#so apparently there's a version of that's all by bobby darin and it has completely different vibes lmao

[tallbluelady]

I can only give you love that lasts forever And a promise to be near each time you call And the only heart I own For you and you alone That's all, that's all

Nat King Cole - That's All

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 28th August

Well this is a very silly song, but not necessarily in a bad way. Actually, as novelty songs go, I think it does pretty well. It's by a comedian, which hasn't historically been a great sign, but as these things go, I'm actually fairly impressed.

Splish Splash - Charlie Drake (peaked at Number 7)

This is a British cover of an American orignal, by Charlie Drake, who was apparently a very well known comedian, known for being small, having bright red hair, and havin a catchphrase of "Hello, my darlings". All of which sounds vaguely horrifying, in combination, and to be fair, the spoken word bits on the intro and outro of this song are by far the worst and most cringe-inducing parts. There's something about the very Cockney Oh, lovely at the start that just makes my toes curl.

Worst of all, it's not even necessary. It's a cover of a Bobby Darin original, and most of the song is pretty faithful to the original song's rock and roll vibes. It sounds slick, American and honestly like a very competent rock and roll record - novelty status aside. And so when you get these random whiny vocal inserts and what sounds like the sound of a toilet flushing at the end, it throws you completely out of it all. It feels really jarring, and I like it less the more I hear it. You could enjoy the song just fine without it.

Actually, you'd probably enjoy it more, because then you'd be starting with the (excellent) opening line, splish splash, I was taking a bath. Which just has a certain sonic quality that I can't quite pin down - it's just a fun line to say. Which is apparently the whole point - the song was iriginally written by Bobby Darin after a New York radio DJ called Murray Kaufman (or "Murray the K") claimed he couldn't write a song starting with the line, as suggested by Murray's mother, Jean Kaufman. So the whole point is that you've turned this seemingly absurd opening line into a whole genuine legit song.

The song itself tells a story, albeit a very daft one, about a man taking a bath, only to be surprised by a party going on in his house, apparently, leading him to describe how everyone was a-splishin' and a-splashin' / Reelin' with the feelin', movin' and a-groovin', / Rockin' and a-rollin', yeah! At which point, despite the odd opening, we've actually gotten back into some safe rock and roll territory of singing about people dancing. Our protagonist goes and joins them and we get this lovely little series of nods to some surprisingly recent, relevant hits, as we hear about how there was Lollipop with Peggy Sue, / Good golly, Miss Molly was even there too!

I think that this might get at why the song - aside from the novelty comic bookends - works for me, beacuse while it's clearly a silly song, Bobby's basically just used it as an excuse to write a good rock and roll song, without getting too hung up on little things like "being funny" and "keeping the gimmick up". Both of which, ironically enough, make it work better as a novelty song. Turns out too many "novelty" elements just kill a song stone dead. All you need is one solidly daft line, strategically dropped, and that should do, as long as your music is acutally good, and not some slapdash "this'll do" half-effort.

I won't be listening to this version of this again. The spoken bits are just too unlistenable, too cringey. But I do like the song, overall. Like I said, novelty songs are really hit and miss, for me, but I think rock and roll's a good genre for it. There's just something about the insubstantiality of a lot of rock and roll lyrics, and how much fun they tend to have with words that are just fun to sing, the emphasis, lyrically, on teens having fun - it's not a huge step from any of that to a pretty solid novelty record. So yeah, I'm not majorly shocked that this works.

Favourite song of the shame-about-the-spoken-bits bunch: Splish Splash

[high-fructose-lesbianism]

The 5 Best and 5 Worst songs from 1959’s Billboard Top 100 Singles

The 5 Best Singles

5. Along Came Jones- The Coasters  (#80)

This is a fun, upbeat, catchy song about the narrator watching TV. I’m about that. The narrator’s watching some sort of Western where Jones saves women from horrible fates. The bridge to the chorus are variations of women about to be murdered before Jones saves them. What an excellent concept for a song plus the saxophone is great.

4. Three Stars- Tommy Dee and Carol Kay (#81)

1959 was infamously the year featuring “the day the music died,” which refers to a plane crash that killed Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. This song plays tribute to it. It basically talks about how talented these three individuals were and how they’re in heaven. Personally, I find it a very sweet and honest tribute. Tommy Dee was not a musician but a disc jockey who released this song weeks after it happened. I don’t think he expected it to chart, he just wanted to pay tribute and I think that’s why the song works. There’s actual personal touches to each tribute. They talk about Buddy Holly’s classic look and how nobody knew him particularly well though his music brought everyone together. Ritchie Valens’ section focuses on how young he was and Tommy Dee does sort of struggle with the fact that he was so young when he died and I think that’s a sad, honest touch. The Big Bopper’s is maybe a little half-assed. It’s pretty clear the writers and performers knew him the least because basically all they said was he was large and talented. Overall, i’m okay with this tribute. It feels genuine as opposed to cynically cashing in on a tragedy.

3. What’d I Say (Parts 1 and 2)- Ray Charles (#50)

More than most songs that charted this year, this song feels like it predicts the future of musical trends. It has a swinging 60′s feel to it. It’s also very danceable. I can see the youth of yesteryear doing the twist and whatever else to this song at a house party. Ray Charles is also of course a great vocalist. He’s got more personality and talent than his bland, white contemporaries. I think you can tell this song is great because there isn’t a white cover of it. Even the professionals back then knew that some cookie-cutter white version of this wouldn’t work

2. I Only Have Eyes For You- The Flamingos (#73)

This is a proper romantic standard. The feeling around this song is great and you just know so many teenagers made out listening to this song. My main problem with so many of songs that charted in this entire decade is that they’re too watered down to properly express the emotion they’re supposed to be singing about. This song avoids that. It sounds properly romantic and longing.

1. Mack the Knife- Bobby Darin (#2)

This song is catchy and about a serial killer. I need nothing else. I seriously want to foxtrot around a dance floor to this song about murder and I don’t even know how to foxtrot. This is a classic of the “oldies” genre that deserves to be remembered 60 years later where so many songs that charted this decade are forgotten. I can’t say that it’s a snapshot of music of the time because it’s much better than its contemporaries. 

The 5 Worst Singles

5. (Seven Little Girls) Sitting in the Back- Paul Evans and the Curls (#100)

 Oh man I hoped this one would make my worst list because I have THOUGHTS. I know that the use of “little girls” was probably not to meant to refer to actual children but aside from the difference in meaning that phrase has 60 years on, I have questions about how seven adult or teenage females could actually fit in a back seat. I dunno, I can’t see this as anything other than seven children “kissing and a’huggin with Fred.” Meanwhile, the narrator drives and complains about how he’s not getting any action only for all seven girls to speak with seven mouths but one voice that he needs to keep his eyes on the road and his mind on his driving. It’s creepy in multiple ways and aside from my taking the lyrics too literally, it doesn’t sound good. The tune is bland and the girl voices they use for the chorus are creepy. 

4. Deck of Cards- Wink Martindale (#71)

This isn’t even a fucking song. It’s Wink Martindale telling a very boring story set to tedious music about how some guy managed to sneak cards into the army by explaining how they relate to the bible. Every single number card, the number of picture cards, the number of dots on a card, the four suits etc is related back to the bible. I respect this guy’s ability to bullshit the army but I didn’t need this as a charting hit. What makes it worse too is that it’s played earnestly. I don’t think you’re supposed to think that this dude is some brilliant liar but actually just a nice, Christian boy who sees god in everything. Oh and plot twist- Wink Martindale was that soldier all along! I have no use for this not-song.

3. Alvin’s Harmonica- David Seville (#48)

Alvin and the Chipmunks can burn in hell. On top of being obnoxious, something I didn’t realize about Alvin and the Chipmunks is that David Seville (or whoever the human voice in this is supposed to be) is basically abusive to Alvin, always yelling at him and singling him out. Alvin’s annoying as fuck but also seems to be a child so it’s rather uncomfortable.

2. Quiet Village- Martin Denny (#18)

This is just really basic, borderline discordant piano music with animal noises in the background. I hate it. There’s no chorus, no bridge, no way of knowing how long the song is. It just meanders from tune to tune and also completely fails to evoke the concept of a quiet village. At least with something like Alvin and the Chipmunks I see the appeal even if I don’t agree. With this song, I just don’t see at all how it became a hit. It’s not even elevator music because it’s too grating to be elevator music. Just fucking awful.

1. The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t be Late)- David Seville (#67)

Another fucking chipmunk song with a tune more likely to get stuck in your head AND it’s a Christmas song. Absolutely not. Also that abuse aspect I talked about in the last Chipmunks song? Still very present and with less antics on the track from Alvin, it’s less justified (if it ever was). Like the human guy pays compliments to the other chipmunks and then always critiques or blames Alvin. I don’t like it.

Other Observations on this List

I listened to this list over a year ago so I don’t really remember many songs worth mentioning or trends worth touching on. My bad.  

There’s a song called Baby Talk in which the narrator’s girlfriend only ever apparently speaks in a spew of gibberish which the narrator then translates. Also then, at the end of the song, it’s mentioned that the narrator is 5 and his love interest is 3. A bad concept for a song.

As mentioned before, this year was impacted by the day the music died. I’m so curious as to what music would have been like had that not happened.

Music trends from 1955 to 1959 have hardly changed at all. There’s a steady evolution but the popular genres remained more or less the same through this half decade. That’s very different from the charts in 2005 to 2009 in which multiple trends in music rose and fell within those years.

[secretradiobrooklyn]

May Day Edition | 5.1.21

Secret Radio | 5.1.21 | Hear it here.

1. Zia - “Helel Yos”

This song has been in our heads in a big way the last few weeks. Zia was my first exposure to pre-revolutionary Iranian rock  — sometimes called “psych rock,” though I can’t tell if that’s a designation he would make himself. But to be fair, I have no idea what he’s going for. Nonetheless, those little whistles he does get under my skin and into my brain. I wake up in the morning singing “helel yoza, hella hella helel yoza”… This is from the late ‘60s, I believe. The whole album (also called “Helel Yos”) is pretty excellent, and includes the song “Khofrium” from our last broadcast. A recent favorite and highly recommended.

2. Shin Joong Hyun - “Pushing through the Fog” 

Somehow stumbled on this collection of South Korean music, and it has been mesmerizing. Shin Joong Hyun is a great example of something I love discovering over and over again: someone working within a language and a genre, but also expressing a completely unique personal style that extends beyond those general qualities and into startling specifics. This song is from “Beautiful Rivers and Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound of South Korea’s Shin Joong Hyun 1958-74,” which blows my mind, because the tones, and especially the bass and drums, sound so completely of the moment. It’s sold out at Light In The Attic’s store, so we’ll be keeping our eyes out for it in the wild, because these are going to be some crucial liner notes. The brief version on their site describes him as a guitarist, songwriter, producer, arranger, and talent developer. He began by performing for US troops in Korea post active war time, became a bewitching guitarist and songwriter, then started producing other bands in the region, and a string of hits developed. It sounds like his story includes a really harsh period of intrusion and disruption by the government… but as far as I can tell he survived to the current day, and even helped oversee this collection.

3. The Traces - “Je t’aime moi non plus” - “Thai Beat A Go Go Vol 2”

Ummm… I would LOVE to know what words they’re singing. This chummy Thai version of Gainsbourg’s super sensual “Je t’aime, moi non plus” is such a weird listening experience. I think one of the singers is either drunk or hearing the song for a first or second pass. What are they saying?!

4. Annie Philippe - “On m’a toujours dit”

I really love the energy and style of this track and many of the Annie Philippe songs I’ve heard, which makes it aggravating that the first thing one finds online in English about Philippe is a condescending, limp writeup on her by Richie Unterberger that tries its best to ignore how delightful her voice is and how pleasurable the arrangements are — luckily the dude mentions that Paul Mariat worked on her albums, who also arranged Charles Aznavour. I love the florid colors of French pop from the ‘60s with hothouse arrangements and wide-flung voices. The ebullient drums and electric guitar, the confident harmonies and tucked in little organ and horn licks are all pure joy.

5. T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - “Houton Kan Do Go Me” 

While we were in the Illinois woods we received some very welcome records from Germany’s Analog Africa label which included “The Skeletal Essences of Afro-Funk,” a collection of songs by pretty much our favorite band in the world, T.P. Orchestre. These songs that explore some of the facets of the band that “Echoes Hypnotique” and “The Vodoun Effect” — both gorgeous, keystone records — hadn’t gotten to yet. The language is Fon, the style is Jerk, and the composer (though not the singer, I think) is Bentho Gustave, T.P.’s bassist. pretty sure the singer is Lohento Eskill.

- Hailu Mergia & The Walias - “Musicawi Silt”

The Walias is the band that Hailu Mergia was in when he first came to America. I seem to remember a story that they were disappointed with the trip, went home to Ethiopia and broke up, but Mergia stayed and kept developing his keyboard style, which did a few decades later (!) actually win him wide recognition and acclaim. This is some of his earlier work, not in the director’s seat, and you can hear so much of Mergia’s style woven into the band’s arrangements. I love how it sounds like he’s just playing pure electric current — it barely sounds like an organ to me, more like uncut groove tone.

6. “Newsies” clip

In celebration of May Day, we present this inspiring tale of unions forming in the streets of New York. 

7. Sexe a Pile - “Pas Méchant”

Another recent record score, this one from our other most favorite label, Born Bad Records in France: “Paink: French Punk Anthems 1977-1982.” One thing I love about this song is that the chorus always makes me think of “High Class” by the Buzzards, a song that never got nearly enough love as far as I’m concerned.

8. The Replacements - “Customer”

Dave got me thinking about the Replacements and before I knew it we were deep into “Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.” So wild and loose and pissed off and sincere the whole time. You can really hear Westerberg yearn to be great but also sneer at himself for taking something seriously. It used to sound so unhinged to me but now it has become an album about being young and scared of yourself 

9. Plearn Promdan - “Ruk Kum Samong”

Well, this was something we didn’t see coming — the Thai music we’ve heard up to now has been more ’50s influenced. It sounds like a four-piece rock band surrounded by a drum circle. This is part of what’s apparently known as Luk Thung underground. There’s been some very good stuff so far, I look forward to finding out more. 

10. T.P. Orchestre - “Azanlokpe”

I got a little obsessed with T.P. Orchestre for a while there, and was trying to listen to every single recording that Discogs offered — which is a LOT, because they were super prolific. This is one of my favorite finds so far. I wish I could say which singer this is; it was noted as Melome Clément but I don’t think that’s him. So many talented people in this band!

11. Francis Bebey - “Super Jingle”

Francis Bebey contains multitudes. I’m pretty sure he records all of these parts himself. I think he’s just a master of rhythm — all of the instruments weave a tapestry that he can then cavort upon. The body of the song is so hypnotizing, the lead so akimbo. 

12. Dalida - “J’ai revé”

One of the highlights of the 2017 St. Louis International Film Fest was the biopic of her life. This is early Dalida. As far as Paige understands, she’s the French Lady Gaga for people who were clubbing in the ’70s and ’80s. The story of her life has some really sad shit, but this take on Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” is full of life.

- “Newsies” reprise

Radical sincerity sometimes requires references to musicals.

- Petch Pintong - “Soul Lum Piern”

I love this track and know nothing about it except that it was collected on “Thai Beat A Go Go Vol 4.” Those collections have turned out to be full of riches!

13. Atomic Forest - “Obsession ’77 (Fast)”

OK, these guys seem really interesting. They’re an Indian psych-funk band, which was apparently totally unheard of there, and they only released a single album — and that one only after they broke up. Because that album is full of great stuff, most notably (at least to me) this track, their story is almost too perfectly suited to the obsessions of vinyl collectors worldwide. Now-Again Records re-released the album in 2011, and we ran across it just a couple months ago. I really enjoy the sense of narrative in the song — what’s happening in the foreground keeps evolving and remaining legitimately interesting.

14. Metak - “Da Mi Je Biti Morski Pas”

I’m proud to say that these dedicated rockers are Croatian, and this track from 1980 rocks like a seafoam T-top Stingray. This is from a 7” with “Rock’n’Roller” on the flip.

15. Mai Lan - “Les Huîtres”

Paige found this amazing playlist on Spotify years ago, and this is finally the way she started getting into more contemporary French music. It sounds like she’s from a musical and artistic French-Vietnamese family. “Les Huîtres” is from around 2008. Kind of feels like 

16. VIS Idoli - “Maljciki”

We found a video of this Yugoslavian ska while looking for something else entirely. I did learn that this is political ska, and that they were frowned upon by the government. One account has them being indulged by the government; another has them under threat of punishment. I do love knowing that ska is a political form and not just a genre. I have no idea how they would feel about the Croatian rockers a few tracks back, and I hope none of them did any harm to one another other during the terrible ‘90s. 

17. Para One, Arthur Simonini - “La Jeune Fille en Feu” - “Portrait of a Woman on Fire” score

Did you see “Portrait of a Woman on Fire”? We highly recommend it, for a lot of reasons but definitely for the passage of this song. It sounds great here, but at night, by firelight, with all the nuns and farmwomen on the island? 

18. The Space Lady - “Ghost Riders in the Sky”

- Sleepy Kitty - “Western Antagonist Reflection”

19. Mikyas Chernet - “Ziyoze”

Marc, this is the song I was talking about stepping into the Teddy Afro position. It’s definitely not the same, but you can hear the modern Ethiopian pop feel running through it. It helps that I first heard it while picking up an order from our favorite Ethiopian in STL, which is also where we first heard Teddy Afro. The dancers are on POINT in the video, and they’re rockin a couple of new styles that I hadn’t seen yet.

20. Nazir Ali - “Lad Pyar Aur Beti”

Listen to the giant smiles in their voices! This is from a very recent compilation. That female voice has to be Nahid Aktar, or at least it sounds just like her; I think the protagonist-sounding male voice is Ali’s. There is a brief appearance from that Oscar the Grouch-sounding guy from last episode’s Aktar song. It’s so cool how the song shifts into new mode after new mode as it goes. 

21. Nathalie - “L’Amour Nous Repond”

22. The Fall - “L.A.”

This period of The Fall is surely our favorite — wherever Brix E. went, the songs were great. And now, with vaccines coursing through our systems, we can feel our thoughts casting their way to LA and San Francisco…

23. Akaba Man & The Nigie Rokets - “Ta Gha Hunsimwen” 

Analog Africa’s most recent release is “Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1,” with tracks from the late ‘70s and ‘80s in Nigeria’s Benin City. Akaba Man is described as “the philosopher king of Edo funk.” The whole album is full of good tracks that only get better with repeated listens. This one has a bed of sounds that could happily go on for hours or days.

24. Gérard Manset - “Entrez dans le rêve”

Paige: “If you ever want to hear Lou Reed sing in French, this is the best we’re gonna get.” 

- Johnny Guitar - “Bangkok by Night”

We heard the “Shadow Music of Thailand” album a while back but haven’t dipped into it for too long. This Santo & Johnny style reverbed-out dream of the ‘50s lives eternally in Thai psych guitar.

25. David Bowie - “When I Live My Dream”

We do not condone the killing of any species of dragon, and I can only trust that neither dragon nor giant was harmed in the making of this fantasy.