Thursday, July 02, 2009

It's a Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World

From 1957, please enjoy "Louie, Louie" auteur Richard Berry and his perhaps insensitive to a woman's needs saga "Get Out of the Car."





Seriously, the first time I heard this song -- in 1993, when the above reissue of Berry's frequently amusing journeyman r&b novelties (with the occasional first-rate Little Richard emulation thrown in for good measure) first crossed my desk -- I remember laughing initially and then thinking, uh, you know, this is getting perilously close to a line that I don't think anybody really worried about back in the day.

On the other hand, as "Holy" Greil Marcus famously pointed out in a totally different context, it is perhaps a mistake to judge the brave men and women of an earlier time by the standards of our own.

Or something.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I love 1950's r&b and this is a prime example.


ROTP(lumber)

Gummo said...

OMG, that's delightfully awful. Or awfully delightful.

Imagine someone today doing a whole tune around the theme of "Put out or get out!"

Wendy said...

I think Marcus is probably right ... although the 50s don't seem that long ago.

Cool car, regardless.

Unknown said...

Speaking of the automotively-related inappropriate treatment of women, there's an Australian song that's a close cousin to "Get Out Of The Car" – it's the Ted Mulry Gang's 1975 glam/boogie hit, "Jump In My Car."

Americans may be vaguely familiar with the song, as it was notoriously covered in 2006 by The Hoff (no, not Susanna Hoffs - the other Hoff).

Anyway, in case you're interested, you can hear "Jump In My Car" on my blog (it's one of the bonus tracks in that post).

Enjoy!

Who Am Us Anyway? said...

"uh oh ..." Your caveats are well taken, but physically impossible for me not to smile, no matter how wrong that is. Also, what ROTP(lumber) said about 50s R&B.