DANNY KAYE: THE BENEFITS OF VERSATILITY

David Daniel Kaminsky (1911-1987), known to the world as Danny Kaye, was an entertainer that could do it all. He was as adept at pathos as he was at antic comedy, and he captivated audiences throughout the 1950s with his magic. His signature patter songs, represented by our first number: Anatole of Paris, were crafted for him by his business partner and wife, Sylvia Fine, and together they made film and Broadway history. This is a fascinating connection that deserves a deeper dive.

Danny resembled my adored uncle Teddy, and I always associated them in my mind. They had similar profiles and hair styles, and I was delighted to discover that his people and mine emigrated from the same town in Ukraine. Throughout my early years Danny Kaye’s warmth and silliness provided a safe harbor against the anxieties of childhood. He was my ideal tutor in the film Merry Andrew, introducing the Pythagorean theory in song.

Early on in his career, in 1934, Danny toured Asia - and it was there that he discovered and developed his skill at entertaining audiences who didn’t speak English, a key to his popularity with kids of all ages.

ANATOLE OF PARIS

This number comes from the 1947 film, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, adapted form James Thurber’s novel about the day dreams of a hen pecked magazine editor. Sylvia Fine worked up this ditty where Danny fantasizes that he is a French milliner who bedecks ladies in ridiculous hats - because, as we find out in the punch line - he hates women.

You can imagine the impish glint in Danny’s eye as he extrapolates on the outrages that he’ll commit to these chapeaux, and that’s one of the secrets of Danny Kaye’s success: the absolute delight he takes in wowing us with his lighter than air articulations.

I WONDER WHO’S KISSING HER NOW

And, here comes the other side of this complex coin - the opening up and sharing of his soulful humanity. This recording, also from 1947, has Danny - ever so tenderly - crooning over a lost love. The song, composed in 1909 by Harold Orlob, for the Broadway play, THE PRINCE OF TO-NIGHT, became a standard.

In the hands of the master, this rumination is akin to listening in on the singer’s private thoughts, as opposed to a performance. As we said in the intro, this artist could do it all, and here is but a sampling of his versatility.

The “Novelty” song has deep roots in popular culture. Masters of the form, like Weird Al Yankovic, Warren Zevon, Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, and Allen Sherman have illuminated our consciousness and tickled our sense of the absurd. How much WAS that doggie in the window?…., WTF is Marzy dotes and dozy dotes about?…, They’re coming to take me away, Haha…(that one actually scared me). Probably each of us can recall from childhood some goofy ditty that either made you feel smarter, or got stuck inside your head like RFK’s brain worm.

Let’s give thanks to Doctor Demento for archiving and disseminating many of these gems for future generations, and my introduction to Larry Groce’s Junk Food Junkie came from one of his collections. Jerry Blavat’s One More Time, Back to School may not demonstrate the same amount of cleverness, but its delivered lustily by one of the premier DJs of his time.

LARRY GROCE

Junk Food Junkie comes from 1975, and is perfectly in key with today’s anti-woke sentiments. But, Mr. Groce delivers his mockery with such gentleness and good humor that it creates a universal warmth devoid of malice. Yes, he intimates, you can try to be upright and health conscientious, but the reptilian brain in all of us needs to be satisfied - even if it has to happen under cover of darkness. Hypocrisy is the target here, and Mr. Groce, cast as the titular shlemiel, puts himself first in line for ridicule.

JERRY BLAVAT

Jerry Blavat’s “Horatio Alger” story reads like a Martin Scorsese screenplay. His colorful bio, recounting his journey from son of a Philly bookmaker, valet to Don Rickles, mob-connected DJ and club owner, to broadcasting Hall of Fame icon, could be the stuff of a Netflix series. Known as “the Big Boss with the Hot Sauce,” and “the Geater with the Heater,” Jerry swaggered through his bigger than life life like a toreador. But, lest we forget - it was always his love of those Philadelphian musical goodies - that made him a beloved home town super hero.

1965’s One More Time Back to School, on the Cameo Parkway label, is an fascinating glimpse into his inexhaustible energy. It’s delightfully sadistic as the singer declares the end of vacation time fun. Not only that, there is something in the edgy cacophony of its production, with the clanging cowbells, that evokes that end of summer feeling.

What is it about a swing rhythm that sets hearts a flutter? It’s a universal truth. It may have started as an African secret formula, but it was co-opted and catapulted into white western culture by some hip caucasian standard bearers.

Here we’ll examine the psycho-physical connection through two seemingly unrelated musical delicacies: one by the undisputed titan of respectable jazz, and the other by a racially mixed group of Philadelphia teens who barely made it out before the doo-wop death spiral. Bongo Stomp, from 1962, by Little Joey and the Flips, doesn’t even feature real bongos (the drummer Jeff Leonard is simulating the jungle signature on his toms). But, it definitely swings. The other showcases legendary stickman, Gene Krupa, who showed the world his undeniable big swinging dick energy.

BENNY GOODMAN

1938 was ground zero, the big bang, the crossroads of Jazz and its soon to be birthed step-child, Rock n Roll. Benny Goodman and his band played Carnegie Hall and made history. First as a cultural event, and later, when the live recording was released in 1950 as a double album which sold over a million copies.

Bei Mir Bist Du Schöen is a defiantly wonderful conglomeration of Yiddish lyrics delivered by Martha Tilton- (remember, simultaneously, Hitler was ramping up his power in Europe) - and, an irresistible swing rhythm smoothly rendered - which breaks into a kind of super charged klezmer section. It must have been startling in 1938, and it hasn’t lost its power to captivate almost 100 years later.

LITTLE JOEY AND THE FLIPS

By 1962, Doo-Wop was about to be consigned to the dust bin of History, along with the crooners that had dominated the previous decade. The British Invasion was about to begin, which would turn the record business on its head.

But, just prior to that cataclysm, Joseph Hall and his 4 Pendleton wearing compadres arrive, dip dip dipping their striped hearts out, and they release this anomaly on Joy Records, which makes it to 33 on the charts. This was followed by only a couple more tries… then, oblivion.

Maybe it was that swinging “bongo” break that lifted the Frankie Lymon-esque knock-off to its catchy heights?

THE REVEREND OF KARMIC YOUTH-
1The Interpreter
2Starry Eyes
3For You
4Bloody Hammer
5The Wind And More
6Night Of The Vampire
7You're Gonna Miss Me
8I Walked With A Zombie
9Stand For The Fire Demon
10 When You Get Delighted
11 To Think
12 Warning
13 True Love Cast Out All Evil
14 Loving Isn't A Part Time Thing
15 The Looking Glass Song

As lead singer of Texas’ infamous 13th Floor Elevators — one of rock’s earliest, strangest and greatest psychedelic bands — Roky Erickson explored the far reaches of musical and personal extremes. The Elevators’ first two albums (Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Easter Everywhere, released, respectively, in 1966 and ’67) are essential classics whose far-reaching influence transcends genre boundaries. Following a nightmarish ’70s mental-hospital stint that reportedly had a devastating long-term effect on his mental health, Erickson’s subsequent work revealed a singularly brilliant songwriter and performer whose talent was no less impressive for the fact that he was singing about zombies, vampires and aliens. Indeed, the demons that abound in Roky’s songs are all-too-real reflections of his own troubled psyche, and the combination of the artist’s oddly poetic lyrical constructions and his bracing banshee wail makes it clear, as it wasn’t always, that he’s not kidding.

The Elevators fell apart in the late ’60s, when Erickson began a three-year stretch in a state mental institution to avoid criminal prosecution on a drug charge. He didn’t return to recording until the second half of the ’70s, with a string of one-off singles and the four-song Sponge-label EP (reissued in 1988 as Two Headed Dog). Three of the EP’s numbers were re-recorded for the 1980 CBS UK LP (the title of which is actually five unpronounceable ideograms). Roky Erickson and the Aliens is an excellent manifestation of his post-Elevators persona, expressing dark dilemmas through creepy horror-movie imagery. Roky sings such offbeat gems as “I Walked with a Zombie” and “Creature With the Atom Brain” in a tremulous voice that insists he’s telling the truth — or at least believes he is. Former Creedence Clearwater bassist Stu Cook turned in an excellent production job, bringing the hard electric guitars (and Bill Miller’s electric autoharp) into a sharp focus that underscores Roky’s excitable state. Erickson and band seem less unstable than the drug-crazed Elevators (best remembered for “You’re Gonna Miss Me”), but just barely.

'69 AND THE CRIME ETCHED IN TIME -

"When I Was 17, It was not a very good year"

Rich Buckland

Well. Here is something I've yet to get over in all the years since I first read the grisly details of Sharon Tate’s murder in the Sunday newspaper’s Parade magazine when I was just a wacky hippie teen and beach Boys fanatic.

Cult-leader and killer Charles Manson and Beach Boy drummer and surfer Dennis Wilson were friends. For a while, at least. Good enough friends that Manson and his “family” of young women lived with Wilson for several months. Good enough friends that Wilson convinced the Beach Boys to include a song written by Manson, who had musical ambitions, on their album 20/20.

Which brings me back to the main bad guy, Charles Manson. I knew as early as the Parade magazine article that Manson and his “family” had gone to Sharon Tate’s house looking for Terry Melcher, who did not live there. And I knew that Manson’s actual target was this Terry Melcher, who I also knew was Doris Day’s son. As it turns out, he was an important producer in the music industry.

Yes indeed gand. The 60's was not all Peace, Love and Understanding.

In 1988, Melcher earned a Golden Globe nomination for co-writing the song "Kokomo" with John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and Mike Love. Recorded by the Beach Boys, the song was featured in the 1988 Tom Cruise film Cocktail and hit No. 1 (the band's career fourth overall) on the Billboard Hot 100. The single was certified gold with U.S. sales of more than one million copies.[18] Melcher later co-wrote and produced the band's 1992 studio album Summer in Paradise, which was the first record produced digitally on Pro Tools.

Charles Manson- The White Album
One of the two great influences on the thinking of Charles Manson, along with the Book of Revelation, was the musical group the Beatles. According to Family members, Manson would most often quote "the Beatles and the Bible." The two influences were linked, in that Manson saw the four Beatles members as being the "four angels" referred to in Revelation 9. Revelation 9 also tells of "locusts"--the Beatles, of course--coming out upon the earth. It describes prophets as having "faces as the faces of men" but with "the hair of women"--an assumed reference too the long hair of the all-male English group. In Revelation 9, the four angels with "breastplates of fire"--electric guitars--"issued fire and brimstone"--song lyrics.
Manson believed that the Beatles spoke to him through their lyrics, especially those included in the White Album, released in December 1968. Several songs from the White Album crystalized Manson's thinking about a coming revolt by blacks against the white Establishment. He interpreted many of the songs idiosyncratically, believing, for example, that "Rocky Raccoon" meant black people and "Happiness is a Warm Gun" was a song about getting firearms to carry on the&

SPLENDOR OF BOHEMIA PRESENTS- "IN THE BEGINNING"-

RICH BUCKLAND'S 2009 TEST EPISODE FOR WHAT WOULD LATER BECOME THE PODCAST SERIES THE WORLD COULD EASILY LIVE WITHOUT- OR CAN IT?

WITH WILLY DEVILLE, LENNY BRUCE AND OUR SPECIAL GUEST CHARLES MANSON-DIG THIS!

Ok, folks, we’ve got an unlikely pairing of unrequited torch anthems with an almost 40 year time span between them, featuring points of view which diverge 180 degrees. The first, from Cock Robin, showcases synthesized sounds which seem like they were caught in amber in 1985, and the second, an astounding display of songwriting and vocal pyrotechnics from prodigy of the moment, Olivia Rodrigo.

COCK ROBIN / WHEN YOUR HEART IS WEAK

The Europeans understand love…it’s Amore in Italy, L’amour to the French, In German it’s Die Liebe, and it’s Liefde to the Dutch. Perhaps this is why Europe is where Cock Robin’s music made its biggest impact. This song, “When Your Heart Is Weak” which only made it to #35 in the US, was a top 20 hit across the European continent.

Singer-songwriter Peter Kingsbury croons insinuatingly that he’ll patiently wait for his love object’s moment of weakness so he can pick the lock to her heart, and he clearly means business. (With an obsessiveness that borders on harassment, the song insists that her conquest is inevitable). As the synths swell in an oceanic tidal wave, the lover, who’s been waiting in the shallows for his moment, will swim over to his drowning muse, life preserver in his teeth, and rescue the maiden in distress - and she, eternally grateful, will be his forever.

OLIVIA RODRIGO / VAMPIRE

In the next scenario things have gone horribly wrong. Whatever strategy the “Vampire” of the title used to seduce this seething innocent, he left her wanting to eviscerate him publicly - which she has done in spades. This world wide chart topper, which started life as a plaintive piano ballad, was expanded, under Dan Nigro’s production, to become an operatic, pop rock anthem. Even the use of the epithet “fame fucker” did not deter the public’s monumental thirst to hear this song over and over again on repeat. (Although there is a clean version with the substituted “Dream Crusher” - which doesn’t quite compare, does it?)

Olivia is 22, model gorgeous, and has amassed an army of pre-teen followers (Ala Taylor Swift). Her outspoken opinions and free use of sexual language have alarmed some parents, but, Ms. Rodrigo is a nice, well brought up lady who only wants to be a good role model, and gifted with a prodigious talent that promises to carry her the distance, expect more musical revelations in the years to come.

Here is a “Sunny Song”, wherein the fleeting sunlight is a dappled reminder of the evanescence of existence. They’re all gone now: Bill Evans (piano), Tony Bennett (vocals), Henry Mancini (Composer), and Johnny Mercer (Lyricist), but their beautiful creation lives on to remind us to gather our rosebuds while we may.

Sadness, and gratitude run in equal measure throughout all of the song’s manifestations. The title itself derives from an 1896 poem by Ernest Dowson, taken from the Roman poet, Horace, whose latin translates as:

“The brief sum of life forbids us the hope of enduring long;”

The film for which Mancini and Mercer furnished this deathless song, was so tragic in its portrayal of addiction, that, even as a 10 year old, I mourned for the hopelessness of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick’s doomed romance that should have produced nothing but happiness, but brought only sorrow.

In the magician's hands of Bill Evans, the chordal melody seems to waft in the breeze, and Tony Bennett’s voice, never more supple, interprets the wistfulness of unfulfilled longing with a seasoned perfection. The results: a collaborative triumph. Tony was quoted as saying that their recordings were “the most prestigious thing I ever did”.

Quite a statement from the acknowledged master.