We open Sunday morning with the Kris Kristofferson classic, Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down, though not the original featured on TTRH "Days of the Week." Our video is a Johnny Cash/Kris Kristofferson duet of the song. Cash's version, which was known by the less colloquial title of Sunday Morning Coming Down, was a #1 Billboard single in October 19 and 70 - in fact, charted during this week 37 years ago from October 10 through the 17 before being knocked off the #1 slot by Tammy Wynette's Run, Woman, Run.
The original version of the song was recorded by Ray Stevens in 19 and 69 and became Stevens' first country chart hit. Cash also sang the song on his television show Johnny Cash and Friends, ignoring censor demands that he change the "wishing, Lord, that I was stoned," line to something more wholesome.
As Our Host noted, Kristofferson earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University (Merton College, Oxford) after previously attending Pomona College in California. Less well-known are the facts that Kristofferson appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces In The Crowd" page on amateur athletics in 19 and 58 for his achievements in rugby, football, and boxing and that he was a Captain in the U.S. Army, eventually resigning his commission in order to pursue songwriting.
He moved to Nashville, took on a variety of janitorial odd-jobs and also worked as a commercial helicopter pilot while trying to break into the music business. In an interview, Kristofferson noted, "That was about the last three years before I started performing, before people started cutting my songs... I would work a week down here [in south Louisiana] sitting on an oil platform and flying helicopters. Then I'd go back to Nashville at the end of the week and spend a week up there trying to pitch the songs, then come back down and write songs for another week... I can remember 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' I wrote sitting on top of an oil platform. I wrote 'Bobby McGee' down here, and a lot of them [in south Louisiana]."
Kristofferson was working at the Columbia Studios in Nashville during Dylan's recording of Blonde on Blonde, but while Kristofferson witnessed several of the sessions, he had no interaction with Dylan, later recalling that he would have almost certainly been fired if he had dared approach Dylan.
A renaissance man, our Kris.
Source: Kris Kristofferson Wikipedia entry.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down - Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Tom Waits - (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night
Our Saturday song, still following in the steps of TTRH "Days of the Week" is Tom Waits' (Looking for) the Heart of Saturday Night. We're all grateful that Our Host has better taste than to pick something like Saturday Night's Alright (for Fightin').
I have a Tom Waits story for Dreamtime readers/listeners. My initial college career - such as it was, and it wasn't much - was interrupted by the draft in the early `70s, and consequently I started college several years later than most of my peers. I eventually graduated from the University of Southern Maine in the late `70s; then known as the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham, or sometimes as Pogo U., which may be why the name was changed by the College Fathers.
In any case, although I was less than full of school spirit, I did haphazardly participate in several activities and organizations, including the college paper; a group that put on cult films; and another group that brought music acts to the school. During that time I helped produce USM concerts for such `70s period acts as Loggins and Messina; Phoebe Snow; and Maria Muldaur.
Out of the dozen or so acts that I dealt with, Maria was one of the nicest, a fact that I'd remind her of when I interviewed her for a web site column I was writing earlier this year (the web site and I parted ways, but you can still read the interview here). Maria was still at the height of her Midnight at the Oasis fame in those days, and Tom Waits, who had just recently released his Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night album, was her opening act.
I didn't have all that much conversation with Waits, who I had never heard of at the time, and who seemed a strange, scruffy, boho-type character wearing a cheap Salvation Army suit and with not the best personal hygiene. Getting ready to go on, Waits decided he wanted to bring a beer on-stage. Some security guy stopped him, and I had to intercede when the argument began to get heated. While I had the rent-a-cop distracted, Waits hid several cans of beer in his suit jacket, walked out on stage, sat down at the piano, reached inside his jacket, pulled out a beer, popped the top, put it on the piano, turned to the backstage, and gave the security guard the finger. I spent the rest of Waits' set keeping the security guy from stopping the show.
When I told that story to Maria, thirty-odd years in the future, and mentioned that I remembered Waits had smelled a little, ah, ripe, she began to laugh. "My God," she said. "I haven't thought of that in years. You're right, Tom was pretty pungent. We were saying, 'My God, doesn't this guy ever bathe?'"
Friday, October 12, 2007
The EasyBeats - Friday on My Mind
Friday is on our mind here at Dreamtime, and we wind down the work week with another selection from the "Days of the Week" TTRH episode. This one is from 19 and 66, filmed in Australia, midway through the band's short career from 1964 though `69.
Inspired by the British Invasion and the Beatles, the EasyBeats were the most popular and successful pop band in Australia by the close of 1965. Their concerts were met by the same fan hysteria that greeted Beatle performances, and led to the coining of the term "Easyfever," a malady similar to Beatlemania.
The EasyBeat's 1966 hit, Friday On My Mind placed #1 on the Australian charts, #6 in the U.K., #16 in the USA, and made the Top 10 in Germany, Holland, France and Italy, eventually selling over 1 million copies worldwide.
Still paralleling the Beatles rise and decline, the band members began drifting apart in 1968, at odds with each other and their management, much of it due to their tangled financial situation. Although there was never an official breakup announcement, the band's last public performance was in 1969.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Jolie Holland - Old Fashioned Morphine
We should continue our Days of the Week countdown a la Theme Time Radio Hour with Morphine's Thursday, of course, but we already played that last Friday. So here's Jolie Holland's Old Fashioned Morphine instead (Morphine and morphine, get it? Hah!), which Our Host had playing in the background as he summarized the drug in last week's Theme Time. Dreamtime thanks go to Picasso of Belgium at the Expecting Rain TTRH forums for that piece of information.
Holland has a refreshingly non-informative web site, my favorite part being the bio section, which like all but the front page is blank but has the meta-description, "Bio. We have killed the bio. It is dead."
Wikipedia notes of Holland that she is a Texas-born singer who was one of the founding members of The Be Good Tanyas. Tom Waits is reportedly a big fan of Holland, and you can hear why in this clip.
Old Fashioned Morphine, which may be Old Fashion Morphine (it's usually spelled the first way in most Web sources, but the Amazon track listing has the second spelling) is based on the spiritual and staple of the Salvation Army, Old Time Religion. The author of the original song is unknown, but probably African-American. It was first published in 1891 by Charles Tillman, a singing evangelist and music publisher, who said he heard it at an 1889 camp meeting in Lexington, South Carolina.
Old Fashioned Morphine includes the lines:
It was good enough for Isabelle Eberhardt
It was good enough for Isabelle Eberhardt
It was good enough for Isabelle Eberhardt
It's good enough for me
"John" a commenter at The Deception of The Thrush blog, provides a nice summary of Eberhardt's life and times. Isabelle Eberhardt was a Russian born explorer and Islamic scholar who was known for her so-called "eccentricities" - she preferred to dress and be addressed as a man (she bedded both genders with equal aplomb), had tremendous cachet among the Algerian Sufi community, and, so the story goes, was quite the fan of opioid derivatives in all shapes, sizes, colors, and combinations.John recommends Holland's album Esondida, which includes Old Fashioned Morphine, as do I.
Among the many books she wrote, were her diaries, which Paul Bowles translated into English (as "The Nomad") whilst in Tangiers, presumably also while old buddy William "Billy" Burroughs was getting high and writing what would become "Naked Lunch" on napkins, matchbook covers and the backs of (forged) prescription pads. For Isabelle, however, death provided a strange epilogue in an already epic life, as she was found **drowned** in the middle of the desert, alone. She was only twenty-seven years old. Thankfully, (to Bowles, and others) her works survive and stay in print today and are a fascinating glimpse into one of the true adventurers from a rapidly fading cultural past.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
"Doing something that would be illegal or filthy is not in his repertoire"
A sometimes smarmy but generally right-on article by Washington Post staff writer Linton Weeks, passed on to Dreamtime by Joyride's shady boyfriend, Jailbreak.
Weeks can't resist the usual generalizations about Dylan which, if not used, would mean that the writer would actually have to think about what he was writing. But, that aside, some interesting stuff follows: Lee Abrams claims that the actual production of TTRH is as much a mystery to XM Radio as it is to the general public. I have no idea what the opaque Abrams quote, "Doing something that would be illegal or filthy is not in his repertoire" is meant to mean. It sounds as if it came directly from Mr. D. himself. Other members of the TTRH posse - including Penn Jillette and Peter Guralnick - also weigh in.
Full formatted article can be read at The Washington Post site, which also includes some TTRH clips, if there's any Dreamtime reader out there who isn't already listening to TTRH.
***
On XM Radio's 'Theme Time,' Freewheelin' Dylan Calls the Tune
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 7, 2007; Page M03
Through the years, Bob Dylan's dealings with the public have been difficult.
Hear him live and he can be a mumbling and aloof musician -- as at his recent Merriweather Post Pavilion concert.
Riffle through interviews with Dylan on YouTube and you discover a contentious, pretentious artist who is laconic, distant, apparently indifferent to enunciation, pleasantries and other everyday social constructs.
But listen in on Dylan's weekly satellite show, "Theme Time Radio Hour" on XM Radio-- now in its second season -- and you discover quite a different Dylan. He's voluble, generous, articulate. He's liable to quote a poem, give tips on hanging drywall, pass along a recipe. In his show on baseball, he broke into "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" -- a cappella.
For nearly 50 years, besides being the voice of his particular generation (and maybe several others), Bob Dylan has been a musical rainmaker. He is a tireless performer, prodigious songwriter and now ardent professor and promoter of all kinds of songs. He has produced more than 30 studio collections. This month Columbia Records is releasing a three-CD retrospective of Dylan's Methuselahian career.
The one thing missing from the radio show, oddly enough, is Dylan's own music.
"With this show, Dylan is tapping into his deep love -- and I would say his belief in -- a musical world without borders," author Peter Guralnick writes in an e-mail. "I feel like the commentary often reflects the same surrealistic appreciation for the human comedy that suffuses his music." Guralnick has written several books about music, including biographies of Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke.
Tight-lipped about actual numbers, an XM spokeswoman will say that about 2 million listeners tune in to Dylan's show, which repeats through the week on several channels. Keen listener Elvis Costello says Dylan's shows "are a bit like those films of Picasso painting on glass. They don't pretend to explain anything about the host but they offer just a little glimpse of the musical -- and literary -- taste of a great singer and songwriter without obliging him to confess every dark secret."
A pitch for Dylan's show might be: Garrison Keillor meets Alan Lomax meets your weird friend who makes theme-oriented mix tapes in his downstairs rec room.
"Theme Time" is a "surreal hour of radio," comedian Richard Lewis writes in an email.
The show is not available on terrestrial radio, but Washington-based XM does offer free three-day trials on its Web site. The company says it has no plans to distribute the show on CD.
XM execs have nothing to do with the production of the show. As part of the contract, Dylan, 66, is given artistic freedom. The show is delivered, pretty much as a done deal, to the XM studio in New York. "Doing something that would be illegal or filthy is not in his repertoire," says Lee Abrams, XM's chief creative officer.
"The actual recording of it is a big mystery," says Abrams, who usually hears it for the first time when it airs.
Every show begins with a noir intro -- spoken sotto voce by whiskey-voiced Ellen Barkin -- such as this: "It's nighttime in the big city. A husband plots his escape route. The last train from Overbrook pulls into the station. It's 'Theme Time Radio Hour' with your host, Bob Dylan."
And for the next hour the listener is transported to Bobby's World. Each show is built around a theme and the music is a deep and multicultural trove of musical history. He plays tunes by a parade of musicians, such as the Andrews Sisters; Hank Williams Jr.; Darlene Love; Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys; the Horace Silver Quintet; Bobby "Blue" Bland and the Washington-based Winstons.
"I don't mean in any way to diminish the importance of the quality music he plays," says magician and loyal listener Penn Jillette, "but Dylan's heart is so in this show that you hear Dylan even in other people's music."
Dylan tells lame jokes. "I just came back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport."
Coffee, he says, "is the common man's gold. And like gold, it brings to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility." His voice is rich and dripping with irony.
We learn from Dylan that comedian Phil Silvers wrote "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)" for Frank Sinatra to sing about his newborn daughter. That Elvis Presley wanted to be Dean Martin. That Voltaire drank 50 cups of coffee a day. That Bobby Darin took his stage name from a Chinese restaurant -- the Mandarin Duck. The first three letters of the sign were burned out, Dylan tells us.
He reads verse by "Def Poet" Henry Ward Beecher. He recites "Annabelle Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. This is Dylan the performer, the informer. In one episode, he introduces us to new music: songwriters Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook and Ron Sexsmith. In another, he explains Hawaiian-style slack key guitar. And in still another he gives out a recipe for barbecue sauce.
In the first episode of this season, Dylan's theme is "Hello." Besides waxing etymological about where the word "hello" comes from, he plays songs of greeting: "Hello Mello Baby" by the Mardi Gras Loungers and "Hello Trouble" by Buck Owens.
"If you see trouble walking in, it's probably wearing very high heels and nylons," he says as he unspools a soliloquy on femmes fatales. One of his favorites: Lana Turner in "The Postman Always Rings Twice."
The uncorking of Dylan's wit and wordiness may have begun with a series of interviews Dylan did with his manager, Jeff Rosen, in 2000. The interviews were crafted into "No Direction Home," a 2005 documentary by Martin Scorsese. That same year, Dylan published Volume 1 of his planned three-volume autobiography. "Chronicles" is chatty and fact-filled. "Like his best songs," the Denver Post wrote of the book, "it's full of unexpected twists, turns and observations."
The radio show reveals an even more expansive Dylan. "Theme Time" listeners get the full monty of Dylan's satiric tone and slant wit, as he shares his musical tastes.
To writer and comedian Amy Sedaris, the magic of "Theme Time" is simple. "I like the way Bob Dylan talks. I like how he drags his words out. I like what he finds interesting."
Wednesday Week - The Undertones
As Our Host noted last Wednesday week, The Undertones were a favorite of BBC deejay, John Peel, who called their Teenage Kicks his favorite song. The band formed in 19 and 75, split up in 1983, reformed in 19 and 99 and are scheduled to release their second studio album, Dig Yourself Deep, next Tuesday, the 16th. Wednesday Week charted to #11 in the U.K. in 1980.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones
From a 1967 Ed Sullivan performance. We get to see Brian Jones on recorder, as well as the improbably-young surviving Stones in this one. According to Wikipedia, Keith Richards wrote the song for one of the Stones' groupies in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966.
"That's a wonderful song," Mick Jagger told Jann Wenner in 1995. "It's just a nice melody, really. And a lovely lyric. Neither of which I wrote, but I always enjoy singing it." Bill Wyman also notes in his Rolling with the Stones that the song was written by Keith Richards. However, Marianne Faithfull claims that the song was written by Brian Jones, and that Richards only added minor parts to it. Certainly, the recorder is a Jones' signature touch, but at this point in time the authorship is likely to remain unresolved.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Commercial Affiliations
"We've got time for an email now, before we get to the end of the week. Let's go to the email basket. This one comes from Jackie Vann from Manhattan. Jackie writes, 'Bob, I know that Sheryl Crow is a friend of yours, but what is your take on her using Buddy Holly's great Not Fade Away for a TV hair dye commercial? I felt the most awful, stinging disappointment when I first heard it. I felt betrayed by Crow, as I'm almost sure Buddy would have. He was such a stickler for controlling his own material. I can't imagine his liking this commercial adaptation.'
"Well Jackie, I have to disagree with you. When's the last time you heard Buddy Holly on the radio? There aren't a lot of shows like Theme Time Radio Hour. A lot of people get to hear commercials, and if it makes one person curious about either Buddy or Sheryl, I'm all for it. How many people never heard of Nick Drake until he was in a car commercial?
"A lot of musicians have always been proud to have commercial affiliation. Sonny Boy Williamson sold flour. I can't imagine Sonny Boy saying, 'My blues is too sacred. I wouldn't sell flour.' Jimmie Rodgers sold biscuits. Sheryl Crow sells hair dye. More power to her.
"And Jackie, have you ever seen a Victoria's Secret ad?" - Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour, "Days of the Week" episode.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Morphine - Thursday
A group that, as one YouTube commenter puts it, "makes you want to spend the entire day in a bar," and, incidentally, one of Jailbait's favorite bands. From their second album 1993s Cure for Pain.
As Our Host mentions, Sandman's primary instrument was a two-string bass guitar with both strings usually tuned to the same note and played with a slide. The minimalist group also included Dana Colley on a variety of saxes, and either Billy Conway or Jerome Deupree on various percussion instruments. Asked to describe their sound, the band coined the term "low rock."
If you like Thursday, you'll like Morphine and you should go search out their tragically small discography. I also especially recommend Sandman's great collaboration with the Either/Orchestra on their album The Half-Life of Desire, where he does such a sweltering version of the Bing Crosby chestnut, Temptation, that you'll be tempted to ship out on a tramp steamer for the South Seas.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Best Of Theme Time Radio Hour
Update: Isis now has a description of the CD set up at its site. As I suspected, the set does not include Dylan's intros or outros, and I also suspect is not being done in conjunction with XM Radio. The fact that they're using the World's Worst Picture of Dylan - as one commenter here noted it looks like a publicity shot for Alvin & the Chipmunks - is also probably indicative that this is being produced without Dylan's involvement.
Without Dylan's commentary, the set simply becomes an eclectic collection of music that has been played on TTRH. I don't think I can recommend it in good conscience, and have removed my Amazon links to the product. The TTRH completist might still want it, but caveat emptor and all that.
The writer at Isis still apparently hasn't grasped the fact that there were only 50 episodes of TTRH either.
***
From the Amazon product description ...
"On Wednesday May 3rd, 2006, 3 weeks before his 65th birthday, Bob Dylan's voice floated over the airwaves and into people's homes via the medium of radio.
Nothing unusual there of course, Bob's been on the radio for more than 45 years. But what was different this time was that Dylan was the host of the show; the DJ; the one playing the records by artists other than himself.
Over the year that followed Bob was back every week with a further choice of songs, hand picked from his own collection and covering virtually every genre ever invented. The shows were themed; the tracks each week were about the same topic; from Flowers to Cars, the Devil to Friends and Neighbors, Weddings to Divorce.
This 2CD set takes one track from each of the 52 [sic] shows that Dylan presented, and in doing so gives a fascinating glimpse into the tastes and passions of a man who himself has become a musical style all of his own. Produced in conjunction with Isis magazine - the world's biggest selling Dylan Journal."
We'll let it go that there were only 50 episodes in Season 1, not 52, which is why there are two songs from the Time and Hair episodes. The author also seems to be suffering from a slight case of echolia: "DJ" "one playing the records" and "theme" and "same topic" all meaning essentially the same thing.
Here's the Track List according to the Amazon/Germany store. I've done some editing/corrections:
| 1. Keep On The Sunny Side - The Carter Family (Weather) |
| 2. (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean - Ruth Brown (Mother) |
| 3. Ain't Got No Money To Pay For This - George Zimmerman and the Thrills (Drinking) |
| 4. The Ball Game - Sister Wynona Carr (Baseball) |
| 5. Java Jive - The Ink Spots - (Coffee) |
| 6. Send Me To The Lectric Chair - Bessie Smith (Jail) |
| 7. Papas On The Housetop - Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell (Father) |
| 8. Married Woman - Big Joe Turner (Wedding) |
| 9. Alimony Blues - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson & His Orchestra (Divorce) |
| 10. Ice Cream Man - John Brim (Summer) |
| 11. Tulip Or Turnip - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (Flowers) |
| 12. No Money Down - Chuck Berry - (Cars) |
| 13. Brother Can You Spare A Dime? - Bing Crosby (Rich Man, Poor Man) |
| 14. Race With The Devil - Gene Vincent (The Devil) |
| 15. Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Chuck Berry (Eyes) |
| 16. Hound Dog - Freddie Bell And The Bellboys (Dogs) |
| 17. Last Night - Little Walter - (Friends and Neighbors) |
| 18. Disc Jockey Blues - Luke Jones And His Orchestra (Radio) |
| 19. John The Revelator - Blind Willie Johnson (The Bible) |
| 20. Louisiana - Percy Mayfield (Musical Map) |
| 21. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Sonny Boy Williamson II (School) |
| 22. Telephone Is Ringing - Pee Wee Crayton (Telephone) |
| 23. Jesus Gave Me Water - The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi (Water) |
| 24. All The Time - Sleepy LaBeef (Time) |
| 25. Midnight Hour -Clarence Gatemouth Brown (Time) |
| 26. Pistol Packin Mama - Al Dexter & His Troopers (Guns) |
| Disc 2 |
| 27. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin Jay Hawkins (Halloween) |
| 28. When You Dance - The Turbans (Dance) |
| 29. When Its Sleepy Time Down South - Louis Armstrong (Sleep) |
| 30. Matzoh Balls - Slim Gaillard (Food) |
| 31. Let Me Play With Your Poodle - Tampa Red & Big Maceo (Thanksgiving Leftovers) |
| 32. Tennessee - Carl Perkins (Tennessee) |
| 33. Blue Moon Of Kentucky - (Moon) |
| 34. Five Long Years - Eddie Boyd - (Countdown) |
| 35. Christmas Is A-Comin' (Chicken Crows At Midnight) Leadbelly (Christmas/New Year) |
| 36. Zindy Lou - The Chimes -(Women's Names) |
| 37. Don't Touch My Head - JB Lenoir (Hair) |
| 38. Dont Mess With My Ducktail - Joe Clay (Hair) |
| 39. (Everytime I Hear) That Mellow Saxophone -Roy Montrell (Musical Instruments) |
| 40. Alright, Okay You Win - Buddy & Ella Johnson (Luck) |
| 41. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Hank Williams Sr. (Tears) |
| 42. Lose Your Blues And Laugh At Life - Jimmie Revard & His Oklahoma Playboys (Laughter) |
| 43. Good Morning Heartache - Billie Holiday (Heart) |
| 44. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins (Shoes) |
| 45. Deep Purple - The Ravens - (Colors) |
| 46. Blue Yodel 1 (T For Texas) - Bob Downen (Texas) |
| 47. Mystery Train - Little Junior Park (Trains) |
| 48. This Train - Sister Rosetta Tharpe (More Trains) |
| 49. Why Do Fools Fall In Love - Frankie Lane (Fools) |
| 50. Take The A Train - Duke Ellington (New York) |
| 51. Taxes Taxes - Hank Penny (Taxes) |
| 52. Richest Guy In The Graveyard - Dinah Washington (Spring Cleaning) |
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
An email and gift from Dreamtime regular, Carol...
"I do love checking in on your site! It's gggrrreeaaattt!!" - CarolThanks, Carol, and thanks for the image!
.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Episode 42 - I Was Dancing with My Darlin'
Listen now with the Dreamtime Player
It's a Dreamtime potpourri this time around with some thoughts, talk and music on the big little man Pee Wee King and his songwriting partner, Redd Stewart; the song they composed on a matchbook cover; how Cowboy Copas and Syd Nathan could have bought it for $25; and then a look and listen to Theme Time Radio Hour's resident hillbilly expert, Deke Dickerson. You can tell we have a full plate tonight, so we better get started...
[Dylan on Pee Wee King]
As well as introducing the accordion to country-western music, Pee Wee King brought electric instruments, drums, and horns to the Grand Ol' Opry. And the next time you're admiring Mr. D's sartorial style on stage, you might give a thought to Mr. Pee Wee King of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was the first in the Grand Ol' Opry to dress up his band members in tailored Western clothing direct from Nudies of Hollywood.
Nicknamed "Pee Wee" by Gene Autry because he was only 5'6", King was born Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (koo-CHIN-skē) in 19 and 14. His father led a polka band, and the young Frank, who used the second of his three given names, became a member of the band, playing both accordion and fiddle. By age 14, King was doing radio appearances, and formed his own band, which played a mix of polka and country-western... putting the accordion to use no matter what the style of music.
In 19 and 36, Pee Wee formed The Golden West Cowboys, which he would lead through a variety of personnel changes for over 30 years. Fiddler Redd Stewart, who would later become Pee Wee's songwriting partner, joined the group the following year, although he would be drafted in 1941 and not come back to the Golden West Cowboys until the end of World War II.
1937 was a big year for The Golden West Cowboys. They were also invited to join the Grand Ol' Opry that same year, an invitation that some of the show's traditionalists might have later regretted. By 19 and 40, Pee Wee was using an amplified guitar on stage, and in 1947 brought drums to the Grand Ol' Opry for the first time in its history.
1947 also brought other changes. After a 10-year run at the Grand Ol' Opry, Pee Wee was ready for something new, and brought the band to Nashville and to television, where "The Pee Wee King Show" ran for another decade. Redd Stewart - who was back with the group by this time - took over lead vocals for the band, and Pee Wee concentrated on business and songwriting.
The Tennessee Waltz
The story goes that Pee Wee and Redd were on the road heading for a gig in Tennessee and riding in the luggage truck so they could work on songs together without distraction. Bill Monroe's Kentucky Waltz began playing on the radio, which inspired one or both of them to start thinking about a similar waltz for the great state of Tennessee. Providentially, the Golden West Cowboys had been using a waltz melody as the band's theme song for several years, a tune that up to then had had no lyrics. Stewart later recalled that he scrawled the first version of Tennessee Waltz on the back of a matchbook cover, although it took the two songwriters over 18 months before they came up with the final lyrics, set to the tune of the band's "No-name Waltz" theme music.
[Tennessee Waltz - Redd Stewart]
The Cowboys of the Golden West, with Redd Stewart on vocals, single of The Tennessee Waltz made the country charts on April 3rd 19 and 48 and peaked at the #3 position. It would stay on the charts for 35 weeks. Cowboy Copas also scored a #3 hit with the song that same year, and Nick Tosches tells a funny story in his 1977 book Country, about how the Cowboy let the rights for Tennessee Waltz slip through his fingers. Lloyd Copas, better known as Cowboy Copas, was one of the most popular country performers of the later `40s, and was recording for King Records at the time. King Records, as you may remember, O Constant Theme Time Radio Hour Listener, was owned and operated by Syd (Tosches refers to him as "Sid," but my later research indicates Nathan spelled it "Syd.") Nathan, whose frenzied sales exhortations have been played on several Theme Time episodes.
"All it was was a copy of 'Missouri Waltz.'" Copas said.
Intrigued, Syd Nathan replied that maybe they should pick up the song anyway, and fronted Copas an extra ten bucks to get it on his next trip to Nashville. But when Copas returned, he still didn't have the song. "They sold it, huh?" Nathan asked.
"The bastards put the price up to fifty dollars, and I wasn't going to pay that much," Copas replied.
"You done right," Syd Nathan said. "There ain't no song in the world worth fifty dollars."
In 1965, The Tennessee Waltz became the fourth official song of the state of Tennessee.
The Hardest Working Man in Rockabilly
[Dylan on Deke Dickerson] [Deke Dickerson - Broken Heart]
That was Deke Dickerson with Broken Heart, from his latest CD - The Melody. After I got over my funk that I wasn't Theme Time's resident hillbilly expert, I decided to do some research on Mr. Deke Dickerson and, in the course of my studies, ended up emailing Deke, only to find out that he's a pretty nice guy, even if he did take the job I've been angling for these last 42 episodes.
Thirty-nine years of age, Deke is a native of Columbia, Missouri. He formed his first band, Untamed Youth, at age 17. Untamed Youth was a retro surf guitar garage band, whose song Santa's Gonna Shut 'Em Down was featured on Eddie Gorodetsky's Christmas with Eddie G. compilation CD. Untamed Youth gained a strong rep. in the Midwest, did some national tours, and released four CDs on indie labels. The group broke up after Deke decided to head out to the sun and beaches of L.A. in 1991, where he became a regular on the rockabilly and roots scene. In L.A. Deke teamed up with Dave Stuckey , and the two formed the team of Deke & Dave. The duo focused on an eclectic mix of hillbilly, surf, and rock-n`-roll music, released two CDs, and were a major attraction at rockabilly shows.
By 1997, Deke decided to try a solo career and formed his back-up band, the Ecco-Fonics, which ranges in membership from a stripped-down three to a full-tiltboogin' fivesome. Ecco-Fonics is also the name of Deke's label, which has released music from several hillbilly, country, and rockabilly artists, including Deke himself.
And, of course, we're hearing Deke now on TTRH. In fact, when you hear guitar music between segments, the chances are that's Deke you're listening to. The first two shows that included Deke's music were Season One's Luck and Laughter episodes, and, as Deke notes on his web site, Season 2 of TTRH will be featuring clips of him speaking on rockabilly and a variety of other subjects.
As I mentioned, in-between bouts of jealousy I emailed Deke, asking him if he'd be interested in providing Dreamtime with a song or two for this episode. And, he was nice enough not only to get back to me, but to offer me essentially anything I wanted from his catalog. So, I can't really hate him, and I encourage you to go check out Deke's web site, -- dekedickerson.com -- links are also at the Dreamtime web site (that's right here) - where you can buy his music as either high-quality MP3 downloads, on CD, or in some instances, even on vinyl.
I recommend Deke's latest, The Melody, which is like turning on the radio and finding everything on the dial is coming from 19 and 55, from rockabilly to country, to doo-wop, and this song coming up, the heavily-Buddy Holly influenced, Tell Me How. This has been Fred Bals with the Dreamtime podcast, and here's Deke Dickerson, the hardest-working man in rockabilly, closing us out with Tell Me How.
Sources and Further Reading/Listening: Pee Wee King bio at CMT.com Redd Stewart page at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame; Country by Nick Tosches (pages 123-124); Deke Dickerson's web site; Deke's MySpace page; Deke's bio from Answers.com; Broken Heart and Tell Me How are from the album The Melody, Deke Dickerson & The Ecco-Fonics, used by permission. Thanks, Deke!
***
You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.
Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.
Remember that the Dreamtime team loves to get email. You can write us at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com
The Dreamtime top cats are Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear. Our announcers are the notorious honky-tonkin' sisters, Jailbait and Joyride.
Until next time, dream well.
Visit the Dreamtime Store
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Hello, I Must Be Going - Groucho Marx
Captain Spaulding, the African explorer, arrives, only to note that he must depart. From 19 and 30s Animal Crackers.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Dreamtime Episode List - Season 1
With TTRH Season 2 underway, Dreamtime is picking up many new reader/listeners, and receiving more than a few questions asking what we're about.
The Dreamtime blog/podcast is occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, usually about something Dylan has said during one of his shows that has intrigued me, or my digging a little deeper into one of his stories about the musician or song. The "occasional" is in there because at times I'll go off on a tangent that has little or nothing to do with "Theme Time."
The shows can be listened to or downloaded here on the site, or you can subscribe through the RSS Feed or through iTunes. I try to document my sources, for those interested in learning more about whatever subject I've addressed in that episode. I encourage comments, especially if you're pointing out something I got wrong, which happens more than I like - but my reader/listeners help keep me walking the straight-and-narrow.
Needless to say - but I'll say it anyway - Dreamtime is not associated with XM Radio, Theme Time Radio Hour, or Bob Dylan.
I decided Dreamtime began its Season 2 with Episode 41, to parallel TTRH's Season 2. Season 1 shows can be found through the links below, and in the "Archives" section in the right-column. You can also find/subscribe to the Dreamtime podcasts through the link to your right, and you'll find a blog-roll of TTRH-related sites, and/or sites that have been kind enough to link to me.
Email is always welcome, and I try to answer every email I receive: dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com
Dreamtime Season 1 Episode Guide
Episode 1 - Elvis & Dino - The Elvis Presley/ Dean Martin connection (Weather)
Episode 2 - The Ol' Ball Game - The story behind "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Baseball)
Episode 3 - A Single Olive - Victor Feguer's last meal (Jail)
Episode 4 - Tiny, I never saw a Toronto Maple Leaf hockey game. The Tiny Tim/Dylan connection. (Flowers)
Episode 5 - Two voices from Chronicles - Fred Neil and Karen Dalton (Chronicles)
Episode 6 - Juneteenth and Fatso - The song and the singer (Summer)
Episode 7 – The donkey that wouldn't die - On "Hee Haw" (Mothers)
Episode 8 - 14 Views of the Big City - A tone poem (Theme Time intros)
Episode 9 - The Outro - On Coco Shinomiya, Eddie Gorodetsky, and Top Cat (Theme Time closing credits)
Episode 10 – Too religious for the country crowd, too country for gospel fans - The Louvin Brothers (Devil)
Episode 11 - All mobbed up - Ol' Blue Eyes and the Rat Pack croon for Pete Epsteen's Pontiac (Cars)
Episode 12 - Love, Theft, and Emails - In which Your Host spins some platters and reads emails ("Love and Theft" antecedents)
Episode 13 - Stay away from planes and automobiles - A Theme Time roll call of musician wrecks and crashes (Various Theme Time episodes)
Episode 14 - Working for the Yankee dollar - The twisty history of "Rum and Coca-Cola" (Drinking)
Episode 15 – I ran at Bakersfield - The James Dean/Dylan connection (Cars)
Episode 16 – "Gene Vincent said, 'Bubba, let's go on tour'" - High School U.S.A. the "Facenda Freeze" and more than 15 minutes of fame. (School)
Episode 17 - October in the Railroad Earth - On Jack Kerouac - defest of poets (Rich Man, Poor Man).
Episode 18 - High on a Mountain - this one on Ollabelle (the band) Ola Belle Reed (the musician), and Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles. (Bible).
Episode 19 - That Ol' Black Magic - Dreamtime has its Bob Dylan mask on with a special Halloween show that includes The Little Man Who Wasn't There; Samantha Stephens; Peggy Lee; Jerry Lewis; The Five Blobs; a young Bob Dylan; a Dylan imitator; Judy Garland; The Jitterbug; and The Munsters. (Halloween)
Episode 20 - Heart of Mine - A show done on the road, so Your Host's audio quality isn't of the best, but maybe Maria Muldaur's stunning live redition of "Heart of Mine" will make up for the audio engineering problems. Also, some information on Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour and an excerpt from Kitty Wells 1952 hit, "It wasn't God who made Honky-Tonk Angels." (There ain't nuthin' about that woman I don't like)
Episode 21 - Def Poets Society - That's def, not deaf, Fred. A primer on defness for the somewhat - like me - thick, plus a poetry reading and thoughts on Richard Farina. (Def poetry)
Episode 22 - All Along the Watchtower - Some brief thoughts on All Along the Watchtower, inspired by Kimo Watanabe's stark, spooky cover version performed on ukelele. Yes, ukelele. (No Theme Time content in this one)
Episode 23- In Search of Eddie G. - Writer, musicologist, Mix Master, cartoon character, game inventor, radio producer, Eddie G. seems to have re-invented himself as many times as Bob Dylan. (On Theme Time's producer)
Episode 24 - 1953 and Changes in the Wind - Dreamtime closes out 2006 with a turn around the radio dial and a look back at a year when music was about to change forever... 1953. (Dogs)
Episode 25 - The Name Game - In the first show of 2007, Dreamtime does a semi-countdown using Women's Names, inspired by Episode 35 of Theme Time. Where else will you find the Ramones and Allan Sherman on the same playlist? (Women's Names)
Episode 26 - Bessie with the Laughing Face? - The story behind Phil Silvers writing the Frank Sinatra classic. (Women's Names)
Episode 27 - Hey, Hey, I'm a Monkee - Featuring Mike "Wool Hat" Nesmith, Liquid Paper, Tiger Beat, Charlie Manson, Jimi Hendrix, and the Mike Nesmith/Bob Dylan non-collaboration, "Rio." (Musical Instruments)
Episode 28 - Psycho killer, Qu'est que C'est? - With a few sentences, Dylan would send me off on a journey that would lead me to Texas snipers, blind singers, 100 proof honky-tonkers, and a country subgenre I never knew existed - Psychobilly. (Luck)
Episode 29 - Please Don't Go Topless, Mother - No TTRH radio content directly related to this episode. The stories of Bennie Hess, Troy Hess, and the song.
Episode 30 - A Good Walk Spoiled - In honor of the Theme Time's Host purchase in Scotland, Dreamtime plays at "Theme Time," with an extra-long episode featuring music, jokes, email, and commentary all related to the the theme, "Golf," for your amusement.
Episode 31 - Flash! Bam! Alakazam! - This time we're looking at an Orange Colored Sky. Like most music from the Big City, it has its own, strange story... with a cast of characters including Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Frank Zappa, and Robin the Boy Wonder. (Colors)
Episode 32 - Dig Infinity: A Passion Play in 4 Acts - Some thoughts, ruminations, correspondence, prose and poesy, cerebration, consideration, contemplation, deliberation, meditation, reflection, speculation, and cogitation upon one cool cat - Lord Buckley. Including the Dylan/Lord Buckley versions of Black Cross. (Trains)
Episode 33 - Oh Baby, Me Gotta Go - More Louie Louies than you can shake a stick at. How does Dreamtime fit over 50 Louies in a 14-minute show? Listen and find out. Starring Bob Dylan, Julie London, and even Your Host singing the religious version of Louie Louie, an experience not be missed. (Fathers, Tears)
Episode 34 - He Was a Graveyard Smash - A tribute show to Bobby "Boris" Pickett, who passed away in 2006 (Halloween).
Episode 35 - Cooking (and Drinking) with Bob - Today on Cooking with Bob, Mint Juleps! (Bombay) Rum and Coca-Cola! Barbecue! Beer! Figgy Pudding! And Bob's Mom's Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf Bread! (Various TTRH episodes where Our Host imparts recipes)
Episode 36 - Stagger Lee Shot Billy - A Summer hiatus show, with no direct connection to TTRH. All about that bad man, Stagger Lee. The usual suspects, including Frank Hutchinson, Mississippi John Hurt, and Lloyd Price, all join in. Plus a few appearances you might not expect, such as Dick Clark, Jiminy Cricket and Samuel L. Jackson.
Episode 37 - Chasing the Rising Sun - Another Summer hiatus show, inspired by Ted Anthony's brilliant book Chasing the Rising Sun. From the lips of a 16-year-old Kentucky girl to New York and Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan and then on to England and The Animals.
Episode 38 - A Wink or a Nod From Some Unexpected Place - According to the story in Chronicles, Gorgeous George told Bob Dylan, "You're making it come alive." Here's a brief biography of the man who during his heyday was one of the most famous entertainers in the world. (Chronicles)
Episode 39 - The Lost Theme Time iPod - Here's the story. Sometime in 2005, somewhere in Los Angeles, Bob Dylan is in a studio. He does whatever he came there to do, and then makes like a tree... and leaves. But he forgets his iPod. (The roots of TTRH?)
Episode 40 - A Ghost in Blackface - This is a story about a ghost who made music, a ghost named Emmett Miller, a forgotten son of a embarrassing and often deliberately forgotten American art form, the blackface minstrel show. (Masked & Anonymous)
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Episode 41 - And the Angels Sing
Listen now with the Dreamtime Player
Except for passing references to Ruth Brown, Rick Nelson and Bob Wills, there's nothing particularly TTRH-related in this episode of Dreamtime. But I suspect Our Host shares my respect for these ladies of rockabilly and r&b. So, with Season 2 just underway, hang in there with me for a bit longer, if you will, and let me tell you the stories of four forgotten angels this week. I don't think I'll disappoint you.
I've said it before: it's not easy being a professional musician. It's even tougher if you're a woman in the business. People want to pigeonhole you. You're a delicate songbird. You're a hard rockin' mama. You're a sex kitten. You're a dyke. Anita O'Day remarks in her great biography High Times, Hard Times that rumors started flying that she was a lesbian after she began wearing a variation of the Benny Goodman band's uniform - pants and jacket - because keeping the traditional evening gown clean on the road was costing her too much money.
And of course, if you're a woman you're getting hit on by fans - and, more regularly, by the boys in the band, and managers, club owners, publicists, record flacks, god knows what all. And even if you fell in love, or thought you were, you couldn't afford to get knocked up. That is, if you wanted to keep your career. Until relatively recently your choices were limited to one of two if you were a singer who got pregnant - you could have an abortion or you could have the baby. And quit the business.
There are dozens of male rockabilly and r&b performers whose time was the `50s and `60s and who have now faded away into obscurity. Who remembers the Emeralds or Wes Holly And His Rhythm Ranchers anymore except hard-core fans? But maybe because they had so far and so high to climb, the women who fell - or the ones who never quite made it to the top - have a particular attraction to me.
There are eight million stories in the Big City. Here are four of them.
[Fay Simmons - And the Angels Sing]
Fay Simmons - Who is She? Where is She?Fay Simmons is a challenging - frustrating - subject for any dedicated researcher. The most detailed information about her on the Web begins with the lines, "Fay Simmons - Who is she? Where is she from?"
It's hard to believe that someone with that voice, sometimes reminiscent of Dinah Washington, could somehow disappear off the face of the planet. Today her best-known song is the novelty number, You Hit Me Baby Like an Atomic Bomb, that wasn't even discovered and released until the `90s. No other evidence of her existence except a pile of brightly-colored 45s from labels with names like Jordan, Rainbow, VTone, Ruthie, and the ironically named Gone. All gone now, as gone as Fay Simmons.
Her first known recordings were released in 1954, so she was probably born somewhere between 1930 (if she got a late start - late if you're a girl singer) and 1938 (if she started her professional career at the the tender age of 16). She'd be in her early to late `70s now in 2007, so she could well still be alive.
She may have been born in Philadelphia. All the evidence points to her starting out her career while a Philly-area resident. If she worked the Philadelphia club circuit, the evidence is buried in attics, back rooms and garages, and in old-timer memories. But she was recording in Philadelphia studios, and with Philly-based musicians such as Doc Starkes and His Night Riders.
Sometime around 19 and 57 Simmons may have moved to New York to try her luck. Maybe. New York City is an easy train trip from Philadelphia. Easy enough car or bus ride, even in the late `50s. But she was there in `57, recording for the New York-based Port and Gone labels. She may have still been in the city up till 1962, as she did sessions with both the Jordan and Senca labels, both based out of New York City.
The early `60s looked like they were good years for Fay Simmons. She released 10 singles in 1960, including And the Angels Sing. In March of 19 and 60 she was part of one of New York DJ Tommy Smalls' - known on the air as Dr. Jive - legendary Apollo Theater shows. Simmons shared the bill with the Emeralds, the Coasters, the Isley Brothers, Jimmy Reed, the Cruisers, and the Clickettes. The show was so successful it was held over for a second week.
Simmons also had her single, Everybody's Doin The Pony hit some local charts in 1961 on the Eastern Coast, including taking the Number #1 position slot on the "Soaring Seven Singles" for WABC in New York. She beat out Elvis, even it was just on a local radio chart for just a short time.
By late '62 it looked like Fay Simmons had headed back to her Philadelphia home base. There was one last possible New York recording session released on Bill Grauer's Pop-Side label in 1963, but her remaining recordings were all done for small Philadelphia-based labels.
The Fay Simmons story ends in 19 and 65, with the re-release of And the Angels Sing.
The rest is silence.
***
[Drugstore Rock-'n-Roll - Janis Martin]
Janis Martin - The Rise & Fall of the Female Elvis
Billed as "the female Elvis," a title that Presley himself reportedly approved, Janis Martin had a short but memorable rockabilly career during the mid-'50s. Born in 1940 in Sutherlin, Virginia, Martin began playing guitar at age four, having to hold it upright like a bass fiddle because it was too large to get her hands around.
By age 11, she was a regular on the Old Dominion Barn Dance radio show, second only to the Grand Ol' Opry in popularity among country music listeners. Still performing on the Barn Dance into her teens, Martin began to tire of country and move towards a r&b sound, sometimes confounding an audience still expecting the old, slow ballads with songs like Ruth Brown's (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean.
At the age of 15, Martin cut her first record. Two announcers at WRVA - the Virginia radio station home of the Barn Dance - asked Martin to sing a song they had written, a rockabilly ditty called Will You, Willyum, on the show. The two songwriters taped the performance and sent the demo off to New York, which resulted in a recording gig for Martin with RCA. Will You, Willyum turned into Martin's biggest hit, selling three-quarters of a million copies, and charting into the Top Forty on the 1956 Pop Singles chart.
On the B side of Will You, Willyum was a song that Janis Martin herself had written, Drugstore Rock-n-'Roll.
"I wrote that song in about 10 minutes," Martin later said in an interview. "Everything in that song is actually the scene that was happening for us as teenagers."
With a hit single, appearances on American Bandstand, The Today and Tonight Shows and voted "Most Promising Female Artist of 1956," it looked like the 16-year-old had nowhere to go but up. But Martin had secretly married her boyfriend that same year, and became pregnant at age 17 after visiting her soldier husband during a USO tour. Unable to do live performances in her obvious delicate condition, Janis Martin recorded her last songs for RCA in 1958, in her eighth month of pregnancy, and RCA dropped her like a very pregnant hot potato as soon as the last notes faded away.
The female Elvis' career was over less than two years after it had started. But Martin's story would eventually have a happier ending. In the late `80s, now in her mid-40s, with two failed marriages behind her and on her own, Janis Martin formed a new band and struck out on a European tour, where she was greeted by enthusiastic neo-rockabilly audiences. She became a regular at rockabilly conventions, still belting out the old songs, saw her complete recordings compiled and re-released by the respected Bear Family label, and married for a third time to a man who had first seen her perform as a teen at the old Barn Dance show in Virginia. This time the marriage stuck, and they remained together until her death in 2007.
"She was a cute little old gal in a ponytail just belting out that music that nobody else was doing," her husband told the papers.
Timi Yuro - "This is your last song, young lady."[Timi Yuro - Hurt]
The phrase "blue-eyed soul" was coined for Timi Yuro, one of the least remembered r&b singers of the early `60s. Dinah Washington once said of her, "Timi's voice doesn't come from the throat, but from the heart. She doesn't just sing the song, she lives it." She was one of Elvis Presley's favorite singers, with the King reserving a ringside table for every night of Yuro's Vegas performances. Presley would later have a Top Ten Country hit with his version of Yuro's signature song, Hurt.
Born Rosemary Timotea Yuro, in 19 and 40, Yuro's family moved to Los Angeles in 1952 where she became the resident singer in the family restaurant by age 14. Her mother was less enthusiastic about the teenager's nightclub gigs, breaking up one performance by shouting, "This is your last song, young lady!"
But Yuro had just started. Frankie Laine's vocal coach was so impressed after hearing her that she offered Timi free training, and Yuro quickly caught the ear of record scouts. Signed to the Liberty label at age 19, she was saddled with recording lightweight pop hits totally unsuited to her style. A frustrated Yuro took matters into her own hands and broke into an executive meeting, threatened to tear up her contract, and broke into an A Capella version of Hurt , a 1954 hit for Roy Hamilton that Timi had wanted to record since first hearing it.
She got her wish, with Hurt going to #4 on the Billboard singles charts in 19 and 61, and a follow-up hit in 1962 produced by Phil Spector - What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)? - charting to the #12 position. But Yuro's career didn't seem to pick up much traction past that point. Possibly because many of her listeners thought she was black. Possibly because the early waves of the British Invasion were turning popular taste elsewhere. Possibly because Yuro continued to innovate and stretch her musical boundaries, releasing an album of country and blues standards in 1963 (and incidentally introducing some of Willie Nelson's first songs). Make the World Go Away was praised by the critics, and the single of the title track made the US Top 30, but Yuro would not release another album until 1968, and she quit the business altogether in 1969.
A decade later Timi Yuro prepared a comeback, but it became increasingly difficult for her to sing. Doctors eventually discovered she had throat cancer. Her last recording was 1984's Timi Yuro Sings Willie Nelson, produced by her old friend. Timi died in her sleep at her home in Las Vegas on March 30, 2004.
Lorrie Collins - Rockabilly Kid Phenom[The Collins Kids - Rock Boppin' Baby]
Lawrencine "Lorrie" Collins and younger brother Larry were a pair of rockabilly kid phenoms in the late `50s. The crew-cut Larry was an accomplished guitar whiz by age 10, known for playing a double-neck Mosrite guitar just like his mentor, Joe Maphis, and bouncing around stage, as one YouTube commentator memorably puts it, "like Beaver Cleaver on speed."
At age 12 Lorrie was equally at home singing country-western standards or red-hot rockabilly numbers. In fact, some of Lorrie's rockabilly performances were so steamy that they sparked complaints among her audience. It also probably didn't hurt that the pre-teen resembled a cross between Ann-Margaret and Tuesday Weld.
The Collins' parents moved their family to California in 19 and 53, when Lorrie was all of 11 and her brother 9. A year earlier the popular "Town Hall Party" barn dance-style program had begun broadcasting from Compton, CA over both radio and TV. Larry and Lorrie entered a talent contest sponsored by the show one Friday night in February 19 and 54 and were immediately hired to perform for the "Town Hall Party" the next day - ultimately appearing in every episode thereafter into 1957. Thanks to the show, the duo signed a recording contract with Columbia in 19 and 55 and churned out singles into the early `60s.
Even though they never hit the charts, the Collins Kids were a popular stage act and regulars on other television variety shows,
including the Arthur Godfrey, Perry Como, Dinah Shore and Steve Allen shows. They made it to the Grand Ol' Opry and toured with both Johnny Cash and Bob Wills.Wills unfortunately threw up on Larry in the back seat of a limousine during that tour. While Cash apparently had better control, their joining his tour would eventually lead to the Collins Kids' downfall.
After Rick Nelson spotted Lorrie at the "Town Hall Party", he had her cast as his girlfriend in his parents popular sitcom, "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet." Even as wholesome as the Nelsons were, the brothers had an eye for good-lookin' girls. Rick's brother, David, would eventually marry June Blair, a 1957 Playboy centerfold, who would also play his on-screen wife.
Rick and Lorrie were also briefly engaged in real life and the story, probably apocryphal, goes that Nelson recorded his first single, a cover of Fats Domino's I'm Walkin', in order to impress Lorrie. But Lorrie - in a move somewhat reminiscent of Janis Martin - would start a relationship with Johnny Cash's manager while on tour when she was just 17, marry him, and give birth to their first child at age 19, effectively killing the Collins Kids' career.
Larry would turn to songwriting, and have more than a little success, penning Delta Dawn which would become a #6 Country hit for 13-year-old Tanya Tucker, as well as a #1 Pop hit for Helen Reddy in 19 and 73. Again, like Janis Martin, brother and sister Collins would re-ignite their careers and reunite regularly at rockabilly revivals and conventions, where they remain a popular act to this day.
***
Sources and Further Reading/Listening:
Top photo: Detail from Johnny Mercer's grave site, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, GA.
Fay Simmons: Almost all the information on Fay Simmons is taken from the "Fay Simmons Record Label Shots" page at colorradio.com. About the only new thing I was able to discover was an appearance of Simmons at the Apollo as part of a 1960 Dr. Jive show, as noted in one of Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks. If you haven't already, check out Dreamtime Episode 39 - The Lost Theme Time iPod - to hear You Hit Me Baby Like An Atomic Bomb.
If you have any information on Fay Simmons at all, please write to Dreamtime!
Janis Martin: My sources on the "female Elvis" include Janis' page at the Rockabilly Hall of Fame; her MySpace page maintained by her granddaughter; and her obituary from The Boston Globe.
Timi Yuro: We lost a wonderful voice when we lost Timi. My sources included her Wikipedia entry and various fan pages, primarily this one from Tom Simon. Various videos - usually slideshows accompanied by her music - are available around the Web.
The Collins Kids and Lorrie Collins: The always-useful Rockabilly Hall of Fame was a primary source; this article from The Washington Post is the source of the story that Bob Wills once threw up on a young Larry. Happily many of the Kids' performances at the "Town Hall Party" were preserved, and can be viewed on YouTube and other sites. Lorrie Collins, there ain't nuthin' about that woman I don't like.
***
You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour.
Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.
Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.
Remember that the Dreamtime team loves to get email. You can write us at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com
The Dreamtime top cats are Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear. Our announcers are the notorious honky-tonkin' sisters, Jailbait and Joyride.
Until next time, dream well.
Visit the Dreamtime Store
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Dr. Jive brings the Apollo to the Ed Sullivan Show
The work Dreamtime goes to for its listeners/viewers, you wouldn't believe.
From November 20, 19 and 55, New York DJ Tommy Smalls (Dr. Jive) brings about 10 minutes of one of his legendary Apollo Theater shows to the living rooms of America via the Ed Sullivan Show.
Featured in the jam-packed session are Bo Diddley, LaVern Baker, the Five Keys doing a very politically incorrect Ling Ting Tong, and Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson's Orchestra, whose closing set just about burns down Studio 50.
For Dreamtime readers too young to remember much about Ed Sullivan, he was an entertainment gossip columnist for the New York Daily News turned improbable successful television host. His stone-faced demeanor and bobbled introductions were legendary. This clip is a classic example, as Sullivan comes up with in quick succession, "roll and rhythm," "rhythm and roll," and my personal favorite "rhythm and color," before remembering that the term he wants is "rhythm and blues."
A larger - although no better in quality clip is available at YouTube here.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Some More on Emmett Miller's Any Time
Dreamtime had an email over the weekend that led me into an interesting search for the origin of Emmett Miller's signature song, Any Time.
The song was written in 19 and 21 by a Herbert "Happy" Lawson, of whom there is a little information available on the Web. Any Time has proved to be a durable legacy for Mr. Lawson, though. The song charted as a #1 Country Hit for Eddy Arnold in 19 and 48, 24 years after its creation. Arnold's version also made it to #17 on the Pop charts, and a cover version by Foy Willing and The Riders of the Purple Sage - who would later become Roy Rogers' backup band - placed as a #14 Country hit that same year.
Among many others, Any Time has also been covered by Eddie Fisher, Pat Boone, Patsy Cline, Rosemary Clooney, Duane Eddy, Connie Francis, Bill Haley, Dean Martin, The Osmond Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, and Leon Redbone.
One of the more interesting things about Miller's version of Any Time is that it includes three opening stanzas that aren't part of the printed sheet music. Lawson's "official" version, and the one used by most performers with some variations, has the lyrics...
Any time you're feeling lonelyFairly straightforward, right? It could be a spooner singing goodnight to his sweetie, or even a soldier bidding his girl goodbye. But Miller's version puts a darker spin on the song...
Any time you're feeling blue
Any time you're feeling down-hearted
That will prove your love for me is true.
Any time you're thinking 'bout me
That's the time I'll be thinking of you
So, any time you say you want me back again
That's the time I'll come back home to you.
Now, I'm so sad and blue... which describes a breakup much more emphatically than Lawson's version. I'm guessing that because he did Any Time as part of his minstrel act, Miller added the opening stanzas as a skit he performed with a female partner... probably something to the effect of her telling him her love had gone cold, his replying with the little three-stanza ditty about how she's made him "sad and blue," and then his going into the actual Lawson song.
'bout nobody but you
Why you don't seem the same to me.
I told you that I love you
right from the start
You told me the very same thing
and now you try to break my little heart.
If you don't want me
Why don't you come on and tell me so
I love you, and I'll say just before I go....
Now, any time that you are lonely
Any time that you are blue
Now, any time you're feeling down-hearted
That will prove to you my love is true.
Now, any time you're thinking of me
That's the time I'll think of you
Now, any time you want me back again
That's the time I'll come back to you.
But there's also a surprising variation from Lawson's in the last line of the fourth stanza, with Miller clearly singing, That will prove to you my love is true, rather than the printed lyrics, That will prove your love for me is true. Miller's singer emphasizes that his love is so true that it will overwhelm the girl's feelings, whether she's actually in love with him or not. Lawson's singer more reassuringly notes that the girl's feelings are natural because she's already in love with him.
At this point, I could pull a Nick Tosches and start bringing in everything from Bob Dylan to how the introduction of the automobile was changing American dating habits in the `20s, but I'll resist.
Fascinating guy, that Emmett Miller.
