Sons of the Pioneers

Artist: Sons of the Pioneers

LP: Sons of the Pioneers Sing Hymns of the Cowboy

Song: "Lord, You Made the Cowboy Happy"

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I found a copy of this 1963 Sons of the Pioneers record at The Shady Lady antique store in Centralia over the weekend. It ended up being one I already had on my shelves...but this copy is mono, rather than stereo, and it also doesn't have the previous owner's name streaked across the top of the cover in permanent black ink...so I've unintentionally upgraded my collection! 

I know it probably seems like I'd think this about all of the songs on this record, but I can't help feeling that "Lord, You Made the Cowboy Happy" would make an excellent soundtrack to a homoerotic soft-core Western-themed short film. And to anyone who would accuse me of not honoring "Reverence in the Western Tradition," I have just two words: Brokeback Mountain. I bet there are lots of lesser-known Western Traditions these lonely, rugged cowboys engaged in that didn't make it into the final cuts of all those John Ford Western films.

[ Sons of the Pioneers in 1963 ]

Na Hoon-a

Artist: Na Hoon-a

LP: 2nd Collection of Hit Songs Sung Again

Song: "Love In a Dream"

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Song: "Three"

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I just returned from a fun weekend in Centralia with friends who will be moving away to Wisconsin next month. On our way back to Seattle, we stopped at the GoodWill thrift store in Olympia, where I found, amongst the myriad Ray Conniff and Engelbert Humperdinck LPs, this uncommon-in-these-parts 1977 collection of hits by South Korean "trot" singer Na Hoon-a. 

Hoon-a released his first record back in 1966, and, according to this piece in The Korea Times, the handsome and debonaire singer will be retiring after a few final concerts later this year! I'd love to find out how his record ended up in Olympia's GoodWill bins; there's only one copy available on Discogs, and it's in Germany. Some interesting Na Hoon-a trivia can be found on Wikipedia...in 2008 he threatened to expose himself on live television to end rumors once and for all that he had been castrated by Japanese gangsters!

Thanks to the miracle of Google Translate, the English-language lyrics to the songs posted above are included below. It's incredible how it seems I could have written "Love In a Dream" myself in the summer of 1986, when I was smitten by Shawn Bagley. We met at the church dance while he was visiting his cousins in Yakima for the season from Belleville, Illinois!

LOVE IN A DREAM

Because it's a sin to love someone you shouldn't love, 

should my speechless heart cry tonight too?

Because it's a sin not being able to forget someone who should be forgotten,

without you, should my heart cry tonight too?

Ah, love - my sad love - if it's a one-night dream that I will never see again, 

I'd rather close my eyes

Don't do it, because it's a sin to love someone you shouldn't love

Should my speechless heart cry tonight too?

THREE

This feeling of leaving and the feeling of letting go

We can't say everything we want to say to each other,

but the one thing I want to say is I loved only you. 

Nora, I truly loved you.

The joy of love and the sadness of separation - now you and I can't be together again.

I still want to leave behind one thing...

The words I only loved you. I truly loved you.

[ Na Hoon-a ]

Gotham

Artist: Gotham

LP: Void Where Inhibited

Song: "Menage A Trois"

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I was digging through my disco LPs last night and found this 1979 gay disco record I'd picked up for a couple bucks at Angry Mom Records in Ithaca, NY on my Upstate New York road trip back in the autumn of 2016. According to their Discogs page, Gotham was a cabaret trio formed in 1973 that was known for their comedy as much as for their singing. They became "enormously successful" in the 1970s and '80s and were the first openly gay act to play both Washington, DC's Kennedy Center (in 1976) and (in 1978) New York City's Carnegie Hall. 

Frankly, this record isn't very good. But I do like all the harp in this "Menage A Trois" song...and the fact that the song plays like "Sesame Street" for adults. "One, and Two, and Three...You, and Me, and She!" There are some great backing vocals on the LP, including some by Phyllis Hyman and Ullanda McCullough. I also like that Gary Herb looks like Eddie Rabbitt in the artistic rendition on the back of the record, but on the front cover he looks more like Corky St. Clair. 

Continent Number 6

Artist: Continent Number 6

LP: 7" single

Song: "Afromerica"

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I recently ordered the "I Have Love" single by Typhoon Saturday online so I'd have their complete set (I'd found the group's other two singles at a store in the University District years ago, but I didn't have "I Have Love!").

(Un?)fortunately, my order didn't meet the seller's minimum dollar amount required for shipping something all the way to the USA...so I had to browse through their catalog to find eight or so late-'70s and early-'80s disco and new wave singles for my collection to make it worth their while! "Afromerica" by Continent Number 6 is one of the best of the bunch I got. CN6 is described online as, "an afro-funk outfit group composed of studio session artists." (Un?)fortunately, they also released an entire LP in 1978 (the same year as this single) that includes songs with titles like "Jungle Jamboree," "Eh Yeh Oh," and "Hunky Funky Lion," so...last night I had to place an order for THAT one too!

Nancy Nova

Artist: Nancy Nova

LP: 7" single

Song: "No Way"

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Nancy Nova is one of my top favorite recent musical discoveries! (Nowadays, "recent" means sometime within the past twelve years.) I found two of her singles at the local record shop a while back, and then ordered all of her other singles online. "No Way" is her very first one, released in 1978. 

There's not a heap of information online about Miss Nova (real name: Carol Ann Holness), but she was one of the founding members of Toto Coelo (Nancy Nova's sister remained in the band!), and she wrote songs and sang background vocals for Lena Zavaroni!

Roland Shaw and His Orchestra

Artist: Roland Shaw and His Orchestra

LP: The Return of James Bond — In "Diamonds Are Forever"...and Other Secret Agent Themes

Song: "Diamonds Are Forever"

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I grew up watching the '60s and '70s James Bond films on TV. Even when I was a kiddo I loved the films' theme songs and the sensual opening credits sequences. Roland Shaw must have loved them too, since he was rather prolific when it came to releasing James Bond movie music records in the 1960s and early '70s. I picked up this two-LP collection a few years ago at Daybreak Records (according to the price sticker anyway; my memory is shot) but until this evening I hadn't opened the album (or had I?) to reveal, not only its full gate-fold centerpiece glory, but also a signed head-shot of Sean Connery somebody stuck inside my copy! (You know, the marketing team might have put one of these in every copy of this record when it came out back in 1971. Who knows.) (But still...)

[ Sean Connery Is Forever ]

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is notable for marking Connery's return to the screen as British Secret Agent 007 after model George Lazenby took on the role for ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, released in 1969. I think most 007 aficionados would agree that DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER has one of the most riveting theme songs of any in the Bond franchise (sung, of course, by the legendary Shirley Bassey...it also happens to be one of my own karaoke greatest hits!) Likewise, I don't think anyone could argue over the fact that the film has one of the most dynamite 007 posters of any ever made. And though DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is certainly of interest for featuring an early appearance in cinema of a gay male couple (as a pair of villains...played mostly for laughs, unfortunately and of course), I'm fairly certain Bond fans and critics alike would solemnly nod in agreement when I say... This film stinks.

I don't need love...

For what good would love do me?

Diamonds never lie to me.

And, when love's gone... 

They luster on!

[ Roland Shaw: May 26, 1920 — May 11, 2012 ]

Eavesdroppings

Overheard when: 11:58am on Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Overheard where: Wallingford Route 44, swing 5, while delivering mail and passing a vacant home that's currently being renovated, at 552 N. 70th St., Seattle, WA 98103 [map]
Overheard who: Two construction workers; one Caucasian female, 5'2" and heavy-set with dark hair, and one dark-haired Caucasian male, about 6'2" and lanky. Both probably in their late 20s or early 30s, and both wearing work clothes. They were chatting on the front porch while taking a short break; she was holding a measuring tape and he was wearing work goggles.
Overheard what: 
Gal construction worker: "Women always give me a hard time about my height. I'm five-foot-two." {Holds measuring tape in front of guy construction worker, from his foot to his head} "Six foot two...but of course I had to go over the top of your glasses. Still...dude, can I borrow a few inches from ya?
Guy construction worker: "I can't remember the last time a girl asked me that."

Doris Day

Artist: Doris Day

LP: By the Light of the Silvery Moon [10" EP]

Song: "Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee"

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Song: "King Chanticleer"

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Happy 100th Birthday to Doris Day! If you're like me, you always hoped someone would lure Doris out of retirement (her last movie was released in 1968) to star in one last comedy...or maybe even to star in one of those horror movies featuring a formerly-super-famous actress! (I bet Doris was good with an axe well into her 70s and 80s.) Anyway, it seems appropriate that Doris and her centennial birthday have brought me out of retirement here on the blog. 

This year I revived my tradition of bringing a Doris Day birthday cake to work...but now, working at USPS with 40 or 50 colleagues, I had to supply a much larger cake than I've ever had to before. Sadly, of those 40 or 50 at work, only about 5 of them had ever even HEARD of Doris Day before, with one colleague actually even able to reference something about not eating the daisies. But if someone has to drag these youngsters, many of them raised outside the USA, kicking and screaming into mid-20th-century America, then I'm happy to be assigned the role. 

In addition to the Doris Day shrine in the break-room, the cake was accompanied by a Doris Day playlist I'd put together on my phone the night before. I couldn't figure out how to photograph my phone with the playlist on the table by the cake, since I also needed my phone to take the photos. (I bet somebody younger and more tech-savvy could've shown me how to do it.) Anyway, in spite of nobody having heard of her, and in spite of somebody pausing my Doris Day playlist every time I left the break-room, the cake was a hit with the USPS crew and it was gone by the end of the day!

[ Doris Day: April 3, 1922 — May 13, 2019 ]

Salvador Esuedero y su Rumba Flamenca

Artist: Salvador Escudero y su Rumba Flamenca

LP: Salvador Escudero y su Rumba Flamenca

Song: "Historia De Amor"

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I hadn't finished posting the stuff I found at record stores in Minnesota, and now I've been to record stores in Arizona too! This 1972 flamenco pop record is one of the neat things I found at Zia Record Exchange in Tucson. I didn't have Zia on my Arizona list initially, but the clerk at the Downtown Clifton Hotel recommended it when he found out I wanted to buy some vinyl. I'm glad he did, since Zia is one of those old-school '80s-looking music stores packed to the gills with used vinyl, CDs, and DVDs. The more boutique-like stores in Tucson had some terrific stuff (which I'll hopefully be posting soon), but when it comes to a huge used Latin section of vintage vinyl, Zia is where I really struck the gold.

Unfortunately, there's no info about Salvador Escudero on the Internet...unless his side gig was as the Minister of Food and Agriculture in The Philippines from 1984 to 1986. But if you've ever wondered what the theme to "Love Story" would sound like with a flamenco twist, then this particular Mr. Escudero is certainly your guy.

 

[ Zia Record Exchange — Tucson, Arizona ]

Donna Summer

Artist: Donna Summer

LP: 12" single

Song: "State of Independence"
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Yesterday at work as we were loading up our mail trucks in the garage, we were trying to think of 4th of July songs we could sing while we worked. We couldn't really think of any. "State of Independence" by Donna Summer was the only one I could come up with. (Well, I actually thought of this one too, but I didn't mention it, since the last thing I wanted to hear anytime before noon was one of my USPS colleagues trying to sing it.) Of course nobody knew what I was talking about when I suggested the Donna Summer song, and I couldn't offer much help, since the only lyrics I could recall and present in their proper sequence were: "This state of independence shall be—This state of independence shall be!" But now I've got the lyric sheet, so I'll be better prepared for next year.

Written by Jon & Vangelis and produced by Quincy Jones, the 7" version of "State of Independence" went to #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 1982. The song would definitely make it into my own top 40 list of best songs of the 1980s. And take a look at the roster of famous voices supporting Ms. Summer in that all-star choir!

[ Donna Summer: December 31, 1948 — May 17, 2012 ]

Eavesdroppings

Overheard when: 9:26am on Thursday, July 1, 2021

Overheard where: At the table next to mine at The Egg & Us Café (4609 46th Ave. NW, #108) in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, WA [map]
Overheard who: The female half of a youngish straight Christian couple (mid-to-late 20s? She: non-Caucasian with shoulder-length black hair; he: Caucasian, blonde and balding) who were working through a recent rough patch in their relationship over breakfast. She admitted having been overly sensitive; he conceded that he had been too analytical. After resolving their issues, she mused aloud:
Overheard what: 
"There's a reason that God brought a man and a woman together."

Quartz

Artist: Quartz

LP: Camel In the City

Song: "Camel In the City"

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The next record shop I went to in Minnesota (my 4th) was Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, a place that has evidently been around since 1968. (Electric Fetus, I mean. Minneapolis has been around even longer.) Why, that's even before I was born! One of the neat things I found at Electric Fetus is this 1979 LP from a French disco-synth outfit called Quartz. I'd try to glean more information from the worldwide web about Quartz, but I keep falling asleep while I'm typing. Good night.

[ Electric Fetus — Minneapolis, Minnesota ]