MY(P)WHAE Halloween, 2010--Part 6: Some pun about "covers"

I hate it when it's Halloween and I'm posting my sixth playlist, and it's filled with cover versions, and I can't think of one good "cover" pun. "Hiding under the covers." No. Um, "Under the covers." No. "Pull up the covers." No, no, no. I'll think of something, of course, after this post has gone up.

A Halloween pun dying to happen. Buwa-ha-haaaa!!

For some reason, I'd like to imagine I'm the only blogger on Earth who would even think of using a cheap-label U.K. cover of Paint It Black as a Halloween offering, let alone--and from the same E.P.--Shotgun Wedding, a cover of the 1965 R&B hit. Or who would even consider using a Hit label cover of Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! for the same purposes, or both a lounge and Dixieland version of Ghost Riders in the Sky. To quote the Top Kicks (1954): "Huh?"

Ditto, for my Avenue label 1970 cover of Gimme Dat Ding, which is credited to... no one. I have a lot of stuff by him/her.

Then there's a 1953 track called Flash from the Blue--what's Halloween about that? Ahhh, I shall reveal the answer--Jerry Stevens. Who happened to be a fake name for one Joseph Stefano, screenwriter of Psycho (1960) and producer of The Outer Limits' first season. He started out as a songwriter.

Archie Bleyer's version of Steve Allen's The Rockin' Ghost is a Halloween regular around these parts. It really glows on you--I mean, grows on you. The title suggests a Twist-style rocker, but what we get instead is a cool, jazzy sound. And rhymes like "most" and "ghost." Gonesville!

To the music: Slaylist No. 6, 2010.

SLAYLIST NO. 6

HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDAH!--Dick Martin (Hit 77)
GIMME DAT DING--No artist credited, 1970 (Avenue 93)
FLASH FROM THE BLUE (J. Stefano)--Karen Chandler, 1953.
HUH? (BOOLYA BOTTEN BOOTEN BABY)--Top Kicks, 1954.
GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY--Leonard Gaskin Dixielanders, 1962.
GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY--The Accents (Forward ACC-1-1616)
SHOTGUN WEDDING--Top Six No. 29, 1966.
PAINT IT BLACK--Top Six No. 29, 1966.
ALLEY-OOP--Connie Sommer and the Toppers (Tops S50)
THE ROCKIN' GHOST (Allen-Lee)--Archie Bleyer O. and Cho., 1956.



Lee

THE television Mom of them all has left us....

As most of us know, she played TV's all-time coolest Mom on TV's most wonderful sitcom, Leave It to Beaver. Barbara Billingsley, 1909-2010. Another great talent has passed.


Lee

MY(P)WHAE Halloween, 2010--Part 5: Screamin' Meemies

Merv Griffin, starring in I Was a Teenage Band Singer (1951).

Halloween without Merv Griffin's The Screamin' Meemies from Planet "X" just isn't Halloween. Luckily, today's slaylist contains Merv Griffin's The Screamin' Meemies from Planet "X," without which Halloween just isn't Halloween. We've got it. Merv's record, I mean. In our playlist. I mean, slaylist.

But I ramble--sorry. I'm still dazed over my accidental deletion last night of 75+ comments. Meanwhile, I seem to be suffering some mild stomach flu, which could explain why I wasn't all there last night. It's probably best not to go into Blogger's control room when you're woozy from a stomach bug. Blogger really should have a warning to that effect, but they don't. What gives?

"Do not work work with blog archives when feeling woozy, especially from a stomach bug."--something like that. It could save others from my tragic fate.

No theme to the slaylist this time, beyond Halloween. We start with Ferde Grofe's 1963 pizzicato novelty, Trick or Treat, a blog regular, and move on to Merv's great 1961 novelty. Then, Chuck Miller's Lookout Mountain, which I still haven't figured out completely--I know it's about voodoo, and a dead husband coming back to life, and so on, but I can't figure out if the husband's been murdered, or if the new guy is the subject of a love potion, or what. Any voodoo historians out there?

Next, a MY(P)WHAE premiere--Bill Haley's 1964 version of Green Door, and in stereo, no less. Haley had been given one shot at a comeback on Decca, and unfortunately it didn't work out. Great side, regardless. I ripped this from a stereo 45 which features Corrine, Corrina as the flip. Then, four chintzy "covers" in a row, including Artie Malvin's excellent House of Blue Lights, The Three Beavers' Uh Oh (orig. the Nutty Squirrels), and a very good Tops cover (by Bud Roman) of Perry Como's Glendora, all about a guy who falls in love with a dummy in a department store-ah. You knew he'd had a hit about a guy in love with a department store dummy, right? I thought everyone knew that.

And Jan August is back with the Grade-A novelty, The Naughty Ghost--truly a marvel of pop record production. We close with the Mark IV's Ah-Ooo-Gah, and, now that I've typed "We close with the Mark IV's Ah-Ooo-Gah, life is complete. ("Have you heard the Mark IV's Ah-Ooo-Gah?" "Have I what??")

To the music: Slaylist #5, 2010

SLAYLIST #5

TRICK OR TREAT (HALLOWEEN FANTASY FOR PIZZICATO STRINGS) (Grofe, 1963)--Andre Kostelanetz and His Orch., 1976.
THE SCREAMIN' MEEMIES FROM PLANET "X"--Merv Griffin, 1961.
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN--Chuck Miller, 1956.
THE GREEN DOOR--Bill Haley and His Comets, 1964 (Decca 725751).
HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS--Artie Malvin and the Light Brigade (18 Top Hits 155)
UH OH--The 3 Beavers (Hit Parader HPMO-5-2)
GLENDORA--Bud Roman w. the Toppers (Tops 45-R286-49)
TRANSFUSION--"Scat Man" Crothers (Tops 45-R286-49)
THE NAUGHTY GHOST--Jan August, 1955.
AH-OOO-GAH--The Mark IV, 1958.


Lee

The Day the Comments Disappeared

I just deleted maybe 100 recent blog comments. I did not mean to--I thought I was clearing out the record of my comments. But, no--I deleted the comments themselves.

Why I didn't know better, I don't know. What I did was akin to (but not as drastic as) going into Blogger and deleting my past posts on the theory that I'm deleting a record of my past posts. All it takes in computer-land is a moment of not thinking, and the damage can be impossible to undo, as it is in this case. Gee, how did people ruin their weeks before PCs and the Internet? Must have taken many more steps to do so.

Now, all it takes is a few keystrokes. Damn it. I'm so angry, I could punch my PC. But it wasn't my PC that screwed up.

I'll never know what I thought I was doing--it's beyond figuring out. I just spaced, big-time, and long enough to damage my beloved blog. The delete is not reversible.

Tranquilizer time, folks.


Lee

MY(P)WHAE Halloween, 2010--Part 4: Sci-Fi Halloween

This photo proves that I don't look my best:

1) in green
2) when I've just woken up
3) after I've watched a bunch of sci-fi flicks
4) when the camera accidentally captures my true Martian appearance.

The correct answer is 4).

And the correct slaylist for your mp3 playback (slayback?) device is today's "Sci-Fi Halloween" slaylist, not to be confused with a "SyFy Halloween" slaylist. Or a "Channel Formerly Known as Sci-Fi" slaylist. All have appeared before at this blog, except Space Hop and Green Door. And Green Door has nothing to do with sci-fi, but I included it, anyway. Heck, it's Halloween--adherence to protocol is not what Halloween is about. 'Tis the season to be uʍop ǝpısdn and sdrawkcab. Or rightside up and forwards. Whichever represents a departure from your norm.

Of course, all summer I've been singing, "'Tis the season to be sneezin'...." Or would have, had I thought of it. Of course, for the Frankenstein monster, 'tis is the season to be squeezin': "FRIEND!! (CRUNNNNNCH!!!!) Oops."

In other news, Moon Man is probably my favorite early Burt Bacharach number. The other Bacharach "Moon" title--Moon Guitar--was originally recorded by the Rangoons in 1961. Now you know. And if you don't believe these lies are true, just ask this blind man--he saw them, too.

Slaylist No. 4--Sci-Fi Halloween

SLAYLIST
MARTIAN HOP--The Elektras (16 Top Hits of the Week, v. 2; Update 101)
SPACE HOP (Curb)--The Arrows feat. Davie Allen, 1965.
THIRTEEN MEN--Dinah Shore, Harry Zimmerman O. and Cho., 1958.
MONKEY BUSINESS (B. Sherrill)--Eddie Hill and Group, 1959.
LOOK OUT FOR THE BATMAN--No artist credit (Batman 95)
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN--Ray Anthony O., 1957.
MOON GUITAR (Bacharch-David)--50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett, 1966.
THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER (From "Pops for Tots," Audition 5932)
GREEN DOOR--Frankie Vaughan, 1956.
MOON MAN (Bacharach-David)--Gloria Lambert w. Richard Maltby O., 1959.

Lee

Sunday morning gospel: Stewart Family--Little Community Church

Released in 1965 on Hilltop Gospel (Pickwick), Little Community Church features ten superb country gospel tracks highlighted (in my opinion) by Will the Circle Be Unbroken, in a version that sticks to the original words and music of 1907 (by Ada Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel, respectively). Less superb is the sound quality, which is 1) Pickwick-level and 2) in phony stereo. I kept the left channel only and, using the panning function, gave it a full-bodied sound. It doesn't have that isolated-channel sound at all. And I'm sure you hate that "isolated-channel sound" as much as I do. (Why are looking at me like that?)

But enough audio-restoration talk--what about the Stewart Family? A very good question, yes. If anyone has any info in that regard, don't be shy about sharing, because the made-them-up-as-the-author-went-along liner notes tell us just about nothing, save that the Stewart Family was "one of the most prominent and in-demand of the active singing family combines." So much so, the liner notes fail to offer a shred of specific information.

They were certainly good enough to be all that, but I suspect these recordings predate this 1965 package. (Wait a minute, wait a minute....) Ah-ha!! 4 Star label. I found them.

Just found a 4 Star 78 at eBay--Thirty Pieces of Silver and Little Community Church, from 1950. I'd guesstimated the early Fifties, and I was correct, looks like. I think we found our Stewart Family.

So, some 4 Star/Hilltop Gospel/Pickwick sacred country for today's SMG. Budget package, but grade-A gospel: Stewart Family--Little Community Church.

HE'LL DO FOR YOU
LITTLE COMMUNITY CHURCH
WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN
THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER
SOFTLY AND TENDERLY
THE BOOK OF LIFE
DEAR GOD
I'LL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING
SINNER READ THE BIBLE
BEAUTIFUL GARDEN OF PRAYER

(Hilltop Gospel GS-7001; mono-restored)


Lee