went from having lots of room to having very little. In fact, I have thirty or so LPs and 78s that need to go downstairs at this very moment. I think I'll take them there. Right now.

Isn't the real-time aspect of cyberspace exciting? Life as it happens®. Double the boredom!

Getting a bunch of cowboy, Rosemary Clooney, novelty, and other stuff ready to go. Some great music coming up at... MY(P)WHAE!

















Rosie the cat demands more Rosie the human.


Lee

Cowboy and Western Music Shoot-out, er, Blowout, Part 2

Welcome to our second Cowboy and Western shoot-out blowout. Quite a few of these come from an excellent Cornet label LP called TV Western Themes. Here's an image of its cover, complete with glare from the overhead lights:

















The actual color is orange, but the low light and the subsequent darkening of the image (by me) probably ruined any chance of accurate documentation. It now looks like faded orange, or maybe butterscotch.

It really is a cool cover, and I'm going to try to get a decent photo--I'll use light this time. The sound files fared much better. Not only is this thrift-store find in solid VG condition (save for Davy Crockett, which is hammered), the production and performances are good, not only by Cornet standards, but by any label's standards. Truly an item for Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

The only theme I recognize is Cheyenne, so I can't vouch for the others--they may have been actual TV themes, they may not have been. This is not a label I trust. If anyone can verify any of these as authentic (or otherwise), please do so. I'm especially curious about Wild Bill Hickok. It doesn't sound familiar, but I've only seen three episodes from that Fifties series, and that was several years ago:

Wild Bill Hickok, Slim Boyd and His Range Riders (yeah, sure). From Cornet LP TV Western Themes.

Damn, I love those words. Wyatt Earp is just as fun. And don't miss the textbook dangling participle ("As a hero, people loved him best"):

Wyatt Earp, Slim Boyd and His Range Riders (I still don't buy it). From same LP.

Here's another memorable and catchy theme, though the lyrics are hilarious. And a mouthful, too--I pity poor Slim, or whoever was stuck with the lead.

Buffalo Bill, Slim Boyd and His Range Riders (the famous).

Next, a great theme and a terrific performance. I hope no one at Cornet got in trouble for producing such a good track:

Cheyenne, Bill Boyd and His Range Riders (whatever).

They don't write 'em like that anymore. Such memories that brings back--memories of the old west, as I experienced it via the tube. In black and white, of course, because the old west was before color film.

Here are two by Perry Como with the Sons of the Pioneers, both of them superb (the artists and the sides). These guys should have done an entire album together:

You Don't Kno' What Lonesome Is, Perry Como with the Sons of the Pioneers, 1951. From RCA Victor 45.

Tumbling Tumbleweeds (Bob Nolan), Perry Como with the Sons of the Pioneers, 1951. From RCA Victor 45.

If any cowboy song ever cried out for Como's voice, Tumbleweeds is it. Best version ever, says MY(P)WHAE.

The Sons of the Pioneers return with the theme (the actual one, for sure) from Maverick. And I need to get a photo of the pic sleeve:

Maverick (Webster-Buttolph), Sons of the Pioneers. From Bluebird 45.

We close with Valjean's excellent EZ version of the Gunsmoke theme:

Gunsmoke (Koury-Spencer), Valjean, piano with orchestra, 1964. From Carlton LP.

The perfect tracks for a Wednesday Cowboy and Western music shoot-out blowout!

















"Does anyone know the words to Wyatt Earp?"

Lee

It's Monday!

And that calls for Monday music! Whatever "Monday music" is. I guess it can be whatever we want it to be.

It can be... Frankie Laine. From 1951. Yeah. Why not? Great stuff, and a big hit:

Jealousy (Jalousie) (Bloom-Gade), Frankie Laine, 1951. From Command Performance LP.

What an arrangement! What a singing job! Was that Monday, or what?

You want some banjos for your Monday? Well, I can give you one, anyway. This is the banjo of Fred Van Eps, and the tune is C. Luckyth Roberts' The Junk Man Rag. Imagine performing into one of those ancient, giant recording horns while an orchestra blares away behind you. Yikes. Asked how the session went, Fred reportedly replied, "Huh?"

The Junk Man Rag (C. Luckyth Roberts), Fred Van Eps, banjo with orchestra, 1913. From Columbia 78.

The man could play the banjo. Wow. What a Monday touch he had. And here's one I forgot to post on St. Patrick's Day--the incomparable Revelers with a perfect rendition of Sweet Rosie O'Grady. And it sounds like I forgot to edit out the bigger pops--oops. (Maybe that's why I didn't post it!)

Sweet Rosie O'Grady, Shannon Quartet (Revelers), 1926. From Victor 78.

Now, that's barbershop singing. Monday barbershop singing.

Wow. Those sides have me all pumped up for Monday. That's almost not natural....


Lee

Bees on my neck, People Q&A, Jonah vs. Helen (place your bets), and belated dues.

I was going to use this photo as my new blog mugshot, but it looks like there are bees on my neck. What happened, of course, is that the Kodak Fun Effect ® ("Cartoon") added lots of extra contrast to my whiskers. That'll happen.

In other news, today's People Q&A (in the Columbus Dispatch's TV Plus) features this Q: "Grey's Anatomy recently had a two-parter about a man who shot himself with a bazooka, and had the unexploded ammo still inside him. Can you tell me the name of the actress who played his wife." (Punctuation not mine.)

I haven't decided if that sounds more like a Bob and Ray routine or a Monty Python quote. Both, maybe.

The answer, by the way, is Jillian Armenante. In case you, too, were wondering who played the wife of the guy who shot himself with a bazooka on Grey's Anatomy.

Meanwhile, our local paper printed a Jonah Goldberg piece in which the rugged commentator describes the 85-year-old Helen Thomas as "that thespian carbuncle of bile," and concludes that "swatting Helen Thomas is a start, but it will take a lot more." Well, I hope Jonah tries no such thing. I mean, after a few swats, Helen might die from laughter.

No, I take it back. Go for it, Jonah! Teach Helen a lesson! (Meanwhile, I'll be taking bets. Send yours to my email.)

In more serious news, the money for The Lion Sleeps Tonight is finally going to the people who should be getting it. Or a lot of it is, anyway. The story is too long and confusing to relate (the royalty details, mainly), so I'll refer you to the best version I've found so far: In the Jungle, the Unjust Jungle, a Small Victory.

The first piece I read suggested the family had gotten zip from Lion, and it didn't even mention Wimoweh or Pete Seeger--who, apparently, thought the money was going where it should and was disappointed to discover otherwise. I believe him--he's a good guy, and artists are usually focused on art, not finances. The Weavers weren't out to rip anyone off. Nor The Tokens. Music-makers are the last to know.

Anyway, a decent deal of dough is going to the right people now, and that's cool. Not sure I'd be so damned forgiving.

I can't wait for some pop music critic to explain that the song didn't actually belong to anyone, because, after all, black music is "folk" music and, therefore, uncopyrightable. I'm serious--some asshole is going to point out how simple the thing is, and how traditional it is, etc. , and therefore how silly it is that anyone is claiming credit for it. Mark my word. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. Never mind that plenty of money has been going, for years, to people who didn't create the song. No, no. The issue is that black folk are asking for their due.

You think I'm kidding, right? No way that racism that naked would show up in print. Well, I have one word for you: way.

Just wait. I'm right. In fact, such a piece has probably already been written. I will be proven correct, folks.

Or, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I'll probably be proven correct.

If you think I'm being hard on the rock press in my rants, you ought to see the stuff I edit out! Like most sacred institutions, the rock-scribe industry does not deserve its status. But so long as rock is sacred, then everything written about it (so long as it's properly uncritical) will be, too.

Lee "Bee-Beard" Hartsfeld

Cowboy and Western Music Shoot-out, er, Blowout.

Welcome to Part 1 of "Cowboy and Western Music Shoot-out Blowout." We start with three by Frankie Laine. The first features a tune written by Dimitri Tiomkin, who also wrote the music for Lost Horizon (the 1937 orignal), It's a Wonderful Life, The Thing from Another World, Giant, and the theme for TV's Rawhide.

High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) (Dmitri Tiomkin), Frankie Laine, 1952. From Command Performance LP.

Mule Train (Lange-Heath-Glickman), Frankie Laine and The Mule-Skinners, 1949. From Columbia label various-artists LP. (Almost the original Rawhide, no? Terrific production by Mitch Miller.)

The Kid's Last Fight (Bob Merrill), Frankie Laine, 1954. From Command Performance LP.

Rusty Draper and Steve Allen were no slouches at Western numbers, either. Well, actually, Allen was. In fact, he's pretty bad here. But the tune (from Disney's Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier) is quite good. Well, pretty good. O.K., adequate. Could have been a lot worse, though.

The Draper record, on the other hand, is terrific. The French horns make the arrangement:

The Gun of Billy the Kid (Martin-Myers), Rusty Draper with David Carroll's Orchestra, 1956. From Mercury label 45.

Old Betsy (Bruns-George), Steve Allen with Dick Jacobs Orchestra, 1955. From Coral label 45.

Western TV themes, you plead? Sure. Here's the one from Here Come the Brides. A 1969 hit for Perry Como, and rightfully so:

Seattle (Sheldon-Keller), Perry Como, 1969. From RCA Victor 45.

I have lots of memories of watching Here Come the Brides (the TV version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers), but few memories of the program itself. (Holy crap--Bobby Sherman and David Soul were in it! No wonder I've forgotten about it.)

Same for Wagon Train: I watched who-knows-how-many episodes, but do I remember any of the plots? Actors? Episode titles? Nope, just that there were a bunch of wagon trains.

But the fabulous theme music by Jerome (The Big Country) Moross-- that, I remember:

Wagon Train (Wagons Ho!) (Jerome Moross), Valjean, piano and orchestra, 1964. From Carlton LP.

More oater-music classics hiiyaaaain' this way as we speak!

Yeeee-haaaa!
















Dmitri Tiomkin, composer of Do Not Forsake Me, Rawhide, and The Thing from Another World.

Leeee (haaaa!)