It says it’s called The Bible; it’s different from my other…
What a genius couplet to open a song with!
Yes, my friends today we drift back into song-poem
country, specifically to that faraway land known as Ted Rosen's Halmark company and a
recent acquisition for me, a four track EP stuffed with the usual Halmark
trademarks: sloppy, nonsensical lyrics, overwrought performances, the complete
lack of performer credits and those same old reused song beds. And today you
get not one, not two but all four tracks! You can thank me later.
The first cut on the EP, What’s This Book About, Mother? From
the wonderfully-monikered Norma L Champagne, is the pick of the bunch although,
as is so often the case with Halmark releases, it’s all pretty damn good. That
opening pair of lines aside I love Dodie Frost’s vocal performance on this – at
least I assume its Dodie. As she was often inclined to do she cheats her way
through the song by speaking rather than singing the majority of the lines,
only breaking into song at the end. It’s an unusually long track too. No doubt
if you listen carefully you’ll hear the point where the backing track had an
extra minute spliced into it.
I can’t listen to the opening strains of the second track
on this EP, God Let Us be Thankful by Bea Brooks, without hearing that old
favourite My Daddy, He Died in 1969. Singers Jack and Mary Kimmell do their
usual stalwart work on this dull slice of religious nonsense, and I
particularly like the way Jack manages to shoehorn in that last phrase – ‘Let
us get down on our knees and thank you for everything’ – after Mary had given
up and moved on to (hopefully) better things.
A nice slice of bad song-poet country next. Teresa My
Sweetheart of the Mountains, with words written by Frances Thayer writing about
what sounds to me to have been an illicit lesbian affair. Assuming that this came
out (if you’ll excuse the pun) in the late 60s or early 70s Frances was clearly
a pioneer advocate for gay marriage. Either that or the sloppy staff at Halmark
couldn’t spell Francis. I love the idiotic words which lead into the first
bridge: ‘And I took her out to the movies, and the movies and the shows’. It
must have been a busy (and expensive) courtship for the poor woman.
Last up is West Virginia Mines, by Iola Warth Conner. There’s
not a lot to say about this one, although the organ and gospel choir add a nice
touch and the lyrics are, as you’d expect, pretty third-rate. One thing worth
noting is that these last two tracks are clearly by the same singer who
performed I Lost My Girl to an Argentinian Cowboy (also on Halmark) which has
long been credited to Bob Storm, Halmark’s most prolific male vocalist. However
this is absolutely not Bob Storm: his voice is much richer, almost Sinatra-esque; listen
to the song-poem demonstration disc I posted recently and compare for yourself.
If it is indeed Bob Storm then something terrible must have happened to his
voice. Personally I doubt it; Bob is the only member of the Halmark stable to
have regularly received a performer credit on his releases and he’s not
mentioned here. There was another male vocalist at Halmark, Georgie Starr, but
as none of his recordings were ever credited we’ll probably never know if it is
in fact him.
Enjoy!
Download Mother HERE
Download Thankful HERE
Download Sweetheart HERE
Download Virginia HERE
"Daryl is a religiofobe..."
ReplyDeleteDaryll is a religiofobe!"
Nah-nah-nah-na-na-NAH.
Probably
Delete- only probably ?
ReplyDeleteI`d insist on that title...
Timmy, I bet if you`d make a record with these lyrics Darryl would be delighted to share it here at WWR. Well, probably.
Cheers,
J.
The 'phobe' bit would suggest that I'm scared of religion. I'm not, but I am scared of the way certain church leaders misuse their power and position. We're seeing a lot of that in the UK at the moment. It's very depressing
DeleteDo you have any idea where I’d be able to listen to this? I’ve tried everywhere and haven’t had any luck. I’m sure this is the longest of long shots but I’m Iola Warth Conners grandson and I’d like to see what kind of thing she was doing way back then.
ReplyDeleteHi. I'll try and repair the broken links tomorrow morning, so check back after midday and you should be able to hear and download your Grandmother's song then 😉
Delete