Weird Music Wednesday: Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour? by Lonnie Donegan

There are a couple of versions of this out there...This is a version I found recently and had never heard before, it's cute, but not the one I grew up with.

This is the one I grew up with...

From Dr. Demento.

Both by Lonnie Donegan which was the stage name of Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) He was a British singer, songwriter and musician and is revered as the King of Skiffle.

According to Wikipedia:
"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)" is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart.[2] It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.[3]

The song is a cover version of "Does The Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" written by Billy Rose, Ernest Breuer, and Marty Bloom and first released in 1924 by The Happiness Boys (Ernie Hare and Billy Jones),[4] and later a hit for Lulu Belle and Scotty and The Two Gilberts. The song is humorous in content, the verses each describing a dramatic or urgent scenario leading up to the asking of the titular question.

The title and lyrics of the Donegan version were changed in the UK because "Spearmint" is a registered trademark[5] there, and the BBC would not play songs that mentioned trademarks.[6] Donegan's version of the song was recorded live at the New Theatre Oxford in December 1958[4] and was released both as a single as a track on the album King of Skiffle. An extended version with more banter was released on the live album The Last Tour.[7]

Since Donegan's version was released, it has appeared as a Smarties jingle, a performance on The Muppet Show, and re-worked into Czech by Jiří Grossmann. Additional versions of the song were recorded by The Irish Rovers and Homer & Jethro. In Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the character Randle Patrick McMurphy also sings a few lines of this song to prove Chief Bromden is not deaf by making him laugh at the performance. In 2010, Donegan's version was used as the background song for a satellite TV advertisement for Savlon antiseptic cream. It has also been recorded by Eric Nagler (on his 1982 children's album Fiddle Up a Tune); Ray Stevens covers the song as part of his 9-CD, 108 song box set The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music (2012).[8]

"Does Your Chewing Gum..." has been a popular song on the Dr. Demento Show, appearing 54 times between the show's premiere and 2006[9] and selected for the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection double CD.[10]

It was referenced on Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation.
It was alluded to in the lyrics of "Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens.
It has also made an appearance on the children's television show, Sharon, Lois, & Bram's Elephant Show during one of their performances.
"Does The Spearmint..." is sung by the family on HBO's series Boardwalk Empire in season 4 at the end of the episode titled "The Old Ship of Zion." 

Weird Music Wednesday: Spike Jones and The City Slickers "You always hurt the one you love"

I love Spike Jones and his whole crew. His wacky wakikians, his City Slickers, all of them. I started listening to his music when I was small. Every summer back in Vermont, my Aunt Ella and cousin Beverly owned the records and we'd listen. It was fodder for my avid imagination. When I'd listen to the music I'd sit and imagine all the chaos going on around the band. I grew up with a fair amount of Lawrence Welk and Looney Tunes and frankly, that's what Spike Jones and his crew were, combined, only with a big helping of musical genius.
I love this tune. There are two versions here. I recommend them both. The first version here is an actual recording of Spike's crew singing the song. The second version is an audio recording that I'm the most familiar with.

In the black and white video are Paul Mousie Garner (with the bowl haircut) Sir Frederick Gas (with the frizzy hair), and Luther "Red" Roundtree. 

Here is some info on the illustrious genius that was Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones and his crew. I loved them all.

Spike Jones' father was a Southern Pacific railroad agent. Young Lindley Jones got his nickname by being so thin that he was compared to a railroad spike.^{[citation needed]} At age 11 he got his first set of drums. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson's Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall.^{[citation needed]}
From 1937 to 1942, he was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, which played on Bing Crosby's first recording of "White Christmas."^[1] Spike Jones was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with Decca Records and Standard Transcriptions. Her song "We're Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down" provided the inspiration for the name of Jones’s future band, the City Slickers.^[2]
The City Slickers developed from the Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist Del Porter, who took a back seat to Jones during the embryonic years of the group.^{[citation needed]} They made experimental records for the Cinematone Corporation and performed publicly in Los Angeles, gaining a small following. The original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson and pianist Stan Wrightsman.^{[citation needed]}
The band signed a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1941 and recorded extensively for the company until 1955. They also starred in various radio programs (1945–1949) and television shows (1954–1961) on both NBC and CBS.

During the 1940s, prominent band members included:

• George Rock (trumpet, and vocals from 1944 to 1960)
• Mickey Katz (clarinet and vocals)
• Doodles Weaver (vocals — specialized in playing sports commentators and absent-minded singers who persistently scrambled their lyrics into malapropisms and digressed into stand-up comedy)
• Red Ingle (sax and vocals)
• Frank Rehak (trombone)
• Del Porter (clarinet and vocals)
• Carl Grayson (violin and vocals)
• Perry Botkin (banjo)
• Country Washburne (tuba)
• Luther "Red" Roundtree (banjo)
• Earl Bennett, a.k.a. Sir Frederick Gas (vocals)
• Joe Siracusa (drums)
• Joe Colvin (trombone)
• Roger Donley (tuba)
• Dick Gardner (sax and violin)
• Paul Leu (piano)
• Jack Golly (trumpet and clarinet)
• John Stanley (trombone)
• Don Anderson (trumpet)
• Charlotte Tinsley (harp)
• Eddie Metcalfe (saxophone)
• Dick Morgan (banjo)
• George Lescher (piano)
• Freddy Morgan (banjo and vocals)
• A. Purvis Pullens, a.k.a. Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (bird calls, dog barks)

The band's 1950s personnel included:

• Billy Barty (vocals)
• Gil Bernal (sax and vocals)
• Mousie Garner (vocals)
• Bernie Jones (sax and vocals)
• Phil Gray (trombone)
• Jad Paul (banjo)
• Peter James (vocals)
• Marilyn Olson Oliveri (vocals & stand up bass)

Weird music Wednesday: Kip Addotta's "Wet Dream"

I heard this first in about 1999, from my friends Richard "Dead Ear Dick" and his lovely wife, Jody. I met them back when I rode the ferry to work every day. We would catch the 6:30 ferry, be in Seattle at 7:30 and hustling to work. I met them through a mutual friend (Angel) and we bonded over our mutual love of Dr. Demento. I'm still sad I missed a Dr. D concert with Richard a few years back, we would have had a blast. I had never heard this song before, but I loved it. I love it so much I'm made it the ringtone for when Richard or Jody calls or texts me.
I love a good pun, I love a bad pun. I'm generally a sucker for a joke, especially a bad one. This song is so right up my alley.

Here's a little more about Mr. Addotta from his webpage:

Kip Addotta is an American comedian notable for often being featured on The Tonight Show and the syndicated show Make Me Laugh, among many others. He was also featured on The Dr. Demento Show radio show for his songs, “Wet Dream” ” “Big Cock Roach” “Life in the Slaw Lane”, a series of fish and vegetable malapropisms that, together, form a storyline. In 1989 he released “I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus.” In 1995 Kip Addotta released a DVD, “Live From Maximum Security!”
Kip Addotta was born in Rockford, Illinois to Frank and Josephine Addotta. He is the father of three children: Victor, Kathy and Frank. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Enjoy! Have a Weird Music Wednesday!

Weird Music Wednesday 2: The Cockroach that ate Cincinnati by Rose and The Arrangement

I love this tune. I heard it first on Dr. Demento's Delights as a kid. (It's a smidge offensive, but that occasionally happens when trying to be funny)

Here's what I found about the band: Rose and The Arrangement.

Rose and the arrangement was founded in June of 1970 by Doug Drill, Sal La Bella, Rose La Bella and Art Harris. The group disbanded in the fall of 1982. During those twelve years they used five bass players. Art Harris, Rex Paris, John Campbell, Joey Lessa and Rick Glass. All of these, except Art Harris, are featured on the Totally Bananas album. Steve Wyrick and Billy Payne were studio musicians who participated on some tracks of this recording. (Mr.Stupid)

Art Harris, the original bass player for Rose and the Arrangement, died in 2010.

Members:

Doug Drill (Keyboards, Vocals) (ontheair)

Sal La Bella (Drums, vocals) (ontheair)

Rick Glass (Bass, Trumpet, Trombone, vocals) (ontheair)

Joey Lessa (Bass, Trumpet) (ontheair)

John Campbell (Bass, Guitar) (ontheair)

Rex Paris (Bass, Guitar) (ontheair)

Steve Wyrick (Banjo) (ontheair)

Rosie Rigatoni (Vocals, Pink Stradavarius Twanger, Pink Strad Washboard) (ontheair)

Billy Payne (Guitar) (ontheair)

 All thanks to Mad Music 

I loved it, I hate roaches but love giant bug movies. I watched Them! a while back with Walter and totally spotted a young (handsome even) Leonard Nimoy (uncredited) in the movie.
Fun and weird! Have an awesome Wednesday everyone!

Weird Music Wednesday "Who put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine?" by Harry "The Hipster" Gibson

Hi all! I know it's been a while and I'm fairly sporadic with my posts. Here goes a try though at routine. I''m a huge fan of weird music, as my husband will attest to so I figured I'd share my love of all things wacky with you. Today's music choice is Who Put The Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine? by Harry the Hipster Gibson. My Aunties Ella and Beverly introduced me to this song when I was a tween. I would raid their LPs for all of their Dr. Demento and I found this. It prompted me to quickly ask what Benzedrine is. They promptly explained that it was a drug commonly used by housewives to keep their pep back in the day. I always found it hilarious and not what you'd expect for a song from 1947. Sadly, the song helped blacklist him from the music industry. I still love it and hope you can laugh at it too.

Artsy Project: Make kitchen table centerpiece

Make kitchen table centerpiece in silver and black and cobalt blue and white. Needed: vase, spray paint for vase (preferably black matte), cobalt blue, white, gray, silver scrapbook paper, Branches, floral wire (24 gauge), glue, scissors, cardboard, newspaper.

Here's what I made about 2 years ago. I'm just now finishing this project, couldn't be better timing, plus, it is a really good feeling to finally get this off my list.

here is what the final project looks like:

The happy kitchen, part 1

Our kitchen currently is fairly dark. I'd like to open it up a bit and make it more dinner friendly.
Here is what the kitchen currently looks like:

Now, here are some improvements I'd like to make here:
I'd like this alongside our main wall. Instead of a wine cabinet, I just want a side table for drinks and to help with any extra plates needed.

I'd like the kitchen dining area to look like this, with the wood table, and the chalkboard frame in a shade of blue. The Chairs will likely be a shade of blue also:

 I like this pegboard idea alongside a wall. It eliminate the hassle of having to search for your pots and pans, and getting knocked about by your pots and pans.

 This is a great re-purposed cabinet that I'd love to make for the kitchen, note the casters. I'd love to use this as a sous-chef area for cutting and chopping.

Above it the Kitchen That Inspired Me. I don't necessarily like the color, but I like that the cabinets are bright, colorful and cozy. I want to prime and repaint our cabinets like this. I also like the idea of the island being a different, but complimentary color.

This is what I'd like to do with the top shelves. I like the open nature of it, and the extra lighting. It really opens up the kitchen and you can see all your dishes. I love this idea. I think it would make the kitchen more welcoming and great for family holidays.

I got the photos of the kitchen from here:http://www.lifeingraceblog.com/2009/04/the-retro-cottage-kitchen-and-a-painted-wood-is-pretty-linky-party/

Here are the kitchen colors we're thinking of:
Valspar Cicada Song

Valspar Silver Thistle Down
Valspar French Blue

We'd also like to replace the broken sliding glass doors with these:

They just seem nice. Seems like they'd add to the comfy farmhouse look I'm going for. I'll post more next month after I've bought paint and primer and started in on this.