Whatever you say about Herbert Boutros Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, you have to admit that the man knew a lot about old popular songs, especially those from the the first three or four decades of the 20th Century.
Below are a bunch of Tiny's songs as done by the original -- or at least much earlier -- artists. All but one of the following were on Tiny's first album, God Bless Tiny Tim.
Tiny loved these tunes and so do I.
"Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" was written by a couple of guys named Al (Sherman and Lewis) for the 1930 movie, The Big Pond, which starred Maurice Chevalier. Tiny Tim was exposed, so to speak, to whole new generation when his version was used in the very first episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
But Maurice did a good job too.
I once saw Ozzie Nelson sing a version of "Out on the Old Front Porch" on some late-night talk show. I think it was on Joey Bishop' show. Maybe Harriet was there too, I don't remember. But this one goes way back to at least 1913 when Billy Murray did it as a duet with Ada Jones.
Tiny of course didn't do a duet. He sang all the parts himself, including the angry father.
Tiny did a pretty warped cover of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" on his first appearance on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. He also recorded it for his 1969 children's album For All My Little Friends.
The original version, of course, was by America's little friend, Shirley Temple, who sang in in her 1934 movie Bright Eyes.
Tiny reached way far back for "Then I'd Be Satisfied with Life," 1903 to be exact. It was written by George M. Cohan, the same guy who wrote "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There." This version is by S.H. Dudley.
One major change Tiny made in his version. Dudley wants "an heiress" for his wife. But Tiny wants Tuesday Weld!
And Tiny also did a little number called "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Here is the original, as performed by Nick Lucas, the Crooning Troubadour, in the movie Gold Diggers of Broadway.
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Dec. 15, 2017
Christmas is coming, and America’s annual explosion of holiday blitz of glitz and other stuff is in full gear. And music, from the sublime to the syrupy, plays no small part in it. There is no escaping all the seasonal songs about Baby Jesus, Santa Claus, snow, and sleigh bells. From sappy sentimentality to cringe-worthy novelty tunes to songs professing hardcore religious zealotry — hark the herald hucksters sing!
And you can’t complain about it, you communist Grinch, you malcontent Scrooge. It’s for the children. It’s for the health of the economy! So get with the program. It’s best for everyone if you just embrace the Christmas craziness and join in the cheer.
Here are a few insane Christmas albums to keep you sane through it all.
*Tiny Tim’s Christmas Album. Just about everyone my age remembers Tiny Tim. But it occurred to me that younger folk probably don’t know Tiny Tim from Fibber McGee and Molly.
A quick Tiny Tim primer: Back in 1968, a war-weary nation shared a collective laugh at a strange, slightly creepy crooner who plucked a ukulele and warbled in an unsettling falsetto — Herbert Khaury, aka Tiny Tim. At first Tiny might have thought we were laughing with him, as he crooned “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and revived “On the Good Ship Lollipop” while the nation’s youth sang “Street Fighting Man.” But no, we were actually laughing at him. Tiny’s career pinnacled when he got married on The Tonight Show. It was obvious that he was a carnival freak and we, the public, were the rubes cramming into the sideshow tent to gawk.
The most puzzling thing about his Christmas album is that Tiny didn’t get around to making a full-press effort to cash in on the holiday until the 1990s. This was released in 1996, the same year he died.
This collection includes several Christmas chestnuts like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (sung in his trademark falsetto) and White Christmas” (showing off his warbling baritone). And for some reason, there are a handful of tunes that have nothing to do with Christmas. The most surprisingly relevant song here is his take on “Silent Night,” during which he launches into an angry sermon against Christians who don’t act very Christian. “Hypocrites!” he snarls. “Professing His name! Fornicating with children! Fornicating with young girls!”
Roy Moore, the ghost of Tiny Tim is on to you!
Sadly, this record doesn’t include Tiny’s best, and most tasteless, Yuletide classic, “Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year.” I've embedded it below.
* Bummed Out Christmas by various artists. Back in the late ’80s, when Rhino Records was one of the coolest labels around, they used to release some wonderful, irreverent compilations, such as this one. It’s full of songs about people having a hard time finding any Christmas cheer.
There is a weeper by The Everly Brothers called “Christmas Eve Can Kill You,” as well as one of George Jones’ saddest songs, “Lonely Christmas Call.” There is the heart-stopping lonesome soldier lament, “Christmas in Viet Nam” by the soul duo Johnny & Jon.
Some of my favorites are a couple of fine old ’50s R&B songs about holiday drunkenness — “Santa Came Home Drunk” by Clyde Lasley & The Cadillac Baby Specials and “Christmas in Jail” by The Youngsters (a tune that many local folks may associate with the cover by The Soul Deacons about a decade back).
* I Know What He Wants for Christmas ... But I Don’t Know How to Wrap It! by Kay Martin and Her Body Guards. Back in the 1950s, they used to call risqué records like this “party album.” Martin was a former model who claimed she’d posed for Playboy. (Though I’ve read several accounts that say she’s not the scantily clad redhead on the album cover.)
With her kittenish voice and a dominant electric organ that sounds as if it were stolen from a roller rink, Martin purrs through suggestive holiday numbers like “Santa’s Doing the Horizontal Twist” and “Santa’s Going to Be Late Tonight.”
*A Twismas Story by Conway Twitty With Twitty Bird & Their Little Friends. Here is a little Christmas recycling. I wrote about this bizarre holiday album 10 years ago in this very publication. First released in 1983, it was reissued in 2007 to shock a new generation. A decade later, this album is just as frightening now as it was then.
A Twismas Story goes well beyond normal Christmas albums by country stars you find in bargain bins at supermarkets, drugstores, and truck stops this time of year — at humiliatingly low prices. Your average Nashville holiday clunker features disturbingly similar overproduced, underinspired, twangy takes on the same 20 or so holiday standards. But the late Twitty and his imaginary friends went above and beyond. This is so tacky, so cheesy, so over-the-top, and so overstuffed with Christmas corn that it’s a perverse classic.
Twitty Bird — who was Conway’s Tweety-like cartoon mascot (how did he not get sued by Warner Bros.?) — is portrayed here by the singer’s granddaughter. The “Little Friends” are sped-up “chipmunk” voices. They all chatter insanely and sing about Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, etc.
I stand by my advice from 2007: Friends don’t let friends take hallucinogenic drugs and listen to A Twismas Story at the same time.
Proceed at you own risk! Wacky, tacky Xmas songs below:
Here is Tiny Tim's playful spoof about a virus that would kill millions.
This song, from Bummed Out Christmas actually is pretty bitchen
Kay Martin seduces Santa
Yes, the great Conway stooped to this. For the children.
In what had to have been Camper Van Beethoven's strangest concert of their early career, on October 26, 1986, the band found themselves backing the one and only Tiny Tim at a bar in Columbus, Ohio.
Yes, that Tiny Tim. The man who brought us "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," the scraggly-haired falsetto-voiced freak who was all over the ukulele some 40 years before bands like Beirut made the uke hip.
Yes, there was Camper, backing Tiny on timeless classics like "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "If You Knew Susie," and "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey."
And don't forget God and country. Tiny and Camper roared through "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "You're a Grand Old Flag."
Most all of the tunes are under two minutes long and many are less than 60 seconds. Too bad D. Boone already had died by this point. Tiny could have hired The Minutemen.
In an interview in 2013 with The Atlanta Music Guide, Camper's Jonathan Segel said the show was the funniest moment in the group's career.
We pulled up at Stache’s in Columbus, OH, and saw the bill was Camper Van Beethoven and Tiny Tim, and the promoter met us outside and said he had promised him we’d be his back up band. He was like a grandma, and he did not rehearse us at all, just said: you’ll know the songs, I’ll just tell you how fast to go and what key. And sure enough, before the song, he would wave a hand and say “in D, Maestro!”… that was it.
CVB's singer David Lowrey talked about the Columbus gig just a few weeks after the show in a radio interview preserved at the Live Music Archive.
"It was an experiment in new colognes, I think. ... state-sponsored cologne terrorism. ... What he did is he just came out and he told us, `Well, I'll tell you what keys the songs are in and I'll kind of indicate the tempo and you guys just figure it out. And we did."
(Lowrey says this about three minutes into the interview)
Camper Van Beethoven isn't the only rock band to back Tiny Tim. In the '90s he did a live album with The New Duncan Imperials as well as a studio album with Brave Combo.
Unfortunately, there was no professional recording done at the Camper Van Beethoven show in Columbus.
But somebody was recording it, and it's on the Live Music Achive. Audiophiles can exit right now, but everyone else enjoy it on the player below. Tiny comes on right after Camper's regular set:
And just for the heck of it, here's Tiny's amazing take on "Stairway to Heaven" with Brave Combo.
I'm not sure whether Budweiser was sponsoring Tiny
On Nov. 30, 1996 Herbert Butros Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, performed his final gig at a benefit concert at the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis.
He hadn't been feeling well that day. And he'd suffered a heart attack a few weeks before at a ukulele festival in Massachusetts. So after performing an abbreviated version of his hit novelty song "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." His wife, Susan Khaury, told The Associated Press that she'd gone up to the stage to help him back to their table.
It was then when he collapsed.
"He went out with a big bang. Very theatrical," Miss Sue told the wire service. "That was his way, to collapse in front of hundreds of people."
The singer died at a Minneapolis hospital later that night.
So in honor of a true entertainer, here are some videos of Tiny singing some songs he's not normally known for.
On this one he sings "Earth Angel" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1970 with a group called The Enchanted Forest.
Here's a "duet" with himself on Australian TV. (Sorry, but I don't recognize the song. If you know it, please tell me in the comments section.)
This is a clip from You Are What You Eat, a film by Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul and Mary.) The female singer here is Eleanor Barooshian, aka Chelsea Lee, who later was in a girl group called The Cake, (which is a story in itself.) Allegedly The off-camera band on this song is none other than The Band.)
For the last quarter century of his career, Tiny Tim was considered an "outsider" musician. In that light, seeing him perform on national TV with Bing Crosby seems almost like Frank Sinatra sharing the stage with The Shaggs. But here he is with Der Bingle -- and a nice cameo by Bobbie Gentry toward the end.
Tiny has been featured in Wacky Wednesday a couple of times before:
(My Facebook Friend Truly Judy inspired this one)
Back in 2005, there was an episode of South Park featuring a middle-aged Chinese woman trying to make it as a singer. Her name was Wing and she became a client of a "talent agency" run by Cartman and the boys.
She had a voice that would curdle your soup. Hilarity ensued.
Many South Park fans just assumed Wing was a cartoon character from the warped imaginations of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But no. Wing was a flesh-and-blood human named Wing Han Tsang or Zēng Yǒnghán or 曾咏韓.From the scant biographical information I can find, it appears she originally was from Hong Kong and migrated to New Zealand, where she began her musical career by singing in nursing homes.
She released a CD of cover songs called Phantom of the Opera, (featuring the theme from the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical) and appeared on some TV shows in New Zealand and Australia.
The South Park guys discovered her via Internet buzz. Her appearance there basically made her the Tiny Tim of 2005 -- even though her voice was closer to Mrs. Miller. Though she seemed to take her music seriously, she was considered a novelty act -- or by some, an "outsider artist."
Yes, we laughed at her, not with her. But she seemed like such a sweet, modest lady you felt like a jerk after the yuks.
Her career kept going for several years. She cranked out several albums between 2006 and 2008. and even making an appearance at the 2008 South By Southwest in Austin.
According to her Wikipedia page, she announced on her website that she was retiring from showbiz in 2015. That website is no longer online. And though the Allmusic Guide says she made a couple of records for CD Baby, I can't find them there. She's got a Facebook page, but she hasn't posted anything there in three years.
But there is a lot of material still available on YouTube, so Wing, this is for you, wherever you are.
She did this one on South Park.
Wing did a whole album of AC/DC covers. And hey, even Tiny Tim did "Highway to Hell."
This is one of the later Wing songs I could find. Produced by Rappy Mcrapperson, Wing truly lives up to her weirdness potential here.
Finally, here's some live footage of Wing. I guess we'd be going over that old rainbow ...
America's sweetheart, Tonya Harding, is back in the national consciousness once again thanks to an upcoming biopic I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie that looks back on the life of the champion figure skater from the wrong side of the tracks.
In 1991 Tonya Harding won her first national skating title and became the first woman to complete a triple axel in competition. In January 1994, Harding earned notoriety when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, hired a hitman to assault fellow U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. The attack seriously bruised Kerrigan's kneecap and quadriceps tendon, and prevented her from participating in the U.S. Championships. Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into Kerrigan's attack, which allowed her to avoid jail time. Under the plea bargain, Harding was stripped of her '94 national title and banned from competing in the U.S. for life. Despite her knee injury, Kerrigan went on to win the silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Games.
You confronted your sorrow
Like was no tomorrow
Kerrigan was clearly the victim in this story. But while there is still dispute about whether Harding was responsible for the attack, Harding became a national villain, hated and reviled.
But guess which one the nation's songwriters preferred. As one of my favorite college professor posed to a literature class, "Who do we love, Pat Garrett or Billy the Kid? Jesse James or the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard?"
In short, I'm not aware of any songs about Nancy Kerrigan. But here are three about Tonya.
I’ve been trying to write a Tonya Harding song since I first saw her skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1991. She’s a complicated subject for a song partly because the hard facts of her life are so strange, disputable, heroic, unprecedented, and indelibly American. ...
Tonya Harding’s dramatic rise and fall was fiercely followed by the media, and she very quickly became the brunt of jokes, the subject of tabloid headlines and public outcry. She was a reality TV star before such a thing even existed. But she was also simply un-categorical: America’s sweetheart with a dark twist. But I believe this is what made her so interesting, and a true American hero. In the face of outrage and defeat, Tonya bolstered shameless resolve and succeeded again and again with all manners of re-invention and self-determination.
He reportedly submitted the song for I, Tonya, but it wasn't used in the film.
Here's my favorite of Stevens' Tonya songs
But I don't like Stevens' lonesome ode a fraction as much as I love Loudon Wainwright's "Tonya's Twirls." I first saw him perform it at a Santa Fe concert about a year and a half after the Kerrigan attack.
It's truly a subversive little ditty, that starts off with a quick yuk at the expense of Hardin's "body guard" Shawn Eckardt, and includes a little bit of the " puns, punch lines and light-hearted jabs" Sufjan Stevens says he tried to avoid.
But once you're drawn into the song Wainwright hits you with the sad tale of class struggle -- the lower-class girl in that world of prissy little ice princesses.
... she was your parents' worst nightmare: the slut who moved next door
From the wrong side of the track, she liked the boys more than the girls
With their gliding and their sliding and their girlish dainty twirls-
And then Wainwright pulls back and uses the story to decry the corruption of a fun little activity for "giddy, slipping, sliding, laughing, happy little girls" that grew to be more about corporate sponsorship deals and American nationalism.
And I just learned that the immortal Tiny Tim wrote a little song for Tonya not long after the knee-capping incident. Dedicated to "Miss Tonya Harding," Tiny's song has some invaluable advice here:
Though you are sighing, though you are crying and everything has gone wrong
Sunday, December 11, 2022 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Clear Night for Love by Roky Erickson
Strobe Light by The B52s
Johnny Gillette by Simon Stokes
Who Do You Think You're Fooling by Captain Beefheart
Rock Therapy by Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio
Sunday, May 5, 2019 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Fiesta by The Pogues
Gutterboy Blues by Mean Motor Scooter
Traces by The Mystery Lights
Hanging Tree by Bob Mould
Pictures of Lily by Hickoids
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
Dad or Dead by Dirk Geil
Contageous by Sleeve Cannon
The Art of Projection by Imperial Wax
I've Been Duped by The Fall
Mechanic Wanted by Mekons 77
St. Stephen by Ty Segall
Sucka Punch (Get Back) by Dinola
Two Dollar Elvis by Left Lane Cruiser
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
The Dozens by Eddie "One String" Jones
Hokomo Ju Ju Man by Little Howlin' Wolf
Monster Surf Party by The Barbarellatones
Don't Touch by Andre Williams
Snack Crack by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
X-Ray Glasses by The Scaners
Free Money by Patti Smith
Soy un Bruto by ET Explore Me
The Devil in the Dance Hall by Harvey McLaughlin
Devil's at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes
No, I'm Iron Man by The Butthole Surfers Batman Theme by Iggy Pop
This Wonderful Day by Kyra
Conway Twitty by Johnny Dowd
The Fruit Man by Ween
Springtime in nthe Rockies by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
Boot That Thing by Roosevelt Sykes & Henry Townsend
The Good Old World (Waltz) by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, April 26, 2009 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres Dum Du by Butthole Surfers Mummy Shakes by The Molting Vultures Lonlely Weekend by The Remains Spiderman by The Ramones Rat's Revenge Part 1 by The Rats Hit Me by The Fleshtones Yesterday's Trash by The Hentchmen Archive From 59 by The Buff Medways Girl of Matches by Thee Headcoats Minority Report by Los Straightjackets Mystery Meat by Man or Astroman?
God Wanted to Be a Man by Goshen Country Blues by The Tarbox Ramblers The River Is Laughing by Stinky Lou & The Goon Mat What The Hell by The Black Smokers Mean and Evil by Juke Joint Pimps Dreamin' About Flyin' by The Moaners Train Song No. 35 by Edison Rocket Train Debra Lee by BBQ
Short Fat Fannie by Larry Williams Pappa Shotgun by Billy Stafford Justine by The Righteous Brothers Thunderbird by William "Thunderbird" Williams Jungle Hop by Don & Dewy Take a Bath by Charles Simms Vendetta by Impala Wine Head by Johnny Wright My Baby's Comin' by Stud Cole One Cup of Coffee and a Cigarette by Glenn Glenn Primitive by The Cramps
Jesus Shootin' Heroin by The Flaming Lips Greasy Heart by The Jefferson Airplane Bass Strings by Country Joe & The Fish World's End State Park by Giant Sand True Love by Tiny Tim & Miss Sue CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
But in the days before smoking bans, cigarettes -- made their smokey mark on various strands of American popular song.
Country singers poke fun at their addictive qualities. Sometimes their used as a metaphor of loneliness or a symptom of an empty, sinful life.
Listen to all of these tunes and you'll be coughing and hacking by the end of this blog post.
xxx
First let's start with the song that inspired this week's theme. A couple of weeks ago my old pal Mark asked me if I remembered a song that referred to a cigarette as something that had "fire on one end a fool on the other." I didn't recall this but went searching through cig songs to try to find it. Mark found it before I did, a novelty tune called "Cigareets & Whuskey and Wild, Wild Women." Mark found a good version by Ramblin; Jack Elliott. But I decided to use this goofy one by a group called Red Ingle & The Natural Seven. I never realized before that The Hombres lifted Ingle's introduction for the introduction to their own 1967 hit "Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out)."
I don't think hokum bluesman Bo Carter actually was singing about tobacco products in this 1936 love song, "Cigarette Blues."
One of the most famous country tunes about cigarettes was this talking song by Tex Williams, which he co-wrote with Merle Travis -- "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette."
Here's a sad and sultry one called "Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray" by Patsy Cline.
Tiny Tim (you've read about him recently) reached back to 1898 to find a song defending nicotine addiction with "Sly Cigarette," performed here with Brave Combo.
Speaking of sly, Robbie Fulks paid tribute to his boyhood home, the great state of North Carolina in his song, "Cigarette State."
I'm not sure where Ry Cooder found "Fool for a Cigarette," but it appeared on his album Paradise and Lunch as a medley with J.B. Lenoir's "Feelin' Good."
If "Cigarettes and Coffee" were what powered Otis Redding, then they should be mandatory.
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
No Rest for the Wicked by Wayne Cochran
Stutterin' Sue by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Gravy for My Mashed Potatoes by Dee Dee Sharp
Hot Pastrami With Mashed Potatoes Part 1 by Joey Dee & The Starliters
Hot Pastrami With Mashed Potatoes Part 2 by Joey Dee & The Starliters
Living Wreck by Mudhoney
Midnight Motorway by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Caught in the Devil's Game by The Darts
The Devil and Me by The Vagoos
If You Live by Meet Your Death
She Left Me With the Herpes by Tiny Tim
Time Has Come by Mary's Kids
Pray You Parrots by The Devils
Loose It by Arvidson & Butterflies
Fox by Travel in Space
Police Call by Drywall
Brillo de Facto by The Fall
Yen For Your Yang by Pocket FishRMen
Stick a Knife in His Heart by Casey Jones Dead
Andres by L7
Yabba Ding Ding by Joe "King" Carrasco
A Lap Full of Hate by Movie Star Junkies
Monkey Bizness by Pere Ubu
Cave Girl by The Texreys
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Teeth by Baronen & Satan
The Unsignposted Road by The Masonics
Geraldine by The A-Bones
Bumble Bee by LaVern Baker
Dagger Moon by Dead Moon
Haunt by Roky Erickson
Nocturne by Mark Lanegan
I Felt My Courage Fail by Jon Langford's Four Lot Souls
House Where Nobody Lives by King Ernest
Take it With Me by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, December 13, 2015 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Turned Out Light by Thee Oh Sees
Gimme Danger by Iggy & The Stooges
Dan Dare by The Mekons
Two Sided Triangle by Any Dirty Party
I Guess You're My Girl by The Vagoos
Long Distance Call by Super Super Blues Band
Everybody Loves a Train by Tom Jones
Don't Mess With My Toot Toot by Jello Biafra & The Raunch and Soul All Stars
Fake This One by Churchwood
Sit Down Baby by Dave & Phil Alvin
Rat Time by King Mud
Love is Like a Blob by Quintron & Miss Pussycat
Daisy Mae by The Seeds
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindoor by Tiny Tim
Boston Blackie by Chuck E. Weiss
Rock 'n' Roll Baby by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Rollin' and Tumblin' by Canned Heat
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
We Live Dangerous by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Crossroad Hop by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Boner by Santa Geil & His Red Nose Pimps
Oh No / The Orange County Lumber Truck by The Mothers of Invention
Notoryczna narzeczona (Notorious Bride) by Kazik & Kwartet ProForma
Break the Spell by Gogol Bordello
Soy de Sagitario by Rolando Bruno
Cry About the Radio by Mary Weiss
Cheryl's Going Home by Miriam
The Kiss by Judee Sill
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, July 4, 2010 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres Opening Montage to Big Enchilada 11 An American is a Very Lucky Man by Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians The Outcast by Tom Russell featuring Dave Van Ronk Fourth of July by X American Music by The Blasters This Land is Your Land by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings U.S. Blues by The Harshed Mellows The Body of an American by The Pogues The Star Spangled Banner by Tiny Tim
Your Fat Friend by The Raunch Hands Slut by New Bomb Turks Hey Amigo by Havana 3 a.m. Do the Climb by King Salami & the Cumberland 3 Clap Your Hands by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band House Rent Jump by Peter Case
Pink Berets by Tin Huey Twilight's Last Gleamings by William S. Burroughs Two Left Feet by Mark Sultan Tight Sweater by The Marathons Big American Problem by Drywall America The Beautiful by Ray Charles Coda by Little Jack Horton CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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The idea of Santa Claus in Outer Space has been a twisted sub genre of popular
Christmas music for decades now. It's not known exactly when Santa Claus began
his space traveling. But The Lennon Sisters with Lawrence Welk's Little Band
were singing about it by the late 1950s.
A disco-era Tiny Tim gave us a a Yuletide outer space tune. It rocketed to
instant obscurity.
This next one is featured on my new
Big Enchilada Christmas Special. It's by Bobby Helm, best known for "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."
(Hat tip to my brother Jack)
Finally, here's the thrilling climax of
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, (I just realized that the title of
that movie is itself a spoiler!) which ends in the classic Christmas song,
"Hooray for Santa Claus."
And for all sorts of wacky Christmas songs, check out my
Christmas Specials
at The Big Enchilada Podcast.
Sunday, March 21, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Justine by The Blasters
Lil Lobo by Joe "King" Carrasco with Patricia Vonne
Baby Doll by The Del Moroccos
Ain't Your Choir by Churchwood
Before the World Blows Up by The Electric Mess
Frog Went a Courtin' by Flat Duo Jets
The Model by Big Black
It's Trash by The Cavemen
My Way by The Darts
All I'm Saying by Alien Space Kitchen
Bowdlerize by Danger Cutterhead
Travelin' Riverside Blues by Hindu Love Gods
Cape by Jon Spencer
Talent Show by The Replacements
Say Goodbye to a Dream by The Woggles
I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman by Lacy Gibson with Sun Ra
Coming to Take Me Away by Tiny Tim
Sophisticated Boom Boom by The Knoxville Girls
Parts Unknown by Kid Congo Powers with Lydia Lunch & Die Haut
Down the Road by Dead Moon
Snickersnee by Thee Oh Sees
Scumbag by Frank Zappa with John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Crazy Train / Monkey Town by Degurutieni
Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes by Joey Dee & The Starliters
It's a Jungle Out There by Randy Newman
Geeshie by The Mekons
I'm a Suspect by Lonnie Holley
How Great Thou Art by Homer Henderson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
OK, I realize that just a week ago Throwback Thursday featured a bunch of my
favorite Elvis Presley songs to mark the 40th anniversary of his death.
But this week we're taking a slightly deeper dive into another Elvis song, "Are
You Lonesome Tonight."
Basically this is a song about a guy who misses his woman so much he's
fantasizing that she's so miserable without him, she'll gladly take him back on
the strength of a pretty melody.
And he may be projecting a little mental instability on her:
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare? Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
As I sometimes do with songs I love, a wrote another verse to "Are You Lonesome
Tonight" for my own amusement, building on that theme of insanity:
Do the shadows in your hall seem to whisper my name? Do you pound on the walls seeking someone to blame?
Fortunately for you, gentle readers, I've never recorded that, though I did
perform an a Capella version last week at Whoo's Donuts.
Be that as it may, "Are You Lonesome Tonight," unlike many of Elvis' hits of
that era, was already decades old when he recorded it.
It was written in 1926 (some sources say 1927) by the team of
Roy Turk
(lyrics) &
Lou Handman (melody).
Turk (1892-1934) also wrote the lyrics to "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," (recorded
by Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and a jillion others) as well
as the jazz standard "Mean to Me," (Billie Holiday,
Sarah Vaughan) and Bing Crosby's "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day."
By 1927 several artists of the day had recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight."
You'll notice in the early version, the song that we know, as sung by Elvis, is
just the chorus of the song. The verses (the first one begins "Tonight I'm
downheated / For though we have parted /I'll love you and I always will") have
been forgotten through the years.
Here's the first recording of the song by crooner Charles Hart:
Here's a female singer, Vaughn De Leath, with another 1927 version.
I never realized until researching this that The Carter Family did a version in
1936 with a different melody.
Al Jolson recorded first version I could find to include the "world is a stage"
spoken bridge. This is from 1950, just a decade before Elvis recorded it.
(Despite the photo in the video, I don't believe Jolie did this one in
blackface.)
Let's fast forward through a few decades. This is from the '90s but I bet Tiny
Tim loved this song even before Elvis did. (Song doesn't start until after the 4
minute mark.)
Sunday, November 6, 2022 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Big Zombie by The Mekons
Brand New Cadillac by Vince Taylor
Lily of the West by Heathen Apostles
Baby You Crazy by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes
Oh No, She Didn't Say by The Cyclones
Madness by Bogos
Man in Black by Chuck D with Bob Log III
Old MacDonald Had a Boogaloo Farm by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
Git Back in the Truck by Hickoids
Pie in The Sky by The Jackets
Insatisfaccion by Doctor Explosion
There Goes My Babe by Miriam
The Voice by Fred Parris & The Scarlets
Foolin' No One by Churchwood
On the Old Front Porch by Tiny Tim
Take Only What You Can Carry by Gogol Bordello
Whack It by Oh! Gunquit
Heart of Darkness by Ghost Wolves
Mighty Mighty Love by Lee Fields
Hey You by Simon Stokes
Left Hand Shake (SSS Remix) by Old Time Relijun
Way Down by Elvis Presley
Baby Please Don't Go by Paul Revere & The Raiders
You Can't Delete Nightmares by Degurutieni
Underground by Kazik Staszewski
Glass Jaw by James Leg
Last Night by Honshu Wolves
Voodoo Blues by Hoyt Axton
Patrick's Song by Michael Eck
Needless to Say by Loudon Wainwright III
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Call me Scrooge. Call me Grinch. Call me Ishmael. But once again I just couldn't bring myself to produce another damned Christmas show. Sometime in the past couple of holiday seasons, I just burned out on Christmas songs. So, just like last year, once again I'm giving you an hour of crazed rock 'n' roll -- with just a sprinkling of songs from the season. (And if you really need some Christmas music right now, you can find all my Christmas specials HERE)
Sunday, August 3, 2008 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres I Wish That I Was Dead by The Dwarves Taxi Driver by The Rodeo Carburettor Night of Broken Glass by Jay Reatard Wedgie Wipeout by The Wipeouters Day Time Girl by Sky Saxon I'm in With the Out Crowd by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs Thanks a Lot by Dengue Fever Don't Bring Me Down by The Animals Dog Food by Iggy Pop
Penny & The Young Buck by The Gluey Brothers Can't Take 'em Off by Andre Williams & The New Orleans Hellhounds Sweet Tooth by King Khan & The Shrines Puddin' Truck by NRBQ Snake Charmer by The Puddle Jumpers Hot Tamale Baby by Buckwheat Zydeco Can't Judge a Book by Bo Diddley Louie Louie by The Kingsmen
Pappa Did the Chicken by Little Sammy Boss Lady by The Detroit Cobras The Ballad of Hollis Brown by Thee Headcoats Davey Crocket by Thee Headcoatees Buzz the Jerk by The Pretty Things Hey Little Girl by Thunderbirds Don't You Want a Man Like Me by Little Brother Baila Bailme by Al Hurricane Rub Every Muscle by Half Japanese
Tremblin' White by Hundred Year Flood Freckle Song by Chuck Prophet Listen by Screamin' Jay Hawkins Take a Bath by Charles Sims La Sombra by Cordero Don't Change on Me by Ray Charles I Believe in Tomorrow by Tiny Tim & Bravc Combo CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Strychnine by Barrence Whitfield
Set Aside by ? & The Mysterians
You Better Hide by The Ding Dongs
Let Me Freeze by Mark Sultan
Goin' Back To L.A. by Johnny Otis & Delmar Evans
Oh Babe by Andre Williams
Bell Air Blues by Drywall
Heebie Jeebies by The Gun Club
The Doorway by Pierced Arrows
Pretty by Rocket from the Tombs
Fall on You by The Plimsouls
Changes by Moby Grape
Why Pick on Me by The Standells
When the Girls Are Rocking by The 99ers
Shake This Feelin' by The Liquid Vapours
Betty by Johnny Dowd
Clever Way to Crawl by Persian Claws
I Wish You Would by The Fleshtones
My Struggle by The Black Lips
Selling That Stuff by McKinney's Cotton Pickers
My Top 10 Favorite Covers set
Stairway to Heaven by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
Goldfinger by Peter Stampfel
Sugar Sugar by Wilson Picket
Banana Splits (the Tra La La Song) by The Dickies
I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised by Eugene Chadbourne
Little Rug Bug by NRBQ
I Wanna Be Sedated by Two Tons of Steel
Stormy Weather by The Reigning Sound
Surf's Up by David Thomas & Two Pale Boys
One For My Baby by Iggy Pop
The Rocky Road to Dublin by The Young Dubliners
Beer, Broads, and Brats by The Polkaholics
Love Miner by O Lendario Chucrobillyman
Rockin' Bones by Flat Duo Jets
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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