Happy Halloween From Thurl Ravenscroft!

First, I need to get some housekeeping out of the way. Here is last year's Halloween post, with links to all of 2008's spooky stuff. This year, in addition to the stuff this week, I've posted 20 versions of "Season of the Witch" and ten more versions of "I Put A Spell On You." If the stuff I've put up this week is too goofy, and not horrific enough for you, why not try this post, with a cowboy ghost story? Or this post about crazed murderers? (Speaking of murder, there's no Stag post today, sorry. Stagger Lee Saturdays will return in one week.)

Now that that's out of the way, ladies and gentlemen, may I present a collection of spooky music from this blog's patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft.

Last year I posted several different recordings of Thurl (and other people) singing "Grim Grinning Ghosts," the theme song to The Haunted Mansion. All those from Thurl are included here, but if you want the other versions, you should go there and download the newly reupped zipfile.

This also has clips from a lot of the LPs Thurl recorded for Disneyland records, including excerpts from the Pirates of the Caribbean story record, the Jungle Cruise record, and the gem of this collection, the newly rereleased Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion (where the buy link sends you today -- in addition to Thurl, the record features a pre-Happy Days-but-post-Andy-Griffith Ron Howard). You'll also hear from Spike Jones and, naturally, The Mellomen. I even threw in a track from the soundtrack to The Hobbit.

I usually upload individual files along with the zips, but not today. I've actually taken a few minutes to sequence this out, so just get the whole thing, all right? It's only 30 MB, and about 30 minutes long. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Zipfile

Buy The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion from Amazon

Vincent Price - A Chilling Challenge

So this post requires a little backstory. Last year for Halloween, I hosted a party wherein we watched House on Haunted Hill, the original one with Vincent Price, and I recreated the original in-theater gimmick of "Emergo."

I was watching the movie a few days earlier in preparation, and two things struck me. First, the movie is a little like Scooby-Doo -- the "real" monsters never appear, and it's basically just an atmospheric crime thriller (or dark comedy, if you take the same attitude Price clearly did). And that's a lot of fun.

The other thing that struck me is that the characters are locked in a haunted house, one with "no windows, and no doors," leaving them the "chilling challenge" of finding a way out. As a budding Disneyphile, I thought, hang on, Vincent Price played host during the first years of Phantom Manor over at Disneyland Paris -- I wonder if he says those lines from the Ghost Host's spiel? Lo and behold, he does. So I quickly edited this together as an audio introduction to the film. Now, curious friends, you too can hear this.

Once you've listened to this, be sure to click here to see the original film in all its dark, hilarious, scary glory. And, be sure to come back Saturday evening, for more from the original Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.

Vincent Price - Phantom Manor Excerpts
mirror 1 -- mirror 2

Aye, Pirate Week: Thurl Ravenscroft's POTC LP

Ye come seekin' adventure and salty old pirates, eh? Sure, ye've come to the proper place. Aye, har be the final post o' Pirate Week. Forty-some years ago, the Disneyland ride Pirates O' The Caribbean opened. Soon after they called on our patron saint, Thurl Ra'enscroft, t' narrate a record tellin' the story o' the attraction. I posted that record on Thurl's birthday this year, and ye may find it har.

The flipside o' the record war a bunch o' sea shanties, performed by Thurl, which I done uploaded today. (Ye can see the back co'er o' the disc har.) If ye can only lis'en to one o' these, I heartily suggest "Asleep In The Deep," which be the deepest Thurl has e'er sung. This disc be long out o' print, so the buy link'll send ye to a used copy.

I hope t' do Pirate Week again next year, but until then, mark well my words, mateys: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

...Dead Men Tell No Tales...

1) A Life On The Ocean Waves m1 m2
2) Asleep In The Deep m1 m2
3) A Capital Ship m1 m2
4) Shenadoah m1 m2
5) Tarpaulin Jacket m1 m2

Buy from GEMM

Thurl Ravenscroft and Stan Jones - Grand Canyon

Stan Jones (AMG wiki Disney-centric bio), if the back cover of this album can be believed (click through to read it, then click to the AMG link to read a different version of the story), was a simple park ranger, until one day he coincidentally met some Hollywood types. They suggested he seek fame and fortune, and the rest is history.

He's best known these days, of course, as the writer of "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky." Here's a track from his 1958 Disneyland Records album (via), with narration and some vocals from our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft.

(This record was only available at Disneyland and national parks, so it's pretty hard to come by these days. The buy link currently goes to one copy for $92, though you can get the whole schmear -- and another Jones/Ravenscroft album, plus lots of other things -- at that via link.)

Keep coming back, folks -- I still have more vacation-themed things for you this week.

Thurl Ravenscroft and Stan Jones - Grand Canyon
mirror 1 -- mirror 2
Buy from GEMM

Multiple Mondays: Route 66

I must begin with an apology. I kind of extended my vacation for a few extra days this weekend, and neglected to post a Stagger Lee Saturday. I even had the song already uploaded, and just kept putting it off till it was Sunday morning, and too late. I hope this week of posts I have planned will make it up to y'all.

So this year my family's vacation was to the Great American Southwest. We saw Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, The Grand Canyon, and a tiny part of "The Main Street Of America," Route 66. The classic song commemorating this road was written by Bobby Troup, inspired unsurprisingly by a trip on the highway. It was first recorded in 1946 by The Nat King Cole Trio (wiki fansite AMG) and has since been covered by scores of other artists. I've amassed 18 versions, and cut those somewhat randomly down to 9 for this post. (Upon request, I'll post the other nine some other Monday.)

First, we hear the original version, with its smooth, jazzy piano. I've been digging on Nat King Cole a lot lately, though he's not the type of thing I post much on this blog. Joe Turner's (wiki AMG) 1971 performance turns the song into a swingin' jump blues, a lot like the late 50's "race" records I love so much. (In fact, I made it the second version in this mix before I did my research, since it sounds so late-50s to me.) Chuck Berry's (official wiki AMG) 1961 version served, as so many of his records did, as a template for a Rolling Stones (official wiki AMG) cover, in 1964. Then, we hear from an obscure Ohio garage band, The Alarm Clocks (official AMG), who credit the song to the Stones two years later.

Enough rock for now. Al Jarreau (official wiki AMG) uses some sound effects in his otherwise a capella version of the song, from 2002. After that palate cleanser, we hear Asleep At The Wheel's (official wiki AMG) lovely 1976 boogie-woogie version, followed by a version I'm not so proud of.

Natalie Cole is a shameless grave-excavating ghoul, to be sure. But when I was listening to this collection at work last week, I still enjoyed her version for its musical merits. I kind of like this, even though I would never admit it to her face. (This song also has the distinction of being heard many times a day in Disney's California Adventure.)

Finally, another Disney-related song. For use in Pixar's world-endingly-popular 2006 film Cars (also inspired by a trip across the country, incidentally), they hired Atlanta's own John Mayer (official wiki AMG) to record his own rocking version of the song, and I love it so much it ends this collection.

As usual, I've uploaded individual files in addition to a complete zip, which I recommend for ease of downloading. But I must add a final word of warning to all: Do not play this collection as driving music. You WILL get a speeding ticket.

1 - Nat King Cole (1 2)
2 - Joe Turner (1 2)

3 - Chuck Berry (1 2)

4- The Rolling Stones (1 2)
5- The Alarm Clocks (1 2)
6 - Al Jarreau (1 2)
7 - Asleep At The Wheel (1 2)
8 - Natalie Cole (1 2)
9 - John Mayer (1 2)

Zip file

Happy Birthday Thurl Ravenscroft!

Today is February 6, which would've been Thurl Ravenscroft's 95th birthday. Around here, we call it Saint Thurl's Day. (You'll recall, I'm sure, that Thurl is the patron saint of She'll Grow Back.)

You can find a LOT of Thurl's stuff here and here, thanks to WFMU and Bob Purse, but this post contains a few of the other things in my collection.

In keeping with the theme of covering Etta James and Janis Joplin, Thurl does one of each, sort of. (By the way, I was hoping this story would've been reported earlier, so I could link it from one of those two posts, but sometimes the AP just won't cooperate!)

First, he helps out whitebread pop singer Georgia Gibbs (who was no stranger to "whiting-out" R & B records, then getting big hits with them) cover Etta's "Roll With Me Henry (The Wallflower)". Next, he joins in with the Modern Barbershop Quartet to give us the tale of "Me and Bobby McGee." (I know, it's really a Kris Kristofferson song, and one Monday soon I've got about a dozen versions for you all.)

Finally, I've featured a lot of Thurl from The Haunted Mansion, but here he is, narrating the story of Pirates of the Caribbean, and singing on "Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me." He also plays more than half the voices here. (For some reason, the folks at Disneyland Records decided to rerecord almost all the vocal tracks from the ride, rather than just use the ones they already had in the can. Bonus: more Thurl per minute, or TPM as I call it.)

Happy birthday, Thurl!

Georgia Gibbs - Dance With Me Henry
The Modern Barbershop Quartet - Me and Bobby McGee
Thurl Ravenscroft - Pirates of the Caribbean LP

Merry Christmas from Thurl Ravenscroft!

Here is post number one, in my attempt to write a post every day between now and Christmas. Our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, recorded lots of Christmas music, and here's the 35 minutes I have in my collection. This includes 3 songs in which Thurl plays Santa, four tracks about the birth of Jesus (a subject dear to Thurl's heart -- his first public performance was in the church choir), and clips he recorded for Christmastime in the Disney parks.

Tracklisting:

01. Country Bear Christmas #1
02. Billy May - Do You Believe in Santa Claus
03. The Pixies - Santa's Too Fat for the Hula Hoop
04. Thurl Ravenscroft with Marie Vernon and the Mellomen - Five Little Angels
05. Thurl Ravenscroft with Marie Vernon and the Mellomen - Jingle Polka
06. Country Bear Christmas #2
07. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (TV Version)
08. Joy to the World
09. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
10. Jim Nabors - Go Tell It on the Mountain
11. The Glory of Christmas (from evangelist Robert Schuller's Hour of Power)
12. Country Bear Christmas #3
13. Spike Jones with The Mellomen - Winter
14. Dinah Shore - The Twelve Days of Christmas
15. Tennessee Ernie Ford - A Root'n Toot'n Santa Claus
16. Spike Jones feat. George Rock and Thurl - Santa Brought Me Choo Choo Trains
17. Country Bear Christmas #4
18. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch (Album version)
19. Country Bear Christmas #5

Zip file

Halloween Repost Megacollection!

Howdy all. I'll be back to posting all-new stuff tomorrow morning. But first, here's a holiday megapost, with all the spooky stuff I've posted so far on this li'l bloggity, and a little bonus.

There are nineteen versions of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' voodoo classic "I Put a Spell on You" collected here.

There are seven versions of "Grim Grinning Ghosts," the theme song from Disneyland's The Haunted Mansion collected in this zip file. Plus here's one more brand-new (to this blog) version. It's still got our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft (seen in this picture, sort of) and the other Mellomen, but it's the lovely additionally-orchestrated version from Disneyland Paris's Phantom Manor.

Thurl Ravenscroft - Grim Grinning Ghosts (Phantom Manor mix)
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Repost: Disney Days

Here's a zip file of my Disney Days posts from last May. The original posts:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

You've got a lot of covers, a lot of Grim Grinning Ghosts, and some other assorted attraction audio. Not to mention a heaping helping of She'll Grow Back's patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft.

Zip file

Disney Day 4: A Trip To Yesterland

Howdy, folks. Here's some early Disneyland audio to round out our week of Disneyana MP3s.

First, you get to hear "Your Trip To Disneyland," a 1955 promotional record with a talking Tinkerbell, and some wrong-sounding Disney characters. You get to hear about some of the early attractions, and then presumably beg your parents nonstop till they take you there.

Then, our patron saint, the hallowed Thurl Ravenscroft, narrates a trip on The Jungle Cruise. This 1968 recording was paired with the audio from the then-new Enchanted Tiki Room attraction. Annnnnnd it contains the original, un-PC narration. Listen... if you dare. (Sadly, my favorite Jungle Cruise joke, "Schweitzer Falls, named of course after the famous Dr. Albert Falls," had apparently not been integrated into the script yet.)

Back tomorrow with the return of non-Disney music. (Why oh why haven't they had someone record Stagger Lee?!?)

Your Trip To Disneyland
Thurl Ravenscroft - The Jungle Cruise

Disney Day 3: Soarin' Over California featuring Patrick Warburton

We only went to Disneyland's other park, California Adventure, for three reasons. One of them was Soarin'. And that was before we knew it featured Patrick Warburton, who most people know as Putty from Seinfeld, but who I prefer to think of as... The Tick. (Or Johnny Johnson on alternate Thursdays.) This attraction was scored by Jerry Goldsmith.

I've edited together six separate files (most from the insane completists -- and I say that with huge respect, tremendous gratitude and not a little awe -- at www.mousebits.com) but sadly I couldn't find a master recording of Patrick's introductory safety spiel, so you get to hear audience reaction to that. I've put in the maximum amount of Warburton-y goodness here, though I had a hard time getting the varying audio qualities to match.

If you visit a Disney park and don't see Soarin', you will make me sad on a deep personal level. Before you listen to this file, get out an orange and a bottle of Pine-Sol. Open the Pine-Sol at 2:06, and take a big whiff. Then peel the orange at 4:03. Wanna see the whole video? The quality sucks, but go ahead and click here.

Jerry Goldsmith and Patrick Warburton - Soarin'
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Disney Day 2: Multiple Mondays: Grim Grinning Ghosts

First off, I must introduce all of you to Thurl Ravenscroft, the patron saint of She'll Grow Back. That's him, right there to the right. He's the original voice of Tony The Tiger, and the singer of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (not Boris Karloff, as so many people assume). During his 70-year career, he also did quite a bit of work with Disney. He voiced characters for The Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, narrated The Disneyland Railroad, and sang lead on this song, "Grim Grinning Ghosts".

This song is, of course, the theme song (and for the most part the entire musical experience) of The Haunted Mansion. While riding, you hear many different versions of the song, most of which you can hear separately by clicking through to DoomBuggies.com, a model fansite.

Version 1 below is the original recording from the ride. Version 2 is a slower rerecording Thurl did for a 1996 singalong video. Version 3 does not, sadly, feature Thurl. It's a faux-classical version recorded for play in Disneyland's extremely exclusive Club 33. Version 4 is a surf instrumental of the song. Version 5 is a ragtime version, from one of Disney's ragtime Main Street pianists. (There's a nice swing cover excerpted here.) Version 6 is a live recording by Buckethead (sometime guitarist from Guns N Roses), as he plays with pitch control on his vocal mike. Finally, we have a ridiculously good cover by Barenaked Ladies. (If you'd like to hear yet more versions, make sure to click through to Doombuggies.com up above, and go to the next page.)

Zip file link
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Disney Day 1: A few covers

So I spent two days at Disneyland (and California Adventure) last week. I'd never been to the California parks before, and I had a blast. Here are five covers of Disney songs, some from attractions, some from movies and TV shows.

The Supremes song is from their aborted 1967 album composed entirely of Disney songs (I have eight recordings from these sessions, some of which I don't like much at all.) The Jackson Five song is from their first album in 1969.

The next two songs, by Tim Curry and Etta James, are from the largely disappointing 1996 Disney compilation Music From The Park. (The best song from this album isn't in this post, because I'm saving it for tomorrow's Multiple Monday post of "Grim Grinning Ghosts.")

Finally, my favorite of these five songs, They Might Be Giants' version of "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" (originally from the Carousel of Progress) is from last year's soundtrack to Meet The Robinsons.

Zip file link

Buy from Amazon -- Buy from Alibris
...or don't really. It's out of print, and you can download the whole disappointing thing lots of places.