Not More of that Crap...

Shut up, It's more Spike Jones...

Bottoms Up (1952)

Two seven inch elongated players of songs about drinking done in the Spike Jones style.

Skol!

Carmen Murdered! (1953)

Spike and his gang take on the Bizet operetta and it goes a little something like this.

Brava!

The Homer & Jethro Project #24

#24

Another little break in the flow of things with something a little different

1952-54 - Country All-Stars




The thing that it's always important to remember is that for all the jokes and stuff, Homer and Jethro were really really good musicians. The comedy wouldn't work as well if they weren't. So it's not much of a stretch to imagine that between H & J recordings they might find time to record some with Chet Atkins and the studio guys a few straight and instrumental tracks from days gone by. (They certainly seemed to have a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of vintage song) A sort of in studio early super group as it were.

 It's also not far fetched that they'd end up releasing these recordings under a different name to keep them a little separated from the funny stuff.

The Country All-Stars only released a handful of singles and a 10" record in their brief recorded existence collected here. (I don't have originals for these because they're pretty hard to find and already collected for me on this compact disc.)

They run through some small country combo versions of any number of jazz standards like "Stomping at the Savoy" and "Sweet Georgia Brown" with a light and effortless swing that satisfies like a smooth Chesterfield should and fill things out with a few more tracks of Homer singing other favorites from their youth in the 30's.

Later Homer and Jethro would go on to put out a couple Lps of instrumental recordings and an Lp of funny 30's hits under their own name, but until I get there in a few weeks you've got this to keep you busy.

The Homer & Jethro Project #20

Well things are just cruising along here.

#20

November 1952 - RCA 47-5099 - Screwball's Love Song /Settin' the Woods on Fire No. 2

A side is another great original novelty tune by the great Boudeleaux Bryant about the terrible and detrimental physical aspects of love. What kind of cold soulless psychic vampire could spurn someone who's "lungs are plum collapsing over them"?

B side is another song by Hank Williams. This maybe the fourth or fifth Hank Williams song somebody who doesn't know shit about Hank Williams might be able to name.

I like to think Hank approved.

April 1953 - RCA 47-5214 - Don't Let the Stars Get Your Eyeballs/Unhappy Day

This song was the one that hooked me.

"Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" was initially a #1 hit for Skeets McDonald for 18 weeks in 1952 and was consequently recorded numerous times by many many others including middle class crustless Wonder Bread cardigan fancier Perry Como and my personal pick by George Jones (who deserves much more respect as a vocalist. Man, could he shade a note.)

(The B side is not one of my favorites. Feels forced.)

The source material "Oh Happy Day" however is one of those extremely improbable songs that get a release and against all sense become some kind of brief weird phenomenon.

The wiki article lays it out concisely enough but the tl;dr goes. Boy writes song. Sings it at his High School Assembly. Crowd goes nuts. Boy records song cheap and primitively. Song becomes unlikely hit worldwide despite odds and shitty recording. Even Lawrence Welk takes a stab at it and scores. One hit wonder. The end.

The Homer & Jethro Project #19

So here's where shit gets tricky.
I had everything organized and numbered and then had a few more things drop into my awareness that I had to then retroactively fit into the system.

So for my purposes this is #18a but I'm going to add to my own confusion and label it here 19.

And to make it even more confusing it's a post of odditties/rarities

April 1953 - RCA 47-5263 - Jack Turner & his Granger County Gang - Hound Dog/ I Couldn't Keep From Crying

I know what the one or two of  you who are actually interested in this crap I'm posting are wondering.

Who's this Jack Turner and his Granger County Gang and what are they doing in a season's long post marathon about Homer and Jethro?

Well kids, they are Homer and Jethro recording under a pseudonym with a pair of straight songs.

The first is a cover of the Leiber and Stoller song that was a huge hit for Big Mama Thornton in 1952 called "Hound Dog" that you may be more familiar with as a cover by some other dude who had an even bigger hit with it in 1956. El something, I think.

B side is a Marty Robbins song "I Couldn't Keep From Crying" that was a Top 10 Country hit for him in 1953.

And just to make shit even more confusing RCA did actually release more records by a totally different artist named Jack Turner who released one single as "Jack Turner & his Ranger County Gang" a few years later.

 

June 1953 - RCA 47-5384 - Jack Turner & his Granger County Gang - Butterfly Love

And then a few months after I originally set this particular post in the queue I finally managed to score this 45 which pretty much completed my H & J shebang with all the stuff that I am aware of as originally released. It's the second single they put out under the Jack Turner name.

The A-side is a song that as near as I feel like looking up was done by Jim Reeves called "Butterfly Love" I think I can honestly say that I actually kind of prefer the original's tempo more than our heroes version, but there is some nice guitar work.

The flip is a straight take on "Gambler's Guitar" which was penned by Jim Lowe and something akin to a hit for Rusty Draper in 1953. They would go on a little later to do another version as Homer and Jethro where they take some of the piss out of it, but you, gentle downloader will have to wait for the 23rd installment of this shit show to sample some of that mess.

1952(?) - Radio Appearance

I'm kind of guessing on this, but I suspect this is on the Red Foley Show on Saturday morning radio in the early part of the 50's. It's kind of a cool window into the time and a glimpse at how Homer and Jethro sounded live and the jokes they used. (and frequently used again and again.)
It came on a bonus Cd with the other 78rpm transfers somebody made me years ago. Not the best sound, but good enough as a bootleg of 50's radio.

They give us a quick run through of a few of their more recent releases and call it a day like true recording professionals.

The Homer & Jethro Project #18

#18

Have to work. I'll be quick.

September 1952 - RCA 47-4936 -  The Billboard Song/Child Psychology

Two original numbers.

A side is  a nonsense song where various bits of advertising is all jumbled together as different layers of billboard displays are revealed. It doesn't sound funny when you say it like that, but it works in the song. One of the first works for H & J by Cy Coben who would write a number of songs for them over the years.

B side is a Homer and Jethro original about their childhood which probably goes a long way towards explaining why they ended up like they did.

November 1952 - RCA 47-5043 - Jam-Bowl-Liar/You Belong to Me

A side is the other song that Hank Williams sang that most people think of when naming Hank Williams songs. It was a brand new tune on the radio when this was recorded.

These pea pickers sing the words all wrong though.

B side is one of my favorites. Really.

The song is a jumped up version of "You Belong to Me" which is credited to Pee Wee King and Red Stewart, a pair of country band leaders who scored a big hit with a few pop song. (They also wrote "Tennessee Waltz" which was a huge hit for Patti Page)

The first recording of "You Belong to Me" is credited to Joni James but it would be Jo Stafford who took it to #1. (She'd also record a pretty awful pop vocal version of "Jambalaya" too)

The Homer and Jethro version has some really great lines in it that I won't spoil, but it's a keeper.

The Homer & Jethro Project #17

#17

I have to work. Let's be quick about this.

March 1952 - RCA 47-4557 - Slow Poke No. 2/ When It's Toothpickin' Time in False Teeth Valley

A side: "Slow Poke" a hit for Pee Wee King. Not their strongest work.
B side: an original. I like this one.

March 1952 - EPA 424 - 04 - Hey Good Lookin' No. 2

An Ep of songs that were all released on individual singles of  their own except for this one Hank Williams tune (That's June Carter in the video with him). It's likely the first Hank Williams song that pops in your head when someone says "Hank Williams".

The other songs will show up as the singles that they got released on come up

June 1952 - RCA 47-4770 - L'il Ole Kiss of Fire/ I'm Yorn

Speak of the devil.

A side: "Kiss of Fire" big hit for Georgia Gibbs, but endlessly covered. It's a tango. Don't get burned.
B side" "I'm Yours" biggest hit version recorded by Carrie Fisher's dad, Eddie.