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Thread ID: 44777	2004-04-29 21:07:00	Off Topic: HTOTW#16, Novelty & Nonsense Tunes from the 1920s	Terry Porritt (14)	Press F1

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233042	2004-04-29 21:07:00	Nonsense and novelty songs were rather popular during the 1920s, and to some extent during the 1930s. Later on it was difficult to determine which were meant to be nonsense songs, I still have that difficulty today as most modern pop sounds nonsensical to my ear :). Tunes that spring to mind from my childhood include Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick, Chicken ( which we will hear shortly), Hush Hush Hush Here Comes The Bogey Man,, Teddy Bears Picnic (still going strong, and which incidently, the BBC used the Henry Hall version as an audio test record for many years because of its wide frequency range, for a 78rpm that is.) Then there were novelty singers like Helen Kane the 'Boop Boop A-Doop' girl with the little girl voice, and a model for the Betty Boop carton, still going strong as a character at Disneyland. Many of these nonsense and novelty songs were played by hot dance bands such as Irving Aaronson's Commanders, Harry Reser and his variously named bands, even the great Paul Whiteman had his novelty numbers backed by some of the hottest musicians of the day. It may be argued that the scat singing introduced by Louis Armstrong in the tune Heebie Jeebies was a nonsense tune. It is said he forgot the words, and so started something great, but you couldnt get much 'Hotter Than That' :) which was also an Armstrong tune with scat singing. First up, lets listen to a couple of numbers from Harry Reser and his Orchestra. His orchestra recorded under several names including The Six Jumping Jacks, and the Cliquot Club Eskimos, great names :). The singer on these sides is Tom Stacks with a distinctive voice. Let's hear Chick,Chick,Chick,Chick Chicken (Lay a Little Egg For Me) (www.redhotjazz.com). The title gives away the fact it is a nonsense song. Harry Reser, by the way, played a fine banjo. Here's one I really go a bomb on. In 1928, electric motor horns were still a novelty, mechanical Klaxons were the order of the day. (As an aside, George Gershwin brought back 4 French Taxi bulb squeeze horns that he selected for pitch and bought from auto parts shops during a trip to Paris in the mid 1920s and used them in his 1928 orchestral recording of An American in Paris (note the correct use of bought and brought here,why do so many people misuse these words???? :) )) This crazy tune suggests that if you have a multitone electric motor horn fitted to your car then you are more likely to get your girl. Oh I love it :) Click "I'm Wild About Horns On Automobiles That Go Ta-Ta-Ta-Ta"] (www.redhotjazz.com) to listen. Let's make it 3 numbers by Harry Reser, we cant leave him without listening to The Pump Song from 1926. Here's a bit of the lyrics....'It's hard to tell the depth of a well by the length of the handle on the pump', I mean how crazy can you get? Ok, here (www.redhotjazz.com) it is. Another crazy tune from 1927, this time by Irving Aaronson and His Commanders. The 1920s were not called the roaring twenties for nothing, it was an age of flappers, road houses, fast cars, bootleg gin, honky-tonks, The Bunny-Hug, the BlackBottom and The Charleston, and.... Vo-Do-Do-De-O :) This tune is called 'Crazy Words-Crazy Tune', listen (www.redhotjazz.com)to the vo-do-do-de-o. Bix Beiderbecke is never far away from HTOTW, here is another tune that I used to hear as a kid, Barnacle Bill the Sailor (www.redhotjazz.com) played by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra in 1930 with Bix and Bubber Miley on horns. To end this session, something really hot, 'Felix The Cat' by The Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1928 with Bix doing his stuff on hot cornet. Felix of course was another film cartoon character of the times, who first emerged I think in 1919. Felix (www.redhotjazz.com).	Terry Porritt (14)
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