BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Nancy King
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 08:54 PM

Mark -- regarding the pictures on the Miserable Melodies site: I'm not sure who the first one is, but somehow I don't think it's Pat Boone (I've been wrong before, of course), and I have no clue who the third one is. But, if you scroll way over to the right, there are several more -- Doris Day (??), Jim Nabors and - yes! - Shatner!

Cheers, Nancy

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,wolfgang
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 08:15 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 06:30 PM

Sorry to lower the tone, but it struck me that i've got an album entitled the Best and the Rest of Jimi Hendrix which has a track entitled Morrison's Lament. Jimi and the band play while Jim Morrison sings You've got to F*** your baby up her @**hole - it's a one-liner, like Why don't we do it in the road, but nothing like as good .

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 02:14 PM

Pssst, Frankie, don't tell Tony I said this, but the string bands and the other Mummers are funny! But the people in Philadelphia--and especially the Mummers clubs themselves--take them very seriously. Only the comic clubs are "supposed" to be funny. As I recall (this is going back to the 60s, mind you, when I wasn't exactly musically knowledgeable), the string bands were mostly tenor banjos, glockenspiels, and saxophones. I have no idea why. Maybe there was a sale at a music store back in 1900 and that was all that was available! I would be very interested if someone could explain that instrumentation.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: swirlygirl
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 01:40 PM

what about that American State thingey, with "What did Delaware"..."She wore a brand New Jersey"...that's pretty odd..

:)

xxx

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Geordie
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 12:18 PM

a few more have just come to mind..Eve Boswell singing "Pickin" A Chicken" and Doris day singing the Bluebells of Scotland".

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Honest Frankie
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 11:25 AM

To all the good people of Philadelphia,

I had no idea!! I got on the site for the parade-I'm coming next year! I checked out the Polish-american strinn band page and of course they're dressed as Mongolians. The Ferko album I have must be from the early 50's and it's the banjo's that made up most of the band that I thought was funny. Doesn't everybody? The modern band seems to be mostly saxaphones. In a string band? Hey, but I don't want to offend.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,July4thbby
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 10:27 AM

I have the Robert Mitchum song, "Calypso" and a lot of other ones by him. There are so many funny songs out there. If you want the song write me at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Geordie
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 08:25 AM

The Masked Marauders, especially "Japanese Sandman". Just a great record.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Tony
Date: 15 Apr 02 - 05:44 AM

Yeah!

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 13 Apr 02 - 05:21 AM

Honest Frankie, you're talking about the Mummer's Parade, there, and there are a whole bunch of big beefy Italian guys from South Philly who would be happy to come over and show you how much they are not amused by anyone's making fun of this Philadelphia tradition... But I'll forgive you, 'cause you didn't grow up going downtown on New Year's Day to watch 10,000 members of the string bands and the other clubs march all the way down Broad Street in the cold, wearing huge arrays of ostrich plumes and playing tenor banjos and glockenspiels. Just be careful, OK? My old pal Tony is keeping an eye on you...

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 03:10 PM

not sure...but I have a copy of Monty Python sings....which has on it the beautiful love ballad...Medical Love Songs....

and this odd cd by this weird fellow named rick fielding...sounds kind of like gordon lightfoot....BG.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: rangeroger
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 11:59 AM

Saw a record yesterday in the local St.Vincents dePaul entitled " The Sounds of Bootcamp", replete with marching units and drill instructors yelling.

Wesley S, seems our record tastes continue to coincide. Along with the Congress of Wonder album mentioned in another thread, I still have my Orson Welles "Begatting of the President".

Scary.

rr

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Honest Frankie
Date: 12 Apr 02 - 11:15 AM

A treasure obtained from a free bin is the Ferko String Band of Philadelphia which is a marching mainly banjo playing group of about a hundred members. There's a couple of accordians thrown in and the picture on the back has them marching in some sort of mardigras, American Indian feathered headdresses and capes. Oh, and the album is titled "The Happiest Music in the World"

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: swirlygirl
Date: 11 Apr 02 - 04:29 PM

Howie Mandel "It's Hard to be a Jewish Cowboy" is quite odd in a bad way...

Now however, all Ten Benson is funny in a hilarious way cos it's so bad...

:)

xxx

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Apr 02 - 03:56 PM

Hollowfox - the recording does have the lyrics and one of my friends used to play it regularly. I could never figure out the chords, if there are any. My fingers kept sliding off the fingerboard.

My other weird favorites include A LIKELY STORY by Jon Campbell (actually anything by Jon) with such memorable cuts as "Keep on Fishing" and "Frederick's of Galilee."

Then there's ECLECTRICTY: Language of the Heart, with that lovely photo of Miriam Strum holding a fiddle between her breasts, but "Goin' Back to Beethoven ('cause Country Music sucks)" has to be an unvarnished pearl without the sow's ear.

Sigh...they just don't make them musics like they used to.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Hollowfox
Date: 11 Apr 02 - 10:01 AM

Charley Noble, I have the F&D album, too. I bought it after they performed at my college on the infamous Coffee House Circuit. All I can say is that they didn't do any illicit drugs in front of me while I hung out with them for a week. The album would have been better IMHO, if the engineer hadn't put quite so much volume on the fiddle track. And if you think Armstrong Tourist Rest Home is Strange - that's just the coda they put on the end of the song. You should hear the lyrics (no, that's not the tune to the song). I'd love to have a recording of the whole thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:30 PM

P.S. Everybody who's been enjoying this thread should visit Miserable Melodies. It's got 102 of your favorites, including not just a brief sample of each but the whole miserable track! WARNING: Do not attempt to visit this site immediately after a meal.

Aloha,
Mark

P.P.S. I can recognize Nimoy, Yoko Ono, and Jack Webb at the top of the page....who are the other two? Pat Boone? and ???

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:20 PM

Then there's the Bonzo Dog Band (I have "Keynsham")...but they were trying to be funny. These are some great selections. Of course, you could always check Dr. Demento's playlist, but that would be cheating!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 08:18 PM

My weirdest record still has to be one by Canadians Fraser & DeBolt, entitled oddly enough FRASER & DEBOLT. It contains such stunning numbers as "The Waltz of the Tennis Players," "Armstrong Tourist Rest Home," the hauntingly beautiful "Them Dance Hall Girls," and the just fine "Fraser & DeBolt Theme." It was rumored that some of their inspiration might have been connected with illicit drug use.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: RangerSteve
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 05:45 PM

Nancy King - those 45's were a result of RCA thinking that LP's would never catch on. I have my fathers copy of The Nutcracker Suite and The New World Symphony on 45s.

C flat - you're right. I have that Gypsy Kings CD. Is their version of My Way longer than Sinatra's, or does it just seem that way?

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Hollowfox
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 04:50 PM

I have Ethel Merman's disco album.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 04:43 PM

Sebastian Cabot Sings Bob Dylan is one of my all time favorites. His version of "Like A Rolling Stone" is breathtaking.

Jan & Dean's Folk City is also up there. I also have some wonderful "folk" albums from Cher and Kate Smith that really go well with a nice glass of wine and a fire on a winter's night. The smell of the burning vinyl is a bit much but the colors are nice while they melt.

However, reaching #1 on my list of "strange" has to be Liberace's version of "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream".

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Just Amy
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 03:58 PM

Mrs. Miller sang in the world's fastest vibrato. "How gentle is the rain, that falls softly on the meadow..." is the one I will never forget. I had actually forgotten about her ----Thanks a lot (NOT).

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Fortunato
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 03:46 PM

Why, oh why did I open this thread. Wasn't my brain warped enough?

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Dita
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 02:13 PM

You' ve got to go some to beat:-

The Sound of Music by Balsara and his Singing Sitars

My Favorite Things, Do Ri Me, et all on massed sitars (on EMI Odeon)
I believe there is also an album of Beatles favourites by the same band.

love, john

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Jeanie
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 01:58 PM

Funny, odd and strange - but most of all FUNNY: "Lovely Lady of the Roses" by Peter Cooke Anyone else remember it ? (it was the B Side to Spotty Muldoon)

- Jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: KathWestra
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 01:28 PM

Funniest AND oddest: The Oh-Keh Laughing Record -- a mossy 10-inch LP with nothing but recorded laugh tracks. I dare anyone to listen to it without cracking up. My ex had a copy. The first time he played it for me, back in 1975 or so, I was prepared to be cool; instead I found myself laughing hysterically, tears running down my cheeks. It could give Prozac/Celexa/Zoloft/Wellbutrin & friends a run for their money.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: DaveJ
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 01:12 PM

"America's Song Butchers: The Weird World of Homer & Jethro." I just bought this one...it's a trip back into my deprived childhood. I remember my brothers bringing the "Billboard Song" home from summer camp.

I also have a 45rpm by some Doo Whoop singer and Carol King called, "I'm Happy Being Fat." I can't remember whether Carol sings on it or just is the writer and plays piano. Definitely early King.

I also have two of Rory Block's early(pre Rounder)LPs. One is Pop-R&B. The other is Disco. She does a good job on both on them, but both are a supreme waste of her talent.

DaveJ

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Owain
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 12:26 PM

Sorry Dave, Just visited the web-site mentioned above and this is a completely different Mrs. Miller from the one of whom I was thinking.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Owain
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 12:06 PM

Yes Dave Mrs. Miller was American. She was a sweet gal I first remember seeing on the Merv Giffin show as an audience member. He would say hello and talk to her briefly about her life at the beginning of his show. She had an odd assortment of hats and thick glasses. I'm not sure, but I think Jack Paar was the first to single her out. She was welcome to any and all of the shows in New York during the 'Broadway' era of theater and her celebrity continued on into the early days of live American television. Other 'Catters of a certain vintage and geogrphical referencing will correct any innacuracies...

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:36 AM

Telly Savalas mumbling his way through "If a picture paints a thousand words"!

I had not heard of Mrs Miller - was she American? There was a UK lady pianist called Mrs Mills much earlier than the 70's and her albums were like 'Mrs Mills plays...whatever'. The joke used to be, much later on, things like Mrs Mills plays Led Zeplin and Mrs Mills plays Alice Cooper. I guess Mrs Miller actualy went and did it. Good for her!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:22 AM

I have an LP in a printed paper sleeve, with Tom Glazer on one side and Richard Dyer-Bennet on the other...it's called "Olden Ballads" (I guess they were not famous enuf then to deserve a whole record to themselves..*grin*)

(I used to HAVE the LP of Leonard Nimoy singing, but it went to me ex-wife...which tells you something)

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Owain
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:15 AM

'Kate Smith Sings Disco' is one I mentioned in another thread. Found it at a thrift store and lost it when moving a few years ago. Her version of 'Get Down Tonight' has got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard. Is anyone else out there familiar with this LP?

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:15 AM

Harvey,

I've always thought Reg was saying "Split yer 'ands" i.e., play something different with each -- clearly a revolutionary concept as far as The Troggs drummer was concerned. Some of the phrases from that tape have become favourites with my band --- "We'll sprinkle a bit of fairy-dust on it" and "Why don't we try a 12-string?"

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: C-flat
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:11 AM

I'm a fan of the "Gypsy Kings" but I can't listen to their version of "MY WAY" without cracking up.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Dr. Bones McCoy
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 11:04 AM

Dammit! Hawk, I'm a Doctor, not a musician!

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 10 Apr 02 - 10:53 AM

Oh, we've also got an LP of the Mexborough Concertina Band that's pretty interesting, and not your usual recording.

Does anyone remember the parody of "Son Don't Go Near the Indians"? I've got the 45 of "Son Don't Go Near the Eskimos" and actually can still sing all of it.

"Oog shog moog a mush a doggio, Oog shog moogiyay"
That means, "Son don't go near the Eskimos, please do what I say."

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Billy
Date: 06 Apr 02 - 01:24 AM

Check out Eilert - Norway's? own Elvis http://www.algonet.se/~pergunne/ljud.html

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 11:29 PM

harvey - I think "Spit yer 'ands!" was probably a challenge from Reg to the drummer to engage in fisticuffs. That's my guess. What a lovely bunch of lads they must have been... :-)

The thought of Burl Ives singing an album of Dylan covers is enough to make a billygoat give up sex for life and join the Rosicrucians...or a houndog roll over and die.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: 53
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 10:40 PM

That's My Pa, and I can't remember the name of the artist.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 09:55 PM

Uh, Banjoest, if you listen to some of W's speeches, I'd say...not much!

Aloha,
Mark (running very quickly in the other direction before the scat meets the whirligig)

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: X
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 08:20 PM

There's an old 78 laying around the house tittled, "Your A Sap Mister Jap", it must be from around 1941 or so. The one line I can remember is "Your a sap Mister Jap, Uncle Sam is gona' spankie". I hope we all have matured a little since than.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Genie
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 07:51 PM

Funniest: Mike Nichols and Elaine May "Improvisations To Music" [from the 1950's]--classic insane humour!

Also Elmer Fudd singing "Feewings" or most any "ovwer" song.

Weird/Strange: Nervous Norvis --"Transfusion"

I also love the music teacher couple and would-be lounge singers on Saturday Night Live played by Ana Gasteyer and [I think] Will Farrell. They're every bit as funky as Bill Murray's "bad lounge singer."

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,Dagenham Doc
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 06:28 PM

The Dagenham Girl Pipers recording of Somewhere My Love takes some beating. It takes some listening too as well.

Doc

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 06:09 PM

Oh, wow, Mrs. Miller!!! Now there's a blast from the past!!!

As it happens I just came upon my meager 45RPM collection from 1966. I was actually going to start a "b/w quiz" thread based on it. It includes "Theyr'e Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaaaa!" by Napoleon XIV (I'd love to know who he really was and what he's doing now--probably gigging with Elvis somewhere in Idaho), and "Ballad of the Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler.

Aloha,
Mark

(Answer to quiz: the B side of "They're Coming..." was "!aaaaaH-aH ,yawA eM ekaT ot gnimoC e'ryehT" and the B side of "Green Berets" was "Letter From Vietnam", with the immortal line: "Last night, we had a firefight/Machine guns shooting tracers in the night")

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 05:56 PM

Oddest: I have an LP called the Path of the Wave, by Pete Kelly. I bought it because it was reduced, and I could identify with the picture on the cover. After I had played it I was reduced and I couldn't identify the picture on the cover. This is where William SHatner learned his singing style and technique! On the other hand, there is one very impressive verse on this album -can't say it was worth listening to all the other crap to find it, though.

Funniest: two 10" LPs of Tom Lehrer.

Strangest: Two albums by Rupert Hine (more famous for singing 'The Lone Ranger', and producing Howard Jones among others) - very listenable, and including luminaries (inc. Phil Collins and Marianne Faithfull) - strangest of all, The New Hovering Dog by BJ Cole, who, despite being English, is the best pedal steel player in the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Jacob B
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 05:02 PM

I own a copy of "Muhammed Ali Meets Mr. Tooth Decay". I've never played it. It was such a bizarre concept for a record that listening to it would have been gilding the lily. It's probably a collector's item by now.

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: Anahootz
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 04:48 PM

Gotta be anything By Mrs. Miller.

For those of you not in the know, this woman was some record exec's idea of a joke in the 70's.

Go to this site and scroll down a little to catch a review and get a sound clip...

Subject: RE: BS: Funniest/Oddest/ Strangest Records
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Apr 02 - 04:31 PM

"The Virtuoso Harmonica" (classical music, on a chromonica to be more precise!)