This is my blog where I write about music, jewelry, and myself. Vaudeville, burlesque, blues, jazz, songs about baltimore, novelties, and whatever else I feel like posting. Mostly from my own LPs and 78s. Subscribe via any of the methods in the right-hand column. Please do not link directly to the mp3 files.

Whose Big Baby Are You?
Alice Faye - from the 1935 film "King of Burlesque"





I've never seen "King of Burlesque." This "Ladies of Burlesque" record is pretty common - record collectors will come across it often, especially when seeking other burlesque-related gems. It has some good songs on it. I don't know what year the compilation was put out, but the first song is "Ladies of the Chorus" featuring Marilyn Monroe, yet Marilyn's name is not printed on the front of the record alongside the other stars listed.
This comp also features the famed Barbara Stanwyck "Take It Off the E String (Play It on the G String)" from the Gypsy Rose Lee-penned film "Lady of Burlesque." Maybe I'll put that song on here at some point.
I really wish I could find "King of Burlesque," so that I could find out who the King in question is, and also so I could see what the crowd is laughing at in this Alice Faye track.

Labels: burlesque, cinema, glamorous

Posted by: Kara Mae 1/30/2006 02:49:00 AM  (0) comments

The Music Goes Round and Round
Riley-Farley and Their Onyx Club Boys



I think this is an appropriate first "record"-song to post. I recorded this off of my usb turntable. I don't know anything about noise reduction, so I didn't do any. The song skips in the beginning and I couldn't make it not skip. Well anyway. I got two of these Tin Pan Alley records at this gigantic Value Village sale. I love a lot of the songs on these records.
Here's what the liner notes say about this song:

"In the early years of the century they were called "nut songs," but as popular music began to be taken seriously, nonsense lyrics set to music began to be termed "novelty songs." The 1930s had its share: "Goofus," "A-Tisket A-Tasket," "Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai, "Flat Foot Floogie," "Hold Tight (Want Some Sea Food, Mama)," "Three Little Fishes," "Hut Sut Song," "Inka Dinka Doo," "I'se A-Muggin," "Knock Knock, Who's There?," "Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert," "Ti-Pi-Tin," and the most popular of all, "The Music Goes Round and Round." It is about as fruitful to attempt to explain flagpole sitting, silly putty, or hula hoops as to try to understand the periodic, apparently universal surge of popularity of songs like these.
West Fifty-second Street in New York was a source of tremendous musical energy during the 1930s [see New World Records NW 250: Little Club Jazz]. The concentration of nightclubs (most of them former speakeasies) on that street employed large numbers of singers, instrumentalists, and bands that consumed and created a great quantity of songs.
In 1935 the renowed Onyx Club began to feature a swing- and Dixieland-oriented small combo led by two veteran dance-band musicians, Eddie Farley (trumpet) and Mike Riley (trombone). The band never took itself quite seriously and resorted to novelty songs and a great deal of on-stage clowning. One of its routines had something to do with the mechanics of a brass instrument. The song was called "The Music Goes Round and Round," and for some profoundly mysterious reason it became one of the biggest hits of the decade. So far, deep analysis of its musical structure, the lyrics, and the performances on the recording has yielded no satisfactory explanation for the song's extraordinary popularity. But, as the sage said, that's show biz."

Also, there is apparently a movie about or involving this song. The Music Goes 'Round (1936)

Labels: comedy, jazz era

Posted by: Kara Mae 1/27/2006 12:54:00 AM  (0) comments

That Makes It
Too Hot To Handle



One thing that really amuses me about the Jayne Mansfield movie "The Girl Can't Help It" is the general poor understanding of "Rock and Roll." (Movie title song excepted!) At that period in time, Hollywood's representations of rock n roll were usually pretty corny.
This song here is another good example of a sweet but misguided attempt. Regardless, it's a good audio glimpse of Mansfield - from her first sultry words to the squeals towards the end of the song.
It's a campy good time. So horrible, and yet I listen to this song often, as a routine part of my curiosity about the glamorous, confused and kitschy life of Jayne Mansfield.

Labels: cinema, comedy, glamorous, Jayne Mansfield

Posted by: Kara Mae 1/22/2006 06:47:00 PM  (0) comments