the orioles - bring that money home (1955)

a sweet little doo wop tune! have no idea why this is unreleased / a rare find...

don rondo - white silver sands (1957)

dorothy ashby - "hip harp" (full album)

:)

perez prado - freeway mambo (1956)

off an LP called "Havana, 3 a.m." -- how evocative is that??

the jewels - hearts of stone (1954)

meghan trainor is out with another weak doo-wop pastiche... so why not listen to some of the actual good stuff?

i love the "no no no no" refrain in this one!


the five keys - "close your eyes" (1955)

this one's a gem too... love that drama of "take a breath!"

peggy lee - do i love you?

cole porter tune written in 1939, and recorded by peggy lee sometime after !

peggy lee - ac-cent-uate the positive (1952)

june christy - it's a most unusual day (1957)

erroll garner - they can't take that away from me (1955)

joined by eddie calhoun on double bass and denzil best on drums

monty kelly - tropicana (1953)

this was a top-20 billboard hit in 1953 -- wild, huh? there are some strains in here that i can see as little sondheim seeds...

art tatum - moonglow

my dad plays piano like art tatum :)

santo & johnny - blue moon (1959)

dion

dion - ruby baby

these videos are really something else !!!


dion - donna the primadonna

rockabilly/country girls of the 1950s

margie rayburn - oooooh what a doll (1958)

(i get such a kick out of arpeggios)

margie rayburn - "freight train" (1957)


bonnie guitar "love is over, love is done" (1958)


patty prater "no substitute for love"

can't find any info for this song or artist, but i like it a lot

will it go round in circles

a jangly piano, tambourine and brass driven mix:

1. sons of moses - soul symphony
2. nina simone - my sweet lord
3. joe cocker - the letter
4. wendell stuart & the downbeaters - my world is empty without you
5. carla thomas - it ain't no easy thing
6. jean dushon - plaything
7. artrud gilberto - stay
8. francois de rubiaux - dernier domicile connu
9. the monkees - valleri
10. billy preston - will it go round in circles
11. banny price - you love me pretty baby
12. ike & tina turner - flee flee fla
13. ray charles - what'd i say
14. the kickin mustangs - kickin
15. marsha gee - baby i need you
16. the crystals - i got a man
17. the undisputed truth - smiling faces sometimes
18. jae mason - lady jane
19. irma thomas - time is on my side
20. west coast revival - feelin alright

1 hour, >>DL here<<

this mix is relentless. it slows down sometimes into bossa nova or moody 50s r&b, but that's only to give it an uphill momentum to come swinging back down again

of all the mixes i've done, this one might have my favorite three opening songs + three closing songs!

[some of these tracks have some dead air for a few seconds at their beginnings or end, so if you want a smooth playback, try going to your itunes > preferences > playback and adding some crossfade (if you're picky like i am)]

cover: billy preston surrounded by organs!!

moondog monologue

these lyrics are nowhere to be found, so i typed em up


"no matter where i came from," i say,
"no matter where i go
to me, what matters is where i am on this day"

let me identify myself now
songsters both, and both clad in brown
the hermit thrush and i dwell far out of town

death, when you come to me, may you come to me swiftly
i would rather not linger
not linger

driving with herr doktor one day, for the air,
he would circle the square before he taught me how to square the very same circle

you were opportunist in the worst way
therefore, i pray, let it pay for you to know me

i do not dress as i do to attract attention
i attract attention because i dress as i do

you, the vandal, plunder the village as you will.
the earthworm will pillage you, the vandal, when you are under

i would bow down before just one--
one who bows before none.
i should know who that one might be who could do that to me
i am that one
and i bow down before me

since the hunter is the hunted, surely he knows what it is to lift an ecsatic dread
to some uncoming hunter's tread

such and such as the star that filters through the starry blue alone
a burning star turning in an orbit all of its own
such and such as i

beasts are always/were always trailblazing engineers
modern engineering would do well to do as well today
as well as beasts have done

if on this rock i stand alone
loneliness will turn heel, as he turns to stone

each today is yesterday's tomorrow, which is now
now is all i have
now is all i need
now is all i want
now

better i go, when you would that i stay, that i stay on,
than stay, when you would that i would go
better i go than stay

ebb and flow of the ocean
love and hate of emotion
nothing lasts, is my refrain
as the moon and my feelings wax and wane
i remain calm.

i would adjust everything until i fell
and will adjust nothing
then, worming up pathway, i found with pleasure:
i was just something.

standing at the door of my departure
i observe that your eyes belie all that you have said
for you are still in love with me

then, when recognition comes,
you will take my muse,
take her to his bed of ease
have his will, have his fill,
and strangle her.

my tiny butterfly butters my bread
my briny flutterby keeps me well-fed
why should i mutter?

stung by this last rebuff, i rebound.
on the way back, i hear me saying to myself:
"dwell in your shell"

one thing about life, be it said:
it feeds upon itself over and over
and of itself, is fed.

should i love you as i love myself?
suppose i hate myself.
i would be as free to hate you too

i am never quite educated, never quite so
but i am ever in the painful process of becoming so

you remember me and my song.
only such immortaliity strikes creative sparks from my soul
because of you

who could wear out their welcome there
when there is no welcome there to wear out?
"there is where it is: here on earth."

"i would advise you not to generalize, as a rule."
(a fool to be: i have just uttered a generalization.
ah, me.)

down is up, and so up is down
because the world is round
there is no such thing as up or down

this one wish is ever so near to my heart
but oh so far away from my tongue

sadness was so mixed with gladness
that she wept for joy
she was so sad
tears filled her eyes but enhanced a smile on her face
she was so glad

think of all of the thoughts that i think
they are naught to me, compared to just one fleeting thought of you

how could i fear for my last day,
when i am dying daily?
and have been since my first day?

thus the clown wore cap and gown
for she lived for degrees while she died by degrees,
with a frown.

voices of spring were in chorus
each voice was singing a song
i could not sing me a chorus until i wrote me a song
i wrote my song and joined the throng

i besiege my liege still further
for my wooing is turning her majesty's royal head
and turning toward me

though i climbed up the highest mountain in view
--yet, contentment was not mine
for beyond, a higher mountain still higher was looming

now is that painful moment of parting we dreaded
saying "goodbye" is plural indemnity, truly
for having said "hello"