Music By Brown People

Hey bio-techs, or maybe the correct spelling is bee-otches, anyway, it's MY birthday today but we ALL get a present in this fab South of the Border LP from some German guy. Shake them maracas!

There are SO many brown people in the world, and they all provide such amusing tunes for our entertainment, don't you think? This is the thought bubble I imagine was above Hugo W. 's head as he recorded this musical gem, and all his yi-yi-yi-yi singers as well. From the fake Jamaican accent of "Rum and Coca Cola" (the words of which they sanitized--here, both mother and daughter are "singing" for the Yankee dollar. Yeah, everyone likes a rousing good "sing" now and again, even if we have to sometimes pay for it), to the "cu-cu" version of La Cucaracha, to the ever-so-slightly off-kilter soprano who gamely struggles to drown out the blazing bongos (and castanets and....harpsichord?), it's all good.Oh, and kudos for Hugo's proud declaration that he is willing to go south of the border, not all men are willing to own up.


South of the Border

I'm not sure why the back cover of this album has the rundown for HW Goes Hawaiian, but this is actually the real flip side of this album. 

Ukie Dukie the Twistin' Boy and Other Classics

Though I really don't WANT to own any more twist albums than I already have, I will readily admit that I am helpless when confronted by the lure of songs with titles such as "Ukie Dukie (The Twistin' Boy). So....The Charlie "Hoss" Singleton Combo is now in my possession. 

I have to give these guys credit, they do everything in their power to tear the place apart despite the fact that the music is unworthy. I'm sure they were at the epicenter of many a twistin' orgy in their time.

Ukie Dukie (The Twistin' Boy)

Hoss

Myrna = Pizazz-Plus!!

Somewhere at the intersection of Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, and a parrot imitating a squeaky door we find the amazing Myrna.  Some of the links to Myrna's masterwork  Explosive Vocal Percussion are dead (Jaykayess? a public service, please re-up?) but the comments are so apropos (and hilarious) that it's worth a visit.

On today's album we find the lovely Myrna re-creating the glorious days of burlesque with such single-entendre renditions of My Heart Belongs to Daddy, Let Me Entertain You, and Teach Me Tonight. With splendid results. But Myrna is not just a chanteuse, oh no....here's what the liner notes tell us:

In Myrna March, one is delighted with dynamic and aware musicianship, including a high regard for lyrics and their meaning. This latter trait of Myrna's is no doubt partly die to her own involvement in songwriting. Besides her contributions to this album (the words and music to "Don't Touch" and the lyric of "Tell Me What You Want To Do"), Myrna is a bonafide contributor to the "now" sound with the creation of much material in this vein. One of her songs is the recent "soul" hit "I Can Remember", which enjoys 30 different recorded versions at this writing.   

I was so excited to see this album at yesterday's record convention that I spent an unheard of eight dollars on it. But I'm sure you will find it worthwhile.  

Myrna

Kiski Records Presents The Men From Mars

The good news: this album cover. The bad news: it's Gospel. And mundane Gospel, at that. So for those of you expecting some kind of obscure surf album or some other kind of weirdness are going to be sorely disappointed.

But look! It's autographed!

I know, it didn't make ME feel any better, either.

Though it did make me feel better to think that they would never be able to get their heads back in the spaceship through those tiny portholes.

I don't even think I'm going to bother uploading any of the songs to a music player for a preview, even though I felt compelled to offer the entire album.

Men From Mars
Kiski Recording Company
Freeport Pennsylvania

A Gray Day

I wish there had been more overt signs that this was a country album so I could have passed it by, or at least been better prepared when the needle hit the grooves. If there had been the obvious clues such as a doorway-grazing pompadour, or a rhinestone wagon wheel encrusted Nudie suit I think I might have guessed country. I mean the guy looks like a slightly dyspeptic Martin Landau, someone who would sell you a Maytag at the appliance store. And he's wearing a tasteful tie! No wonder amazon only sells one paltry best of compilation of his, nothing about his look says country. Apparently later in his career the guy made a last ditch effort to get his foot firmly into country music's door by recording some trucker songs, but once you wear the undertaker suit on your album cover, you've lost all Nashville street cred. Sorry, Claude.
 
Man, there is a lot of downer music here for just one album. By the middle of side 2 of this record I was wavering between yelling "Get a grip, already!" or just writing the guy a check to get a hooker or a pony keg and a twisty straw or something else to cheer him up. 

I was going to use the incredibly clunky titled "My Ears Should Burn (When Fools are Talked About)" for the sample tune, because it's so awkwardly written it's almost song poem bad--though unbelievably the album songwriting credits include such familiar names John Loudermilk, Roger Miller, and Johnny Bond. (though I suppose good delivery can rescue a badly written song) But I opted for "You Take The Table (And I'll Take The Chairs". When the dinette suite (pronounced suit) gets busted up, then you KNOW the relationship is over. 

The dinette suite in happier days

what, you want MUSIC, too?

An Evening with Phil

I really dig Phil Harris and his lackadasical playboy persona. I love him on the old Jack Benny radio show, I love his music, I love his radio shows with his wife (they were married over 50 years) Alice Faye, and I love him on this album.
Phil portrayed himself as a good ol' Southern boy, but was really born in Linton Indiana. He never forgot those roots, and sponsord a golf tournament fundraiser for many years in Linton. This album is a live concert to raise money for the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Scholarship fund. It was recorded on May 5, 1979--which happened to be Alice's 64th birthday. Alice even steps up to the mic to do a reprise of one of her biggest hits, "You'll Never Know", and sounds pretty darn great. Phil's buddy, sportscaster Chris Schenkel traveled from his home in Bippus IN (yes really) to pay homage to the Harrises. Throw in the mix some local combos and singers, and you've got a real crowd-pleaser, at least the folks in Linton sure seem to think so. I kinda dug it too.  



Evening with Phil

What?? I took a crappy picture of an album cover? Shocking.

Side 1

Consider Yourself
Back Home Again in Indiana
Stardust
Do You Known What It Means to Miss New Orleans
Up a Lazy River

Side 2

Washington and Lee Swing
Basin Street Blues
Chris Schenkel
You'll Never Know (Alice Faye)
Just to Be Alive
Saints

Not a Dinghy in Sight

Yesterday was half price day at the Goodwill thrift store, and I braved the squalling babies and fellas who seemed to have a wide range of special needs to search for vinyl gems for you and me. Honestly, some of those folks were really creepy. And way less than special.

Ol' Ruth is best known for her tunes about dinghys and boys and their yoyos and Hawaiian Leis, but this album from the early/mid sixties has some of her wittiest lyrics backed by some great big band arrangements. I like this one a lot and think it far outshines any of her older and more easily found music. But of course YOU didn't have to withstand the perils of a central Indiana Goodwill thrift store to find it, now did you.

It's Great to Be a Broad!



stay sexy!

My Lurrrve Puppet, and Other Non-Yodeling Tunes

If I’d heard it once from readers of this blog I’ve heard it a million times….why doesn't ST feature more country music? And the “country” I’m referring to is, of course, Canada. Well, pine no more, me hardies, today we have music from Marie King  (though if she’s French-speaking, why is she not Marie LeRoi?) a fine country songstress who sings in French, the way God meant country music to be sung. Or maybe I mean the way "Dieu" meant it.

One thing I must say before any further discussion about music…..can we all take a moment to appreciate her wide point Magic Marker eyebrows!!!! Take THAT, Joan Crawford.

As I listened to the album, I kept thinking there’s nothing wrong with this album  that a little creative yodeling wouldn’t cure. So why did they wait until the last cut, "Cloches de Ma Vallee" so show off her substantial yodeling chops? I wish they’d allowed her to let it rip much earlier and more often. So to speak. Which would have made for a better album. Either way, actually.  

This album is also great for people like me who had basic French lessons in school, and want to see how much they remember from their lessons. Here's how I did:

Poupee d’Amour = Love Puppet (possibly lurrrrrve puppet, depending upon the regional patois)

Maman a Raison = Mom is getting some dried fruit.

Allo Mon P'tit Bobby = Howdy Thar L'il Bobby ("thar" is option, I only used it to confuse any readers using Google Translator)

Lurrrrve Puppet:

 music