WACKY WEDNESDAY: Eighty Years of Spam

From the HealthCentral Daily Dose newsletter:

Birth of SPAM: July 5, 1937

One of the more popular—and ridiculed—foods of the 20th century makes its debut when George A. Hormel & Company launches a new product it calls SPAM luncheon meat.  It’s mainly pork shoulder, a part of the pig that generally was thrown away because it was too fatty for ham, but not fatty enough for bacon.  At, first, the company simply had called it Hormel Spiced Meat, but switches to SPAM as a result of  a contest to come up with another name (The winner was awarded $100.).

Why SPAM?  One company spokesman said it’s meant to be short for “Shoulder pork and ham.”  A later story contended that it stands for “Spiced meat and ham.”  It would later be given   more unflattering names, such as “Something posing as meat.”

At 10 cents a can, though, it’s a big hit.  Within a year, one out of every five American families—with the worst of the Great Depression still fresh in their memories–make SPAM a part of their diets.  It really took  off in World War II because it could  easily be shipped overseas and stored.  SPAM became a staple of the American GIs diet, served meal after meal.  Overall, Hormel sent 100 million pounds of SPAM overseas during the war.

Need I say more? Let the music begin!



That's from the 1989 compilation Monty Python Sings. But it wasn't the first time Monty Python sung the praises of Spam' Here's a sketch from 1970.



Yes, Weird Al had an opinion or two about "Spiced Meat and Ham."



A rapper called Milk Dee in 1994 teamed up with Ad Roc from The Beastie Boys for this song called "Spam," which dropped this wisdom:

Spam! Ain't the move it's imitation ham!
Ham is pork and the pork is foul
Cut it like a pig and that ain't my style
Two MC's you know we're versatile 



So happy anniversary, Spam!

Most people are happy that this was a limited edition

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 2, 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
4th of July by X
Poor Beast, Marginal Man by Rattanson
Bless You by The Devil Dogs
It Won't Be Long by The Black Lips
Down on the Street by The Stooges
Don't Bug Me I'm Nutty by New Bomb Turks
A Girl Like You by The Mummies
Shiver by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Who Shot the Druggies by Lynx Lynx
I Ain't Got Nobody by Patti Smith

Cheap Thrills by Ruben & Jets
Underneath the Sheets of White Noise by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
The Slow Drag Under by Benjamin Booker
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
No Friend of Mine by The Cynics
Golden Surf II by Pere Ubu
Mailman by The Count Five
The Push by The Molting Vultures

Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Unknown Passage by Dead Moon
Smells Like Teens Hear It by Public Enemy
Burn Em Brew by Left Lane Cruiser
He Looks Like a Psycho by The Electric Mess
Big 10-Inch Record by Moose Jackson
Never Coming Home by Reigning Sound
Tucson Girls by Gregg Turner
Little Egypt by The Coasters

Dignity by Bob Dylan
Full Moon in the Daylight Sky by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
O Money by The Mekons
Edge of My Bed by The Angel Babies
Chapel of Dreams by The Dubs
On the Nickel by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Have You Heard the Hot New Big Enchilada Podcast Yet?

Boy, is it hot out there. How hot is it? So hot you'll need asbestos earphones just to handle all the sizzling sounds on this pulse-pounding Big Enchilada episode. Let it burn!

DOWNLOAD | SUBSCRIBE | FACEBOOK | MIXCLOUD

SUBSCRIBE TO ALL RADIO MUTATION PODCASTS |

Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight by The Dukes of Dixieland)
Red Hot by Billy Lee Riley
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
The Grace by The Molting Vultures
Gypsy Woman by The Snails
Bomb Carpets of Love by Rattanson
Hot Damn by Felix y Los Gatos

(Background Music: Hot and Jumpy by George Danquah)
Down in Flames by Rocket from the Tombs
Rebel Intuition by The Black Lips
Booga Chaka by Left Lane Cruiser 
Baby, I'm in the Mood for You by Dion
Nosebleed Boogie by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Sex Nerd by Barbarellatones 

(Background Music: Hot Cross Buns by Paul Gayton)
Hot Hot Mama by Bloodshot Bill
Known ta Stumble, Known ta Fall by Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders
Tracking the Dog by Meet Your Death
Satan on Universe by Satan & Deciples
Burnin' Hell by The Fleshtones
(Background Music: Hot and Anxious by Fletcher Henderson)

Play it below:

A Radio Mutation Podcast

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 30, 2017
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
Big Balls in Cowtown by Don Walser
I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised) by Johnny Paycheck
Cowboy Boots by The Backsliders
Girl on the Billboard by Del Reeves
Gotta Get Up Every Morning by Junior Brown
Poor Rambler by Sturgill Simpson
Daddy Was a Badass by Jesse Dayton
A Week Before the Fourth of July by Boris McCutcheon
Fourth of July by Dave Alvin

American Epic Set
Mama's Angel Child by Jack White
On the Road Again by The Memphis Jug Band
Ragged But Right by Riley Puckett
Three Nights in a Barroom by Wade Mainer
Louis Collins by Mississippi John Hurt
Last Kind Words by Christine Pizzuti
Mal Hombre by Lydia Mendoza
Killer Diller Blues by Alabama Shakes

Cheap Motels by Southern Culture on the Skids
A Six Pack to Go by Leon Russell
Delete and Fast Forward by Willie Nelson
Don't Cheat in Our Hometown by Ricky Skaggs
Back Street Affair by Webb Pierce
Trophy Girl by Bobby Bare
Girl at the End of the Bar by The Waco Brothers
I Love You, Baby (And I Hate Myself) by Uncle Dave & The Waco Brothers
Worried Mind by Johnny Dowd

Truck Stop by Marty Stuart with Emmylou Harris
Write Your Own Songs by Dale Watson & Ray Benson
Bottom Dollar by Panama Red
I Left My Car at Maria's by Joe West
I Changed the Locks by Lucinda Williams
Selfishness in Man by George Jones
I Love You a Thousand Ways by Lefty Frizzell
Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page
Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: To Sing Those American Tunes

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
June 30, 2017

Back during the height of Watergate, Paul Simon sang, “We come in the age’s most uncertain hour to sing an American tune.” 

We’ve had lots of uncertain hours since then, and I still find strength in those American tunes, the old creaky blues, gospel, hillbilly, jug-band records, those crazy songs of joy, wry humor, and simple wisdom sung by people living in severe poverty in isolated regions, in an era of harsh injustice and racial apartheid. 

I find comfort in those weird musical stories of horrible murders, of hopping trains, of hopeless drunks finding the Lord, of spooky old pines where the sun never shines, of carefree ducks diving into rivers of whiskey.

So during this uncertain, tense, and violent era I was heartened in recent weeks when PBS presented American Epic, its excellent documentary series about the dawn of the American recording industry in the mid-1920s, when record companies sent talent scouts to scour the hills, hollers, and honky-tonks of the South to find musicians that the folks in rural America could relate to. 

The series, directed by British filmmaker Bernard MacMahon and narrated by Robert Redford, focuses on a handful of greats like the Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt (a sweet, gentle spirit who is one of my major musical heroes), blues pioneer Charlie Patton, and South Carolina gospel singer and preacher Elder J.E. Burch — whose parishioners included the young Dizzy Gillespie. 

American Epic features three episodes of musical history, plus one called “The American Epic Sessions,” which consists of performances of (mostly) old songs by contemporary artists including Alabama Shakes, Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, Beck, Willie Nelson with the late Merle Haggard, and more. These tunes were recorded on an old pulley-driven Western Electric Scully lathe, the kind that the record companies hauled around to record the immortals in the ’20s and ’30s. Throughout “Sessions,” the directors show a near cargo-cult fascination with this Rube Goldberg-like device.

Though the South is the main focus of American Epic, there are also excursions into the West. There is a segment on Tejano music queen Lydia Mendoza and a trip to Hawaii, where we hear the story of Joseph Kekuku, the man who invented the steel guitar. 

And there is a segment on Hopi music, telling the story of how racist religious nuts in Congress sought to ban the tribe’s Snake Dance, calling the Hopi religion “a weird cult” after unauthorized film footage of the dance — which had been attended years before in Arizona by President Theodore Roosevelt — leaked out. In response, a group of Hopi religious leaders went to Washington, D.C., in 1926 to perform the Snake Dance for a crowd of dignitaries on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. They also recorded several songs for RCA Victor.


Being a jug-band fanatic, my favorite segment deals with the Memphis Jug Band, led by Will Shade. At one point the rapper Nas talks about the similarities between hip-hop and jug-band music. “These guys are talking about carrying guns, shooting something, protecting their honor, chasing after some woman who’s done them dirty.” Nas, backed by an acoustic band led by Jack White, performs a version of the Memphis Jug Band’s “On the Road Again” in the “Sessions” episode.

Sony has released nine American Epic albums, including a single-disc soundtrack of the artists covered, a five-disc box set, a “Sessions” soundtrack by modern musicians, and several for individual artists and genres. Critic Robert Christgau recently joked — was he joking? — that “American Epic is a Sony plot to poach/rescue the American folk music franchise from the Smithsonian and the great Harry Smith.”

Most of this music is available on other compilations. Here are some other great American roots-music collections:

Harry Smith

* Anthology of American Folk Music. The fabulously eccentric Harry Smith compiled this collection in 1952 from old 78 rpm records in his personal collection. The 84 songs — blues, hillbilly, Cajun, gospel — originally were recorded between 1927 and 1932. Among the artists included are Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Patton, the Carter Family, Dock Boggs, Blind Willie Johnson, Rev. J.M. Gates, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Uncle Dave Macon. Keep in mind, the anthology came about in 1952, back when only a few academics and the most obsessive record collectors knew who any of these people were.

* The Bristol Sessions. The first episode of American Epic tells the story of RCA talent scout Ralph Peer setting up a makeshift recording studio in an old furniture store in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927 and striking gold. Among those he attracted to Bristol were the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. Also among the Bristol bunch were West Virginia bard Blind Alfred Reed, Ernest Stoneman, and the Tenneva Ramblers, whose song “The Longest Train I Ever Saw” would in subsequent years be handed back and forth among black bluesmen and white hillbilly and bluegrass singers under various titles (“In the Pines,” “Black Girl”). It would re-emerge in the 1990s as Nirvana’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” (There are a few versions of this collection available ranging from a single disc to a five-disc box.)


* Ruckus Juice & Chitlins: The Great Jug Bands. This is a set of two CDs (sold separately) of classic jug-band recordings from Yazoo Records. The collection includes seminal acts like the Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Earl McDonald’s Original Louisville Jug Band, Whistler & His Jug Band, and more. (Vol. 2 can be found HERE)

* My Rough and Rowdy Ways: Badman Ballads & Hellraising Songs, Classic Recordings From the 1920s and ’30s. This is my second-favorite two-disc collection from Yazoo. The subtitle says it all. It’s a bunch of great hellraising blues and hillbilly songs about sex, booze, drugs (Dick Justice’s “Cocaine” kicks off Vol. 2), gambling, and murderers — from Stack-O-Lee to Billy the Kid to the psycho who killed Pretty Polly.

I did a quick Throwback Thursday blog post on American Epic a few weeks ago, including a few videos. You can see that HERE. 

Here are some more videos, starting with The Memphis Jug Band



Here's Dick Justice's take on the same subject



Was Donald Trump thinking about Lydia Mendoza's classic song when he spoke of "bad hombres" crossing our borders?



This song by The Alabama Shakes is one of my favorites from American Epic Sessions

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Laid Around, Stayed Around This Old Town Too Long

UPDATED 

This week on Throwback Thursday I'm going to look into a great old country song that's been covered so many times by so so many great singers, many folks have forgotten -- if indeed they ever knew -- who did it originally.

And yes, I'm among them. I had to look it up before I learned that the song originally was recorded in 1959 by a singer named Billy Grammer.

Billy who?

According to The AllMusic Guide, Grammer was a pretty accomplished dude.

He was one of 13 children born to a coal-mining family in downstate Benton, Illinois. Despite a youthful interest in science and engineering, the young Grammer often played fiddle, guitar, or mandolin at local gatherings, accompanying his father or performing solo. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and worked as an apprentice toolmaker. But after discharge, work was scarce for an eager young musician. When Grammer heard about an opportunity with Connie Gay's Radio Ranch, he hitchhiked to Arlington, Virginia; auditioned; and made the cut. Two years later, he made his recording debut. In 1955, Gay suggested to Jimmy Dean that Grammer join his television show. During his years on The Jimmy Dean Show, Grammer was a sideman in several bands, including those of Clyde Moody, Grandpa Jones, and Hawkshaw Hawkins.

And according to the New York Times:

Mr. Grammer also designed and produced flat-top acoustic guitars under his own name through a company he started in the 1960s. He donated his first model to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1969, and in 2004 Sotheby’s sold an abalone inlay acoustic model played by Johnny Cash for $131,200.

And here's something weird. On May 15, 1972, Grammer and his band, The Travel On Boys played at the George Wallace rally in a Laurel, Maryland shopping center when Arthur Bremmer shot and critically wounded Wallace, leaving the former Alabama governor in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

But enough talk, let's get on with the music. Here's a live version of "Gotta Travel On" by Billy Grammer.



The first version I ever heard of "Gotta Travel On was on sausage baron Jimmy Dean's 1961 album Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Songs and Tales.



Bill Monroe was a fan of the song. It was on his 1962 album My All Time Country Favorites.



Jerry Lee & Linda Gail Lewis made it rock.



And more recently, in 2013, French rocker Rev. Tom Frost did a "graveyard blues" cover of the song on his Bloody Works album




UPDATE 9:30 pm 6-29-17
A reader, Tom from New Jersey, informed me about a blog, Chimesfreedom, that has far more information on this wonderful song.

First of all, "Gotta Travel On" has very similar predecessors recorded years before Billy Grammer's hit. Here's one called "Police and High Sheriff Come Ridin' Down" from 1927 by bluesman Ollis Martin.



Chimesfreedom points out that the song we've come to know as "Gotta Travel On" was copyrighted in 1959 by  Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, and Tom Six. Clayton was active in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the '60s.

But the blog also says "The three latter names listed as writers were pseudonyms for members of The Weavers.  Ehrlich was a pseudonym for Lee Hays, Six was a pseudonym for Fred Hellerman, and Lazar was a pseudonym for Pete Seeger."

Now I'm not certain that's true that Lazar was a pseudonym for Seeger. According to a 2002 obituary for David Lazar in the Washington Post, Lazar, who was best known as a diplomat:

 had some early success as a lyricist. He helped write words for popular tunes that included "Gotta Travel On," which was recorded by Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Bob Dylan and countless others. ... 

During his youth in Chicago, Mr. Lazar liked to hang out in blues, folk and jazz clubs. He heard Pete Seeger in the 1950s and was among a small group, including Paul Clayton, that helped Seeger write new lyrics to the tune later recorded as "Gotta Travel On." 

But apparently Seeger was involved at some level. What rich irony that a troubadour for George Wallace got famous on a song written by a bunch of coffee house folkies who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

God Bless America!

Plus Chimesfreedom linked to another blog that reminded me that Neil Young & Crazy Horse did this song on their Americana album.




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

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday Mel Brooks!

Mel Brooks, center, as Gov. William J. Lepetomane in Blazing Saddles, 1974

Mel Brooks, the comic force behind some of the funniest movies of the '70s, turns 91 today.

Happy birthday, Mel!

Though he's basically known as a comedian, writer, director, producer and actor, Brooks also had an ear for music. The songs in his movies helped make them memorable

To celebrate his birthday this Wacky Wednesday here are some of the best songs from his films.

Let's start with this scene in Blazing Saddles featuring Madeline Kahn as the Marlene Dietrich-like Lili von Shtup singing a ditty called "I'm Tired."



In Young Frankenstein Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein and Peter  Boyle as his monster teamed up for a rendition of "Puttin' on the Ritz."



Robin Hood: Men in Tights was one of Brooks' later movies (1993.) Here  Cary Elwes as Robin Hood serenades Maid Marian (Amy Yasbeck) with "The Night is Young and You're So Beautiful," a song Dean Martin recorded a few decades before.



Brooks himself sings the theme of his 1977 Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety in a hotel lounge. He wrote the song too.

But music-wise I don't believe Brooks ever topped this glorious anthem from his 1968 film The Producers.