WACKY WEDNESDAY: The Worst of Elvis

Most people who know me realize that I love Elvis Presley. His impact on music is undeniable. The power of his voice is almost supernatural. Elvis was King. I believe it. That settles it.

But even so, even a fan such as I (a fool, such as I) has to admit that Elvis dedicated way too much of his short time on Earth to producing crappy music. The vast majority of his crappy music was for his even crappier movies of the mid 1960s. His output during this era ranged from the sadly mediocre to the irritatingly corny to the horrifyingly awful (with a handful of rocking gems and beautiful ballads here and there.)

So I present these songs not to besmirch the memory of Elvis, who whose 83rd birthday was just a couple of days ago, but to have a couple of laughs in his honor. I think somewhere Elvis is laughing too.

Here's what many Elvis consider to be the low point of his catalog, "Queenie Wahine's Papaya" from Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966). He performs on the world's smallest ukulele,  telling a pointless story to a gaggle of island tykes.



In Fun in Acapulco (1963) Elvis shared this bit of widom: "There's no room to rumba in a sports car."



I bet Captain Beefheart was jealous that he didn't come up with the title "Song of the Shrimp" before Elvis did this song in the movie Girls! Girls! Girls! in 1962



In Roustabout (1964) Elvis sang about hula girls shaking their grass. It's strictly high class.

And for those who can't get enough of bad Elvis, here is a Spotify list I put together a few years ago featuring those songs and many more.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018
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
Double Shot of My Baby's Love by The Swinging Medallions
My Confusion by The Elites
You Treat Me Bad by The JuJus
Strychnine by The Sonics
The Crusher by The Novas
Shattered by Good Feelings
Beautiful Gardens by The Cramps
They Can't Hurt Me by Lyrics
A Fix on You by Dead Moon
Come and Go by Travel in Space
Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown by Count Vaseline
Formula X by Boss Hog
Take Off Your Clothes by Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo

Trash Talkin' Paint Huffin' Girl by The Cavemen
The Devil's Trick is Not a Treat by The Devils
Dumb Feelings by Escobar
Turmoil in My Head by Arvidson & Butterflies
Honey Baby Blues by Lightning Beat Man
Bomb Carpets of Love by Rattanson
Hold It Down by Striplight
Get Messy by The Darts

Old Zztrrk Man by The Fall
Then Comes Dudley by The Jesus Lizard
Colonoscopy by Pocket FishRMen
Take a Stroll Through Your Mind by The Temptations
I May Be Gone by The Oblivians & Mr. Quintron
Chem Farmers by Thee Oh Sees
7 and 7 Is by Love

Lightning's Girl by Nancy Sinatra
Red Harvest by Movie Star Junkies
Bitch I Love You by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Jemima Surrender by Howard Tate
Indestructible by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
Don't Play That Song (You Lied) by Jackie Shane
Black Night by Frank Sinatra Jr.
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this.

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Jan. , 2018
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Air Mail Special by Marty Stuart
A Tornado Warning by Turnpike Troubadours
Rolling River by Joe West
Girlfriend Stole My Alien by DM Bob & Country Jem
The Moon is High by Neko Case
Can't Live Life by Rhonda Vincent & Daryl Singletary
Sorry You're Sick by Mary Gauthier
Whole Lotta Things by Southern Culture on the Skids
Who's Gonna Take Your Garbage Out by Rosie Flores with Jon Langford
Is it True What They Say About Dixie? by Jim Kweskin

I've Waited a Lifetime by Wynn Stewart
Eatin' Crow and Drinkin' Sand by Jesse Dayton
I Want It So Bad by The Gourds
I Got Your Medicine by Shinyribs
Garden of Delights by Legendary Shack Shakers
Rain and Snow by J.D. Wilkes
If I'm to Blame by Chipper Thompson

Fools for Each Other by Bill & Bonnie Hearne
Ice Water by Peter Case
Don't Leave Poor Me by Eilen Jewell
There Oughta Be a Law Against Southern California by Terry Allen
Voodoo Walking by Hipbone Slim & Mama Rosin
What is Life Without Love by Cheetah Chrome
Down the Mississippi by The Dad Horse Experience
No Woman's Flesh But Hers by Johnny Dowd

Drunkard's Prayer by Chris Stapleton
Pinball by Hellbound Glory
One Endless Night by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Where Did It Go by Bobby Bare
Going Where the Lonely Go by Merle Haggard
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets



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Check out The Big Enchilada Podcast Hillbilly Episode Archive where there are hours of shows where I play music like you hear on the SF Opry.

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Remembering Ruby

Jack Ruby with unidentified employee circa 1962

Jack Ruby died 51 years and one day ago today.

No, I didn't have to Google this morbid little piece of historical trivia. I've known this date for 51 years.

Ruby, the Dallas strip joint owner who killed JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died the same day as my grandfather. I remember reading it in the paper the day after and thinking my grandfather would have been interested in the article.

It had been my grandfather who had introduced me to Jack Ruby. I was walking downstairs in our house on Nov. 4, 1963 when I hear Pappa start bellowing from the den. "They shot the son of a bitch! They shot the son of a bitch!"

Sure enough, he'd just witnessed the first live televised murder on national TV. I only got to see the first replay of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Even before Ruby died he already was firmly planted in the center of a thousand conspiracy theories. His passing just ensured his status as a permanent resident of those shadow lands. And even for those of us who are skeptical of the world of magic bullets and grassy knolls, Ruby, with his strippers, his Mafia ties and his questionable links to law enforcement still lurks as an immortal symbol of America's dark underbelly.

Naturally he's been immortalized in song. Here are some of those.

As I mentioned above, I don't buy into all the conspiracy stuff that Minnesota songwriter Paul Metsa sings about here. But there's no denying that this is one powerful tune.



Similarly, I also like this one by British singer Glyn Shipman. I always dug Ruby's hat too.



I'm not sure whether Roland Alphonso's 1964 ska song was really about the Jack Ruby. But it would have sounded great on the Carousel Club's jukebox.



Here's a rockin' little 1990 tune called "Meet Jack Ruby" by a band called Shiva Burlesque (which included Grant Lee Buffalo's Grant Lee Phillips on guitar.)



But my favorite Jack Ruby song though has always been Camper Van Beethoven's song from Key Lime Pie. Let's do business, boys!

WACKY WEDNESDAY: The Wing Beneath My Wings

(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 ...