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120679bk Spike 22/5/03 11:24 am Page 2 1. Little Bo-Peep Has Lost Her Jeep 7. Chloe 5:31 13. My Old Flame 3:32 18. Riders In The Sky 3:25 2:21 (Gus Kahn–Neil Moret) (Arthur Johnston–Sam Coslow) (Stan Jones) (Jerry Bowne–Frank DeVol) Introduced by Bob Hope Paul Judson & Paul Frees, vocal I.W.Harper, Sir Frederick Gas & The Sons of Del Porter, vocal;Willie Spicer at the Red Ingle & The Ken Darby Singers, vocal RCA Victor 20-2592, mx D7-VB-1367-1 the Sons of the Pioneers, vocal Collidophone Command Performance, 1943 Recorded 7 October 1947 RCA Victor 20-3741, mx D9-VB-645-1 Bluebird B 11530, mx PBS 072237-1 Recorded 6 November 1943 14. William Tell Overture 3:16 Recorded 24 May 1949 Recorded 7 April 1942 8. Cocktails For Two 2:56 (Rossini, arr. Spike Jones–Doodles Weaver) 19. Yes! We Have No Bananas 3:18 2. Hotcha Cornia (Black Eyes) 2:28 (Sam Coslow–Arthur Johnston) Doodles Weaver, commentary (Frank Silver–Irving Conn, special lyrics by (arr. Del Porter–Spike Jones) Carl Grayson & Chorus, vocal RCA Victor 20-2861, mx D7-VB-1368-1 Eddie Maxwell) Willie Spicer at the Sneezaphone RCA Victor 20-1628, mx D4-AB-1056-1 Recorded 7 October 1947 Joe Siracusa, Freddy Morgan & Sir Frederick Bluebird B 30-0818, mx PBS 072524-1 Recorded 29 November 1944 15. Ya Wanna Buy A Bunny? 3:20 Gas, vocal Recorded 28 July 1942 9. You Always Hurt The One You Love (Del Porter–Carl Hoefle) RCA Victor 20-3912, mx E0-VB-3757-1 3. Clink, Clink, Another Drink 2:20 2:50 George Rock, vocal Recorded 9 August 1950 (Foster Carling–Phil Ohman) (Doris Fisher–Allan Roberts) RCA Victor 20-3359, mx D9-VB-503-1 20. Holiday For Strings 3:12 Del Porter & The Boys In the Back Room, Carl Grayson & Red Ingle, vocal Recorded 6 January 1949 (David Rose–Sam Gallop) vocal; hiccups by Mel Blanc RCA Victor 20-1762, mx D5-VB-1128-1 16. Spike Jones describes the Musical (?) RCA Victor 20-1733, mx D4-AB-1057-1 Bluebird B 11466, mx PBS 072021-1 Recorded 10 September 1945 Instruments used in “Dance Of The Recorded 29 November 1944 Recorded 12 January 1942 10. The Glow Worm 3:07 Hours” 3:26 All selections recorded in Hollywood. 4. Siam 2:57 (Paul Lincke–Lilla Cayley Robinson, arr. Spike Jones & Richard Morgan, commentary (Del Porter) Spike Jones) RCA Victor DJ recording, mx D9-CB-1846 Transfers & Production by David Lennick. Del Porter, King Jackson & Carl Grayson, Aileen Carlisle & Red Ingle, vocal Recorded 1949 vocal RCA Victor 20-1893, mx D5-VB-2026-1 Digital Noise Reduction by Arthur Ka Wai 17. Dance Of The Hours 3:32 Bluebird B 11560, mx PBS 072236-1 Recorded 11 February 1946 Jenkins for K&A Productions Ltd. (Ponchielli, arr. Spike Jones–Doodles Weaver) Recorded 7 April 1942 Original 78s from the collections of David 11. That Old Black Magic 2:25 Doodles Weaver, commentary 5. Pass The Biscuits, Mirandy 3:01 (Harold Arlen–Johnny Mercer) RCA Victor 20-3516, mx D9-VB-644-1 Lennick, Greg Gormick & David Jessup. (Del Porter–Carl Hoefle) Carl Grayson, vocal Recorded 24 May 1949 Special thanks to Vince Giordano Del Porter, vocal RCA Victor 20-1895, mx D5-VB-1127-1 Bluebird B 11530, mx PBS 072239-1 Recorded 10 September 1945 PRODUCER'S NOTE: Identifying the performers on a Spike Jones record can be as much fun as Recorded 7 April 1942 12. Laura 2:58 listening to it, and the same goes for the names given to some of the instruments.‘Willie Spicer’ 6. Der Fuehrer’s Face 2:38 (David Raksin–Johnny Mercer) appeared to be a very versatile musician indeed, his name appearing on several early Bluebird (Oliver Wallace) Spike Jones & His Other Orchestra, with labels as a virtuoso on the sneezaphone, birdaphone, collidaphone et al. In reality Willie was Carl Grayson, vocal;Willie Spicer at the the City Slickers; Jimmy Cassidy, Red Ingle Spike himself. Not even the titles of the records were safe ... when Clink Clink Another Drink Birdaphone & Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath, vocal was reissued in 1948, it became “The Clink Clink Polka” and ‘The Boys in the Back Room’ were re- Bluebird B 11586, mx 072524-2 RCA Victor 20-2118, mx D6-VB-2064-1 named ‘I.W.Harper and the Four Fifths’. And the ‘Sons of the Sons of the Pioneers’ on Riders in Recorded 28 July 1942 Recorded 6 May 1946 the Sky were actually called ‘The Sons of the Backwoodsmen’ on the record labels.The ‘Pioneers’ name appeared on the file cards and on a later reissue, and was too good not to use here. 5 8.120679 6 8.120679 120679bk Spike 22/5/03 11:24 am Page 1 music business on fire. But the fourth session Jones Musical Depreciation Revue, a touring Composer Jerome Kern was furious at Jones’ executives, the record was withdrawn and a Musical Depreciation with included a song written for the Walt Disney show that was on the road for as much as ten version of his late friend Gus Kahn’s Chloe, new ending fabricated in the New York studios, SPIKE JONES & HIS CITY SLICKERS cartoon, Donald Duck in Nutzi Land, which months per year throughout the late 1940s and which is heard here in a rare Armed Forces with Spike nowhere in attendance.The original poked fun at Adolph Hitler and the Nazi into the 1950s. Jones now had it all: A stage Radio Service live performance, complete with version still turns up and is a prized collectors’ Original 1942-1950 Recordings scourge overrunning Europe. Take one ended show that packed audiences in across the U.S. introduction by Bob Hope. Kern thought the item, and is included in this collection. In and Canada, million-selling recordings and a song was an insult to its lyricist and he urged There were many recording artists who descri- local dance bands. Within a few years, he was with a trombone “schmeer” effect after the last addition, Spike circulated copies of of the full network radio show aired weekly from the Kahn’s widow,Grace, to pursue the matter. She bed their acts as zany and off-the-wall back in one of Hollywood’s most employed studio musi- mention of der Feurher, but the second parody to disc jockeys, counting on the cities along his tour route. And all of it under thought it was hilarious and was pleased that it the golden era of popular entertainment that cians, playing a steady stream of radio shows substituted a loud and rude “raspberry” effect, controversy to create the kind of publicity he his name and ownership. bracketed the Second World War. But compared and record dates. But he wasn’t a name to the which more accurately summed up how most breathed new life into the corny song, telling savoured. Americans felt about Hitler. It was take two that Kern nicely to mind his own business. to Spike Jones and His City Slickers, they were public, like Gene Krupa. He needed a way to But comedic popularity is a mercurial beast and Zany,off-the-wall, irreverent, inventive and, was issued and it was Der Fuehrer’s Face that all second run. Nearly 40 years after Jones’ stand out from the rest of the musical pack. it was only natural that the Spike Jones Not so good humoured was singer Vaughan above all, funny. That was Spike Jones and His made Jones a household name. Played death, no one has come along to claim his phenomenon would peak. Changing tastes, the Monroe, who was one of Victor's top-selling City Slickers in their prime. That’s what you’ll In addition to his radio and record studio work, repeatedly by several famous American disc group’s title as “The Craziest Band in the Land.” he played regularly in theatre pit orchestras. disappearance of the surprise factor in the artists in the late 1940s and a large stockholder. find on this Naxos CD. jockeys, it swept the country and soon spread material, the high cost of travelling with a large When Jones parodied his hit recording of Born Lindley Armstrong Jones on 14 December There, he was able to study many of the novelty abroad, reportedly even to Hitler’s ears. It was Greg Gormick 2003, Toronto, Ontario 1911, Spike’s nickname was bestowed on him bands that came through southern California. cast and crew,and Jones’ decision to leave Riders in the Sky, it ended with: "I can do that little something extra that Jones needed to Victor after thirteen years all contributed to a without his singing, but I wish I had his Original monochrome photo of Spike Jones by the railroaders he grew up around as the son He believed he could do better than all of them. grab the public’s attention. of a Southern Pacific Railroad station agent in A band he put together with other studio slow decline in the 1950s. But he never gave dough." To satisfy Monroe and Victor from Michael Ochs Archives / Redferns the desert towns of southern California. He colleagues slowly picked up dates (over and Not even a strike by the American Federation of up. Almost up to the time of his death from displayed a musical aptitude at an early age and above his well-paying studio work) and evolved Musicians over record royalties – which kept emphysema at 53 on 1 May 1965, he was still – as if from the script of a Hollywood movie of into the City Slickers.