SHG: Allan Sherman: "Hello Mudduh! Hello Fadduh! (A Letter From Camp)"

Allan Sherman: “Hello Mudduh! Hello Faddah! (A Letter From Camp)”
Entered the chart on: 8/10/63
Peaked on: 8/24/63
Weeks at #2: 3
Songs at #1: “Fingertips—Pt. 2” by Little Stevie Wonder and “My Boyfriend’s Back” by the Angels

“You know, it is so sad! All your knowledge of high culture comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons!”

Perhaps I should explain.

You see, the melody to this song is not original. We’re in “based on classical” territory again. This is from the “Dance of the Hours” mini-ballet sequence from Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda. Over in the UK, this melody was transformed into the hit ballad “Like I Do” by Welsh songbird Maureen Evans. On our side of the pond, we used the same melody as the basis of a silly comedy routine about a kid’s miserable experience at summer camp.

Like our friends over in the UK, I’ve always found summer camp to be a strange and foreign concept. My summers were spent with my family, going on camping trips or weekend jaunts to the beach. “Summer camp” was this thing I only saw in the movies or on TV. And the kids always seemed to be having a dreadful time. I thought “summer camp” must be for parents who didn’t like their kids, and I felt a bit sorry for kids who were subjected to it.

But enough about me. What does Mr. Sherman have to say?



This is almost a bait-and-switch. The first 15 seconds lure you into thinking this is a straight classical adaptation. Then Allan comes in with his smoke-ravaged voice, and an overly enthusiastic audience reacts to his rendition of this child’s tale of woe. He hits all the targets and then some, escalating from poison-ivy rashes and food poisoning to alligator-infested lakes, malaria and a search party to find lost campers. Not all the references have aged as well; I didn’t “get” the reference to Ulysses that the audience found so hilarious (We are talking James Joyce, right?).

And after all this, we get the surprise that the kid’s only been at camp a day as he composes his letter. Followed by the “twist” ending in which the rain clears up, he sees how much fun the other kids are having, and exhorts his parents to “kindly disregard” his letter. Wait, did he send it or not?

Good Lord, I am over-analyzing a goofy novelty song!

Well, it’s entertaining. Slight, but entertaining. It’s a comedy routine, what more do you want?

But seriously, could someone explain the Ulysses reference to me? Please?

Rating: 3

SHG: Chubby Checker: "Limbo Rock"

Chubby Checker: “Limbo Rock”
Entered the chart on: 9/29/62
Peaked on: 12/22/62
Weeks at #2: 2
Song at #1: “Telstar” by the Tornadoes

*sigh*

I was going to try a stalling tactic for this review, but there’s no way around it. Let’s just jump in with both feet and get it over with.

Mind you, Chubby Checker, despite his derivative name (and the fact that he’s of average girth), is not a man without talent. He had a strong voice and an uncanny talent for mimicry; listen to his now-forgotten debut hit, “The Class.” Cameo-Parkway used that talent for...um...ripping off Hank Ballard (the original singer of “The Twist,” whose rendition Mr. Checker’s twice #1 version blatantly carbon-copies). Checker blames Cameo-Parkway for ruining his career, making him a laughingstock. I’ll side with the man here, as I’ve heard some of his post C-P singles where it’s revealed, in his heart of hearts, he really wanted to be...Jimi Hendrix? And damn if he didn’t almost pull it off!

In other words, they took a man with scads of potential, and squandered his talents on faddish dance-craze records. I feel no regret for what I’m about to do.



I’ll be perfectly honest: this doesn’t even feel like a “real” song. This is what I call “functional” music. It’s like the Hokey Pokey, or the Chicken Dance. Something a wedding DJ puts on to get kids and grandparents alike out on the dance floor. Chubby tries to enliven this with the laughter, the spoken word breaks (“How low can you go?” Oh, the irony!), but I’m having none of it. The handclaps almost got me into it. Almost. But not quite.

The faux-calypso style, apparently inspired by half an hour of listening to a Harry Belafonte record, feels phoned in. It’s just so repetitive! And the unison sax/whistle repeat of that melody one more time certainly isn’t helping.

I can’t imagine anyone listening to this one on purpose. Obnoxious.

Rating: 1

SHG: Brook Benton: "The Boll Weevil Song"

Brook Benton: “The Boll Weevil Song”
Entered the chart on: 6/5/1961
Peaked on: 7/10/1961
Weeks at #2: 3
Song at #1: “Tossin’ and Turnin’ by Bobby Lewis

Allow me to preface this by saying that Bobby Lewis’ “Tossin’ and Turnin’” is one of the most underrated rock & roll records of the early 60s.

Speaking of underrated, here’s Brook Benton. He charted an amazing 22 hits on the top 40 between 1959 and 1970 and virtually nobody ever talks about him anymore. Even more than Sam Cooke, he is the true inheritor of Nat “King” Cole’s crown; his early singles could practically be clones of Cole ballads. He didn’t do as much uptempo material as Sam, but he could excel when called on to do so (see “Hotel Happiness”). And he even did a series of duets with jazz legend Dinah Washington.

If anyone talks about him anymore, it’s usually in regards to his last hit: a rendition of Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia” which hit the top 5 in early 1970. But his highest charting hit was this. And it’s a freaking novelty song! That’s just typical of our luck here at Second Hand Goods.



So, we start off with what sounds like a country song, with some very Floyd Cramer-ish piano. And then...ugh! This is a spoken-word number, isn’t it? Yep, the only Brook Benton song I’ll be covering won’t even feature Brook Benton doing what he does best. Well, we get the “Gotta have a home” refrain but that’s, like, 5% of the “song.” The rest is Brook just narrating this whimsical story about a boll weevil moving into a cotton farm, bringing his whole family along and basically making a nuisance of himself for the poor farmer.

As near as I can tell, this was loved by the same people that loved Disney’s Song of the South. It features the same Southern dialect storytelling style and, frankly, comes across as a bit stereotypical and embarrassing today.

Oh well, Brook Benton has 21 other hits to choose from. I’d rather be listening to any of them.

Rating: 1

SHG: The Coasters: "Charlie Brown"

The Coasters: “Charlie Brown”
Entered the chart on: 2/9/1959
Peaked on: 3/9/1959
Weeks at #2: 3 weeks
Song at #1: “Venus” by Frankie Avalon

Talk about “the day the music died.” Check out what’s in the #1 spot. It didn’t take long for the fake-rock opportunists to move in!

But never mind about that. We’re here to discuss what hit #2, which if nothing else, saves me the agony of reviewing the execrable Frankie Avalon. And it’s easy to dismiss the Coasters as a novelty act, the Harlem Globetrotters of doo-wop, if you will. But that would be selling them short on being a first-rate vocal group with great songwriting (courtesy of the inimitable Leiber/Stoller, who already gave us Elvis’ spectacular early ballad “Love Me” on this feature). I loved this tune as a kid, let’s see if it holds up...



When I was a kid, I thought this was about the Charlie Brown, i.e.: Charles Schulz’s oft-harangued character. It would explain the solo refrain for bass singer “Dub” Jones: “Why is everybody always pickin’ on me?” It seems not to be the case, though. This Charlie Brown shares the name of the comic strip character, but has a completely different personality. This Charlie Brown is a rebellious teen, an irreverent class clown who’s frequently in trouble for being such a merry prankster.

No wonder this song was such a big hit. Not only is the subject matter unique and attention-grabbing, but so is the vocal arrangement, with not only Jones’ repeated solo line, but also the brief appearance by David Seville’s Chipmunks* on background vocals. The sax hook is also completely infectious. When listening to this for this review, I was thinking, “Oh please, give this guy a solo!” Fortunately, my wish was granted. Never doubt Leiber/Stoller.

If all novelty songs were this good, maybe I wouldn’t be so down on them in general.

Rating: 5

*I know David Seville had nothing to do with this recording, they were just using the same trick of monkeying with the tape-speed. I’m guessing Leiber/Stoller heard “Witch Doctor” on the radio and decided to use the same gimmick, albeit mercifully not for the length of a record.

SHG: Bill Parsons: "The All-American Boy"

Bill Parsons: “The All-American Boy”
Entered the chart on: 12/28/1958
Peaked on: 2/2/1959
Weeks at #2: 1
Song at #1: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by the Platters

When is a song not a song by who you think it is? When the record company screws up. Infamously, this song is actually by Bobby Bare, but Fraternity Records screwed up and listed Parsons as the singer. So not only were they unable to give Cathy Carr a follow-up hit, they couldn’t even credit their performers correctly! Doesn’t inspire confidence in their competence, does it?



Bleah...I really dislike spoken-word records. Not a big fan of novelty songs, either. It’s a spoof of Elvis, apparently, but it could be about any guy who wanted to be a rock star and wound up getting drafted. You know, because there were so many of those in 1959. Topical humor, who needs it? That’s Bobby Bare singing doing the vocal, but Parsons did in fact write and arrange this. It’s a fine rock & roll song from an instrumental standpoint, but the vocal just makes me cringe.

Sorry, I don’t think this has aged very well. I think there’s a reason I’ve never heard this before now, and I really don’t think I need to explain why.

Rating: 1