Lou Carter -- I Got A Rose Between My Toes and Three More Songs

'Louie's Love Songs', composed and sung by Lou Carter, a Golden Crest long-play disc, number CR3010, issued during the mid-1950s.
The songs on this video are--
1) I Caught A Cold In My Heart;
2) April In Peoria;
3) I Got A Rose Between My Toes;
4) If I Had A Nose Full Of Nickels.
Carter's persona was that of Louie, a taxicab driver, but he had been a musician from childhood, playing piano in his own band at age 12. Later, he became part of Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra; then he joined Jimmy Dorsey's Orchestra as pianist, arranger, and member of a vocal trio. And still later, he performed solo and with a group.
These songs make use, and good-natured fun, of the moon-June-spoon love-song-writing cliches-- for example, getting a rose between the toes from walking barefoot through the hothouse to you, pretty baby. And the taxi-driver-from-Brooklyn dialect adds a humorous, even a touching, dimension.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• big-band
• ballads
• pop
• satire

[OppositeGeorge]

Louie is great. I grew up listening to, and beating the crap out of, my dad's copies of "Love Songs" and "Louie Writes Again."

Seeing this up here inspired me; I've got both albums up on YouTube now if anybody's interested. Thanks so much for posting these tracks!

[biggigjohnson]

does anyone have a post up here for Mabel? this is the last song on side one. One of his best tracks!

[biggigjohnson]

My dad is a great musician. sax/clarinet, and other various instruments. I fell in love with the melodic sound of everything on this masterpiece. and I will play this record till the day I die. I have never heard anything that has even come close to matching this record. It is totaly original. God bless Lou Carter. If Dorsey was here he would say the same thing. You Rock Hard Lou. thanks for the great melodies.

[biggigjohnson]

I own Louies love songs, on golden crest records. and it is in great condition. I am 41 years old and when I moved cross country, I made sure that I brought this record with me. My dad turned me on to this record when I was very little.

[BTLfanatic]

Fantastic! I haven't heard Lou Carter since Bob & Ray used to feature "I Got a Rose Between My Toes" on their old radio show, and he's just as funny as I remembered. Thanks so much for posting this!

[snaaptaker]

Terrific!

Besides being a funny guy and a fine musician, he was also a really nice person.

He was very nice to me when I was a young musician trying to get started in NYC, 40-plus years ago.