NELLIE LUTCHER - "Hurry On Down" (1947)

 

Today I'm going to hop into The Wayback Machine and go back to the year 1947, and the number two hit on The R&B Charts by phenomenal singer and pianist Nellie Lutcher.

The album cover seen here is actually from 1950 when Capital Records released a compilation of Nellie's tunes.

 

When I was a little kid, my parents had a fairly large stack of 78 RPM records that I used to listen to all the time. It was all great stuff with releases by people like Spike Jones And His City Slickers, Tex Williams, Geechie Smith, Danny Kaye, Freddie Slack and others, and of course Nellie Lutcher!

I've probably listened to this song 100's of times, and if you've never heard it before, then you're in for a treat. It's a lot of fun, fairly risque for it's time, and Nellie's vocal style is incomparable. 

Born in 1912, this grand lady lived on to the age of 94. 

NELLIE LUTCHER - "Hurry On Down" 

THE HELLECASTERS - "The Return Of The Hellecasters" (1993)

 

"The Return Of The Hellecasters" was an LP that came out in 1993. Part Surf, part Country, part Allman Brothers and more, it really defies description, but there's really only one thing you need to know, and that is these boys know how to play guitars, and the rest of the band ain't too bad neither!

I was going to present to you their killer version of the classic "Peter Gunn," but decided on this song instead, because it's just too cool! 

THE HELLECASTERS - "Rockin' The Dog" 

KARTHAGO - "Nos Vamos" (1972)

 

Here's a very short but cool instrumental that sounds like it came off of some lost Santana album, but the reality of the situation is that it's by a German band named Karthago from their 1972 self-titled LP.

KARTHAGO - "Nos Vamos"

ODD TIME SIGNATURES: Part Four (The Beatles)

 

You think you know the so-called "simplicity" of Beatles songs? Think again. John Lennon was famous for strumming his guitar with no particular rhythm in mind except to accompany the verbal flights of fancy he was singing. It often resulted in songs with interesting detours in time-signatures that made it hard for the rest of the band to learn to play Lennon's compositions. Paul McCartney has commented that when the band learned a Lennon song, it would sometimes require  their producer George Martin to conduct the band as they played (like an orchestra conductor), alerting them whenever the song was about to change time signatures, requiring them to count carefully as they played. 

 

Three Lennon-written songs particularly stand out for their odd forays into strange times:

 

After the introduction of "Good Morning, Good Morning," which has the standard 4 beats per measure, when the verse starts, then it's a whole different thing:

The first three measures of the verses have 5 beats, which is followed by one measure of 3 beats, then a measure with 4 beats, followed by a measure of 5 beats, and a measure with 4 beats, before ending with two measure of 3 beats. Crazy, man.

THE BEATLES - "Good Morning, Good Morning" 

 

 

And then you have "All You Need Is Love," which keeps alternating time signatures: The first two times the words "Love, love, love" are sung in the chorus, the first two "love, loves" are sung in one measure with 4 beats, but the third "love" is sung in one measure with 3 beats, and the third line ("love, love, love") has the "normal" four beats.  Weird, huh? And the verses do the same thing.

THE BEATLES - "All You Need Is Love" 

 

Compared to the previous two songs, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" has three distinct sections, each one having its own time signature: Section One ("She's not a girl who misses much . . . ") is mostly in "regular" 4/4 time except for the last three measures of the section in which the first measure has only 2 beats, the second 3 beats, and the third 4 beats before it segues into the guitar solo, which has three beats per measure. Section Two ("Mother Superior jump the gun. . .") is characterized by its "Waltz Time;" that is, 3 beats in each measure. The Third and final section ("Happiness is a warm gun . . .") is the most straight-forward section, as it follows the standard 4-beat doo-wop format of early rock 'n' roll.

THE BEATLES - "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" 

FREEDOM'S CHILDREN - "Astra" (1970)

 

Freedom's Children were an interesting but loud band from South Africa," and their album titled "Astra" came out in 1970.

If this music sounds raw, it's because this entire album was recorded starting on a Friday night, and ended on Monday morning.

The band broke up in 1971.

Here's a cover of a classic song everybody knows, but not like this.

FREEDOM'S CHILDREN - "Satisfaction" 

SCRUFFY THE CAT - "Moons Of Jupiter" (1988)

 

This 1988 LP by the band Scruffy The Cat titled "Moons Of Jupiter" was produced by Jim Dickinson, and that's really all you need to know because anything Jim laid his hands on was good as far as I can tell, so sit back, relax and enjoy a really nice song from a really good band!

SCRUFFY THE CAT - "Just Like Cathy's Clown" 

JAYNE MANSFIELD - "Suey" (1966)

 

Now here's one of the most convoluted stories I've ever heard. I'll try and explain it the best that I can.

First off, this song was recorded in 1966, but wasn't released until 2018. Jimi and Jayne were never in the studio together as this was just some Curtis Knight and the Squires toss off that was recorded when Jimi was very young. 

Jimi had signed a three year contract that haunted him all the way to his death with a guy named Ed Chalpin. 

Jimi had broken the contract by recording for other labels after he became successful, so all the royalties went to Ed Chalpin for the "Band Of Gypsys" LP to make up for it, even though Chalpin never did anything to further Jimi's career.

That's why "Band Of Gypsys" was born. Jimi got Buddy Miles and his old Army pal Billy Cox together for a live concert, and it was much easier than trying to record another whole studio album! 

 

 

"Suey" is just one more attempt by Chalpin to cash in on Jimi's name. 

Add blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield to the mix, and how could you go wrong?

This song was written by Chalpin along with a DJ named Jacko (Jocko) Henderson who is sometimes referred to as the original rapper for his vocal style.

 

 JAYNE MANSFIELD - "Suey" 

 

 

Jayne deserved a lot better than this! She wasn't just a ditzy blonde. In reality, she was actually an accomplished pianist and violinist as seen in this amazing performance on The Ed Sullivan TV show. 

It's like The Firesgin Theatre used to say. "Everything you know is wrong!