Our next show will be at tonight's 3rd Friday event in Downtown Overland Park at the Tasteful Olive starting at 5:30 PM. Cooking demonstrations and live music. What's not to love?

Spelling is a great way for a song to spark audience participation. One of the first songs you may have ever learned was “Bingo,” which got you spelling as well as clapping. But spelling isn’t just for kids. There’s “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole (L is for the way you Look at me…). Aretha Franklin taught us how to spell “Respect.” And Muddy Waters taught us how to spell MAN in the blues standard, “Mannish Boy.”  There’s “Gloria” written by Van Morrison for his band, Them, and later recorded by the Shadows of Night and Jimi Hendrix. Not to mention “R-O-C-K in the U-S-A” by John Mellencamp. 

There are certainly lots more, but one of our faves in this category is “Rag Mop” written by Johnnie Lee Willis and Deacon Anderson. The Ames Brothers turned R-A-G-G-M-O-P-P into a Number One hit record in 1950. You may also remember other versions by the Muppets and Alvin and the Chipmunks. And Allan Sherman’s parody in 1963, “Rat Fink.” 

An interesting tidbit, “Rag Mop” by the Ames Brothers was the last hit single to be recorded on 78 rpm speed. All hits after that were 45 rpm records. 

So, that’s your lesson for today. If you can think of other songs that cast a spell, feel free to send ‘em here.

The song “Buffalo Gals” contains the lyric “I danced with that gal with a hole in her stocking. And her heel kept a-rockin' and her toe kept a-knockin’.” And we got to wondering who this dancer was. 

In its original version known as "Lubly Fan", published in 1844, she did dance by the light of the moon, but she hadn't yet developed a hole in her stocking . That would come in 1848 when the song morphed into "Buffalo Gals".  The tune would become so popular that minstrels changed the lyric to fit their audience - “Philadelphia Gals", “Alabama Gals", and so on. Then in 1944, the song had another reboot, this time it became “Dance with a Dolly (with a Hole in Her Stocking)” and it was recorded by the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, and others. 

But she wasn’t done dancing yet as she later appeared in the 1974 song “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell: “You dance with the lady with the hole in her stocking, didn’t it feel good, didn’t it feel good…” 

We may never know who she is or where she came from, but we’re guessing she could use a new pair of socks by now.

Our version of “One Meatball” with Bill on vocals employs a bit of scat singing. Scat - vocals with improvised syllables instead of words - was popularized by Louie Armstrong after his release of the song “Heebie Jeebies” in 1926. Armstrong, however, was not the first to scat. Starting around 1911, singers like Gene Green, Ben Harney, Joe Sims, and Jelly Roll Morton all gave it a whirl. But Armstrong’s performance was the turning point. 

As the story goes, Armstrong was recording “Heebie Jeebies” with his band, The Hot Five, and it was going quite splendidly.  Until he dropped the lyric sheet. He didn’t want to waste the tape, so he kept going, improvising along the way. After the song was over, he assumed they’d throw it out and do a fresh take. But to his amazement, the people in the control booth unanimously said they had to leave it in. The result was scat mania as the the style was developed further and perfected by such musicians as Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, and of course, Ella Fitzgerald, perhaps the greatest of them all.

Members of the Western Writers of America had the daunting task of selecting the Top 100 Western Songs of All Time. Of those 100 songs, six are on the Anchovy Fishermen play list: Back in the Saddle Again (#5), Tumbling Tumbleweeds (#8), Red River Valley (#10), Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (#34), Buffalo Gals (#47), and I’ve Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle (#80). 

And, in case you’re wondering what #1 is, it’s… “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” 

Yippie aye ayy!

The song “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in the year 1946. The film was "The Harvey Girls" and the singer was Judy Garland. Many other versions of the song exist by the likes of Bing Crosby, Johnny Mercer, Petula Clark, Louis Jordan, Harry Connick, Jr., John Denver, and of course, the Anchovy Fishermen.

The song "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home" was published in 1902. If he hasn't come home by now, looks like he never will.

The anchovy season is officially beginning. Look for us at the Downtown Overland Park Clock Tower Concert Series on Saturday, April 16, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm.

http://downtownop.org/market/