STAN FREBERG - 'The Great Pretender' + 'The Quest For Bridey Hammerschlaugen' - 78rpm 1956

[CrisVangel1958]

So kool!

[hikaruandkitty]

slow down, dont stop me know im getting to wear i like it

[hikaruandkitty]

... and im getting a new piano man, that's fine with meeeeeeee

[dcbeegee]

slow down...retard!!!

[merle572]

My old man had  most of Stan's albums." You play that Kling Kling Jazz, or you wont get paid tonight" LOL!!!!!!!

[MsBkirk]

This is the reason I can't take the straight version by the Platters seriously! I'm with wmbrown in believing Freberg was sending up the recording of the songs (as later depicted on the Beatles' 'Let It Be' and Neal Morse's sillier interjections on the Transatlantic bonus material).

[wmbrown6]

The thing about Freberg's parodies was, very early in my life, having been reared on The Beatles' "Let It Be" album, I thought Freberg was approximating/depicting outtakes of the songs in question. In any case, this is one track where I prefer Freberg's take to the originals. (Others: "Heartbreak Hotel," "The Banana Boat Song," "The Yellow Rose of Texas.") Oh, and since this was mentioned - yes, the voice of the pianist does resemble Freberg's more than Leeds', now that I hear it.

[palexandersquires]

My Hand is fallling off here I`ve got the same chords all the way through the song!

[Bowser1948]

wish Stan met the Bonzos

[undisputedchamp1986]

Nah, the platters are the best"

[veryfussy]

Even at the time, and I was a kid at the then, I laughed loudly at some skits while others barely raised a grin. My favourites were always"the bubble machine" and The banana boat song. I also used these skits as mime comedy for primary school kids when I was a young teacher. Very funny children did wonderful impressions of the guitar man, the bongo man, Alice lean, Larry Looper etc. Obviously, Freburg was a good musician as he captured the moment. A bit like Spike Jones I guess. Long time ago!

[musicmandon1]

OOPS! Ya got me there, Dance Band Leader. Never would have imagined. I just hope Peter Leeds was, in fact, the cranky bongo player on "Banana Boat Song." Freeberg fooled me good on "Great Pretender." The Platters were awesome. War--clink clink clink jazz--or you won't get paid tonight! BTW, if I say "War something," it's like "hooray for something." It comes from the Jim Rome show. and if something sucks, I may drop an "un-War bomb on it. Unwar audio with too low volume.

[musicmandon1]

Now tell me this isn't funny. If you do, you were never in a band. Peter Leeds is a hoot as the cranky piano man, who won't play that clink clink clink jazz. he was also a laugh riot as the punchy bongo player on "Banana Boat Song."

[dancebandleader]

@musicmandon1  You are right. This IS funny. I had a

band myself. Peter Leeds was great, but unfortunately

Stan revealed in the liner notes of an LP that he, Stan,

was the voice of the pianist.

[musicmandon1]

Now tell me that isn't funny. If you do, you never were in a band. Peter Leeds is a hoot as the cranky piano player who won't play that clink clink clink jazz. he was the bongo guy who couldn't take loud noises on "Banana Boat Song." classic hard-to-find funny bit.

[wanturlove]

Stan Freberg is a comic genius. The very best. Right there with Spike Jones with his music sendups. Great comic.

[CrisVangel]

Wow, this is very funny never heard this before.. thanks! Very fun!

[Yourmomisnthere]

During the 50's, Rock was still a little primitive. So there were many critics with Rock...it wasn't until The Beatles came and released "Yesterday".

Read "How the Beatles Destroyed Rock-and-Roll"...though they didn't destroy it, The Beatles basically bridged the gap and made rock music popular.

[wpl955g]

RE veryfussy's point: You could argue that Elvis wasn't deserving of silly satire and that Freberg missed the point too. Either eveyrthing is open to parody and/or satire or nothing is. This is an astute parody ('You scared me, don't do that!') and better satire: the ideological battle between jazz and rock (plink-plink-plink vs Garner/Shearing, the compression of improvisation to uniformity), everything returning to marketability, money & selling records, as per Sh-Boom. Brilliant.

[VeryRustyDay]

You scared me, don't do that

[BEATNIKCASS]

great----and thanks for the flip sides i'd never heard before.

[veryfussy]

In retrospect, Freburg misses the point as to how Motown and close harmonies were eventually meant to work. While Heart break Hotel is FUNNY, this isn't. The Platters had beautiful voices and not deserving of silly satire.

[dancebandleader]

@veryfussy How can Freberg miss the point when at the time

he made this, Motown style essentially didn't exist? The

Platters voices were beside the point. The banality of the

accompaniment was the chief target of the satire.

[GrizzledGeezer]

@veryfussy... "The banality of the accompaniment was the chief target of the satire." Exactly. "The Great Pretender" might not be "Die Schone Mullerin", but it's an excellent song. It's hard to believe the writers weren't themselves doing a conscious send-up.

[78Point26]

The first part was very funny, the second not as much.

[Megacricketahearn]

Great stuff! The record sounds just like our record at home!

[TVRADEIO3]

lol