Irwin Goodman

Artist: Irwin Goodman

LP: Si Si Si
Song: "Si Si Si"
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Song: "Pannaan Menemään"

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I tried stumping Shazam this morning with a track from this 1973 LP, but the app didn't take long to figure out it was something by Irwin Goodman (born Antti Yrjö Hammargerg), the Finnish folk-rock singer whose favorite themes were poverty, taxes, drinking, and money troubles. You can read about Irwin here. I picked this record up at Råkk og Rålls in Oslo when I was on that trip to Scandinavia with my sister back in the spring of 2017.

[ Irwin Goodman: September 14, 1943 — January 14, 1991 ]

The Mighty Lemon Drops

Artist: The Mighty Lemon Drops

LP: Out of Hand
Song: "Out of Hand"

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I've been on a Mighty Lemon Drops kick these past few days, and I've just read someone saying that they sorta' sound like Echo & the Bunnymen. I suppose they do! Originally called The Sherbet Monsters, this English group that formed in 1985 had fortunately changed their name before I first heard of them when "Out of Hand" played on MTV's 120 Minutes, which I watched religiously every Sunday night at some divey pizza joint near BYU campus in Provo, UT during my freshman year at college there in 1987-1988. Unfortunately The Lemon Drops, who were both fabulous and mighty, melted away in 1992. You can read about them here.

 

[ The Mighty Lemon Drops ]

Merit Hemmingson and Her Friends

Artist: Merit Hemmingson and Her Friends

LP: Swedish Modern
Song: "Vindarna Sucka Uti Skogarna"
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Song: "Mandom Mod Och Morske Män"

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Here's some nifty Scandinavian folk music set to a contemporary beat (well, contemporary when this record was released 47 years ago) by Swedish organist, multi-instrumentalist and hummer Merit Hemmingson. You can read all about Ms. Merit in Swedish here, and find an English translation here.

[ Merit Hemmingson ]

Fortune

Artist: Fortune

LP: Fortune
Song: "Squeeze Me, Tease Me"

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Misfortune, I'm afraid. I picked this one up for the cover, hoping for the musical equivalent of the facial expressions of those two very-1978-looking ladies on the front (singers Colleen Fortune and Maureen Thornton, I presume?). Instead, most of it sounds like their expressions in the other photo, where for some reason they're dressed for a round of fencing. Colleen and Maureen sing not like people, but like in the affected 1970s way you're supposed to sing if you want to be a rock star ("Squeeze Meahh, Tease Meahh"... you get the idea) (but then I guess one could argue that this is exactly what their facial expressions look like on the cover, so what am I complaining about?) (Maybe it's all the saxophone that put me off). Anyway, you can read more about Fortune here, and if you'd like a copy of their debut LP, there will be a used one available at Everyday Music here in Seattle very, very soon indeed.

[ Fortune ]

Doris Day [1922-2019]

Artist: Doris Day

LP: Latin For Lovers
Song: "Be True to Me (Savor a Mi)"
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Song: "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)"

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I knew it would happen someday, and Doris had already been on Earth for 97 years, but some people live to be 113, right? I heard the sad news of Doris' death in the way I'd always I imagined I would. My radio alarm clock, set to NPR news, came on at 6:15am on Monday, May 13th, like any other day. After some other news I don't remember now, the morning host announced, "It's being reported that actress and singer Doris Day has died." My heart sank. I don't remember what came next, but later that morning, as I drove to work, I heard a more extensive biographical tribute to Day, one of my favorite ladies in the history of music, the movies, and the world.

It's a little strange to me that I became one of Doris Day's biggest fans. It all started about 20 years ago when I picked up a used paperback copy of her 1976 biography "Doris Day: Her Own Story" at a little junk shop in Raymond, WA on a road trip with my friend Marisa. I read the book, then began watching her movies, and started to look for her records and CDs. Her movies are not all excellent; some of her albums aren't all that great. But some of them are. And Doris is always superb. Her warmth, emotion, and an overall sense of enjoyment of life radiate from everything she does. 

My film recommendations would of course include hits like "Pillow Talk" (1959), "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955), "Send Me No Flowers" (1964), "It's a Great Feeling" (1949), Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956), and "Calamity Jane" (1953). But I'd also suggest lesser-known titles like "Romance On the High Seas" (her first, in 1948), "Storm Warning" (a small-town noir from 1951 in which Doris turns up at a KKK rally in the woods - no kidding!), the bizarre and entertaining "Billy Rose's Jumbo" (1962), and "Move Over, Darling" (1963). 

My favorite Doris Day LP is this one, "Latin For Lovers," recorded in November of 1964 and released in the spring of 1965. By this time, Day's voice had matured into beautifully aching, purring, liquidy, velvety bliss. She really is at her best here; her voice is simply gorgeous. It's really a shame that this record was one of her last.

For me the sky may have lost one of its brightest stars, but it certainly has been a pleasure spending so much time on Earth along with Doris Day. You can read all about her life and career here, and find her obituary in The New York Times here. 

Doris Day

[ April 3, 1922 — May 13, 2019 ]

Golly, how we will miss you, Doris.