"Just Plain Old Music"

[Oldiesmann]

Probably Morricone's best-known work besides what he wrote for Western films. From the 1988 film of the same name.

[Oldiesmann]

Here's a somewhat obscure country song I found tonight. Doc Williams was an American country musician who was particularly known for his involvement in the radio show The Wheeling Jamboree. The song has mostly faded into obscurity for whatever reason.

[Oldiesmann]

It wouldn't be Halloween without this classic.

Full video (nearly 14 minutes long):

Short version (song only):

[Oldiesmann]

A great rendition of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages" by Danish group Sing Sing Sing. Don't know much about this group but I like what I've heard from them.

[MarsGal]

For the few that don't check into Norm's Bait and Tackle thread, I just have to share this with you. Jimmy is my BIL and Ronnie is his very best friend. They are both in their eighties. Besides the article, there is an audio only clip, two video clips and a link to more on YouTube. Enjoy! https://www.witf.org/2020/11/06/witf-music-ronnie-waters-and-jimmy-wood/

In addition I'd like to note that Ronnie has long been active (still is as far as I know) in teaching and helping youngsters interested in Jazz, including a local youth jazz orchestra.

Jimmy has a nice home studio where he practices and composes music. They guys often gather there to practice together. He also participated in Summer Youth programs and has helped numerous friends and youths with their computer problems and learning. I don't think he does that any more though.

[Oldiesmann]

Tonight's oddball find. Surprisingly this is the first I've heard of this song. This was the B side of Joanna Neel's 1971 single "A Perfect Stranger". Apparently Joanna Neel recorded several songs in the 1970s, but I can't find any additional info on her.

[Oldiesmann]

Ray Stevens, who will be 82 in January, just released a music video for a medley of "Everything Is Beautiful" and "United We Stand". "Everything Is Beautiful" was a huge hit for Ray in 1970, while "United We Stand" was a big hit for a group called Brotherhood of Man, also in 1970.

[Oldiesmann]

One of numerous songs Shel Silverstein wrote for Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show. Despite the great vocal performance from Ray Sawyer, this version wasn't a hit. It was a huge hit 5 years later for Marianne Faithfull and has also been recorded by many other artists, including Bobby Bare and Belinda Carlisle.

[Oldiesmann]

Found this tonight. Stumbled across the song after finding a Christmas album by an actress named Charleene Closshey. I've never heard this before and it seems to have been mostly forgotten, but was pretty popular in the 50s and 60s. It's based on a children's book of the same name and was later adapted into a made-for-TV musical film in 1969. I've only managed to find three versions of the song so far - this one (the original?), Bing Crosby and Charleene Closshey. Maybe some of you will remember this.

[Oldiesmann]

In 1949, the first recording of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" was released. Five years later, the song had become so popular that it was given a mambo treatment by bandleader Billy May...

[Oldiesmann]

A mashup of two popular UK Christmas songs - Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" (#4 in 1973) and The Wombles' "Wombling Merry Christmas" (#2 in 1974). This was released in 2000 and managed to hit #22 in the uK. (If you're wondering, I've spent more time than I care to admit watching videos of Top of the Pops performances on YouTube )

[Oldiesmann]

YouTube is a goldmine of obscure recordings... A beatnik version of A Visit From St. Nicholas (aka "Twas the night before Christmas"). Good luck making sense of most of this...

[Oldiesmann]

Here's a fun one from the mid-40s featuring one of the most unusual voice artists of the era. This song was recorded by several artists, though none quite like this. This version was never released but was used for a soundie at the time.

[Marilyne]

Michael - I remember "One Meat Ball"!  It was a popular novelty song in the 1940's, and I actually bought the 78 RPM record!  I wouldn't be surprised if it's downstairs in the basement right now, stored with the rest of the old 78's.

[Oldiesmann]

Tonight's unusual find. French songwriter Jacques Plante added lyrics to Herb Alpert's famous "The Lonely Bull", and it was recorded by British singer Petula Clark. The lyrics and English translation can be found here if you're interested.

[MarsGal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRzORqNa0E

My good friend, George, passed away last night.

[Marilyne]

MarGal - What a beautiful song to post in memory of your long time friend, George.   I love the lyrics to "Time", and have played it off and on all day today.  A song we can all relate to.   

[MarsGal]

I like Alan Parsons music.

Eye in the Sky (1982) now reminds me just how far spy, communications, imaging, and GPS satellites, not to mention the ubiquitous surveillance cameras, have come since the first communications satellite was launched in 1958. I would never have thought of this had I not seen a clip on what inspired the lyrics to the song. Here is the interview clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHH0JAVkPBw[/i]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6YRYOVrpiw

[Oldiesmann]

Shirley Bassey's recording of the English version of the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien". Both the English version and the French version were originally sung by French singer Édith Piaf. Shirley Bassey was a British singer probably best remembered today for the theme song from the James Bond film Goldfinger.

[Oldiesmann]

Here's a real old one I found tonight while working on a Guy Lombardo medley album for a cover songs site I'm an editor on. It was apparently quite popular in 1926 but is virtually forgotten today. As far as I can tell this is the original version. It was also done by several others around the same time including Waring's Pennsylvanians in the US and Jack Courtnay in the UK.

[Oldiesmann]

One of the more unusual novelty tunes from the 70s. The theme from the American TV series Gilligan's Island sung to the tune of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven". It was briefly released as a single in 1978 until Led Zeppelin's lawyers found out about it and threatened a lawsuit. Since it was a self-released single by an otherwise unknown band, the single was pulled. The legal stuff was later cleared up and the song resurfaced on CD in 2000 under the title "Stairway to Gilligan's Island".

[Oldiesmann]

In late 1953, Spike Jones teamed up with Homer & Jethro to give us a hilarious send-up of the classic opera Pagliacci.

[MarsGal]

Both Spike Jones and Homer and Jethro were fun to watch/listen too when I was young. Fond memories.

[Oldiesmann]

Spike definitely took advantage of film/TV whenever he could. Here's his rendition of Chloe from the 1945 film Bring On The Girls. I'll have to dig up a copy of this at some point and watch it. I love watching old movies so that combined with Spike Jones should make it enjoyable.

[Oldiesmann]

Just found this. I have no idea how Betty Holland made it through her part without stumbling over the words or cracking up. Definitely a lot better than I could do with it.

[Oldiesmann]

Just watched The Music Man for the first time in probably 20+ years. The opening number is impressive (one of many great songs in the film of course)

[Oldiesmann]

Found this the other night. Newer than what I usually post here (performance is from 2016 and the original version was released in 1978), but still a great performance nonetheless.

[Oldiesmann]

Stumbled across this video the other day. I've heard the song before but have never seen the musical. Now I have to find 3 hours of free time to watch the full musical at some point. Elaine Paige is fantastic here.

[MarsGal]

Such a poignant song. Really tugs at you doesn't it.

[Oldiesmann]

A forgotten novelty song from the 60s. This was originally recorded in French by Sascha Distel as "Monsieur cannibale" in 1965 and apparently swept through Europe in the coming years with additional versions in Italian, English, Dutch, Spanish and German. This version was released in October of 1966 and hit #21 in Germany.