Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Your Wednesday Moment of Words Fail Me: Special Buddy Knox is Very Depressed Edition

From 1956, mind you. Apparently, Buddy's party doll gave him the brush.



I realize that death songs are an old and honored tradition in what we refer to as the rock-and-roll field, but I didn't suspect until a few weeks ago that they had rockabilly origins quite this explicit.

[h/t Todd Everett]

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,


Interesting record. My first thought was...hey I thought the Elton John song on Honky Chateau was an original! Different songs.

But,you want a death song? I'll give you a death song...it's called Gloomy Sunday. Here the Mel Torme version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379hN4TmGEY

Lyrically, the narrator contemplates killing himself in order to join his departed lover. Mel is at the hight of his (considerable) powers and Paich's jazz arrangement is top flight. Get a load of Jack Sheldon's trumpet solo.

The capper? The original title of this tune, apparently, was "Hungarian Suicide Song". I mean, how could you NOT want to give that a listen?

regards,

RichD

buzzbabyjesus said...

Then there's always "Psycho":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftOCvwrygCI

steve simels said...

Wow.

Seriously--wow.

Noam Sane said...

I blame Morris Levy.

edward said...

Gloomy Sunday and Psycho...Both covered by Costello. Hmmm

TJ said...

That's Jack, just an excitable boy

cthulhu said...

Well, there's Richard Thompson's Psycho Street, which details all kinds of goings on of the mordant kind. Saw him play it live, during an acoustic show, six months before the CD came out. (He also played 1952 VBL, which also had not been released yet.). Certainly one of the more bizarre songs in RT's oeuvre...

Brooklyn Girl said...

Then there's Leonard Cohen's "Dress Rehearsal Rag" ---

Anonymous said...

Nick Cave - The Curse of Millhaven

That Jack Kittel song was a huge hit out here in the Inland Empire circa 1973-1974. Then Dr. Demento got hold of it and the rest is history. I don't like Elvis Costello's cover of it. It's weak.

It'd be cool for him to do live with Jackshit, though.

Vickie Rock

Got a story about Richard Thompson too. It involves my boobs, bootlegging, Bathsheba, faulty microphones and changing clothes in the parking lot. It's a long tale. Let's just say that Richard made me feel more uncomfortable than I've ever felt in my life. And we both kinda enjoyed it. Perhaps he more than me. I hope he writes a song about it one day. Cuz that's all I'm tellin'.

Alzo said...

I'll put my pop historian hat on and posit that the Rockabilly regard of death comes from the postwar biker and hot rod subcultures we see in 'The Wild One' and 'Rebel Without a Cause.' ...not forgetting Nervous Norvus.

Anonymous said...

can't be sure but that great guitar solo was almost certainly played by Don "Dirt" Lanier who I found out passed away 7-23-14.

Anonymous said...

The cold hard facts of life, Dolores.

http://www.divshare.com/download/25908125-5fa

http://www.divshare.com/download/25908180-533

Vickie Rock - gliding down from the moon