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| The Bonzo Dog Band |
Happy Birthday to Dennis Cowan, celebrating the big Six Five today. Dennis was bassist for the Bonzo Dog Band, originally The Bonzo Dog Dada Band, then The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, before finally settling on the name everyone knows and loves. The Bonzos, as they are affectionately known among fans, were the most influential band you never heard of and almost indescribable, but I’ll try. Cross a smattering of Lawrence Welk, with heavy doses of Spike Jones and his City Slickers, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, and Weird Al Yankovic and you’d get the Bonzo Dog Band…but Bonzos are funnier.
A little lesson in British comedy: One can draw a very crooked line from the surreal ’50s radio show The Goon Show–from which Peter Sellers sprang–to the anarchy of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Between the two was the seminal children’s show [sic] Do Not Adjust Your Set. Later-Pythons Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin wrote and starred in this Thames tee vee series. However, people of all ages tuned in to see the antics of The Bonzo Dog Band, which featured today’s Birthday Boy Dennis Cowan on bass.
Here’s some very early Bonzos from Do Not Adjust Your Set:
People know the band Death Cab For Cutie. However, few know that the name is a tribute to the song of the same name that The Bonzo Dog Band performed in Magical Mystery Tour. This tasty little morsel of Doo Wop is one of few highlights in this horrible film that will always be an albatross around Paul McCartney‘s neck:
Neil Innes also came from the Bonzos and he became, almost, an auxiliary member of Monty Python Flying Circus. As told (accurately) by the WikiWackyWoo:
Innes wrote the songs for Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He appeared in the film as a head-bashing monk, the serf crushed by the giant wooden rabbit, and the leader of Sir Robin’s minstrels. He also had a small role in Terry Gilliam‘s Jabberwocky. Because of these long-standing connections, Innes is often referred to as “the Seventh Python”.
And, indeed, a Neil Innes documentary was called The Seventh Python. Innes was also Ron Nasty in The Rutles, which makes him one
of the Pre-Fab Four. But this isn’t about Innes, which would be a fun transgression.
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| L to R: Dennis Cowan, Roger Ruskin Spear & Rodney Slater 1969 Photo © Barrie Wentzell, who sells beautiful prints of early Bonzo Dog Band and more. |
The Bonzo Dog Band classic 1967 recording The Intro and the Outro lampooned every band that ever name-checked and introduced the members of the band. Vivian Stanshall voiced the introductions. This song was the inspiration for Mike Oldfileld when he recorded his solo album Tubular Bells, famously used as the theme music for The Exorcist. Oldfield’s long version introduced all the instruments he played, voiced by none other than the very same Vivian Stanshall.
Lastly, for fans of Beatles trivia, like James Rosen of Fox News (who I stumped. That story coming.), here’s a real rarity: The promotional film for I’m The Urban Spaceman. The original recording of Urban Spaceman was produced Apollo C. Vermouth, which was a pseudonym for Paul McCartney. Enjoy.
Mr. Brevett, a trained jazz bassist, was an original member of the
Skatalites, which was formed in 1964 during the evolution of Jamaican
music from American-influenced rhythm and blues and jazz to the
homegrown syncopated style known as ska, the precursor of reggae, rock
steady and dub. The band members were also active as studio musicians
and backed up the Wailers and other groups.The Skatalites broke up in the mid-1960s but regrouped in New York 20
years later. Two of their albums, “Hi-Bop Ska!” and “Greetings From
Skamania,” were nominated for Grammy Awards in the 1990s.
Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who was
once a tour manager for The Skatalites, said that while the band’s great
horn section often drew most of the accolades, it was “Brevett who
quietly provided the mesmerizing backbone to the Skatalites’ sound.”“To say that Brevett was a creator of both ska and dub is not to use hyperbole,” Patterson said in a statement.
[…]
Legendary Jamaican musicians say it’s difficult to overestimate the role the trained jazz bassist and the rest of the original Skatalites played in developing the Caribbean island’s unique music.
“He was there from the beginning,” Bunny Wailer told The Associated Press. “All my bass lines from all my recordings have been attributed to bass lines from Lloyd Brevett.”
Wailer, the reggae legend who was one of the original Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, praised Brevett as a devout member of the Rastafarian faith and an elder statesman of the island’s culture.
“Brother Brevett’s music is eternal,” Wailer said.
Willie Nelson turns 79 today and he’s still going strong, dropping his new CD “Heroes” next month, featuring Merle Haggard, Snoop Dogg, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver,
and Sheryl Crow, among others. Who would have predicted that back in 1961, when Willie was just an itinerant song-plugger trying to sell “Crazy” to Patsy Cline, that one day he would be singing for presidents?
Here’s a Willie Nelson jukebox:
People, who know that Dub Reggae is my favourite musical genre, and that I was also a ‘60s psychedelic, hard-driving, product of Detroit, are often surprised to learn that my favourite singer of all is Mr. Bing Crosby. Here’s something totally stupid and incomprehensible to whet your appetite while I try and convince you that Bing was best.
I admit. I didn’t come to appreciate Bing until about 10 years ago. I was born in the early ‘50s. By the time I was rocking out to the MC5 and Iggy Stooge at the Grande Ballroom, I had pretty much dismissed Bing Crosby in my mind as an untalented hack that had only lucked into a singing and acting career. He was the guy that was so easy to imitate—so ubiquitous—that anyone saying “buh buh buh blooo” was referencing him. You couldn’t escape the muther. He would pop up as a caricature in kiddy cartoons of my youth. Nothing says “has been” more to a kid than a caricature someone popping up in a cartoon. Nothing demonstrates this better than the Warner Brother’s cartoon, “Bingo Crosbyana.”
Of course, this was long before I knew what “homage” meant.
Another thing I disliked about Bing Crosby is that he owned Christmas. As a Jewish boy being called kike in the ‘50s and ‘60s, I was sure that Bing was somehow connected with it all. Hell, maybe he was behind it all, for all I knew. According to Gary Giddins (see below) Crosby “made the most popular record ever, ‘White Christmas,’ the only single to make American pop charts twenty times, every year but one between 1942 and 1962. In 1998, after a long absence, his 1947 version hit the charts in Britain.” And let’s not even talk about all the Christmas movies.
However, worst of all, Bing Crosby was the guy who almost ruined David Bowie for me for all time. I heard Bowie was going to make a rare appearance on a Bing Crosby Christmas special. Wait! What? Yes. True. It took me a long time to forgive Bowie for that. Crosby’s Christmas specials occupy its own niche in the category of Hollywood kitsch. On reflection, with so many years to assuage hurt feelings, the harmonies are lovely and the arrangement of “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” medley is clever. Still, you have to admit this is the low point of David Bowie’s career, especially the 1st minute, forty nine. Watch:
Here’s what I’m trying to say: I had absolutely no appreciation of Bing Crosby. This, despite being a huge Frank Sinatra fan. I just didn’t think Bing was fit to hold Sinatra’s trench coat.
This began to change about 10 years ago. I was watching a documentary on Louis Armstrong (a musical hero of mine) and in it Mr. Armstrong made 2 remarks: 1). All singing begins and ends with Bing Crosby; 2). Bing’s voice was like honey being poured out of a golden cup.
Well, Louis Armstrong ain’t no slouch and he knows his Jazz. If he’s saying these wonderful things about Bing Crosby, maybe I should reassess my opinion. I started doing a little reading and found that pretty much every singer subsequent to Bing said they merely imitating Crosby and owe it all to him. Elvis name-checked him as an influence, as did both Sinatra and Dean Martin. Here’s a clip from “Robin and the Seven Hoods,” where Sinatra and Martin have a whole lot of fun with Bing’s sartorial choices in “Style.”
Now I was more curious than ever. What was I missing?
Coincidentally (or just another instance of synchronicity), right at this same time I happened to see a book on my local retailer’s remainder table called “Bing Crosby; A Pocketful of Dreams; The Early Years; 1903-1940” by Gary Giddins (who was quoted extensively in that Armstrong documentary referenced above). Amazingly this 592 page book (published in 1991) ends at “White Christmas” and is merely the first volume in a proposed 2-volume set. While reading the book, I also immersed myself in Bing’s earliest recordings, something I had never taken the time to do before.
The light went on!!! I am now a believer!!!
There were recordings I knew, but didn’t realize they were by a young Bing Crosby because his voice had changed so much over the years. His “Pennies From Heaven” or “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?” are transcendent, blissful, and (here’s the most important part) are full of pathos. His voice carries the drama of the songs in a way that few singers have ever been able to pull off. For so many people of my parent’s age these songs, and Bing Crosby’s version of them, represented the Great Depression.
Everyone knows the dreadful David Lee Roth rip off of the Louis Prima arrangement of “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody,” however those arrangements make the song swing and being a gigolo doesn’t seem like such a bad life. Even Louis Armstrong’s version swings. However, I never really understood the song until I heard Bing Crosby’s version of “Just a Gigolo” To begin with, it’s a very, very sad song, something you don’t get from Prima, Roth, or Armstrong. When Bing sings it, you hear every ounce of the pathos in the song. Bing also sings the introduction, left off most other versions. I can’t listen to Bing’s version without feeling great empathy for that sad, unemployed, World War One doughboy. Get out a hanky:
I now own a great deal of Bing Crosby’ recordings and I hear something new in them every time I listen.
Finally, here’s a partial list of Bing’s accomplishments, by Giddin in the Introduction to his book, I find most impressive, especially the second-to-last, because that changed Show Business forever:
Taste is subjective. We won’t all like the same things in food or music, f’rinstance. However, I suggest you take another listen to Bing Crosby. He’s a lot better than your parents ever told you.
Quality never goes out of style and Bing Crosby has quality!
I really miss Billy Preston. While many musicians recorded with The Beatles, Preston is the only one ever given credit on the record label or liner notes. That’s because he was already a star with an international reputation. Billy Preston had been a star since his childhood. Here he is performing with Nat “King” Cole on the latter’s national television show, a groundbreaking show for Blacks in ‘Merka.
It needs saying: I miss Nat “King” Cole, too.
Let’s talk music.