Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
Don't You Know Yockomo ???
Huey "Piano" Smith, owner of a black belt in
gobbledygook, was at the top of his game in Don't You Know Yockomo.
The other day my friend Pete Menchetti spun a cool version I
didn't know, by cute New Zealander Dinah Lee. It cracks me up to hear her make
her way (rather effectively for a kiwi) through Huey's goofy New Orleans lyrics.
Her version reached #1 in Australia and New Zealand in 1964. And here's a nice live clip.
According to this blog, the Y-word comes from
"Jockomo" as found in the song cut in 1953 by James "Sugar
Boy" Crawford : Jock-A-Mo.
That number was later a hit for the Dixie Cups as Iko Iko. Here's a live clip.
And to bring one more cute chick into this blog, here's a French adaptation by Julie D. and its charming clip (unfortunately out of sync)*.
Bonus track : Casey Jones and the Governors, a second-rate British
beat band, tries their best to do Yockomo, but loses the groove.
They nonetheless continued their campaign to bring Huey's music to the British public with a somewhat more successful cover of Don't You Just Know It. But even their clever renaming as Don't Ha Ha was not sufficient to make it a hit. And if that's not enough, here's a live clip !
* As a particularly astute reader pointed out, the chicks in the Julie D. clip are actually the Parisiennes.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
WABBA!!! Tune in to THE REAL NITTY GRITTY tonite at 7PM ET!
Saturday, October 10, 2015
More Halloween Instros
Around this time last year, Mr. Fab (over at the MUSIC FOR MANIACS blog) re-upped my “double-disc” collection of classic Halloween-themed instrumentals (with my blasphemous blessing!) My trick-or-treat offering for you this year is the followup compilation…more spooky instros, annoying novelties, and radio spot ads for vintage fright flicks, all entombed together in a convenient zip file. Put that in your goodie-bag, kid!
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