Tribute To Captain Beefheart

This tribute to Captain Beefheart came out on the Imaginary Records label in the 80's. Bands contributing include XTC, The Scientists, Sonic Youth, The Screaming Dizbusters etc.

Wikipedia says-

"Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet on January 15, 1941, in Glendale, California, U.S.) is an American musician and visual artist, best known by the pseudonym Captain Beefheart. His musical work was mainly conducted with a rotating assembly of musicians called the Magic Band, which was active from the mid-1960s through to the early 1980s. Van Vliet was chiefly a singer and harmonica player, occasionally playing noisy, untrained free jazz-influenced saxophone and keyboards. His compositions are characterized by their odd mixtures of shifting time signatures and by their surreal lyrics, while Van Vliet himself is noted for his dictatorial approach to his musicians and for his enigmatic relationship with the public.
Van Vliet joined the newly formed Magic Band in 1965, quickly taking over as bandleader. Their early output was rooted in blues and rock music, but Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (as they were called, collectively) gradually adopted a more experimental approach. 1969 saw the release of their best known album, Trout Mask Replica, which was produced by Van Vliet's childhood friend Frank Zappa and is today regarded as a challenging but groundbreaking and influential masterpiece by some. Van Vliet released several further albums throughout the 1970s, but his group was beset by shifting line-ups and a lack of commercial success. Towards the end of that decade he settled with a group of younger musicians, and his three final albums, released between 1978 and 1982, all received critical acclaim. Van Vliet's legacy is one of limited commercial success, despite a devoted following; however, his influence on later punk and new wave and other genres and musicians has been described as "incalculable"."


Discover more about Captain Beefheart HERE.


The Dog Faced Hermanns - Zig Zag Wanderer

The Membranes - Ice Cream For Crow

The King Of Luxembourg - Long Necked Bottles

Good & Gone - Harry Irene

The Mock Turtles - Big Eyed Beans From Venus


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John "Snakehips" Johnson

I was lucky enough to find this in the market today for a couple of quid. I was first attracted by the title "Any Old Iron" which is a good old cockney knees-up number from the music hall days - Peter Sellers did a nice version of it amongst others.
Also on the album a mixture of old and new songs which remind me of Chas 'N' Dave and Joe Brown etc. Great versions of Maybe It's Big Horse I'm A Londoner and End Of Me Ol' Cigar. Not much found on the internet but this CD is still available I think and well worth it if you a fan of cockney songs or blues sung in an East London accent! Also playing on the CD are Tony Ashton - piano and hammond organ, Dave 'Wild Leg' Williams - guitars and mandolin and Dan Brown - bass, euphonium and tuba- amongst others.


John "Snakehips" Johnson - Harem Scarem

John "Snakehips" Johnson - The Lambeth Walk

John "Snakehips" Johnson - Any Old Iron


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Rutles Highway Revisited

Found this CD in a street market back in the 90's. Its a tribute to the Rutles who in turn were a tribute to the Beatles. Made in the Netherlands on the Shimmy Disc label and featuring lots of obscure punk and new wave bands . Bands like- Galaxie 500, The Pussywillows, Joey Arias and King Missile etc. All songs written by Neil Innes. Not sure if it's still available.
Great cover art that mimics the Stones and Beatles sleeve art by Sheena Dupius.

Discover more about The Rutles go HERE.

Find out more about Neil Innes HERE.


The Pussywillows - Hold My Hand

Peter Stampfel & The Bottlecaps - Ouch!

The Tinklers - Blue Suede Shubert

Uncle Wiggly - It's Looking Good


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Sounds Of South Africa

Found at a charity market yesterday for a pound. A great little compilation and taster of South African music by some firmiliar and not-so-firmiliar names. Released in 2001 but still available if you look for it. On ARC music label.

Ivangeli Loxolo.

This eleven peice Zulu church choir from Kwa Zuma, is led and produced by Thomas Maseko, who is the bass player of the band. The choir isd a community affair consisting of Thomas, his wife and daughter and members of his wife's family as well as neighbours and friends.


Izigi Zabezayo.

This group, consistin g of Sente Buthelezi and Mhlonipheni Hadebe, hails from Nkandla in Zululand.
The music is traditional Zulu. The track "Malume" concerns a man who wants to get married and therefore has to pay a "labola" ( the dowry ) for his loved one. He turns to his father as he does not have enough cattle, but his father, unable to help, sends him to his uncle. The song communicates his embarrassment over this predicament.


Molahlehi.

The word Molahlehi means "the lost one". In 1986 producer Les Goode had a call from an unkown South Sotho singer, wanting to record ten numbers. He arrived with his accordion and a Sotho drummer and put the ten tracks down, explaining to Les that he would return shortly to record the songs into master form. Two years went by and not a word was heard from the artist. The tracks were bought to Reamusic where Clive Risko was impressed by the music and the album was re-mixed with additional instruments and released the album which became a big success and gave the artist the name "Molahlehi".
The radio made many announcements for "the lost one" but to date he has still not been found.


Discover more about South African music HERE.


Ivangeli Loxolo - Isakhalo

Izigi Zabezayo - Malume

Molahlehi - Khaitsedi Manyathela


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Stanley Holloway

Stanley Holloway (born Stanley Augustus Holloway) was born on the 1st October 1890 in London, England, UK and died on the 30th January 1982 in Littlehampton, England, UK.

"He tried to make a go of his first job as a clerk in a Billingsgate fish market, but the call of the theatre was loud and strong. Originally planning an operatic career, Holloway studied singing in Milan, but this came to an end when World War One began. Finishing up his service with the infantry, Holloway headed for the stage again, making his London premiere in 1919's Kissing Time. His first film was The Rotters (1921), and the first time the public outside the theatres heard his robust voice was on radio in 1923. Holloway toured the music hall-revue circuit with his comic monologues, usually centered around his self-invented characters "Sam Small" and "The Ramsbottoms."

Holloway's entree into talking pictures was with a 1930 film version of his stage success, The Co-Optimist. The British film industry of the '30s was more concerned in turning out "quota quickies" so that Hollywood would send over an equal number of American films, but Holloway was able to survive in these cheap pictures, occasionally rising to the heights of such productions as Squibs (1935) and The Vicar of Bray (1937). In 1941, Holloway was cast in one of the prestige films of the season, George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara; this led to top-drawer film appearances throughout the war years, notably This Happy Breed (1944), The Way to the Stars (1945) and Brief Encounter (1947). Though he'd had minimal Shakespearian experience, Holloway was selected by Laurence Olivier to play the Gravedigger in Olivier's filmization of Hamlet (1947), a role he'd forever be associated with and one he'd gently parody in 1969's Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

Gaining an American audience through repeated showings of his films on early-'50s TV, Holloway took New York by storm as Alfred P. Doolittle in the stage smash My Fair Lady - a role he'd repeat in the 1964 film version (after James Cagney had turned it down), and win an Oscar in the bargain.

Continuing his activities in all aspects of British show business -- including a 1960 one-man show, Laughs and Other Events -- Holloway decided he'd take a whack at American TV as the butler protagonist of the 1962 sitcom Our Man Higgins. It's difficult to ascertain the quality of this series, since it had the miserable luck of being scheduled opposite the ratings-grabbing Beverly Hillbillies.

Stanley Holloway perservered with stage, movie, and TV appearances into the '70s; in honor of one of his two My Fair Lady songs, he titled his 1981 autobiography Wiv a Little Bit of Luck.

Discover more about Stanley Holloway HERE.


Stanley Holloway - Three Ha'Pence A Foot

Stanley Holloway - Yorkshire Pudding

Stanley Holloway - Song Of The Sea


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Will Hay

Will Hay still makes me smile despite the ancient jokes and ham acting. I never get tired of watching "Oh , Mr Porter" one of his best films from the 40's.

"Will Hay was born on the 6th December 1888. With his supercilious sniff and overall air of pompous ineptitude, Will Hay was one of the great British character comedians of his time. A former bookkeeper, Hay began his music-hall career in 1909, performing a sketch in which he impersonated a seedy, incompetent schoolmaster.

He was a genius who created a genuinely original persona which worked on a number of variations including the tattered shifty teacher, barrister, prison governor or stationmaster which was perhaps his masterpiece. In whatever circumstances, he was always required to deceive both superiors and inferiors, the latter proving sharper at detecting the radical incompetence beneath his seedy dignity. Accompanied by fat boy Graham Moffitt and toothless old codger Moore Marriott he created a comic oeuvre as endearing and enduring as any in British cinema.

In 1931, Will was elected 'King Rat of the Grand Order of Water Rats', which gave him great pride and a opportunity to acquaint himself better with like-minded fellow artistes within the exclusiveness of the club. The club was a charity organisation who fund raised for the less fortunate. In 1933, Hay applied his astronomical skills and discovered a white spot on Saturn. He published his findings in his 1935 book Through My Telescope. For this achievement, he was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He even gets a mention in Patrick Moore's biography.

Running second in popularity only to George Formby at the British box office, in 1940 Hay put his film-making on hold. During the war, his specialist knowledge was so good that he gave up acting to teach astronomy and navigation to the Royal Navy Reserve Special Branch as a Sub lieutenant. One wonders how he could be taken seriously after several years of portraying an exceptionally incompetent teacher.

He worked at Elstree, then Gainsborough, then Ealing; the Gainsborough period was the most consistently successful. Just as Tony Hancock, in some ways a descendant of Hay, would later cut himself off from sidekick Sid James, Hay felt impelled to break up the partnership with Moffatt and Marriott and was, likewise, never quite the same again, although ‘The Goose Steps Out for Ealing’ (1943) was an effective anti-Nazi piece of slapstick. His classic movies include ‘Oh Mr Porter’, ‘Where’s that Fire’ and ‘Ask a Policeman’."

Discover more abou Will Hay HERE.


Will Hay - How Tickled I Am


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Ted Ray

Some more comedy profiles now by popular demand. First up Ted Ray who I remember from the steam radio of the 50's in "Ray's A Laugh".

Wikipedia says-

"Ted Ray (November 21, 1905 – November 8, 1977) (real name Charles Olden) was a popular English comedian of the 1950s and 1960s.
Charlie Olden was born in Wigan, Lancashire in 1905. His parents moved to Liverpool within days of his birth, and Liverpudlians therefore tend to regard him as a local of their city. As a major radio personality and comedian of the 1940s and 1950s he regularly demonstrated his extraordinary ad-libbing skills in his weekly radio show Ray's A Laugh, which ran from 1949 until 1961.
A much sought after music hall comedian, Ray usually played the violin (badly) as part of his act. He also played straight roles in several British films - notably as the headmaster in Carry On Teacher. He is, however, best remembered for Ray's a Laugh, which was a domestic comedy in which he was accompanied by Australian Kitty Bluett, who played his wife.
Many actors and actresses who would later become well-known cut their teeth on this radio show, including Peter Sellers, Fred Yule, Patricia Hayes, Kenneth Connor, Pat Coombs and Graham Stark. 1940 and 1950 saw Ray as King Rat of the Grand Order of Water Rats.
He was a very keen and accomplished golfer who frequently appeared playing with professional sportsmen. Later in his career Ted Ray appeared together with Jimmy Edwards, Arthur Askey and Cyril Fletcher in the comedy radio panel game Does the Team Think?.
He never managed to break into television successfully, though his son, Robin Ray, was a well known television personality in the 1960s and 1970s, having initiated Call My Bluff and specialist classical music shows. His younger son, Andrew Ray, became an actor. Ted Ray died in 1977."


Ted Ray - How Tickled I Am


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3 Haunted Houses

Three very different songs called "Haunted House" by three very different artistes.

The first from Ray Noble's Orchestra in the 30's or 40's is from a cheap CD called Childrens All-Time Classics on the Cedar label.

The next is by Leon redbone from the album "On The Track" and the third and my favourite is by Jerry Lee Lewis from a compilation of his songs at his time with Mercury Records from 1973. I also have a version by Ry Cooder and John Hiatt etc. playing live but unfortunately I can't find it at the moment.

Discover more about Ray Noble HERE.

Discover more about Leon Redbone HERE.

Discover more about Jerry Lee Lewis HERE.



Ray Noble Orchestra - Haunted House

Leon Redbone - Haunted House

Jerry Lee Lewis - The Haunted House


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Al Bowlly

Watched part of a fascinating profile of Al Bowlly on BBC 4 last night and this remined me of a couple of the novelty songs he sang before he became more well known as a "crooner".

Wikipedia says-


"In the 1930s, he was to sign two contracts which were to change his fortunes - one in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant in London, the other a record contract with Ray Noble's orchestra in November 1930. During the next four years, he recorded over 500 songs. He also found time to occasionally record with other orchestras such as Lew Stone's ; however, he was inundated with demands in this period, and made the bulk of his recordings with Noble. There was considerable competition between Noble and Fox for Bowlly's time, as for much of the year, Bowlly would spend all day in the recording studio with Noble's band, rehearsing and recording, only to then spend the evening playing live at the Monseigneur with Fox's band. A visit to New York in 1934 with Noble resulted in more success and their recordings first achieved popularity in the USA; he appeared at the head of an orchestra hand-picked for him and Noble by Glenn Miller (the band included Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, and Bud Freeman, among others).
During the early-mid 1930s, such songs as "Blue Moon", "Easy to Love", "I've Got You Under My Skin", and "My Melancholy Baby" were sizable American successes — so much so that Bowlly gained his own radio series on NBC and travelled to Hollywood to co-star in The Big Broadcast in 1936, which also starred one of his biggest competitors, Bing Crosby. Al Bowlly often worked with Ray Noble and His Orchestra.
In December 1931, Bowlly had married Freda Roberts, but the marriage proved a disaster, with Bowlly discovering his new wife in bed with another man on their wedding night. The couple separated after two weeks, and sought a rapid divorce. He remarried in December 1934, this time to Marjie Fairless, the marriage lasting until his death."

Discover more about Al Bowlly HERE.


Al Bowlly - Making Wickey Wackey

Al Bowlly - Pied Piper Of Hamelin


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Allan Smethurst ( The Singing Postman )

"As the Singing Postman, Allan Smethurst benefited from the British public’s endearing sympathy for the underdog. His most popular hit, Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?, momentarily outsold the Beatles — in East Anglia, at least — and for a few weeks became a national catchphrase. But like many novelty stars before and since, his 15 minutes of fame was little more than that, and after four albums he faded from the public consciousness ending his days as an alcoholic in the care of the Salvation Army.
Smethurst, a postman from Norfolk who hummed his tunes on his daily round, bought his guitar from Woolworths in 1949 and started writing and playing his own dialect songs, initially confining his activities to his bedroom. “It was ten years afore I dare let people hear them,” he once admitted. Plucking up the courage to send a tape to the BBC in Norwich, he was given a spot on a local radio show compered by a sales promotion man, Ralph Tuck, who promptly founded a record label called The Smallest Recording Organisation in the World to promote the Singing Postman. The 100 discs which Tuck had cut in the early weeks of 1966 promptly sold out and Smethurst became an overnight star, ousting the Beatles from the top of the East Anglian hit parade."
It was sadly downhill from then on. He took up drink to try and cure his crippling stage fright but obviously he was destined to be a "one hit wonder" and the music biz moved on to the next novelty act.


Allan Smethurst - The Postman And The Milkgirl

Allan Smethurst - Norwich Is A Fine City

Allan Smethurst - Bubbies And The Wall

Allan Smethurst - Took A Long Time


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Bernard Cribbins

"Born in 1928, in Lancashire, Bernard Cribbins is one of the best known children's entertainers in the UK. He has been an actor since the age of 14, when he became a student player with his local repertory company.
By the 1950s, Cribbins had become a star of the London stage, featuring in his own revue. It wasn't until the 1960s, however, until he attained true public acclaim, appearing in a string of successful films and had musical success with a number of novelty records like Right Said Fred and Hole in the Ground. He is better known today for voice over work (The Wombles, as well as numerous advertisements) and his appearances on Noel's House Party on BBC1."

Discover more about Bernard Cribbins HERE.


Bernard Cribbins - The Bird On The Second Floor

Bernard Cribbins - Verily


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Fred Douglas

Not really a boot sale find but an excuse to upload some novelty songs by Fred Douglas who I know nothing about except he made lots of cover versions of hits on the cheap Regal label that sold in Woolworths I believe back in the 30's and 40's. Later they had the Embassy label which did a similar service - all the pop hits of the day by obscure singers who nobody had ever heard of! Fred Douglas went by several other nom de plumes so probably appeared on other records too.

Any information about Fred greatly appreciated.


Fred Douglas - You've Got Those Wanna-Go-Back-Again Blues

Fred Douglas - I've Found A Roundabout Way To Heaven

Fred Douglas - Hello Aloha, How Are You?

Fred Douglas - Bandy Bertha's Birthday


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Sid James

That dirty laugh, the bag of spanners features, star of many Carry Ons and foil for Hancock in Hancock's Half Hour. Another profile of a great british character actor.

Wikipedia says-

"James was born Joel Solomon Cohen, to Jewish parents, later changing his name to Sidney Joel Cohen and then Sid James, in a peculiar quirk of fate on Hancock Street, Hillbrow, Johannesburg, South Africa. He worked as a diamond cutter, hairdresser, dance tutor and reputedly a part-time boxer in fairgrounds, before becoming a professional actor.
It was at a hairdressing salon in Kroonstad, Orange Free State that he met his future wife. He married Berthe Sadie Delmont, known as Toots on 12 August 1936 and her father Joseph Delmont, a wealthy Johannesburg businessman, bought a salon for James. Within a year, however, James announced that he wanted to become an actor and joined Johannesburg Repertory Players. Through this he got work with the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
He and Delmont divorced in 1940 mainly as a result of James's many relationships with other women; it was a pattern that continued throughout his life. In 1943, he married a dancer, Meg Sergei, née Williams (born 1913). They divorced on 17 August 1952. On 21 August that year he wed Valerie Elizabeth Patsy Assan (born 1928), an actress who used Ashton as her stage name. During their marriage, he had a well publicised affair with his Carry On co-star, Barbara Windsor.
During the Second World War, he became a lieutenant in the South African Army in an entertainment unit, and subsequently took up acting as a career. He came to Britain in 1946 on the back of his service gratuity. Initially he worked in repertory before being spotted by the nascent British post-war film industry."

Discover more about Sid James HERE.


Sid James - An Appreciation of....


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Kenneth Horne

Kenneth Horne ( third from the left ) always made me laugh and the two shows I remember most from my childhood and early years are Beyond Our Ken and Round The Horne that also starred Kenneth Williams , Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden also seen in this photo. This is another radio profile of approx 60 mins. in length.

Wikipedia says-

"Born Charles Kenneth Horne , he was the son of Charles Silvester Horne (1865-1914), a Congregationalist minister, Liberal MP for Ipswich, and powerful orator who built the White House in Sandford Avenue, Church Stretton as the family home, and is commemorated by the 'Silvester Horne Institute' in Church Stretton, Shropshire. His maternal grandfather was Herbert Cozens-Hardy, the Liberal MP for North Norfolk who became both the Master of the Rolls and Baron Cozens-Hardy on 1 July 1914.
During World War II, Horne served in the RAF, reaching the rank of Wing Commander. As part of BBC radio's support of the war effort entertainment programmes were devised to target each wing of the armed forces, this led to Horne's involvement in Much-Binding-In-The-Marsh set at the titular fictitious air force base, a series which continued until 1954.
He died from a stroke whilst standing up to make a speech at the Dorchester Hotel in London, just after the fourth series of Round the Horne was completed. A fifth series had been commissioned, but it was decided that the show could not continue without its star."

Discover more about Kenneth Horne HERE


Kenneth Horne - Horne A Plenty


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Les Dawson

Here's another radio profile from the "How Tickled I Am" series, this time of Les Dawson.

"Les Dawson (2 February 1931 - 10 June 1993) was a popular Lancashire comedian, known for his deadpan style. Dawson was a curmudgeon, famous for jokes about his mother-in-law and his wife.
Dawson began his entertainment career as a club pianist ("I finally heard some applause from a bald man and said 'thank you for clapping me' and he said 'I'm not clapping - I'm slapping me head to keep awake.'"), but found that he got more laughs by playing wrong notes and complaining to the audience. He made his television debut in the talent show, Opportunity Knocks, and was seldom absent from British television screens in the years that followed. His best known routines featured Roy Barraclough and Dawson as two elderly women, Cissie Braithwaite and Ada Sidebottom who, having worked in a mill in their youth, spoke some words aloud and mouthed others--particularly those pertaining to bodily functions and sex; they also repeatedly pushed up their bosoms, in pantomime dame style, an act copied faithfully from his hero, Norman Evans. Dawson's humour, though earthy, was seldom coarse, and he was as popular with female as with male audiences."

Discover more about Les Dawson HERE.


Les Dawson - How Tickled I Am


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Frank Randle

I have a few old radio shows , mostly profiles of british comedians and so I thought I would air a few of them here as the boot sales and charity shops are a bit quiet these days.
Here's what Wikipedia says about Frank Randle-

"Frank Randle (Born Arthur Hughes, also known as Arthur McEvoy) (January 30, 1901 - July 15, 1957) was an English comedian. A contemporary of fellow Lancastrians George Formby and Gracie Fields, he was regarded as more subversive, perhaps the reason that the immense popularity he enjoyed during his lifetime has not survived him.
Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he left school aged 13 and worked in a variety of menial jobs until two years later he joined an acrobatic troupe. In 1928, he began to tour as a comedian, principally in Lancashire and the North, developing his own show, Randle's Scandals. He took equity in John E. Blakeley's Manchester-based Mancunian Film Studios and appeared in eight of its productions.
Randle's mischievous wit led to a running conflict with Harry Barnes, police chief of Lancashire seaside resort Blackpool, who frequently banned and censored his material. Randle responded to his critics in robust fashion, frequently throwing his false teeth into the audience and once bombarding Blackpool from an aeroplane with toilet rolls. Randle's police charge sheet is lodged with the Lancashire Constabulary collection, cared for by Lancashire County Museums.
On the outbreak of World War II, having failed his medical to join the RAF, Randle joined the Home Guard and started to establish a career in films that even overtook that of Formby. His iconoclastic portrayal of the underdog, flouting authority and disrupting the establishment found a ready audience in a population suffering the privations of war.
With the decline of the music halls in the 1950s, Randle's popularity faded. Pressed by debts and tax arrears and suffering from the consequences of a life of alcohol abuse, he was made bankrupt by the tax authorities in 1955. He died in Blackpool of gastroenteritis, in 1957."

Discover more about Frank Randle HERE



Frank Randle - How Tickled I Am


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Ken Dodd

Go to Swapatorium to hear Ken Dodd profile "How Tickled I Am".

Al Jolson

I've mentioned Al Jolson before but I found another CD of his "Very Best Of....." on the Music Club label the other day in a charity shop and thought I would upload some of his novelty songs. The third track "Oogie Woogie Wa Wa" comes from a compilation that Angel Radio sent me from their archives some years ago.

Wikipedia says-

"Al Jolson (May 26, 1886–October 23, 1950) was a highly acclaimed American singer, comedian and actor of Jewish heritage whose career lasted from 1911 until his death in 1950. He was one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century whose influence extended to other popular performers, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eddie Fisher, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and Michael Jackson.
Al Jolson was the first popular singer to make a spectacular "event" out of singing a song. Prior to Jolson, popular singers such as John McCormack and Henry Burr would stand still with only very minimal gesturing as they sang. Jolson, in comparison, had tremendous energy displayed in his performances by way of dynamic gestures and other physical movement. Jolson was the first entertainer to ever utilize a ramp extending out into the audience from the center of the stage. Jolson insisted on having a ramp so he could be closer to the audience. It was very common for Jolson to sit on the end of the ramp and have personal one-on-one conversations with audience members which is something that had also never been done prior to Jolson.
Jolson was known to stop major Broadway productions in which he was involved, turn to the audience and ask them if they would rather hear him sing instead of watching the rest of the play. The answer from the audience was always a resounding "yes" and Jolson would spend at least the next hour singing an impromptu concert to an ecstatic audience. George Burns, the popular American comedian and friend of Al Jolson probably described Jolson best when he said, "...Jolson was all Show Business!"

Discover more about Al Jolson HERE.


Al Jolson - Oogie Woogie Wa Wa

Al Jolson - The Spaniard That Blighted My Life

Al Jolson - De Camptown Races


These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

Sophie Tucker

A CD from the local library sale I bought yesterday. Its on the Living Era label from 1985 and most of the songs were recorded in the 1930's.


"Sophie Tucker was born in Russia while her mother was emigrating to America to join her husband, also a Russian Jew. Her birth name was Sophia Kalish, but the family soon took the last name Abuza and moved to Connecticut, where Sophie grew up working in her family's restaurant.

Playing piano to accompany her sister at amateur shows, Sophie quickly became an audience favorite; they called for "the fat girl." At age 13, she already weighed 145 pounds.

She married Louis Tuck in 1903, and they had a son, Bert, but she divorced Tuck fairly quickly. Leaving Bert with her parents in 1906, she went to New York, changed her name to Tucker, and began singing at amateur shows to support herself.

She was required to wear blackface by managers who felt that she would not otherwise be accepted, since she was "so big and ugly" as one manager put it. She joined a burlesque show in 1908, and, when she found herself without her makeup or any of her luggage one night, she went on without her blackface, was a hit with the audience, and never wore the blackface again.

She briefly appeared with the Ziegfield Follies, but her popularity with audiences made her unpopular with the female stars, who refused to go on stage with her.

Tucker's stage image emphasized her "fat girl" image but also a humorous suggestiveness. She sang songs like "I Don't Want to Be Thin," "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love." She introduced in 1911 the song which would become her trademark: "Some of These Days."

She added jazz and sentimental ballads to her ragtime repertoire, and, in the 1930s, when American vaudeville was dying, she took to playing England. She made eight movies and appeared on radio and, as it became popular, television."


Sophie Tucker - Makin' Wicky Wacky Down In Waikiki

Sophie Tucker - I'm The Last Of The Red Hot Mamas

Sophie Tucker - Some Of These Days


These SendSapce files are available for seven days or until exhausted.

The Wonders Of Babelfish

Bootsalesounds .The English artist Michael Leigh roots for its AUDI whether log boat Sale sound forgotten beads from the depths of flea market crates and trunks. And wants to amuse thereby above all as he explains in the following one. Michael Leigh in De:Bug 98 the sound of the trunk Boat Sale sound saw the light of the world as a Yahoo Group, which I had begun at the beginning of last yearly. Actually I wanted to use it as place, in order to store music files, which I had mentioned occasionally in one my other Blogs (www.flobberlob.blogspot.com). The Yahoo Group consisted of 30 members, that herumlungerten all gladly in the background, in order to down-load the files, but never gave feedback. Thus I that that was not anything for me, decided and imagined: Why I do not make simply an AUDI whether log from it, in which I can featuren the whole music, which I find on flea markets and boat Sales. One should mention perhaps that boat Sales are condemned popular in England, particularly in the summer. The people meet then on parking lots and sell their stuff from the trunk. Before boat Sale sound I had few other Blogs and like that was already an AUDI whether log in the reason a natural development for me. Since I was into the 60ern on the kind School, I had collected records. I was particularly interested in the generic term cures side and the Novelties of the music Business already at that time. Therefore the plates on my Blog are normally also Songs of artists, over whom one actually hears nowadays nothing. Recently for example I found a record of Charlie Drake, which in England a few hit had during the late 50's and early 60's and a popular Comedystar in the television was, whose shows ran for a very long time. It times described as: "quaint, troubled, sympathetic little one who is strangely reminiscent OF A Botticelli cherub". And it had let peel a voice in addition, the lacquer could. On the plate were few its hits and some completely unknown pieces like "I draws to The end to OF My Yodel", "Starkle Starkle Little Twink" or "Don't a Trim My Wick", all full enthusiasm for English humor, wordplays and Nonsense verse, as they could so hardly have exceeded Lewis Carrol, Edward Lear and spike Milligan. Another jewel was the Percussionist and jazz musician Rupert Clemendore on the LP "Le jazz" on that 60's Cook Laboratories label. One of the exotic jazz albums from the west Indies (Trinidad to be over exact). The Cover gives already a correct impression. Normally halbseidene beautifulnesses with an arrangement from palms is on such records, but here it should happen more subtly. And alone the words "Patois jazz" let me believe in the fact that more was to be found here. There is nearly always first the Cover, which bring me to it, my pennies rauszuruecken. Sometimes one is then inspired by the plate also, but usually the plate, which hides itself behind a great Cover has, not to do nothing at all thereby. Rupert and its volume however play so a kind of unobstrusive, but pleasant cocktail jazz, with which above all the two Vocal TRACKS out-sting, and which create it then also on the Blog. The Slevenotes explains that appropriate: "which makes Rupert with its voice on ' Chop Suey Mambo ', must remain completely unclassifiable." And in another Song it then still rappt from the Harem, which pursues it, if he down-runs in Trinidad the park Street. In the middle in the mediocrity the "Mish Mosh" album of Mickey Katz started me - also again first due to the Covers -. A wonderful photo of Mr. Katz, disguises as a butcher, who sits with its saxophone on the chopping block, and behind him the other instruments hang peacefully lined up with sausages and Bagles. The Songtitel sounded also everything like Winner: "How Much Is That Pickle in The Window" or "I'm A Schlemiel OF Fortune", how one can resist there? It came then raus the fact that Mickey was a Top Dialektkenner in spike Jones ' volume and later own ways went. It was so convinced of the fact that its music was in music solid not only merrily, but also that he employed the best session musicians Hollywoods for it. And again a quotation of the grandiosen Sleeve Notes: "Mickey's approach tons of A song is simple. He of grave the nation's favourites and of gives them the stamp OF his unique and abundant wit. The poor unsuspecting tune suddenly finds itself with more of twists than A barrel of OF pretzels and more spice than A plate OF pastrami." How one sees, the things, which I find, are very different. And I do not only try to show on the Blog also by the apparently indiscriminate composition like differently different Aeras in its Style, but also in its humor are. I always select music, which surprises me at least amused, more frequently however and brings me sometimes also directly to the laughter for the Blog. And I hope that she reaches also at the people, which visit the Blog. I am glad to have a very broadly varied music taste and hope, boat Sale sound reflect also, although the drive luck and coincidence are. Meanwhile I get also the feedback, which I had at that time already expected, and by rapidly Share my audio files can be theoretically eternally attainable (I have before You send It used, until I had to determine that after one week everything disappears there). I am naturally linked with other audio Blogs and must say that there is very much mutual encouragement and support among us. That nearly already is heart-warming up. OVER MICHAEL LEIGH I am 58 years old artists and live with my family in Cheshire. I studied, work painting however to time particularly with collages and Mailart. Otherwise I make art books, eraser temples, postcards and various audio work. Mail kind stepped something due to my other on-line occupations admitted into the background, but to send away, still fun makes collages via Mail for me. Michael Leigh 98