Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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...
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...
Sunday, September 20, 2009
...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:
Here he was in better years selling his beer:
It's Jimmy Carter Time!
Get ready.
This goes out to all you hard workers, travelers, pleasers, and boozers.
It's Jimmy Carter Time. I will post as many Jimmy Carter related novelty records as I can find. Just a warning: get your ears on straight. A majority of the country has been trained to hate on Jimmy since at least late 1980. But an undercurrent of love remains. I will show the records of love and hate. Tim Tuten of the Hideout, if you are out there, I would like you to write a testimonial about President Carter.
This goes out to all you hard workers, travelers, pleasers, and boozers.
It's Jimmy Carter Time. I will post as many Jimmy Carter related novelty records as I can find. Just a warning: get your ears on straight. A majority of the country has been trained to hate on Jimmy since at least late 1980. But an undercurrent of love remains. I will show the records of love and hate. Tim Tuten of the Hideout, if you are out there, I would like you to write a testimonial about President Carter.
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