Another couple of Poli-Tunes

I don't believe it...Three posts since the middle of October? It never rains, but it pours, eh?

It occurred to me that I had another couple of semi-political singles to post...and here they are:


Of all of Stan Freberg's regular issues on Capitol, 1952's Abe Snake For President seems to be the hardest one to find...I know it took me a good fifteen years to snag a copy.

45-9815 Abe Snake For President Stan Freberg Capitol F2125
http://www.box.net/shared/p4jusuozfi
Hollywood, March 1952: Stan Freberg, vocal; Billy May Orchestra.

"He never was a general and he never sold a hat" are obvious references to Eisenhower and Truman. The line "The piano's got to go" is another light dig at the incumbent.

This was the first session that Freberg teamed up with Billy May, who supplied the music for Stan's later rock 'n' roll parodies and his extravaganzas (The USA albums, especially).

Record collectors, note that the OC 45 (Optional Center) is still attached. 95% of the time, the original owners of Capitol 45s popped them out and threw them away.

I notice that there's a Time reprint from May 1952 that reports on Stan's then-current record, Try...a satire of Johnny Ray's lachrymose Cry. The article also mentions his up-and-coming record of Abe Snake! http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935596,00.html


A while back, the 78-L folks were talking a lot about Johnny Standley's It's In The Book monologue, the retelling of Little Bo-Peep in tent-show revival fashion, culminating in a rousing version of Grandma's Lye Soap. That record sold like the proverbial hotcakes in 1952.
Standley did a follow-up record, a take off on Rock-a-Bye Baby called Proud New Father. It sold moderately well, but not like Book did.

Finally in 1956, Standley did another two-sider called Get Out And Vote. It's a gently amusing sendup of politics in general.

45-15863/4 Get Out And Vote (2 parts) Johnny Standley Capitol F3544
http://www.box.net/shared/q8sh52agds
1956: Johnny Standley, vocal and monologue, Jimmy Sheldon Orchestra.

Side One originally ended with a badly spliced-in round of applause borrowed from the end of the second side. I took the liberty of performing a "clapectomy," and restored the integrity of the performance. Or something like that...I think it works better like this, anyway.

Well...these last couple of posts should be enough political humor for anybody. I've certainly had my fill of it...

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Here's an old New Yorker cartoon for the 78-L gang, obviously by Charles Addams. I suppose I should have published this last week, but better late than never:



.......'til we meet again...