Silly Sundays - Buchanan and Goodman - The Flying Saucer

As promised back in December, this kicks off a month of themed Silly Sundays posts about break-in records. And here's the very first break-in hit.

Dickie Goodman (wiki AMG extensive bio) and Bill Buchanan (wiki AMG) only worked together for about three years (probably less in reality, but records were credited to the pair until 1959), though they both continued releasing break-in records under various names and pseudonyms for a while, with Goodman continuing until right before his death in 1989.

If you read that extensive bio linked above, you'll get a good overview of Goodman's place in the history of novelty records, and this page here will give you the script of the record and a quick review of the history involved. This record is dizzyingly fast and complex, with layers of jokes (my favorite is probably the repeated misnaming of artists and song titles).

I haven't firmed up all my plans for this month of posts yet, but there's some good stuff coming -- stay tuned.

Buchanan and Goodman - The Flying Saucer Part One
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The Flying Saucer Part Two
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Multiple Mondays: Must Be Santa!

This will absolutely be the silliest Multiple Monday ever, and it's also another oddball one. We're looking at some wildly different (but all closely-related) versions of a call-and-response style of song. (Next week I can put up a regular MM post, I think.)

So, sometime in the last four hundred years (estimates vary and historians are widely divided on the genealogy of the song), German-speakers came up with a call-and-response song named "Schnitzelbank." It's known in America these days as a drinking song heard at Oktoberfests all around the country.

First, we'll hear a traditional Oktoberfest version from Schwarze Schafe, then a kiddie parody from The Biscuit Brothers. Bill Haley and His Comets rewrite it and rock it up as "Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank." Next, the version probably best known to Americans under 35 and not of German heritage, the version from Animaniacs.

Okay, so in 1953, Mel Blanc recorded a holiday version of "Schnitzelbank" entitled "Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree" which is an excuse to showcase his incredible voice talents. And that was in turn parodied decades later by Joel Kopischke as "Stupid Christmas Song."

Somewhere in the middle of all this mess, our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, added his own version of the song, a silly love song called "Oh You Sweet One."

Now, finally, we come to the point. At least by 1961, which is when Mitch Miller committed his version to tape, we got around to hearing "Must Be Santa." It retains the structure and polka style of "Schnitzelbank" but changes the tune a little and the lyrics a lot. Now it's all about the fat man in the red suit. (I know, I know, I'd never have guessed I'd post a Mitch Miller track on this blog, but it really brings out the call-and-response aspect, and I don't have another good classic take on the song.)

I'd intended at this point in the post to write a long review of Bob's album, but it's been done other places by better, more knowledgeable writers and this post is already a leetle long. So, let me just say this: it's not a particularly good Christmas album, and it's not a particularly good Dylan album. (Bob is one of those people like Tom Waits or Lou Reed, who has the ability to make sweet pretty music but doesn't do so very often. He doesn't try to make any of these songs particularly pretty, and most of them were written to be pretty.)

It is, however, all for charity. A good charity. There's no buy link today, just a link to donate to that charity. "Must Be Santa" is the best track on the album, largely because (in my opinion) it doesn't express or try to inspire reverence for the holiday which means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (and has meant several different things to Bob over the span of his career, I'd bet).

Then, after Bob finishes up, we have the triumphant return of Glenn Campbot, with his ladyfriend Linda Ronbodt, singing "Must Be Giftbot." I love me some singing robots. As always, I recommend the zipfile.

Zipfile

1. Schwarze Schafe - Die Schnitzelbank 1 2
2. The Biscuit Brothers - Schnitzelbank 1 2
3. Bill Haley and His Comets - Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank 1 2
4. Animaniacs - Schnitzelbank 1 2
5. Mel Blanc - Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree 1 2
6. Joel Kopischke - Stupid Christmas Song 1 2
7. Thurl Ravenscroft - Oh You Sweet One 1 2
8. Mitch Miller and The Gang - Must Be Santa 1 2
9. Bob Dylan - Must Be Santa 1 2
10. Glenn Campbot and Linda Ronbodt - Must Be Giftbot 1 2

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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group

Here's another version of Stag that mentions the original Christmastime setting.

Ken Colyer (official wiki AMG) was a British jazz musician, one with a fondness for all traditional forms of music. Many people consider him the link between jazz and skiffle.

This is a lot slower than the other two skiffle versions of Stag I posted a few months back, but was recorded in 1956 as well. Lyrically, it's different, and has a nice funny battle between the prosecutor and Stag's own lawyer.

Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group - Stack O'Lee Blues
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Stagger Lee Saturdays - Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt

It's skiffle week on Stagger Lee Saturdays! Skiffle is a genre of British jazz-rock-folk-blues, with a lot of instruments like washboard percussion and washtub basses. The King of Skiffle, Lonnie Donegan (official wiki AMG) recorded his version for the Pye label in 1956, and labelmate Chas McDevitt (official wiki AMG) laid his version down the next year.

Donegan's version is a slow, lazy rambling blues take (lyrically similar to Woody Guthrie's), with a few improvisations along the way. McDevitt's version is a rockin' version which, sadly, removes Billy from the story and changes Stag from a murderer into a simple hat thief. With that noted, McDevitt's version is peppy and upbeat -- I love just about any upbeat version of Stag.

I have a third skiffle version around here somewhere, but I'll save it for later. Next week is our final week of double-Stag posts for this month -- we'll be looking at the story of Stack A Dollar.

Lonnie Donegan - Stackalee
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Chas McDevitt - Badman Stackolee
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