Cowboys and Indians, Cowboys and Indians, Cowboys and Indians, Cowboys and Indians.......

I was a little hesitant to post today's 78 record since the annoying refrain stuck in my head for hours after I heard it. But hey, you wouldn't be back here regularly if you didn't already have a massively high tolerance for irritation, right?

While searching for information about this record I found all these old Billboard ads that have absolutely nothing to do with Roberta Quinlan, Jerry Murat's Harmonicats, or Jan August. But who cares,  it's great stuff!

Roberta Quinlan, Jerry Murat's Harmonicats and Jan August. It apparently takes a village to make a bad record.

Cowboys and Indians:



I Never Had a Worry in the World (zzzz-zzz)

It's Karaoke Time!

 I have posted a picture of my insane dog Abby because today's record is a real bowser! Arf arf!

If you think Toddlers and Tiaras is a new concept, then you forget why there are so many old ladies named Shirley....stage mamas have been around for ages trying to cash in on their kid's purported talent. Hence the market for today's 78 record, surely used for auditions or recitals. The songs are "The Little Old Man With the Green Thumb" and "My Dolly Never Grows": the first cut includes an adult's simpering portrayal of a cute kid, and the second cut is just the instrumental....so YOU can learn the words and sing along! Providing veritable minutes of fun for you and your family.

Vocals by Laura Leslie:
 
My Dolly Never Grows -



Little Old Man With the Green Thumb



Bonus fun - the backup group on this record is the Tony Mottola Trio.

Green Thumb:



Dolly:

S & R503

Mumph?

You know, I could have gone out yesterday and spent my hard-earned $2.63 on a whole mess of half price candy hearts. Do you have any idea how many half price Valentines candy hearts can be purchased with $2.63? But instead because I love you all SO much, I stopped by the Sal Army on the way home from work and found this little beauty. It's pop/rock/jazzy versions of classical music standards (most of which I recognize but can't name).  Though I know "Forgive Me, Beethoven" (my favorite cut on the album) is Chopin's Waltz in C# Minor:



 The album also contains that one Rachmaninoff piece Harpo plays in Night at the Opera when he demolishes the piano (unlike my classical music part of my brain, my Marx Bros. memory bank is intact) and the one that turned into Lovers Concerto by the Toys (which came out in 1965, a year before this album was released), but without words. Another great cut is Secret Service, a spy sendup of a Hungarian Dance by Brahms

So anyway.... this is a pretty clever little album, most of which works pretty darn well. for 49 cent s, a bargain indeed, mold damage nonwithstanding. A late valentines gift to you!

Mumph?

Tell Her Bout the One-eyed snake

Bluegrass, old time country and white people blues--throw in opera, rap, and Tibetan monk throat singing and that about covers 90% of music I automatically avoid. (Memphis) Beck and Roy "The Fishin' Musician" Gentry do the first three, though wouldn't it be entertaining if they had done an album combining the last 3? Now that's an album I could sink my teeth into.

I can't hate this record, because there is some mighty nice mandolin pickin' and even some tolerable yodeling mixed in with the songs about evolution and getting your gal likkered up on whiskey and telling her all about your one-eyed snake. Julian Cramer provides the mandolin music, and Fog O'Bryan is on the accordion. No, I have no idea who they are either, but I thought maybe if I mentioned it you might be fooled into thinking my knowledge of music is more far-reaching than it actually is. Beck seems to lose track of pitch along the way sometimes, though her old-timey Annabelle and yodely Cowboy's Sweetheart are pretty much spot-on. Roy's voice makes me think of guys who wear overalls and no shirt. But don't mind me....download it if you're into this sort of music, it sounds like the real thing even to these cranky ears. 

 Beck and Roy

Ham and Biscuits:

¡T Town!

If you get misty-eyed longing for the days when Tijuana was just a whorehouse for the US, then this album is for you.

Scintillating, sinister, dusty and typically Mexican, this little town does jump! Scene of the bull fight, Jai Alai, and much other activity both illicit and otherwise, “T” Town reeks with atmosphere. “Manana” seems to be the order of the day, and no one knowingly does today what might be put off until tomorrow.

Many dogs, large sombreros, and dusky ladies of doubtful occupation are everywhere. Night life goes on until daybreak, and swarms of taxis cleverly bump their way through impassable traffic jams,. Liquor, “weed”, and women may be had cheaply everywhere, and U. S. servicemen from nearby military bases are heavy buyers.

Ah, nostalgia! I suppose a case could be made that Tijuana is still a bawdy house for the US, albeit one in an increasingly more dangerous neighborhood.

¡T Town!

High Fidelity Recordings, Inc. Album No. R810

Uno, dos, tres....cuatro Caballeros?  We seem to have one caballero too many. 

And could they had been any more emphatic that this album is for DEMONSTRATION ONLY?