First of all, please accept my apology for my recent absence. A few of you emailed to ask if the blog was over, and it’s nice to know that a few lovely souls actually read this thing! I assured those who asked that I was simply taking a little break, and I promised that the blog would return soon. And here it is!
I actually did a lot in the last month– my band played two huge shows, I saw The Who and Rush on their (supposed) farewell tours, and I even did some yardwork (those who know me understand exactly how shocking it is to see my whacking weeds). But now it’s time to get back to blog business, and I’m happy to start off with one of my all-time favorite records: the 1975 K-Tel compilation entitled Goofy Greats!
I adored this record as a child. I have vivid memories of playing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and dressing my poor dog Snowball up as the lion (construction paper and tape were handy tools), and I was jamming out to “Mah Nà Mah Nà” long before The Muppets made it cool to do so. I managed to hold on to my original copy of Goofy Greats for a very long time, but I lost track of it around 1981 or so. In the late ’90s, I found a great used copy at my local Half Price Books and joyously revisited the anthems of my youth. When 2007 rolled around and I finally acquired the ability to transfer vinyl into digital files, Goofy Greats was the first album I ripped. I still had some of those original mp3s in all of their crappy 128 kbps glory up until yesterday, when I decided to painstakingly recreate this kitschy classic using the best audio sources available (and we all know that ain’t a K-Tel record). Some of the songs below were ripped from CD, some were downloaded, and two lucky tracks that you just can’t find anywhere else received new rips from the actual Goofy Greats LP.
I hope you enjoy this record as much as I do. And if you don’t, just play it for your kids– you know they’ll love it. Just be kind to animals and hide the family pet before you do so, OK?
Goofy Greats
K-Tel Records, 1975
1. The Royal Guardsmen: “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” (Holler)
2. Brian Hyland: “Itsby Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini” (Vance/Pockriss)
Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini
3. The Newbeats: “Bread And Butter” (Parks/Turnbow)
4. The Fendermen: “Mule Skinner Blues” (Rodgers/Vaughan)
5. Bobby Day: “Rockin’ Robin” (Thomas)
6. The Hollywood Argyles: “Alley Oop” (Frazier)
7. Johnny Thunder: “Loop De Loop” (Dong/Vann)
8. Ohio Express: “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” (Resnick/Levine)
9. George Baker Selection: “Little Green Bag” (Visser/Bouwens)
10. The Tokens: “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (Weiss/Peretti/Stanton/Creatore)
11. The Trashmen: “Surfin’ Bird” (Frazier/White/Harris/Wilson, Jr.)
12. Ohio Express: “Chewy, Chewy” (Resnick)
13. Ray Stevens: “Ahab The Arab” (Stevens)
14. Shirley Ellis: “The Name Game” (Ellis/Chase)
15. The Lemon Pipers: “Green Tambourine” (Leka/Pinz)
16. 1910 Fruitgum Company: “Simon Says” (Chiprut)
17. Piero Umiliani: “Mah Nà Mah Nà” (Umiliani)
18. Bill Haley & The Comets: “See You Later, Alligator” (Guidry)*
19. The Playmates: “Beep, Beep” (Cicchetti/Claps)*
20. Jewel Akens: “The Birds And The Bees” (Stuart)
21. The Lovin’ Spoonful: “Nashville Cats” (Sebastian)
22. Larry Verne: “Mr. Custer” (Darian/Delory/Van Winkle)
23. Larry Williams: “Bony Moronie” (Williams)
24. 1910 Fruitgum Company: “1, 2, 3 Red Light” (Trimachi/Trimachi)
* vinyl rips courtesy of the Analog Kid
____________________________________________________
Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
The Muppets: “Mahna Mahna” (Umiliani)
From the album The Muppet Show: Music, Mayhem, And More!
Rhino Records, 2002
Filed under: Children's Music, One-Hit Wonders, Pop, Rock, Schmaltz Tagged: 1910 Fruitgum Company, Analog Kid, Bill Haley & The Comets, Bobby Day, Brian Hyland, George Baker Selection, Goofy Greats, Hollywood Argyles, Jewel Akens, Johnny Thunder, K-Tel, Larry Verne, Larry Williams, Lemon Pipers, Lovin' Spoonful, Ohio Express, Piero Umiliani, Ray Stevens, Royal Guardsmen, Shirley Ellis, The Fendermen, The Muppets, The Newbeats, The Playmates, The Tokens
