Billy May not only sang the part of the sickenly "sweet" vocalist, he wrote the arrangement as well. Later, he provided Stan Freberg with a letter-perfect impression of Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Music" style for his recording of "Wunn'erful, Wunn'erful" in 1957.
This was the last of a "musical trilogy", where Barnet demonstrated three kinds of big band music prevalent at the time he recorded this in 1939: first, "The Duke's Idea" (his tribute to Edward Kennedy Ellington), then "The Count's Idea" (his salute to Bill Basie), on September 10, 1939- then, on October 9, 1939, he recorded this raspberry to "sweet bands" [Sammy Kaye's in particular, with a dollop of Kay Kyser and Guy Lombardo thrown in for good measure].
I adore this - its at least as funny as the Goon's 'Unchained Melody' - or should that be unhinged ? At any rate, often wonder if the amazing uke effects are not the ancestor of the famous Warner Bros. cartoon intros ? would be interesting to determine...
This is hilarious, although Sammy Kaye wouldn't agree. In fact, Kaye was furious when he heard this recording and asked for it to be withdrawn, perhaps because of the play on Kaye's dictum "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye". ("Slappy Hap", by the way is Billy May.)
Also, the guitar work is by Bus Etri who sadly met a tragic end when he was killed in a car accident in 1941.
@fromthesidelines could you see billy may getting away with this with glenn miller lol
spike6060 6 months ago
Billy May not only sang the part of the sickenly "sweet" vocalist, he wrote the arrangement as well. Later, he provided Stan Freberg with a letter-perfect impression of Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Music" style for his recording of "Wunn'erful, Wunn'erful" in 1957.
fromthesidelines 9 months ago
This was the last of a "musical trilogy", where Barnet demonstrated three kinds of big band music prevalent at the time he recorded this in 1939: first, "The Duke's Idea" (his tribute to Edward Kennedy Ellington), then "The Count's Idea" (his salute to Bill Basie), on September 10, 1939- then, on October 9, 1939, he recorded this raspberry to "sweet bands" [Sammy Kaye's in particular, with a dollop of Kay Kyser and Guy Lombardo thrown in for good measure].
fromthesidelines 9 months ago
I adore this - its at least as funny as the Goon's 'Unchained Melody' - or should that be unhinged ? At any rate, often wonder if the amazing uke effects are not the ancestor of the famous Warner Bros. cartoon intros ? would be interesting to determine...
CapeDeepShark 1 year ago
nice
gipskull 2 years ago
This is hilarious, although Sammy Kaye wouldn't agree. In fact, Kaye was furious when he heard this recording and asked for it to be withdrawn, perhaps because of the play on Kaye's dictum "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye". ("Slappy Hap", by the way is Billy May.)
Also, the guitar work is by Bus Etri who sadly met a tragic end when he was killed in a car accident in 1941.
akoripahs 2 years ago