Showing posts with label novelty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novelty. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Joltin' Joe DiMaggio !


LES BROWN & HIS ORCHESTRA - Joltin' Joe DiMaggio



Une baseball song que j'ai découverte il y a un peu plus d'un an grâce à fantastique show radio de Bob Dylan consacré pour le coup au baseball. Cette chanson m'était tombée dessus (avec "Take Me Out To The Ball Game") et l'amour du jeu qui va avec.

On n'en fait plus des novelty songs comme ça... Le 45T était sorti, carrément, durant cette série de runs. Les mecs de la maison de disque avaient dégainé direct vendant des singles par wagons. Une chanson si jouissive... Ca marche toujours comme ça les novelties (notez le "good twelve more" du second couplet, un truc anodin mais qui permet à tout le monde de faire sienne de la chanson en changeant le "12" à chaque nouvelle étape franchit par Joe, c'est pratique, interactif, c'est la pop music quoi !). Les Américains doivent se souvenir de cette "streak" associée à cette chanson comme du début de l'été, du soleil qui claque sur la nuque et de la 2WW qui bat son plein. Ombre et Lumière, Adolf Hitler vs. DiMaggio. Les radios et les journaux s'en faisaient l'écho et les exploits de DiMaggio étaient aussi légers dans les esprits que la guerre pouvait être pesante.

Mais ce n'est pas seulement une chanson sur Joe DiMaggio, le "Yankee Clipper" plutôt une chanson à la gloire de sa "fifty-six game hitting streak" débutant le 15 mai 1941 face au pitcher des White Sox Eddie Smith pour en finir le 16 juillet 1941 à Cleveland devant Al Minar et Joe Krakauskas (dernier couplet "Cleveland Oh Oh Oh...").

Uné série de 56 matchs où Joltin' Joe frappera un coup sur à chaque match. Sur la série, son pourcentage à la batte est de .408 dont 15 Home Runs (+4 triples et 16 doubles, 55RBI). Durant la Streak, ni le All Star Game et la tripotée de futurs pitchers Hall Of Famers n'arrêtera Joe. Et le plus fort dans l'histoire, c'est qu'après sa série terminée, Monsieur remettra le couvercle (nouvelle série de 16 matchs) ! Une saison 1941 qui le verra remporter le titre de MVP devant Ted Williams et son % à la batte de .406! et les World Series avec les Yankees donc.

En 1973, le commisionner de la Major League Baseball ira même à établir un Top Ten des records imbattables (depuis certains ont été battus mais celui de DiMaggio court toujours !) : http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/lifrick.shtml


Hello Joe, whatta you know?
We need a hit so here I go.
Ball one (Yea!)
Ball two (Yea!)
Strike one (Booo!)
Strike two (Kill that umpire!)
A case of Wheaties

He started baseball's famous streak
That's got us all aglow
He's just a man and not a freak,
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

He tied the mark at forty-four
July the 1st you know
Since then he's hit a good twelve more
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

From coast to coast that's all you'll hear
Of Joe the one man show
He's glorified the horsehide sphere
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

He'll live in baseball's Hall of Fame
He got there blow by blow
Our kids will tell their kids his name
Joltin' Joe DiMaggio

We dream of Joey with the light brown plaque

And now they speak in whispers low
Of how they stopped our Joe
One night in Cleveland Oh Oh Oh
Goodbye streak DiMaggio

Joe, Joe DiMaggio
We want you on our side


Thursday, September 20, 2007

Tracks of my Tears #5


Everybody remembers of the song "Return To sender." (released on the B.O of Girls Girls Girls, one of three elvis hawaiian movies peaked at #2 for 5 weeks in its 16-week run on Billboard's pop singles chart. And #1 during three weeks in British pop charts)... That's not an elvis rock'n' roll song but still sounds good (the session reunited scotty moore on guitar, drums for D.J Fontana/Hal Blaine, the yakety sax Boots Randolph... and the Jordanaires for vocals backup), the song is so cool, so pop with an universal theme that anyone can appreciate it.

Written by the duo Winfried Scott & Otis Blackwell, this song tells us the break-up story between a guy (that we'll call elvis) and his girlfriend. Refusing that their love affair is over, Elvis keeps mailing letters to her girlfriend and each letter returns to him thanks to the postman with the mention "return to sender". We don't know what happened before but i think the girl doesn't take time to answer, to give some explications... Bitch.

It's a real damn good novelty song about a love&hate relationship ! Over 14 millions copies only in the us territory (and it really meant something in the past)!

In January 8, 1933, an elvis commemorative stamp has been print in order to celebrate his birthday (his 58 th ! Can someone explain me why have we to celebrate this year?) ... All along the year 1992, America was tear, on the verge of explosion : WHAT MUST WE CHOOSE ? A young dashing elvis by Mark Stuntzman or an old but mature elvis by John Berkley? Ballots paper were distributed in every post offices across america.
It was tough times, America was divided : if you're not with me, you're against me! (personaly, i think both are ugly so...). Even Bill Clinton (ran for president at this time) voiced for the younger elvis ! The counting gave a huge lead (more than 75 %) for Elvis the young.

This elvis stamp remains far far far the most popular stamp of the U.S Postal Service ahead collections of "Legends of Baseball", "Wonders of America" or "Civil War" and for your own pop culture trivia, you should know that many americans after this special release, wrote invalid adresses on their letters just for having their letter back with the mention "return to sender" on it !!!

And now ladies & gentlemen, you can listen this answer song to "Return To Sender..." called "Don't Want Your Letters" by Gerri Granger, soul woman with few songs on northern soul compilations, which shows the point of view of the "ex elvis girlfriend" aka exactly the opposite meaning of the original song ! And we can see abyssal depths separating boys & girls...

Gerri Granger - Don't Want Your Letters
http://www.box.net/shared/1cb8dfknok



Top 25 Most Popular Commemorative Stamps
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2006/sr06_055dl.htm