Until very recently I believed that Helen Kane was the actual voice of Betty Boop.
But just a couple of months ago after writing a column about Cyndi Lauper, a diligent editor showed me the error of my ways. (Thanks, Molly B!)
So no, Helen Kane was not Betty Boop. But when you listen to her songs, you can see how one can make that assumption.
Kane was born Helen Claire Schroeder Aug. 4, 1904 in the Bronx. She started her entertainment career in Vaudeville and by the late 1920s she was making records as well as movies.
And yes, her "boop boop a doop" had become her trademark by this time.
Betty Boop didn't make her debut until 1930. Her face resembled Kane's. But even more so, Betty's voice (provided through the years by at least three actresses, Margie Hine, Mae Questel and Bonnie Poe) resembled Kane's
Cane sued Max Fleischer Studios in 1932, claiming the company had appropriated her vocal style. The case dragged on for more than two years and eventually Kane lost.
We all love Betty Boop but Kane, who died in 1966, deserves love too.
So let's celebrate her music on her 112th birthday.
Cyndi Lauper made this song famous.
But the first song of Kane's I ever heard was this one.
And here's where I first heard that song:
And for those who really want to Boop out, here's a collection of her songs from the Internet Archive
Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr., better known in the free world as Mojo Nixon turned 59 years old yesterday.
Happy birthday, Mojo!
Mojo doesn't perform music that much these days. For the past several years he's done a weekday radio show called The Loon in the Afternoon for Sirus XM's Outlaw Country station.
But his songs are immortal.
Though he's best known for such classics as "Don Henley Must Die," "Debbie Gibson is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child," and of course "Elvis is Everywhere" -- the song that made me a lifelong fan -- today I honor Mojo with a bunch of less familiar songs.
Let's start with this clip from 1989 -- which was around the first time I ever heard Mojo live -- Here he sounds like a one-man redneck Velvet Underground.
Truly he was the King of Sleaze.
From the early '90s, Mojo & The Toadlickers sing "Poontango"
Here is a live performance from earlier this year in which Mojo discusses current events and politics. I can hear the influence of Wesley Willis in this one.
And speaking of politics, back in 1990, Mojo was a guest on CNN's Crossfire where he did battle with Pat Buchanan (who used to work for another Nixon) and some Junior League Tipper Gore over the evils of rock 'n' roll and the need for mandatory labeling of dirty, perverted, violent, Satanic records.
(If you're a masochist, the rest of Mojo's Crossfire appearance can be found HERE and HERE.
Sunday, July 31, 2016 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
Rats in My Kitchen by The Fleshtones
Fall on You by The Plimsouls
Knee High by Dino's Boys
Better to Be Lucky Than Good by The Electric Mess
Night of the Sadist by Larry & The Blue Notes
Animal by Knoll Allen & The Noble Savages The Striker by The Giant Robots Bless You by The Devil Dogs
We'll Be Together by The Pretty Things
Manic Romantics by Soulphonics Cha Cha Cha Chewy by Jonny Manak & The Depressives Skinny Jimmy by The Del Moroccos
If a Man Answers by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden by Concrete Blonde
Shotgun Shooter by GØGGS
Bloody Hammer by Roky Erickson & The Aliens
Spooks by Ghost Bikini
El Sadistico by Deadbolt
No Novelty by Nots
Andres by L7
Moonlight Motel by The Gun Club
Crawl Through Your Hair by New Mystery Girl
Alien Agenda by Alien Space Kitchen
Big Black Hole by The Oblivians Celebration Number One by The Night Beats
Yona's Blues by The Come n' Go Louie Louie by The Flamin' Groovies
Shattered by The Good Feelings
You Got the Love by The Cynics Wild Little Rider by The Bloodhounds
High John the Conquerer by Gogol Bordella
Russian Lullaby by Pierre Omer's Swing Revue
Zycie Jest Piekne by Kult
Reckless Heart by Johnny Rawls
Muriel by Eleni Mandell
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, July 29, 2016 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
Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum
The One That Got Away by Legendary Shack Shakers
Hard Travelin' by Tim Timebomb
It's All Over But the Crying by Jan Howard
Sloppy Drunk Blues by Devil in a Woodpile
Cornbread and 'Lasses and Sassafrass Tea by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I Got Nothing by Don Whitaker & The Shinebenders
Skip a Rope by Dallas Wayne
Don't Fall in Love WIth a Girl Like That by The Boxcars
Buffalo Gals by J. Michael Combs
Anything Goes at a Rooster Show by The Imperial Rooster
Don't Shoot by Kyle Martin
I Don't Claim to Be an Angel by Laura Cantrell
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter by The Western Flyers
Rubber Room by Frontier Circus
Dolores by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Railroad Lady by Jerry Jeff Walker
Jimmy Jack's Diner by Trailer Radio
The Marching Hippies by Guy Drake
Never Come Home / Cocktails by Robbie Fulks
Do You Know How It Feels to Be Lonely by Carla Olson
Begging for a Bullet by Dean Miller
Win-Win Situation for Losers by Dave Insley
Roarin' by Gary Stewart
One Meat Ball by Josh White
Number One With a Bullet by Freakwater
The Pilgrim Chapter 38 by Kris Kristofferson
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Joan Osborne
Watching the River Go By by John Hartford
Thy Burdens are Greater Than Mine by Hank Williams
For years I've been fascinated by a song that I just always assumed was an Old
West cowboy song, the song that might be sung out on the range, or by Miss
Kitty's prettiest showgirls at the Long Branch Saloon.
"Buffalo Gals."
I always assumed there was something going on beneath the lyrics about dancing
with the girl with the hole in her stocking. Something spooky and mystical and
sexy.
Recently while reading about "Buffalo Gals" on the Library of Congress
Folklife Todayblog, a commenter named Joe Ward described exactly what I thought the song was
about:
It may have been a cleaned up account, but when I was a child in Texas I
was told that it was based on an old cowboy legend that on moonlit nights on
the prairie, sometimes the spirits of sleeping buffalo would emerge in the
form of beautiful young girls and dance in the moonlight.
I imagined it as an invocation, with the horny old cowpoke singing it trying to
conjure up his own buffalo gal, who I'm sure would snort, kick up a lot of dust
and, uh, dance by the light of the moon. But there's good evidence that "Buffalo Gals" didn't start out as a cowboy
song. And that article in Folklife Today, written by
Stephanie Hall suggests that originally the Buffalo gals might have just been girls from
Buffalo, N.Y.
Hall writes:
"Buffalo Girls" became the title of a 1990 Larry McMurtry novel about
Calamity Jane
... the origin of this song is often given as having been composed by the
minstrel show performer John Hodges under his stage name “Cool White” in
1844. The lyrics are somewhat different, as shown by the title: “Lubly Fan
Will You Cum Out To Night?” [sic] (Lubly Fan is Lovely Fanny). It is an
early example of a song sung by a white man who performed in black face
using a mock African American dialect. Just one year later another white
group who performed in black face, The Ethiopian Serenaders, published sheet
music for “Philadelphia Gals,” (1845) with similar lyrics and no attribution
for a composer or lyricist. ... The Ethiopian Serenaders published another version, “Buffalo Gals”
(presumably for Buffalo, New York), also unattributed. This is the first
sheet music version of the song as it is most familiar to us today.
Hall, however, raises the possibility that the song could have existed long
before it was published.
"Folk songs and minstrel show songs were often in oral circulation long
before they appeared in published form, so first publication is not
necessarily a reliable indication of a song’s age or the composer. It was
not uncommon for the person who first transcribed a song to claim
authorship, especially in the nineteenth century. ... Versions of the song
may even have existed in oral tradition before “Lubly Fan” or “Buffalo Gals”
appeared on minstrel stages.
Hall found what might be a version of the song in the guise of a fiddle song
found in Virginia and West Virginia called "Round Town Gals" circa 1839. You can
find a version of that
HERE.
After the song was published in the mid 1840s, it began to travel around the
country. Sometimes the title would be changed to match the locale in which it
was being played. But "Buffalo Gals" began to stick.
"Who are those buffalo gals?" Hall wrote. "The bison is a symbol of America,
especially the American west. As the song takes on new life, the `gals' may be
women of the west, pioneers, cowgirls, or perhaps fancy women."
Or maybe even the spirits of wild animals who take human form to dance by the
light of the moon.
Below are some worthy versions of "Buffalo Gals."
Woody Guthrie was not the first to record it, but he captured the spirit. His
"Buffalo Gals is a drunken square dance.
Springsteen put some rock 'n' roll in it.
Former Santa Fe resident Eliza Gilkyson played with the lyrics and made it her
own.
And, of course, Malcolm McLaren went crazy with it.
