Wabash Cannonball

Seems like only yesterday but it's actually been 25 years since Rank & File played this one on Austin City Limits and thus brought cow-punk to the masses. Marking the occasion we have 3 versions here for your listening pleasure. The proper way to play this song is demonstrated by Hank Thompson. Adding a little showbiz pizzazz is fake-hillbilly Judy Canova. Then there's Dicky Doo & The Don'ts: the music in behind that diatribe sounds kinda like The Wabash Cannonball. The vocal however is a recitation by Dicky about how he's gonna punch out his girlfriend's teeth! Yech.
An interesting article about the Cannoball can be found on Utah Phillips' site.
On the video, a Russian takes a stab at it: Andrei Didorenko on fiddle

Guantanamera

Another one that everyone knows. And just to prove it we have versions from Canada (Les Milady's), the USA (Arlen Roth), Argentina (Crosstown Traffic), France (Los Machucambos), Hong Kong (Bei Lei) and even Cuba (Joseito Fernandez). Fernandez' version is the original one. Later the lyrics were changed (from a poem by Jose Marti) to create the Guantanamera we know today.
Pictured, the fellow who got this whole Guantanamera thing rolling: Joseito Fernandez
On the video, the fellow who changed Guantanamera from a Cuban favourite to a world favourite: Pete Seeger.

(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You

During the building of my previous post, I noticed that Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport had claimed that he wrote the song "You Rascal You". He claims to have sold it for cash and that's why he's not credited.
I first heard this song back in the early 70s when I was watching the movie "If I Had A Million". There is a scene where a millionaire is lying at death's door upstairs while downstairs someone has decided to crank up the phonograph. And to add insult to injury the record they pick to play is "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You". I thought that that was a hoot (and I thought that it was Louis Armstrong singing but IMDB claims that it's an unidentified vocalist). Shortly thereafter, I puchased a Louis Armstrong LP because that song was on it.
Fast forward to today. Currently I have a Louis Jordan/Louis Armstrong duet, a Jack Teagarden (from 1931) and The Mills Brothers. It was off to eMusic to maybe find a few more. After a whole stack of previews I've decided on three more contemporary versions: Jerry Portnoy (harmonica player), Skinnerbox (who add a little ska) and Wild Wax Combo (who add a little rockabilly).
Pictured is 7 year old Sammy Davis Jr singing this song from the movie "Rufus Jones For President" (1933).
On the video, it's Louis Armstrong again, this time with Betty Boop.

Mama Don't Allow

It's back to those old-timey songs again. I just love the Ink Spots (pictured) version of this one. I also had the Kirby Allan rock'n'roll version so I went over to eMusic to see what else I could find. They had a whole raft of 'em there so I listened to a ton of previews and downloaded the pick of the litter for ya.
Quite a few different people claim composer credit here but the majority vote seems to go to Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport (pictured). But just to be sure I checked the Muppets show where Dudley Moore sings it and Kermit The Frog does say that Davenport was the composer - that confirms it.
On the video we have Bing Crosby rockin' out with Jose Feliciano. I know the picture quality is Grade Z on this one but it's worth it to watch the Feliciano guitar pyrotechnics.

Light My Fire

I'm pretty sure nobody listens to the songs here at HearingDouble because "The Box" takes so darn long to open! Well, maybe there are other reasons too. Today, it's cringe time as we drag out one of the stalwarts of "classic rock". Cringeworthy because we're not playing The Doors original version. Nor even the Jose Feliciano second fiddle version. To start off we have Ananda Shankar - sitars and a moog - thumbs up. Then how ubout some soul (Jackie Wilson) and funk (Erma Franklin)? Not bad. I kinda like the Jackie Wilson better even though Erma is a personal favourite. Friend 'n Fellow? Well, I guess it's OK for just guitar and vocal. Besides these two are much too young to remember the 60s - and they're from Germany too. That just leaves the three that any Classic Rock fan just has to hate. How about The Vitamin String Quartet? eMusic now lists 243 albums by these guys. They're more prolific than "The 101 Strings" and James Last rolled together! The VSQ - perfect for people who wanna hear all the latest rock tunes but don't wanna listen to that awful racket. Then we have Helmut Zacharias. Just take a gander at the album cover. He's German and he plays the violin - I'm sure you're retching already. And we save the worst for last: the Enoch Light Singers. At least the VSQ and Herr Zacharias controlled themselves - they didn't sing. Not so with the ELS. Just be thankful that Jim Morrison didn't live long enough to hear this.
On the video, Jim Morrison eat your heart out - it's the groovy Mike Flowers.

A Few Instros From The Windy City

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I've started a new listing over on the right side. Here I'll give a "thank you" for any tracks that I find at another web site. This post is a prime example: four 50s/60s instrumental tracks from Chicago musicians all of which I grabbed off of other sites. Both Bill Russo and Quincy Jones come from Xtabays World. David Carroll was snagged over at 'S Marvelous Distro and Jack Costanzo was found at Orgy In Rhythm. If you like any of these tracks, be sure to drop by the originating blog as I'm sure you'll find much more there to your liking.
UPDATE: I got my copy of "Bird Brain" at Xtabays World (on a compilation) but I notice that Lounge Legends has posted the full LP from which it came: "Quincy Jones Explores The Music Of Henry Mancini".

They Came From Newark

Mention Newark to the casual music fan and they're sure to respond: "Newark? Sure, that's the home of the Drinkard Singers. You know, Lee Drinkard who begat Dionne Warwick (sometimes Warwicke) and also Dee Dee Warwick (but not Dee Dee Sharp) and adopted Judy Clay ta boot. And then there was Lee's sister Emily Drinkard who went by the name of Cissy Houston and begat Whitney Houston". Well, that's all true but it's not the full musical story of Newark. It's not even the full story of the Drinkards because it's claimed that Dionne and Dee Dee had cousins named Charles & James Patrick. James sang in The Kodaks and Charles sang in The Monotones. And before them there was Faye Adams who was a big Newark star in the early/mid 50s. Plus another vocal group called the Fiestas who hit it big with "So Fine". And then there were two of the biggest sellers of teen tunes from the early 60s: Connie Francis and The Four Seasons. And have I mentioned Paul Simon, Queen Latifah, Gloria Gaynor, Ice-T, Wayne Shorter, Sarah Vaughan.......
In case you don't recognize them, the pictures at the top are The Kodaks (on the left) and Connie Francis (on the right).

I Took My Harp To A Party

Today I was listening to some Gracie Fields songs and I wondered whether anyone would have the nerve to try and cover one. First I tried to find a 2nd version of "He's Dead But He Won't Lie Down" - no luck. Then I tried "I Took My Harp To A Party" - and I found one.
Her name was Birgitte Grimstad. Her bio shows that she was born in Denmark and was highly regarded there. But since I'd never heard of her, her fame may not have spread too far beyond the Scandinavian countries. And her cover of Our Gracie.... a disaster. Gracie is the embodiment of indignation at not being allowed to play her harp. Birgitte isn't indignant at all, she's just kinda sad. She can't even bring herself to say "damn thing". It's just a "darn thing". It's hard to imagine someone having to tame down something meant for an English audience but Birgitte has done it.
On the video....the greatest recording of all time? of 1932? He's Dead But He Won't Lie Down

Three Trombones in New York City

KAI WINDING was born in Aarhus Denmark. He moved to NYC in 1934 and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1940. He played trombone in the Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton orchestras. He then made a series of duo trombone albums with J. J. Johnson. In 1963, he was the first to record "Time Is On My Side" which was covered a year later by The Rolling Stones.
KAI WARNER was born in Bremen Germany. He moved to NYC in the late 40s/early 50s. There he studied music at New York University. In 1958, he returned to Germany where he tossed aside the trombone and became a bandleader instead. See, Kai Warner isn't his real name: its Werner Last. His brother is the ubiquitous James Last. In all, three Last brothers became bandleaders: James, Werner & Robert.
SI ZENTNER was actually born in NYC. Si was also a bandleader besides playing the trombone. In fact, he was still leading a big band after almost everyone else had given up on the idea. He finally called it quits in the mid 60s and moved to Vegas. There doesn't seem to be much reason for me to confuse Si with the two Kais (except for the trombone connection) but I do.
On the audio, I've got Kai Warner & Si Zentner to both play "A Hard Day's Night" so you can hear the difference between the two. As far as I know, Mr Winding did not record that song so instead I've got him playing his original version of "Time Is On My Side".

The Ballad Of Gabby Horman

Gabby was a ball player. Back in the 50s, he was the catcher for the Winona Chiefs. After his baseball career, he decided on a career in music. Because "Gabby Horman" doesn't sound like a singin' star he took 1/2 of two of his favourite singers, Webb Pierce & Red Foley. He became Webb Foley.
For the complete Webb Foley story, check out this story from the Winona Post.
And I'd like to thank The M P M for her recent post from which a pilfered the "Beer And Popcorn" song.
On audio, we have 3 from Gabby plus one each from his namesakes Webb Pierce & Red Foley.
On video, we have the flip side of "Makin' A Plan".

The Two Ms Changs of Hong Kong

Just this morning I learned that Chang Loo had passed away in Hong Kong on January 26th of this year.
Back in 1995, I was in Penang, Malaysia and went to a music store to get more cassettes for my walkman. One of the tapes I bought was a compilation of Chinese music on EMI/Pathe. I listened to it right away and was enamoured of two of the singers. I took the tape back to the same store where I had bought it and tried to match up the Chinese characters for these two with the rest of the tapes in the store. I found three tapes that day. Two were by Grace Chang and one by Chang Loo. I thought the two Grace Chang tapes were great but I was a little disappointed by Chang Loo. Later on I found other Chang Loo music that did live up to that first impression.
Chang Loo is now gone but as far as I know, Grace is still enjoying her retirement. Luckily, there are plenty of tapes, discs and mp3s around so future generations will continue to be amazed by the music these two produced.

Four Gals Named Ginny

Every time I post any new music here, I have to delete the music from an older post (only so much room inside "The Box"). And even though I've long since deleted Ginny Arnell's "Dumb Head", I keep getting folks dropping in looking for it. Then I happened across this. This fits into my new formal just fine and gives me an excuse to repost that "Dumb Head" tune that everyone is wanting to hear again.
Now, there may be some confusion between Ginny Arnell/Angel but I doubt if there is any between Simms/Hawker. Ginny Simms sounds old-fashioned because she is: she was the vocalist for Kay Kyser's orchestra in the 40s. On the other hand, Ginny Hawker may sound older than Ms Simms but that's only because she lives in West Virginia.

The Two Mr. Lytles

Do a lot of people get these two Mr. Lytles confused? I would think so. Both are Americans. Both were born in the 30s. Both are from Ohio. Both are accomplished musicians. Now, if they were to share the same stage, you could tell them apart because Donny is European-American and Johnny is African-American. But on record? Well, there is one difference: besides being a guitarist (including both bass & steel varieties), Donny could also sing. And Johnny played the vibraphone. And Donny played country. And Johnny played jazz. Ok, I guess they don't sound anything alike!
Besides, Donny never used his real name. First he was Donny Young. Then he joined the other Mr. Lytle by changing his name to Johnny - but also changed the family name to Paycheck. Also, there is no record of Johnny having a long rap sheet like Donny.
On the video, Donny with a mighty big slice of cheese.

The Eagles

Sure is annoying. Every time I play a song by The Eagles, Last.FM lumps it in with the stats for some goofy California hippy band. Well, here we set the record straight - the story of the original Eagles.
The original Eagles were from Washington D.C. They started recording for Mercury records in 1954 and when none of their records hit, they broke up. Nobody would remember them today except that....... despite the fact that "Please Please" was not a hit, a teenager in Memphis by the name of Elvis somehow got his hands on a copy. He flipped the record over and decided he liked the b-side even better. He went down to Sun Records in Memphis and recorded it but it wasn't released. While on tour he taught the song to another young singer that he was on tour with: Roy Orbison. Roy did record it and it came out as by the Teen Kings (Roy's band). Later, Roy re-recorded it at Sun Records in Memphis and the Elvis version also got released.
Then jump ahead to 1962 and Bristol England. Clive "What's New Pussycat" Donner is directing a movie called "Some People". This movie is based on the story of a Bristol instrumental band remarkably similar to a real Bristol band called The Eagles. These Eagles helped out with the film soundtrack and then recorded a number of singles on the Pye label.
So, to help you differentiate these two Eagles, we have The (USA) Eagles first single A-side "Please Please" (1954) and The (UK) Eagles take on Dusty Springfield with "Wishin' And Hopin'" (1964).
On the video, Elvis sings his favourite Eagles B-side.