Anthonomus grandis
(9 downloads)Saturday, Feb 23, 2008
One of many perennial Southern US preoccupations, the boll weevil, is celebrated here in this well known tune from Fats Domino, ‘Bo Weevil’. Like cotton, grits, and the county sheriff, this small but very destructive agricultural pest casts a long shadow across Dixie culture. The boll weevil is a quarter inch long beetle which nearly destroyed the US cotton industry in the 1920s. It is not native to the United States and is thought to have migrated here from Mexico, where it originally fed on undomesticated varieties of the cotton plant. It was first identified in North America in 1892. By the early 1920s the infestation was traveling at speeds of up to 160 miles per year.In a 1939 interview, Mose Austin recalled his employer stubbornly refusing to switch crops, planting cotton each year out of sheer defiance to the weevil onslaught:
“De cotton come up and started to growin', and, suh, befo' de middle of May I looks down one day and sees de boll weevil settin' up dere in de top of dem little cotton stalks waitin' for de squares to fo'm. So all dat gewano us hauled and put down in 1922 made nuttin' but a crop of boll weevils.”
The adult boll weevil enters a state of dormancy during the winter months. They begin to emerge from this hibernation in early spring. Mature females insert their eggs in the cotton bolls (the pods, hence the name) or squares. Over a ten to twelve day period, the female will lay approximately 200 eggs, one single egg to each individual pod. The eggs hatch in under a week’s time and the larvae then begin to feed on the host cotton boll. After 10 days at the larval stage the weevil arrives at its intermediary pupal stage, it is at this point that the insect removes itself from the host plant and becomes ambulatory. The pupal stage lasts about five days after which the weevils become adults, ready to mate and lay more eggs and continue to consume the cotton plants. The entire life cycle lasts about three weeks and under good conditions, a single summer can produce as many as ten generations of weevils.
Early, post WWII, measures at controlling the boll weevil included the use of such harmful pesticides as DDT. While pesticides are still commonly employed to control weevil populations, more recent measures include the introduction of predatory insects like fire ants and parasitic wasps.
The tune “Bo Weevil” hit number 35 on the pop chart and number 5 on the R&B in 1956. This isn’t by a long shot the only tune to light-heartedly commemorate this plague which ruined the lives of countless people from the Southwest to the mid-Atlantic. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the brunt of the losses was shouldered by the white landowning population. Songs about the boll weevil tended to reflect the perspective of poor white and black workers who saw little of the profits from ‘King Cotton’. They may have viewed this incredibly prolific nuisance as something of an equalizer in a semi-feudal society which persisted well into the 20th century. Mose Austin’s account seems to echo this sentiment.
Imperial 5375, 1957
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec11.html
Puttin’ the L.A. in Laffs…
(8 downloads)Thursday, Feb 14, 2008
I don’t know about you but it sounds to me like Vernon Green is about to crack up on every line of his delivery of the open love letter, spoken at the middle of this song. “Edna” is the Medallions’ predictable love ballad backing their single “Speedin’”. Hey, these guys clearly like a good laugh and it’s nice to hear that someone like Green maintained a lifelong sense of humor though as a child he was stricken by polio which left him crippled. Their record label, DooTone, was no stranger to the lighter side of things since the bulk of their output by the end of the 1950s was comedy acts.The most notable artist from their catalog was a young “Chitlin' Circuit” comedian from the Watts neighborhood of LA, named Redd Foxx (DooTone records’ headquarters was also located in Watts). DooTone put out a ton Foxx records, many of which were repackaged versions of earlier releases and this more or less kept the label going in its later years. Redd Foxx, real name John Elroy Sanford, specialized in a raunchy party style of of humor that catered to a black audience. As we all know, he would later portray the character Fred Sanford in the 70s sitcom “Sanford and Son”. Fred Sanford was in fact the name of both Foxx’s father and his older brother. Though his records were a cash cow for DooTone records up until the early 70s when the label went out of business, Foxx and DooTone owner, Dootsie Williams, had a falling out in 1963 which led to Frank Sinatra buying out his contract in 1967.
Another DooTone claim to fame was its discovery of another legendary Los Angeles doo-wop act, the Penguins, releasing their eternal classic, Earth Angel, in 1954.
DooTone 364, 1955
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitlin'_circuit
Fo’ shizzle!
(9 downloads)Friday, Feb 08, 2008
Sticking true to form, the Medallions present us with another ‘fast car’ side A vs. ‘slow girl’ side B disc, with this release “Speedin’” & “Edna”. Their records also demonstrate clearly that Vernon Green and company take neither of these subjects very seriously. More vying for the role of Court Jesters than Crown Princes; the Medallions show off a penchant for goofball humor and raucous theatrics which would be later emulated by another Los Angeles group, the Coasters. Another interesting characteristic is their use of onomatopoeia and gibberish when the English language fails them with its structural limitations. Here, with “Speedin’”, as with all of their car oriented songs, group members takes turns vocalizing the squealing brakes, cracked cylinder heads and judgmentally impaired passengers with equal gusto. On the other hand, as can be seen in the earlier post regarding their ballad “the Letter”*, Mr. Green was capable of evoking such Ur-language terminologies as “‘pulpitudes’ of love” and “sweet words of ‘pizmotality’” while pitching woo in a spoken recitation delivered with an almost John Candy-ish lack of sincerity.Much like the chorus of sound effects, the spoken love letter is a very predictable element in the Medallions’ formulaic love ballad. The fact that the Medallions seemed to be rewriting same two songs over and over is part of their charm, but it’s also what made them seem a bit one dimensional when compared with a hugely successful act like the Coasters. It should also be said that the Medallions did not have one of the greatest song writing teams in pop history working behind them, the way the Coasters had Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The names Lieber & Stoller may not be as commonly discussed as say Lennon and McCartney but they loom just as large when one considers the impact that they had on the formative years of Rock music. In addition to the Coasters, they were the song writing team behind Elvis Presley and as producers they were mentors to Phil Spector. These guys wrote "Stand By Me" with Ben E. King and produced the Drifters and wrote "Kansas City" and "Love Potion #9" and they played an important role in Atlantic Records' ascent as the primary R&B label.
DooTone 364, 1955
Girls and Cars and Jive Talkin'
(15 downloads)Thursday, Feb 07, 2008
The ballad, “The Letter” is the flip side for the Medallions initial offering “Buick 59”, and it was a moderate R&B hit in its own right. This coupling of a love ballad backing a tune about fast cars also laid down a formula which the Medallions would use indiscriminately in their future releases as we will see later with “Speedin’” & “Edna” or “Coupe De Ville Baby” & “The Telegram”. This, of course, is the oldest formula in the Rock n’ Roll play book, and it should come as no surprise that it worked like gangbusters. This tune is also notable for the nonsense line “the pulpitudes of love” which was interpreted by rock star Steve Miller as “the pompitudes of love” in his hit “The Joker”:
“Some people call me the space cowboy. / Yeah! Some call me the gangster of love. / Some people call me Maurice, / Cause I speak of the pompitudes of love.”
Medallions vocalist and song writer, Vernon Green, manages to muster an additional neologism in this tune when speaks of “sweet words of pizmotality”.
DooTone 347, 1954
Car of the Future: Buick 59
(8 downloads)Thursday, Feb 07, 2008
“Buick 59” (1954) was the first release from the Medallions on the LA based DooTone record label. The Medallions were formed at the behest of DooTone founder and namesake, Walter “Dootsie” Williams, when he discovered the group’s front man, Vernon Green. Williams was apparently so impressed with Green’s singing that he urged him to put together a vocal group so he could get them into the studio. The title “Buick 59” is a take on the R&B hit “Rocket 69”, though without the sexual innuendo. When Dootsie Williams formed his record label in 1949, it was operated it out of his home in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Eventually, the growing business forced Williams and his family to leave the house and relocate. It was originally named Blue Records and renamed it DooTone in 1951. Later, in 1957, he again changed name of the label to Dooto in order to avoid a lawsuit from Duo-Tone records.
DooTone 347, 1954
Up in Smoke
(6 downloads)Sunday, Feb 03, 2008
Here is Justin Ring with the Yellow Jackets again, this time performing “Because They All Love You” written by Tommie Malie and Jack Little. Jack Little (AKA Little Jack Little) was born in London, England and moved to the US while still a young child. He started his music career while at medical school in Iowa when he formed a successful touring band. He contributed songs to several film soundtracks and was married to the actress Lila Leeds. Ms. Leeds was notably busted for marijuana possession along with Robert Mitchum in 1948, which landed her a few months in jail. After her release, she starred in the marijuana exploitation film “Wild Weed” (1949). She was otherwise unable to revive her acting career. Jack Little committed suicide in 1956, apparently after being diagnosed with hepatitis.
“Because They All Love You” was featured in the London musical comedy “Honeymoon Girl”.
Okeh 40278, 1924
Lost in Neverland
(7 downloads)Saturday, Feb 02, 2008
The Yellow Jackets were a studio jazz orchestra led by drummer and percussionist, Justin Ring, for the Okeh label. This recording of the song “Peter Pan (I Love You)” by Robert King and Ray Henderson is from mid-1924. Great stuff even though I can’t find any more information on it. My favorite part is the piano break with the chimes (glockenspiel?) behind it. Everyone’s got to love a good cymbal choke too.One may remark at the lack of drumming on this recording of a band led by a drummer and there are two primary reasons for this. Firstly, in 1924, recording technology was simply not very good at picking up the drums. This was one year before the advent of electric recording, which is essentially recording with the use of a microphone to electrically amplify the audio signal which provided much greater sound fidelity. Prior to this, the band would stand around a horn that was affixed to a lathe which cut the master disc. Amplification was thus achieved largely in the same fashion as a doctor’s stethoscope or an old fashioned hearing aid. Due to the technical, physical and practical limitations associated with this set up, the early 20s jazz drummer tended to limit himself to blocks, chimes, snare and of course the choke cymbal. Through these conventions, a studio jazz drumming style evolved which was in many ways distinct from that of live performance. Along the way various other sound effects turn up such as car horns, gongs and whistles. Dynamic considerations amongst the remaining performers were worked out by careful arrangement of their positions in the room around the recording apparatus to provide a good ‘mix’ and also careful arrangement of the score; notice how the band drops out for the piano break mistakes and all (the piano is another notoriously problematic instrument for early recordings).
It should be mentioned that there is also a distinct possibility that a lot of the playing, perhaps snare, maybe brushes, just isn’t getting picked up on the recording. The music director may have opted to leave out a lot of drums because of inherent limitations in their primitive recording setup, but doesn’t say that the primitive recording setup didn’t leave out a lot of the drums. This is in fact a pretty common issue with these old recordings and only underscores the problems that these early sound engineers encountered.
Another reason for the understated drumming is that the drums did not serve the same role in the early days of jazz and pop as they do now. The bass might be said to have been the primary rhythmic instrument in the teens and twenties as far as indicating the pulse of the music. ‘Bass’ in those days referred to both tuba and string bass and a professional ‘bassist’ was expected to play both. The bass drum often shared this purpose doubling the bassist’s rhythms, but it was difficult to record well with the equipment of the day. So, while its use may have been common used live performance, it is largely omitted from studio recordings. Meanwhile, the banjo covered a lot of the territory now thought to be the domain of the high hat and snare, complementing the bass’s 4-beat.
On the other hand, though drums were not completely removed from keeping the beat in early jazz, they were often used simply for sonic embellishments and rhythmic emphasis. Consider all the cymbal chokes on this record as an illustration of this attitude toward the drums.
So how does a drummer wind up leading a band? Justin Ring (1876-1963) was essentially an old hand from the earliest days of the recording industry. He was a classically trained pianist, percussionist and conductor and was essentially working for hire as the arranger and music director for this Yellow Jackets Orchestra which was a house band for Okeh records. They were formed with the objective of creating music in the ‘hot’ style and turning a nice profit in process. Justin Ring was an experienced and trusted figure in the business; and business was pretty much what the Yellow Jackets were all about. Ring also recorded extensively with such notable early jazz figures as violinist Joe Venuti, guitarist Eddie Lang and blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson (see the entries about Georgia White from Dec 2, 2007 for more about Johnson)
Okeh 40278, 1924