Monday, December 06, 2010

Death Where Is Thy Ring-a-Ding Ding

From 1958, please enjoy The Playmates (of "Beep Beep" fame) and the suurealist greaseball deathrock that is "(I Dreamed the Jukebox Played) The Day I Died."




I'd neither heard this record nor even suspected its existence until last Friday, if truth be told. But it's an amazing piece of work, I think; when people talk about the poetry of rock --
There was a-stompin' and a-strollin'
There was a-goin' on
All the cats were wailing
"The Gonest is gone!"
-- that's gotta be what they're referring to.

I should add that I discovered its wonders after a query from my old bandmate and high school chum Allan Weissman, for whom it has apparently been an obsession looming large in his legend for lo these many years. Thanks, Al!!!

8 comments:

Gummo said...

Man, you old folks have weird taste.

Edward said...

The song predicts the famous line about Elvis' death:
"Good career move."

Who knew they were aware even then that death boosts record sales?

steve simels said...

Hey -- I'll have you know I spent 89 cents to download this legally from Amazon.

That was before I learned that they'd kicked Wikileaks off the site. Last time I'll do business with them, I might add.

NYMary said...

There's something deeply wrong with this cover, I have to say: an endomorphic Madness with a cheerfully gay polyamorous vibe.

Or maybe it's just me.

steve simels said...

No, it's the cover.

Although the deeply pained expression on the guy on the right may be a clue that even they knew there was something wrong.
:-)

NYMary said...

That guy in the middle has a real Smiling Bob vibe.

steve simels said...

Or as we refer to him, That Grinning Doofus.
:-)

Anonymous said...

If Morris Levy took songwriting credit for this one, I'd actually believe him. (Really sounded to me like they were singing "the goniff is gone.")

By any chance, were any of these guys found soaked in gasoline, deceased from self-inflicted knife wounds? Maybe that's what the song is about . .

AP