The Homer & Jethro Project #23

#23

Just keeps going and going don't it?

And we're only at still only at 1953.

August 1953 - RCA 47-5429 - Your Clobbered Heart / Gambler's Git Box

A side - Another day, another Hank Williams parody. Taking a stab at "Your Cheatin' Heart" with all sorts of sound effects to help you keep track of the various ailments that cheatin causes.

B side - a 1953 song by Jim Lowe called "Gambler's Guitar" gets the treatment. It wasn't exactly a big hit for him, but it was recorded to some moderate success by a few others. Jim Lowe would go on in 1956 to score his own One Hit with "Green Door" which I always imagined was about some kind of clandestine seedy suburban sex club and one man's obsession with it. (He needed to find a date to bring. Unaccompanied males are generally frowned upon or so I've read somwhere)

October 1953 - RCA 47-5472 - Pal-Yat-Chee / Dragnet

Here we go again. Spike Jones & his City Slickers augmented by Homer & Jethro. A meeting of the musical comedy minds producing quality.

A side is a good synopsis slash piss take on the Leoncavallo opera about a sad clown by the name of Pagliacci. The boys take on the role of a couple of hicks in the big city who accidentally stumble into the opera and try to make sense of it. Truly one of Spike Jones' finest recorded moments, some really great writing. A great arrangement with car horns and gun shots and breaking glass. Everything a boy could ask for.

B side - Ok, I'm fudging this a tad. "Dragnet" is supposed to be the A side, but it's not nearly as good as "Pal-Yat-Chee" and not exactly a personal highlight for Spike in general.

Dragnet started as a radio show that moved to TV in 1951 following the adventures of fast talking hard nosed L.A. cop Joe Friday. A real law and order type guy with a nifty theme song. The original TV series ran until 1959 but rose again briefly from the dead in 1967 to lecture a new generation on the follies of their misspent youths and is best encapsulated in one brilliant minute about the dangers of LSD.

Let that be a warning to all you dopers. He's the expert.