Canadian lawn sprinkler.
Norwegian street limbo.
Swedish ooga chacka. Blue Swede‘s 1974 recording was based upon B.J. Thomas’ 1968 hit “Hooked On A Feeling” as corrupted by Britain’s Jonathan King in 1971.
Have a great weekend folks. We’ll be back here tomorrow to mess around some more.
[First two vids found somewhere in here.]
When I’m Gone (The Cup Song) Jim Huish of the Nashville Americana-pop group Amber’s Drive offers up a cover of the song “Cups (When I’m Gone)” [via].
Jim Stafford‘s “My Girl Bill” popped into my head the other day for no good reason. I’d forgotten about it for decades, and kinda wished it had stayed that way. So where do we go from here? Maybe this.
I never watched SHR, but that one seems familiar.
Amber’s Drive has good harmonies, a nice vibe, and a song that jives with my attitude these days. Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow.
The Sant Andreu Jazz Band is from Barcelona Spain, features 7-20 year olds. Here’s their website. I love early American jazz, and they nail it.
Some friends visited New Orleans recently, gave me a CD of Tuba Skinny. They didn’t believe that I’d heard of them even though I’d posted two of their vids some time ago. The girl on cornet is awesome, knows her chops.
Want some funk with that jazz? Here’s Trombone Shorty.
Have a great extended holiday weekend, folks. See y’all back here tomorrow.
Keller Williams with The Travelin’ McCourys‘ “Pumped Up Kicks” made me laugh. Clever stuff that.
How ’bout some Muddy Waters? Here’s a jam from 1978. (Note that James Cotton is not the first harp blower on the vid.)
Killer blues tribute with a great lineup. 45 minutes of pure awesome.
Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow.
The music for “Carol of The Bells” predates the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, is based upon a Ukrainian traditional chant that predates Christianity, and celebrates the New Year… in April. The original lyrics for the song describe a swallow flying into a house and promising good fortune because lambs have been born, and compliments the master of the house for having a wife with dark eyebrows (at least according to Wiki).
There are exactly 15 Pas, 18 Rums and 63 Pums in the lyrics to “Little Drummer Boy.” If you delete the spaces between the pa-rum-pa-pum-pums, there are exactly 21 Rumps. I can’t stand that song because it doesn’t stop when it should (just as the “Twelve Days Of Christmas” made it’s point on Day One).
It just doesn’t seem like Christmas until I hear The Ronette’s version of Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.”
Have a great Pre-Holiday Weekend, folks, and don’t fight over parking spaces. I was there first.
#OccupyFarmland.
? & The Mysterians, featuring Rudy Martinez as (?). Don’t ask me how I know. The video is from Detroit’s “Swingin’ Time” 1966.
The J. Geils Band was the Best Bar Band in the Land in the late 70s, and there’s proof. Need more? Check this out.
Have a great weekend, folks. See y’all in the Sears parking lot – You’ll recobanize me because I’m the one taking up two spaces.
Here’s a description of Lee Morse [via]:
“She was 5 feet tall. She was less than 100 lbs “soaking wet”. She spent her childhood in Oregon and Idaho yet was proud of her family’s Southern roots. She could hunt and fish and, if you deserved it, she could punch your lights out! She was Lee Morse, one of the most popular female recording artists during the Jazz Age 20’s and 30’s. And, she is worth remembering.” ~Ian House
Doc Watson, David “Dawg” Grisman and Jack Lawrence live in 1995. Lawrence was the late Watson’s accompianist for many years.
“My Blue Eyed Jane” was written by Lulu Belle White and Jimmie Rogers, first recorded by Jimmy Rogers with Bob Sawyer’s Jazz Band in 1930.
Jimmie Rogers (1897-1933) is considered the Father of Country Music for his long-lasting music influences, worked the railroad until he contracted tuberculosis in 1925. While fighting off the disease and unable to perform physical labor, he returned to his original love, writing and performing, until he succumbed at the age of 35.
Sadly, there was a vaccine to combat TB as early as 1921, but according to Wiki it wasn’t widely available in the U.S. or Europe until after WWII. Rogers also sang about his affliction in “TB Blues.”
Here’s Jimmie Rogers in the Columbia Pictures short “The Singing Brakeman” from 1930.
That’s it for this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend, folks.
There’s a bizarre history to that familiar song credited to The McCoys, and it traces to Dorothy Sloop of Steubenville Ohio who became a New Orleans singer and piano player with the stage name “Sloopy.” The song was originally recorded by The Vibrations in 1963, predating the McCoys’ version:
So how did a 60s soul group from LA decide to sing about a girl who moved to New Orleans?
“Sloopy” was Dorothy Sloop, a Bourbon Street piano player. Born Sept. 26, 1913, in Steubenville, she performed at a New Orleans nightspot under the stage name Sloopy.
‘Hang on Sloopy’ was written by Bert Russell Berns and Wes Farrell, two New York City songwriters. Berns also wrote The Isley Brothers and Beatles hit Twist and Shout. Farrell went on to become the musical brains behind the Partridge Family.
The song was originally recorded as My Girl Sloopy by the Los Angeles R&B vocal group the Vibrations. It debuted in April 1964 in the Top 40 of the Billboard pop chart, where it spent five weeks and reached No. 26.
A rock version, ‘Hang on Sloopy,’ was recorded by the McCoys, a Dayton garage band led by Celina native Rick Zehringer. Locally, the band was known as Rick and the Raiders, but it changed its name to avoid confusion with chart-toppers Paul Revere and the Raiders. Hang On Sloopy debuted in September 1965 in the Top 40 of the Billboard pop chart, where it spent 11 weeks and reached No. 1.
Rick Zehringer later changed his name to Rick Derringer and became one of the top rock guitarists and producers of the 1970s. He recorded with the Edgar Winter Group and scored a 1974 solo hit with Rock and Roll, Hootchie Koo. [More at this source]
“Dixie” Fasnacht operated a bar called Dixie’s Bar of Music on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It was there that Dorothy’s acquaintance and co-writer of “Hang On Sloopy” Bert Berns-Russell found the inspiration for the song. During problems with the sound equipment and a crowd getting rowdy, he heard a regular call out to her “Hang on, Sloopy!” [Source]
I couldn’t find a recording of either Dottie Sloop or Yvonne “Dixie” Fasnacht, but there has to be a copy of the album in someone’s basement somewhere. One more piece of trivia: Ohio is the only State to have an Official State Rock Song.
The Best Damn Band In The Land adopted “Hang On Sloopy” as a signature song for the times when OSU was down a few points, and their a capella version is classic.
Have a great holiday weekend, folks.
Here’s Dave Brubeck‘s partially discordant cool jazz classic “Take Five” in 5/4 time (also known as quintuple time, i.e, five beats per measure, quarter note gets the beat: 1-2-3-1-2, 1-2-3-1-2, etc.). Here’s an interesting take:
Sachal Studios, Lahore, Pakistan, with sitar and that boingy drum thingy.
Another famous song in 5/4 is Lalo Schifrin‘s “The Theme To Mission Impossible.” Here’s a bizarre version that wavers between 5/4 and 4/4, by Kua Etnika.
Sting‘s “Seven Days” is in 5/4, too, as if you cared, and Zappa’s former drummer Vinnie Colaiuta explains it here.
Ginger Baker’s Air Force also cranked 5/4 in 1970 with “Do What You Like,” and it included a self-indulgent in-your-face mandatory drum solo (dissected by Marky Ramone).
That should hold you for a tad. Have a great weekend folks, and we’ll be back in a jiffy.
Stan Kenton‘s version of “Malaguena” was amazing.
Herbie Hancock‘s “Watermelon Man” was an instant jazz classic in 1962, and this 1991 version features Miles Davis. Very cool.
Los Lobos son impresionantes como sus musica retros. Got that?
Have a great weekend peeps, and we’ll have more fun stuff coming up tomorrow. Promise.
Tacky Raccoons 