History Repeats Itself by Buddy Starcher, first
issued by BES – Starcher’s own label - in 1965, is a truly mad record, a conspiracy
theory put to music and issued just as the American public were waking up to
the horrors of the Vietnam war. It’s brilliantly nuts, comparing the death of
Abraham Lincoln with that of John F Kennedy and suggesting that more than mere
mortals were involved in both assassinations.
The disc didn't do much until it was reissued by the
Boone Record Company in 1966. Shortly afterwards the far bigger Decca Records heard the
potential, picked it up for distribution and took the track to Number 39 on the Billboard
pop charts, and Number Two on the magazine’s Country chart. An album, also
called History Repeats Itself, made the Country Albums Top 40.
Born in Ripley, West Virginia Oby Edgar “Buddy ”Starcher (16
March 1906 —2 November 2001) was an American country singer who released his
first record way a full 20 years before this, his only chart hit. According to
Wikipedia, History Repeats Itself was co-written by American country comedian Minnie
Pearl, who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and will be
best remembered for her “How-deeeee!” catchphrase. However, all of the releases
credit Starcher, who starred on his own show on WCHS-TV from 1960 to 1966 as
either sole arranger or composer.
The flipside, Sniper’s Hill, is equally memorable,
a country song that sounds alarmingly like a Halmark song-poem, about the last
days of a GI framed as a letter from the young man to his wife, who has just
given birth to his first (and, presumably, only) child. As we all know, there
was a rash of such songs issued around the time of the Vietnam conflict, and
this is a wonderfully maudlin pip accompanied by healthy dollops of Christian guilt
and flag-waving humbuggery.
Enjoy!
Download History HERE
Download Sniper’s HERE
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