THROWBACK THURSDAY: Gobblin' Goober Peas

A few weeks ago I was catching up on last year's season of the HBO comedy Veep. (I'm still a little behind, but at least I'm in the current season now.) There was a scene that not only was hilarious, it reminded me of a great American song.

In that scene, Mike, the vice president's communications director, is trying to convince Jonah, a former White House staffer turned vindictive gossip blogger, not to publish an unflattering story. In an act of voluntary humiliation, Mike agrees to get down on his knees and sing Jonah a song.

That song, of course, is "Goober Peas,' which goes back to the American Civil War.

The fact that Jonah doesn't recognize the name of the song "Goober Peas" only makes you hate him more.

The writers of this song are not known. When it first appeared on sheet music --  in New Orleans after the Civil War -- publisher A.E. Blackmar, who must have been a real nutty guy, credited the words to A. Pinder, Esq. and the music to P. Nutt, Esq. (I didn't know this until right now, but some people call peanuts "pindar nuts.")

But this little joke on the publisher's part makes you wonder whether the song actually was written by a poor Confederate soldier, or a group of poor Confederate soldiers, trying to make light of their miserable conditions.

No, peanuts were not always considered a decent American snack, something you eat with Crackerjacks at the old ball game.

According to a 2012 article by Jesse Rhodes for Smithsonian.com:

Before the Civil War, peanuts were not a widely cultivated crop in the United States—Virginia and North Carolina were the principal producers—and were generally viewed as a foodstuff fit for the lowest social classes and for livestock.

But that would change thanks to food shortages during the Civil War. 'An excellent source of protein, peanuts were seen as a means of fighting malnutrition," Rhodes wrote. However, apparently they didn't help with the "rags and fleas" that plagued the soldiers, according to the song.

Here's former Galisteo resident Burl Ives and Johnny Cash singing the song. (I think whatever key  this is, it's a bad one for both singers.)




I never had heard of this guy, Kenneth Kramm, but I think I like this version better.



But despite my long affection for "Goober Peas," I think this Dizzy Gillespie classic is my favorite song about the pindar nut.



  For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Do Not Adjust Your Computer, It's the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

Back in the late 1960s in England there was a TV comedy show called Do Not Adjust Your Set, whose cast included Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin -- all three becoming members of a little comedy team called Monty Python shortly after the show was cancelled in 1969.

Another thing about DNAYS: Its house band was none other than The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a group that had one foot in the Roaring '20s and the other in surreal rock 'n' roll. They performed a song (and sometimes helped out in the comedy skits) every week.

Originally called The Bonzo Dog Dada Band (and later just The Bonzo Dog Band), the group drew from traditional jazz, English Music Hall, novelty songs doo-wop, psychedelia and more. Among the members were Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes, Rodney Slater, Roger Ruskin Spear and "Legs" Larry Smith.

The bond between the Bonzos and Monty Python would remain strong. Innes would perform with and write songs for Python. he and Idle would become members of The Rutles, a Beatles send-up that resulted in a TV movie, All You Need is Cash, and a soundtrack album.

I just stumbled across a stash of Bonzo Dog songs on YouTube from Do Not Adjust Your Set, which featured members of Monty Python. Here are a few of them that make for a perfect Wacky Wednesday.

I first heard this on the Urban Spaceman album when I was in high school.



The Bonzos performed this song in the strip-joint scene in The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. (And a certain alt-rock band from the '90s took its name from this song.)



And speaking of The Beatles, I always wondered whether John Lennon got his idea for "Bungalow Bill" from this next one.



And here's one I wasn't familiar with:




Big hat tip to John Smallwood, who is an even bigger Bonzo Dog fan than me.


UPDATED Nov. 15, 2015. Most of the original videos I posted were yanked by the YouTube police. I've replaced them with versions that hopefully will be around for awhile.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 2, 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 below

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Volare by The Drifting Mines

Buzz the Jerk by The Pretty Things

Shortnin' Bread by The Cramps

Daddy You Lied to Me by The Del Moroccos

I'm Cryin' by The Animals

A New Wave by Sleater-Kinney

Look at Little Sister by The Sonics

Berlin by Dickie B. Hardy

Out of This World by The Rezillos

Reconsider Baby by Elvis Presley

Hot Corner by B-52s

Spittin' Fire by The Sons of Hercules

Midnight Hour by Question Mark & The Mysterians

White Jesus by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

The Six Rat Rovers by Paddy & The Rats

Til the End of the Day by The Kinks

Shotgun John by Hundered Year Flood

Greasy Meal by Lawn Chair Kings

Hawkeye the Gnu by Bonzo Dog Doo-Da Band

Ruby Lee / See That My Grave is Kept Clean by B.B.  King

Little by Little by Paula Rhae McDonald

She Caught the Katie by Taj Mahal

I'm the Wolf by Howlin' Wolf

Goin' Down South by Markus James

Don't Pretend You Don't Know by Dinosaur Jr. 

Moonlight Motel by The Gun Club

Throw it Back by Jody Porter

Telepathic by The Gories

Bastards of Young by The Replacements

Harry Hippie by Bobby Womack

That's Life by Van Morrison

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 1, 2015 
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 below:

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens

May Day by Jack Hardy

Red Red Robin by Rosie Flores

Cry Baby Cry by The Banditos

Long Way From Home by Texas Martha & The House of Twang

Tennessee Stomp by Hillbilly Casino

Cracklings by The Gourds

The Ride by David Allen Coe

Cousin Cupcake's Got the Blues by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

It Wasn't You by Slackeye Slim

Gee, Oogle It Baby by Reno Jack

Down Among the Dead Men by Steve Train & His Bad Habits

Money For Drugs by The Beaumonts

Killed a Chicken Last Night by Scott H. Biram

Hallelujah Band by Eilen Jewell

Two Dollar Bill by Paula Rhae McDonald

Pass the Booze by Ernest Tubb

Beans and Make Believe by Mose McCormack

The Crawdad Song by The Meat Purveyors

Bright Lights and Country a Music by Rhonda Vincent

Breathing Room by Jim White vs. The Packway Handle Band

Let's Invite Them Over by Southern Culture on the Skids

I Push Right Over by Robbie Fulks

A Little Wind Could Blow Me Away by Peter Case

Pretty Peggy-O by The Grateful Dead

State Street Rag by Louie Bluie

I Can Talk to Crows by Chipper Thompson

Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family

Busted by Two Tons of Steel

My Morphine by David Johansen & The Harry Smiths

Funny How Time Slips Away by Willie Nelson

Lulu's Back in Town by Leon Redbone

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Come Running Down The Stairs

I've got nothing against Simon & Garfunkel. I like a lot of their tunes.

But it's inconceivable to me how they managed to take a perfectly rough and tumble folk song that ends with a line saying, "If ever I return, all your cities I will burn ..." and make it sound wimpy.

But that's what they did with "Peggy O," which appeared on Paul & Artie's first album, Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.

I'm not even going to post the video of this useless version. In fact, I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it. The only reason I do is because it just so happens that Simon & Garfunkel's was the first "Peggy O" I ever heard.

I never liked that track, but I have to admit, that line with the arson threat always did intrigue me. Basically it's the story of a soldier, "our captain," who falls for "a lady like a dove" and promises to take her "in a carriage" to " places far and strange."

But something goes wrong. Apparently Peggy rejects him and his troops are threatening to burn all the cities and destroy "all the ladies in the ar-e-o."

Breaking up is hard to do.

"Peggy O" is the American descendant of an old Scottish song, going back at least to the late 18th Century, called "The Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie." Fyvie is a small town with a castle in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland,

Some versions of the song appear under the titles of "Bonnie Barbara-O," "Pretty Peggy of Derby," and "Peggy Sue." O.K., just kidding about that last one,

The first known recording of the song was by an Aberdeenshire farmer named John Strachan.  Alan Lomax got him on tape in 1951. A few years later, Tommy Makem & The Clancy Brothers recorded it and called the song "The Maid of Fife-E-O."

Other folkies on both sides of the Atlantic began playing it. I like this one recorded by The Dubiners in the early 1960s.



Bob Dylan included the song, which he called "Pretty Peggy-O," on his debut album in 1962. His version was influenced by The Clancys'. But he made it crazier.

Unlike Simon & Garfunkel's pristine version, Dylan burst out of the gate joking on this one. "I've been around this whole country, but I never yet found Fenneario," he says at the beginning of the track.

He's changed the setting from ancient Scotland to contemporary America. He sings of the love-lorn captain (who has been demoted to lieutenant here) "The lieutenant he has gone, long gone
He's a-riding down in Texas with the rodeo."

And this live version is even funnier. (I'm fallin' down the stairs, pretty Peggy-O ...")



But after all these years, my favorite version is that of The Grateful Dead. Throwing in some well-placed minor chords, they create a heartbreaking and haunting melody. The local seems ambiguous, though when singing "Sweet William he is dead," he reveals, "He's buried in the Louisiana country-o."

I first heard the Dead do this song at a 1977 concert in Albuquerque. Seventeen years later I saw them play it again in Las Vegas -- which would turn out to be the last time I'd see the Grateful Dead play.

Here's a video of the song from that concert.



For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook