From Peanuts to President

You thought I was done...Nope. Two more stunners before I am through with the Jimmy Carter novelty record project.

Today's entry is the kind of real-deal recording that will bring tears to the eyes of perfectionists and Plains residents alike.

This is an ultra-obscure (autographed!) record by Max Culler, written by Gail Davis. I'm not sure where this is from (BMI gives the current address for Rusty York publishing in Greensburg, Indiana), but it will sure make you feel good about "the great state of Georgia".

The only Gail Davis I can find with any creative credentials is the one who portrayed Annie Oakley on TV in the 1950s. Wikipedia says she lived until 1997. Might she have been struck with populist Carter pride in 1976, and written this song? The flip side, "The Hurt Is Slowly Going Away" is also sung by Max Culler and written by Gail Davis.

OUR COUNTRY'S PRESIDENTIAL RACE...YOU GUESSED IT, JIMMY WON:

Redneck Power, the book

Does somebody have a copy of this I can borrow?

The Ballad of Billy Carter

I've been going easy on you-all so far. Now it is time we get stuck in the deep stuff. As the Billy World Turns. Your stern must be made of stiff stuff to plow into these waters. It's the Ballad of Billy Carter!

The pain in Plains is dulled by the Grain.






Peanuts...oh oh oh oh, Peanuts. Doodle doodle doo!

Yeah, that'd be FRED SMERDLEY & THE DIXIE PIXIES.

Eatin' Peanuts & Drinkin' Billy Beer

The Jimmy Carter Time! train rolls on...

When we talk about artists who have never gotten their due, we usually mean artists whose releases failed to capture an audience. On this record, Bobby Mann did not get his due from the outset, as his name is not even on the cover of the record.

Harkus 'Pig' Robbins and Hank Williams produced...not that Hank Williams.

In this song, Jimmy and Billy Carter serve as mere signposts to the narrator's divorce, letting us know that it must have occurred some time in the late 70s. The Carter presidency provides a rare opportunity for a sad-sack character to drown his sorrows country-style, while still maintaining a presidential flair.

Two '76 Debate cut-in records

Here are two shockingly raw cut-ins from before the 1976 election. The great thing here is that, unlike all the later novelty records, the word "peanut" only gets mentioned once! (Listen for the Henry Kissinger character.) One early Jimmy Carter media scandal at play here is his apparent admission in a Playboy interview that he "lusted after hundreds of women."

At this point the Iranians had not yet taken American hostages, and nobody knew about Billy.

In case you don't know what a cut-in record is, it's when the DJ pretends to have an interview with a famous figure, whose answers are all given in the form of audio samples of lines from hit songs.

Bonus points: Name the songs that appear in BOTH of these cut-ins! There are at least three.

Road Hog And The Neon Cactus
"The Presidential Debate"

What a great band name! You wish it was a lost psychedelic masterpiece.

You'll notice this "song" was "written" by Don Imus. All these popular song samples? This thing is a copyright nightmare. Perhaps the only thing that could save them is the de minimis doctrine ("we only used a tiny bit!"). And you can't spell "Don Imus" without "De Minimis".




If you want to really go wild, play them both at the same time!

Super Stu / Allen Dennis & The Disco Turkeys
"The Great Debate"

Band name: they should've just dropped "Allen Dennis" and gone with SUPER STU & THE DISCO TURKEYS.

If A Peanut Farmer Can Do It (So Can I)

Saved the best for first! I hesitate to call this a 'novelty record' because it really works as a spiritual, dually on the mind and body.

Ed Townsend passed away in '03. He was a music industry veteran, with a solid career of solo and collaboration projects from the mid-50s to the late 70s. Townsend had a proto-disco solo Lp called Now on Chicago's Curtom Records in 1976. His main claim to fame was close participation in writing and arranging with Marvin Gaye on the Let's Get It On Lp.

"If A Peanut Farmer Can Do It" is a musical cousin to "Let's Get it On", but takes us to a righteous place where we recognize reward for the common man's perseverance. Still, you almost expect to hear the line, "We're all sensitive people...with so much to give."

Right now some folks in Georgia have been flooded out by the Eight Days of Rain, and this is the kind of uplifting message we should send to them.

This 45 looks as if it was pressed at the same plant as "Truck Drivers Don't Eat Duck"

But all I want you to do is look back over nineteen seventy-sixxxxxxx...

...and Billy Carter Time too.

In focusing on pop culture responses to the Carter presidency, you just can't leave out Billy. He gave us so much to work with, Georgia style. Billy left us for a higher plane back in 1988. But we will celebrate Brother Carter's memory in novelty song.

Here he was in better years selling his beer: