"Just Plain Old Music"

[Oldiesmann]

That reminds me of Susan Boyle's audition back in 2009. Those "got talent" shows can be quite entertaining.

Here's a funny one from 1980 by the Monty Python crew.

[Oldiesmann]

Awfully quiet in this topic the past few days. Time to change that with one of Spike Jones' signature songs. Spike was far from the first one to record this (his version was released nearly 12 years after the original), but his version is probably the most well known one today. This was written to celebrate the end of Prohibition in the US in 1933.

[RAMMEL]

Spike Jones?  Speaking of, --- does anyone remember this one? I had a copy of it but it met an untimely death from a distance of about four feet ( straight down ).

[Marilyne]

An extremely popular song during the War years - the early 1940's.  There are still some of us who remember singing that song on the elementary school playgrounds of America.  Wouldn't be considered pc in today's world, but things were different then.   

[Oldiesmann]

So much of the propaganda stuff created during WWII would be considered offensive these days - especially since relations with Japan and Germany (and many of the former Soviet countries as well) have changed since then.

Here's a classic from 1956. Joe "Fingers" Carr was the alias of songwriter/producer/musician Lou Busch. He released a lot of honky-tonk piano records under that name. This song started life in France under the title "Les lavandiéres du Portugal", though in the English-speaking world it's best known as an instrumental (especially due to the popularity of this recording).

[Oldiesmann]

A nice dixieland jazz version of the theme from From Russia with Love from 1964. The Village Stompers were an American dixieland jazz group based in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. They are best remembered for the song "Washington Square", which hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late November of 1963.

[RAMMEL]

"Washington Square" - An interesting place to visit.

Thake a tour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLtcvSh5bc
Close to NYU, and loaded with radical "history".

[Oldiesmann]

In Germany the song was about an old tramp from Maryland

[Oldiesmann]

Just found this. The Cowsills entertaining the troops live in 1968 with their smash hit "Indian Lake". This was uploaded to YouTube a couple of weeks ago by a company called Reelin In The Years Productions, though I have no idea where they got this or where it was filmed. Great quality for 56-year-old footage.

[Marilyne]

I remember The Cowsills, but don't recall any of their music?  I don't think they were very popular here in California?  Interesting seeing the soldiers.  This would have been right about in the middle of the Vietnam War.

[Oldiesmann]

I remember The Cowsills, but don't recall any of their music?  I don't think they were very popular here in California?  Interesting seeing the soldiers.  This would have been right about in the middle of the Vietnam War.

They had two other hits besides "Indian Lake" - "The Rain, the Park & Other Things" (#2 in 1967; better known by its chorus of "I love the flower girl") and this classic from 1970 (also #2). They were the inspiration for The Partridge Family, though they didn't appear on the series reportedly because Barbara Cowsill didn't like the idea of having Shirley Jones portray the mother of the group.

[Oldiesmann]

One of the greatest songs of the 60s by one of Australia's most famous bands. This was live from their farewell tour in 2013. Lead singer Judith Durham was nearly 70 at the time but still had a great voice. Sadly she died about a year and a half ago at the age of 79.

[Oldiesmann]

News has come out this morning that the great rock guitarist Duane Eddy has died at the age of 86. Here's his classic "40 Miles of Bad Road".

[MarsGal]

Sorry to hear that. This is one I have in my collection of Ghost Riders in the Sky

[Marilyne]

RIP Duane Eddie - born in a great decade, the 1930's! 
I've heard OF "Forty Miles of Bad Road", but never actually heard it until now.  I kept waiting for the lyrics, but I guess there aren't any?
I do remember The Seekers, and liked her voice. 

[Oldiesmann]

No, there are no lyrics. Most of what he did was instrumental

[Oldiesmann]

An unusual one from the equally unusual 1966 album Jan and Dean Meet Batman.

[Marilyne]

Happy Birthday, to Barbra Streisand, who turned 82 years old last week!   My favorite . . . The Way We Were, from the movie by the same name. 

[Oldiesmann]

Speaking of birthdays, happy 90th to Frankie Valli. Here's one of The Four Seasons' more obscure songs. This appeared on the B side of the "Walk Like a Man" single in early 1963. It was originally a hit for Billy and Lillie in 1959.

[Oldiesmann]

Today is the annual Kentucky Derby horse race and while I don't care about the race at all, I can never pass up an opportunity to listen to a version of this classic (mint juleps are closely associated with the race). Here's a version from The Clovers from 1952. Seven years later this group scored a top 30 hit with the original version of "Love Potion No. 9".

[Marilyne]

Michael - interesting coincidence ... I was reading the paper this morning, and saw an ad for  "Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons":  tickets on  sale for their August 3rd appearance at the Mountain Winery, in Saratoga.  That's less than two miles from my house.  It's a beautiful venue, that features older pop groups as well as concerts by well known musicians like Michael Feinstein, or Wynton Marsalis.  Imagine touring all summer with a show, when you're 90 years old!   Willie Nelson is also  still touring and he's 91.     

[Oldiesmann]

This is apparently the final tour for him, which isn't surprising. Ray Stevens is still going strong as well at 85