Artist: Meadowlark Lemon
LP: My Kids
Song: "Earthmen"
[ listen ]
Smash Records was the next Washington, DC record store I visited last week; it's just a few blocks up the street from Crooked Beat. The store seemed more geared toward punk, metal, indie rock, clothing, and that sort of thing, so I didn't really expect to find much for my collection. I figured I'd pop in anyhow and I'm glad I did. They had some terrific stuff tucked into the dusty corners, and then they also had this bizarre 1979 album from Meadowlark Lemon, one of the most well-known and beloved members of the famous Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. The album is mostly a celebration of the beauty and innocence of childhood (Meadowlark has 10 kids; see front cover and the dedication in the liner notes), but it also includes an odd closing track called "Earthmen," a call for planetary unity in the face of a hypothetical hostile alien takeover of the planet. If such a takeover actually took place—complete with MOONRAKER-style laser-beam sound-effects—Meadowlark wonders: would people in the world finally forget all their prejudices and come together as one? For all of us are Earthmen! (Well, except for Earthwomen, of course. But we could probably offer them up as some sort of sacrifice or donation to the hostile aliens in order for them to leave all of us newly-unified Earthmen alone.) You can read all about the life and career of Meadowlark Lemon here, visit The Meadowlark Lemon Foundation website here, and get lots of info about The Harlem Globetrotters here. Hey, guess what Whoopi Goldberg, Pope John Paul II, Henry Kissinger, and Bob Hope all have in common. Each of them is an honorary member of The Harlem Globetrotters!
[ the outside of Smash Records — Washington, DC ]
[ the flag and neon sign of Smash Records — Washington, DC ]
[ the inside of Smash Records — Washington, DC ]
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