Category: Music

Chipmunks Revealed

His name was Ross Bagdasarian, but he called himself David Seville. When I was a kid I wished my voice could sound like his.

But at the time I didn’t realize that the other voices I heard on his records and his TV show — with the singing chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore — were also his.

On the audio player is a fun and familiar Christmas song. Let it play through, then listen to it again when it starts playing automatically a second time. A simple, cheap and appealing effect.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/Alvin.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/Chipmunks.mp3]

Holiday

I’m taking a break from my bloggin’ holiday to play DJ again — hey, it’s how I used to make my living, such as it was. Here’s Green Day’s “Holiday” (not to be confused with the Kinks’ song) from their superb “American Idiot.”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/NOV06/Holiday.mp3]

That CD should have been enough to defeat George Bush in the ’04 election. I give Stephen Colbert credit for finishing what Green Day started, winning back Congress from the GOP, and setting this ship we call the USA on a different course. The old one-two punch of anger and humor!

Common People

A couple of years ago I became quite taken with the song “Common People,” by a British band called Pulp. I had never heard it until my sister Marianne gave me a CD for Christmas that included a surprisingly effective remake by the unlikely pair of William Shatner and Joe Jackson. Hearing that made me want to seek out the original.

Although my upbringing was decidedly middle class, not working class, I can definitely relate to having a girlfriend in college who made me feel as though she was slumming just by going out with me.

Who Am I?

WHO R U

A friend where I work needed a favor. She had an idea for a presentation that required the old Who song “Who Are You” — but it couldn’t have the swear words in it.

I was in the radio business when the song came out, and there was a short, cleaned-up single version.  Not having the single handy, I made one of my own. Although the question should be asked, who am I to touch a Who song?

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/OCT06/SongEdit.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/OCT06/SongOriginal.mp3]

On the audio player is my edit, followed by the original. This was transferred from the vinyl LP I bought the week that the album was released in 1978. I don’t think the album is all that great, actually, so I never bought the CD.

Can you tell where the four edits are? The deletion at 4:38 was the trickiest.  It’s at 5:34 in the unedited cut.

The Killer, Still Kickin’

jerry lee

Previously I mentioned that my friend Morris had given me a copy of Jerry Lee Lewis’ new CD, Last Man Standing.  NPR has started a weekend series on this year’s picks for the National Recording Registry, selected by the Library of Congress, starting with Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” 

Click here to go to the NPR feature.  The picture is of Lewis with his third wife, Myra.  What was with the pencil?  And those sunglasses!

When Swing was King


Artie Shaw died a couple of years ago, at a ripe old age, as sharp, cantankerous and opinionated as ever. For no reason other than my eclectic buddy Denro sent me a CD with a couple of Artie Shaw tunes from 1939, let’s listen to both of those tunes. One of them swings, the other does not, but they’re equally good. If you don’t know who that is Artie was sitting with, please get a clue!