WACKY WEDNESDAY: The Stupid Pleasures of Nepo-Rock ('60s Edition)

 

Often in small-town politics, success comes not from what you know or even who you know. It's who you're related to. And sometimes that's the case in the rock 'n' roll biz. 

Nepotism isn't all that rampant in the world of rock. But back in the 1960s there were several acts that definitely benefitted from having famous parents. (Not that this phenomenon stopped 50 years. Think Jakob Dylan, Julian Lennon, Wilson-Phillips, Dweezil Zappa, Miley Cyrus, Shooter Jennings, etc.) While much the music made by the children of famous entertainers is pretty bad, some actually is quite good. 

Here are several examples of what we'll call Nepo-Rock, mostly from the 1960s, when I was in elementary school and junior high.

Let's start with Dino, Desi and Billy. Dino was the son of Dean Martin while Desi was the son of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, thus making him the inspiration for Little Ricky on I Love Lucy. Billy Hinsche isn't the spawn of famous folks. (And he's the only one who continued a career in music, going on to become a touring member of The Beach Boys. And his sister Annie married Carl Wilson, which I guess was another form of nepotism.)  

Here's DD&B's first and biggest hit, a watered-down mutation of "Louie Louie":

Here is the son of comedic great Jerry Lewis, though I'm not sure that the French consider Gary Lewis to be a genius. With his band The Playboys (not to be confused with Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys or John Fred & His Playboy Band).

Full disclosure: I saw Gary Lewis & The Playboys live at Wedgewood amusement park in Oklahoma City back when they hot. (But I liked Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs,  who I saw at Springlake amusement park around the same time, much better.)

Gary's biggest hit, of course, was "This Diamond Ring." But he had several successful singles, and the one below, "Save Your Heart for Me," was a cheesy delight:

Noel Harrison was the son of actor Rex Harrison. I hardly ever heard Noel on the radio, but he was a frequent guest on TV variety show in the mid '60s Around the same time that daddy Rex was delighting children and talking to the animals as Doctor Doolittle, young Noel was singing pensive tunes such as "The Windmills of Your Mind" and this one, a tragic cautionary tale for wayward youth:

While Dino, Desi and Gary were pretty lame, and Noel Harrison was kind of interesting, there is one celebrity child who stood out. Being the daughter of Frank Sinatra -- who in. addition to being one of the world's most famous singer also ran a record company (Reprise) -- certainly didn't hurt her career. But I believe Nancy Sinatra would have made it anyway with her talent, charisma, sex appeal and her not-so-secret weapon of producer, songwriter and collaborator Lee Hazelwood.

I've already blogged not too long ago about Nancy's biggest hit, but here's one I've always liked a little more. Not only is it the best, "get-away-from-me-you-creep-or-my-boyfriend-will-beat-the-crap-out-of-you" song this side of The Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back," it's also got that great out-of-nowhere psychedelic freakout in the middle:

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Making Honey in the Lion's Head

Listening recently to Surrounded by Time, the latest album by Tom Jones, I was struck by the Welch belter's version of a favorite old folk song that's been recorded by many artists old and new: "Samson and Delilah." Now ol' Tom decades ago recorded another song about a lady named Delilah, but this new one, produced by Ethan Johns and Mark Woodward, sounds like battered olold shaman telling a Bible story from the world of dreams.

I always assumed that "Samson" was written by the Reverend Gary Davis, who recorded it in the 1950s. But according to music historian Elijah Wald, the song goes back much further. Wald says the tune can be traced to "Wasn’t that a Witness for My Lord,” which he says is "a sort of musical compendium of Bible stories, which included three verses about Samson, two of which are close to what Davis sang." This song was mentioned in a 1909 article about  African American spirituals by sociologist Howard Odum.

And a few decades before Davis told of Samson bare-handedly slaying a lion who'd "killed a man with his paws," there were at least three versions recorded in the late 1920s by three men: Blind Willie Johnson in Dallas, Rev. T.E. Weems in Atlanta and Rev. T.T. Rose in Chicago.

All three were clearly based on the same source, though each performer had edited the lyric somewhat differently to fit a three-minute 78 rpm disc. I guessed the source must have been a published broadside (a printed song sheet with lyrics but no music), and eventually found a copy of that broadside in John Lomax’s papers at the University of Texas.

So let's have a listen to these various "Samson and Delilahs, shall we?

Here's Blind Willie Johnson:

This is how Rev. Weems saw that momentous haircut:

What do you say, Rev. Rose?

Rev. Gary Davis spread the word of Samson to a new generation of folkies and rockers. (Strange fact I just made up: The little girl with Rev.Davis pictured in the video grew up to be Courtney Love!)

The Staple Singers knew a great soul gospel tune when they heard it:

Surely the most famous version of the Samson saga was by The Grateful Dead:

One of my favorite takes was by The Blasters in the early '80s. Singing background vocals were The Jordanairres, Elvis’ old gospel-flavored background group:

Finally, Tom Jones takes Samson into a strange dimension:

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

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 2, 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

The Great Banana Hoax by The Electric Prunes

He Looks Like a Psycho by The Electric Mess

Diddy Wah Diddy by Captain Beefheart

Funky But Chic by David Johansen

You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover by Bo Diddley

Hooky Wooky by Lou Reed

All Too Much by Stan Ridgway

White Hat by Joe "King" Carrasco

Call Me by Southern Culture on the Skids

A 5 Anos de Aca by Rolando Bruno

That's Alright with Me by Knoxville Girls

Fanny Pack by The Barbarellatones

No Suden Moves by Dengue Fever

Wonderlust King by Gogol Bordello

Livin' for the City by The Dirtbombs

Mystic Eyes by Them

The Girl Can't Help It by Little Richard

Happy Birthday Link Wray 

Run Through the Jungle by Link Wray

Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by Bunker Hill with Link Wray

Rumble by Link Wray

Flat Foot Floozy by NRBQ

Devil Whistle Don't Sing by The Devils with Mark Lanegan

I Ain't by Dinosaur Jr.

Bloody Mary Morning by Willie Nelson

Tangled Web by Harvey McLaughlin

Piss on the Fire by Churchwood

A Lion in the Jungle by Carl Perkins

Samson and Delilah by Tom Jones

Summer Wages by David Bromberg

Lucky Day by Tom Waits

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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FOLK REMEDY Playlist

Sunday, May 2, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
8 am to 10 am  Sundays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM

Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's the playlist :

May Day by Jack Hardy

I Truly Understand That You Love Another Man by Carolina Chocolate Drops

Poor Ellen Smith by Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

Moses by John Davis

Gospel Tain by Silver Leaf Quartet

I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole by Blind Willie Johnson

Denomination Blues by Washington Phillips 

I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground by Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Lucky and Alone by Rachel Brooke

Willie Nelson Belated Birthday Tribute 

Permanently Lonely by Willie Nelson

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain by Sally Timms & Jon Langford

I Still Can't Believe You're Gone by Kelly Hogan
Opportunity to Cry by Tom Jones

Sad Songs and Waltzes by Keith Whitley

Bloody Mary Morning by Kinky Friedman with Willie Nelson

Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground by Johnny Bush

Hello Walls by Faron Young 

Something to Think About by Willie Nelson & Ray Price

I Wants My Lulu by Welling & McGhee

Cocaine by Dick Justice

Insane Crazy Blues by Charlie Burse & The Memphis Jug Band

When I Was a Cowboy by Peter Case

I Remember You by Peter Stampfel

Home on the Rage by Nick Shoulders

Long Violent History by Tyler Childers

Coal Miner's Blues by Hazel & Alice

I Wanna Hotdog for My Roll by Butterbeans & Susie

Never Did No Wanderin' by The Folksmen 

Potato's in the Paddy Wagon by The New Main Street Singers

A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow by Mitch & Mickey

A Mighty Wind by The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers and Mitch & Mickey

Wild Bill Jones by Eva Davis

Bad Man Napper by Lee Green

Original Stack O'Lee Blues by Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hill

Pilgrim by Steve Earle & Del McCoury Band

Bye Bye Blues by Hoosier Hot Shots

WACKY WEDNESDAY:A Mocking Bird Birthday Salute to Harper Lee

 

In Monroeville, Alabama on this day in 1926 Nelle Harper Lee was born. She grew up to become one of the best known and most respected novelists of the 20th Century, mainly due to some book about mockingbirds.

So in honor of Ms. Lee, who died in 2016, here's a musical mocking bird salute!

First here's a well-known tune by Inez & Charlie Foxx, a brother and sister team from North Carolina, who released this in 1963, three years after Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird.

Fans of The Three Stooges or Heckle & Jeckle should recognize this next one. "Listen to the Mockingbird, composed in 1855 with lyrics by Septimus Winner (under the pseudonym "Alice Hawthorne") and music by Richard Milburn, was a pop smash during the American Civil War.

Zooming ahead to the late 1980s, the duo House of Freaks did this song on their wonderful album Tantilla.

Country singer Pam Tillis twisted the title of Lee's famous book in 1995 for this sweet song of barroom violence:

Finally, here's a version of the Inez & Charlie hit performed in 1968  by Dusty Springfield and Jimi Hendrix (I'm not kidding!) on British TV.