I am crazy about Patti Page. A few weeks ago, I bought a 45 recording of Old Cape Cod at an antique store, and listening it inspired me to revisit what I had in my record collection. As a result, I’ve been spending a lot of time recently gathering and inventorying all of my Patti Page material. It was scattered all over the place. The sheet music and the 78’s were the hardest to locate, but I think I’ve finally found it all. I started collecting her albums, cds, singles and other stuff in my twenties. I would love to play her music on my radio show, because I think her voice is magical, one that comes along once in a lifetime. It is so pure and sweet and clear. I’m sure it shocked a few people to hear PATTI PAGE on the CHICANO CONNECTION!, but oh well, too bad. I played what I wanted, and that’s what made it so much fun. The bulk of the material included here is from my personal collection. I’ve also added a bunch of tunes that are available on Youtube. I’m still purchasing her music, but it’s hard to find locally, so I rely on Ebay and other online vendors nowadays. I have recently acquired some more 45’s and cds, so this post is still under construction. Check back periodically, as I will be adding more new material in the coming weeks as well as biographical information and other fun stuff.
With My Eyes Wide Open was recorded in late 1949, and became Ms. Page’s first million selling single in 1950. The live performance is contrasted here with the one below, where she overdubs her voice several times, creating her signature sound.
Here are some of the 78’s I have in my collection.
This song amazes me. It was released as a single on the Mercury label in October, 1951. I don’t know if Ms. Page recorded any other tunes that required her to yodel, but wow, she’s fantastic at it.
Here are a few more 78’s
This is the recorded version of Tennessee Waltz. It’s another tune where she overdubbs her voice a few times. This song catapulted her to the top.
This is a live version of the Tennessee Waltz, and there are no overdubbs, just Patti’s beautiful, sweet voice. These are the earliest lp recordings that I have of Patti Page. She released so many albums, I’ll never be able to collect them all, but I’m very fortunate to have her very first one, as well as many others.
I’ll String Along with you…
Most of these were recorded in the 1950s. All are from my personal collection of Patti Page material.
This is the original recording of Doggie In the Window. It was a huge hit.
This live version of Doggie in The Window was recorded a few years after the song’s original release. Albums from the Sixties and Seventies from my collection.
Patti Page recorded over 1,000 songs and was the biggest selling singer of the 1950s. I have a lot of her 45 singles.
I have quite a few of Patti Page’s 45s. I’ve collected these over a long period of time.
Red Sails in the SunsetMore 45’s from my collection.
3 more 45’s, six songs…
Two 45 eps from my collection.
This is a 45 rpm 3 disc set that features six of the songs from the first Patti Page album.
This was one of at least three television shows that Ms. Page hosted in the 1950s. She didn’t know how to drive at the time, according to her autobiography. It would be many years before she finally learned how.
Two pieces of sheet music and Patti Page’s autobiography.
Patti Page paper dolls and a dvd of some of Patti’s songs that she recorded for her television show in the 1950s.
Here is more sheet music from my collection.
These are some of my Patti Page cds.
Here are a few more cds. The 1997 Live at Carnegie Hall recording garnered Ms. Page, age 70, her first Grammy award. She performed this concert in celebration of her 50th anniversary in the music business.
This was a huge hit for Ms. Page. Again it features her singing in harmony with herself. Each of these 3 cd sets contain music from eight previously released albums. That’s 24 altogether!
Some of her earliest recordings are my favorites. Her voice is so strong and clear.This is a photo of Patti and her vocal quintet. She always wore such beautiful dresses and gowns!
This is one of the few Patti Page songs I heard on the radio growing up. I have always loved it. The original lyrics are quite gruesome. I’m glad they were changed. The movie, starring Bette Davis and Olivia DeHaviland, is quite good. Agnes Moorehead is in it too.
May 5, 2025: I found several additional Patti Page 45s at an antique store. They were $1 apiece. It was my lucky day!
Most of the material included here–record albums, photos, cds and magazine articles, etc.– comes from my personal archives. However, I’ve added a few videos, photos and graphics from other sources to help tell the story of my lifelong infatuation with the music of Tina Turner.
My earliest recollections of Tina Turner go back to when I was a 12-year old kid watching her on television performing Proud Mary with Ike Turner and the Ikettes back in the early 70s. She had long legs, wore mini-skirts and a long dark brown wig, and could dance and sing like nobody’s business. I can close my eyes and clearly see her and her girls dancing in unison like crazy, tossing their hair back and forth as they did a rolling motion with their arms, while Tina belted out the lyrics to Proud Mary. It was a wild thing to witness. The group must’ve appeared on several tv shows in the Sixties and Seventies. Their onstage energy was unmatched.
The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner / 1961
I must admit, I have not studied Ike and Tina Turner’s recording history much until just recently. Slowly but surely, I’m piecing things together. They first recorded together in 1960-61 and had a couple of hits that included “A Fool In Love” and “It’s Gonna work Out fine” which I remember hearing on some of the oldies anthologies that I had bought when I first started collecting albums in earnest while in college. I have a cd re-issue of their first album, shown above, titled “The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner”.
This version of A Fool In Love was recorded for the program, Shindig on November 25, 1964, not 1960 as the note on the video screen indicates.
This is from my music videos collection. Tina performs Ooh Poo Pah Doo.
I also have a video of Tina performing with Marvin Gaye on the tv show Shindig in the mid-60s. I think they sang the song Money and I’ll be Doggone. She also performed A Fool in Love and Ooh Poo Pah Doo on the program. I used to love to watch the show on television. Aretha Franklin also appeared on it a number of times. It was great. Lots of popular groups performed on it and other shows like Hullabaloo.
On this tape, also from my music videos collection, Tina performs A Fool In Love.
The medley includes the tunes, “Money”, “I’ll Be Doggone” and “That’ll Be The Day”. What a pair!
Here’s another TIna Turner performance on Shindig. It’s available on the following–“Shindig Presents Legends of Rock N’ Roll”:
1992 video compilation of Shindig programs from the Mid-1960s. From my collection of music videos..
Ike and Tina also performed on a television concert program called the “Big T.N.T. Show” in 1966. The songs they performed were: Shake, A Fool In Love, It’s Gonna Work Out Fine, Please, Please, Please, Goodbye, So Long and Tell The Truth. The above concert tape is from my music video collection.
Here’s more about the Big T.N.T. concert from Wikipedia : “The Big T.N.T. Show is a 1966 concert film. Directed by Larry Peerce and distributed by American International Pictures. It includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and the United Kingdom. A sequel to 1964’s The T.A.M.I. Show, and, like it, executive produced by Henry G. Saperstein, The Big T.N.T. Show was likewise shot on videotape and transferred to 35-millimeter film. Some footage from it was reused in the film That Was Rock, a.k.a. The T.A.M.I. / T.N.T. Show (1984).”
River Deep, Mountain High / released in the US in 1969.
Two of the first record albums I acquired when I was in college were the legendary recording, River Deep Mountain High, and a compilation album titled, The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner, which consisted of songs recorded in the mid-60s on the Kent record label. Phil Spector recorded Tina singing River Deep Mountain High in England. He paid Ike to stay away from the recording studio while he recorded Tina’s vocals. The song has that very unique “wall of sound” quality that Spector was so famous for, and it features Tina singing her heart out. It was released in both the US and England, where it was a big hit. It didn’t do well at all in the States, however, and it is said that Phil Spector closed down his record company and went into seclusion afterwards because he was so disappointed in how the song did in the U.S. The album, while recorded in 1966, was released in England in 1967. In the US, the A & M label issued it in 1969. My copy has a few snap, crackle and pops, but doesn’t skip.
The original release of The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner, released in 1966, is on the left , and the 1971 French re-issue which I have in my collection is on the right.
I have a 1971 French import issue of the album, “The Soul of Ike and Tina Turner” (not to be confused with their very first release from 1961, which has the same title), which consisted of songs Ike and Tina recorded in the mid-60s on the Modern and Kent labels. The album was released originally in 1966 on the Kent label. The recording I have is in pristine condition and sounds amazing.
Two additional albums that I have are of live performances recorded at the Skyliner Ballroom (Fort Worth, Texas) and the Lovall’s Ballroom (Dallas, Texas) in 1964.
The first recording was originally titled, “Live!: The Ike and Tina Turner Show” and was released in January 1965 on the Warner Bros. label (Catalog Number: W 1579). The version I have is titled “Somehing’s Got A Hold On Me”. It was released in 1971 on the Harmony Records label. Three of the songs on the original recording are omitted from this version.
The second recording of the 1964 live performances was originally titled, “The Ike and Tina Turner Show, Vol. 2”, and was released in January 1967 on the Loma label, (Catalog number: LS 5904). The version I have was released in 1969 on the Harmony Records label, and is titled Ooh Poo Pah Doo,
Because I had no idea of the details around the nearly 20 year recording history of Ike and Tina Turner, when I first started buying their records, I collected whatever I could find at the used record stores. There was no rhyme or reason to my collecting strategy, except that I liked finding records that cost under $5, and most of the ones I have averaged about $3 a disc.
The Hunter / 1969________________________The Best of Ike and Tina Turner / 1973
In the late sixties, the group recorded for the Blue Thumb label, and many of the songs on the albums from this period are blues numbers. I really love the album, The Hunter, which I gave away to my good friends Mike and Denice. In hindsight, sometimes I think it was dumb of me to do that, but they were leaving town and I had to give them a gift, something memorable, so I chose that recording plus a John Lee Hooker album and a Taj Mahal album, all of which I had a hard time finding later. I did manage to find some of the Blue Thumb recordings on compact disc later.
She sang the blues like nobody’s business, but I’ve read that she didn’t like singing those songs that much. Dang. She’s one of the best blues singers I’ve ever heard. That’s really too bad, but there’s probably too much association with Ike Turner and the pain she endured while with him. I don’t think she sang the blues in the eighties at all.
This is the only 45 I have of Ike and Tina Turner.
Ike and Tina Turner began performing Proud Mary in their live shows in 1969. In 1970, they recorded the song and it came out on their album, “Workin’ Together”. It became a huge hit in 1971. The performance that follows was recorded for the Ed Sullivan Show, where they appeared live on January 11, 1970. It also includes Bold Soul Sister.
Bold Soul Sister appears on this anthology of musical performances from the Ed Sullivan Show. From my personal collection of music videos.
I didn’t know this, but Ike and Tina were the first rock act to play at the brand new Tucson Community Center back in October, 1971. Here’s a brief announcement about the concert:
A lot of their recordings in the 70’s appeared on the United Artists label. Here are the ones I have in my collection:
Acid Queen / 1975 _______ Greatest Hits / 1976
Tina suffered severe abuse as Ike’s wife, but she finally broke free in July, 1976, and never looked back. Their divorce was finalized in 1978. All she got out of it were two cars and her name, which Ike had trademarked years ago. The ensuing years were difficult for her, but she persevered. Her Buddhist faith kept her strong and focused.
It took her a bit of time to get back on her feet and find her own way, but by the early 80’s she was once again performing and attracting attention as a great singer and performer, this time as a solo act. I hadn’t really known the details about what was going on with her, but in the early 80’s, I clipped and saved some Village Voice ads promoting her performances at the Ritz in New York in September and October of 1981. They appear below:
In the late 70s-early 80s Tina would make her entrance flapping these wings. It reminds me of the drag shows I used to see at Jeckyl and Hyde’s in Tucson back in the late 70s. This was a very popular costume!
Here are a couple of import cassettes that I found, both released in 1981. Both have the exact same song lists too. I can’t seem to find the original albums in which these songs first appeared.
I found a copy of the 12” single, “Let’s Stay Together” shortly after it was recorded in 1983 and released early in 1984. Al Green wrote the tune and it was a big hit for him in 1972. It was the first big record for her since she had left Ike, and it marked a major turning point in her career. She was especially big in England where the song went to the top of the charts.
Throughout her career, Tina has been on of the hardest working performers in show business. This concert is one of many examples of her amazing energy and talent. It’s from 1982, when she was performing on her own, a year before things started getting much better for her:
Here’s another amazing performance from around the same time:
Tina’s version of Let’s Stay Together, released in late 1983 in England and early 1984 in the US, rose to the top of the charts in England, and was the beginning of her rise to superstardom. Within a year, her breakthrough recording of Private Dancer would change things for her in a big, big way. She finally got the recognition she deserved as the world’s queen of rock and roll.
This version of Al Green’s classic went to the top of the charts in England.
Rolling Stone, October 11, 1984. This is one of three Rolling Stone magazine covers on which Tina appears. Details of the abuse she endured are revealed in this lengthy feature. People Magazine, however, back in 1981, was the first national publication to reveal why Tina left Ike.
Private Dancer was released shortly after this in May, 1984.
Here is a snippet from Wikipedia, that details the incredible success of this album:
“The album was released on May 29, 1984, and became an outstanding global commercial success.[20][21][22] The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 chart for ten consecutive weeks[23] and remained in the top ten for 39 weeks from August 1984 to May 1985. In the United States it was certified 5× platinum.[24] In Germany, the album went 5× gold becoming one of the best selling albums in history. It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, where it was certified 3× platinum, remaining on the charts for 150 total weeks. It was certified 7× platinum for the shipment of over 700,000 copies in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The album has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.[25][26] At the 1985 Grammy Awards, Private Dancer won four of the six awards for which it was nominated.”
Her first big hit after her breakthrough album Private Dancer was released was “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. I liked the record a lot, but Tina has said she was reluctant to record it. She didn’t really care for it. I heard her say in an interview that “love has everything to do with it”, so I can understand why she didn’t care for the song. However, she also noted that the tune was catchy and that the public loved it. The video was quite popular, if I recall correctly.
The single, “Private Dancer” was also a big hit, but I didn’t like it much. I saw Joan Baez sing it in concert once with just her guitar. I thought it quite odd, but Joan loved Tina Turner, and there are several photos of them together, including the one below.
Joan Baez and Tina Turner
Tina sang on the We Are The World record, recorded on January 8, 1985. She was part of a huge superstar line-up that included Willie Nelson, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Ritchie, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Madonna and Bob Dylan.
I enjoyed seeing her on Live Aid on July 13, 1985. Her duet with Mick Jagger was quite memorable, especially the part where he rips off her skirt. I vaguely remember Patti Labelle and Tina getting into a bit of a tiff over one of them touching the other, and there being a bad reaction from one of them, because of the sweat that was pouring out. What the hell?
Just a few days after Live Aid, Tina appeared on the cover of People magazine. (This article and the US article are both in my personal collection of memorabilia). No mention is made of her life with Ike Turner and the abuse she endured during their marriage. She revealed all those details the following year in her autobiography.
Released on September 1, 1986. I read it at the time, but never had my own copy.
A week later, she appeared on the cover of US magazine. In this interview, she provides details about her relationship with Ike Turner. She had such a rough life with him, it’s incredible that she endured it for so long.
After Private Dancer, Tina appeared in the film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. I never saw the movie, nor do I have any of the recordings from it, although the song, “We Don’t Need Another Hero” was a big hit. I never took to it for some reason.
The following year, Tina released the cd, Break Every Rule. I never bought it, but I do have a 45 of one of the songs from it. I also have just the cover of another song from that album. I have no idea where I acquired it.
I just love this song. Man oh man!
Tina appeared in concert in Tucson in early December, 1987. I was living in Ann Arbor at the time, but would have gone if I’d been here.
By 1988, Tina was an international super star She had millions of fans, and drew immense crowds to her concerts. Here are some items from my collection, including her live album (part 1 is on cd, part 2 is on cassette. I don’t know how that happened) and an ad for a HBO special of a concert she gave in South America.
Tina turned 50 in 1989. I clipped this article from the Ann Arbor news.
I also have the following two photos in my Tina Turner file. These are from 1990.
In 1991, Tina released the following greatest hits compilation, which I have in my collection.
She has said that her favorite song is “Simply the Best”. She noted that her record producers didn’t care for the tune, but that she fought hard to have it recorded. Thank goodness. It’s become her signature song, and every time I see her perform it, I’m amazed at her energy and joy.
Little did I know, but I had this in my movie collection all along!
In 1993, the movie, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” was released. Directed by Brian Gibson and written by Kate Lanier, it is based on Tina’s 1986 autobiography I, Tina, and stars Angela Bassett as Tina and Laurence Fishburne as her abusive husband Ike Turner. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the film, but not the entire thing. It’s something I plan to do soon.
Jumping forward to 1999, Tina appeared in the VH1 Divas 1999 concert. She tore the place up with her songs, “The Best” and “Proud Mary” on which she shared the stage with Elton John and Cher. She arrived in a limousine, and walked right on to the stage to sing Simply the Best. It was a moment to behold.
Rounding out my collection of Ike and Tina Turner recordings are two cd compilations from the late 60s, both consisting of material recorded on the Blue Thumb label.
When I hosted my radio show, “The Chicano Connection” (1983-1986, 2005 to 2020), I would regularly feature the music of Ike and Tina Turner. Below is a quick bio sheet I wrote up for my segment on Tina Turner in celebration of her birthday one year. I’ve also included a sheet full of the songs by Ike and Tina Turner that I played over the years while on the air.
Aretha Franklin had her feathers ruffled in 2015 when Beyonce’ called Tina “the queen” at the Grammys 50th anniversary show. This only made Aretha look bad. She was always quite insecure about her status as one of the world’s greatest singers. Tina later noted that Aretha was the queen of soul and that she was the queen of rock and roll and said there’s room for more than one at the top. I heartily agree.
Those performances that Tina Turner did live on television with Ike and her dancers will be forever embedded in the collective memory of people from my generation. There’s no justification, however, for what Ike did to her over the years, but I believe that you can’t just erase what you don’t like about the past. You have to acknowledge it. It happened and that’s that. However, there are indeed other things one can focus on at present, so I would rather just do that rather than ever, ever glorify Ike Turner.
Tina didn’t let her fame go to her head. She was a devout Buddhist and remained so from the mid-70s to the very end. She chanted the same chant my cousin Tish chants. I still have the card Tish gave me with the words Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
For a long time, my favorite songs were the blues tunes from the late 60s. 3 O’Clock in the Morning Blues, Dust My Broom, You’ve Got my Running, and Mean Old World are all very heartfelt and beautifully sung. Tina’s raspy, low voice is well suited to these kinds of songs. Too bad she didn’t care for the genre much. Oh well. At least we have the Blue Thumb records and cd compilations.
Lately, I’ve been enjoying discovering some of her newer work. I really like, “It’s Only Love”, the duet she sings with Bryan Adams, and I enjoy the song Steamy Windows a lot. I’m sure there are a lot more songs that I’ll enjoy as I continue to listen and learn.
What a wonderful recording legacy she left us. And it started in 1960, not 1983.
Here are two recent magazines featuring Tina Turner that I bought for my collection at Walgreens in early June, 2023.
My newest acquisition, People’s Tina Turner commemorative issue, published in June 2023.
I recently went on a shopping spree and found these cds–Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (1989); In The Beginning (1993); Break Every Rule (1986); Foreign Affair (1989); Wildest Dreams (1996); and Twenty-Four Seven (1999). The first two are Ike and Tina Turner compilations from the Sixties and Seventies, and the rest are from Ms. Turner’s solo career.
I couldn’t resist. My very own Tina Turner T-Shirt!
I borrowed this book from the University of Arizona Library and read it in just a few days. It was published in 2005. I finished in on 6/21/23. It was okay. Bego got a lot of the details of Turner’s life wrong and he’s very repetitive. A good editor would have helped clean it up a bit. Nevertheless it did have a lot of interesting information, especially about Tina’s relationship with Ike Turner.
My latest acquisition, received in the mail on 6/23/23, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” released in conjunction with the movie by the same title in June 1993. This compilation includes versions of some of Tina’s earliest hits as well as her latest efforts.
I had no idea this duet existed until today, which is July 12, 2023. It’s amazing. The are great together. I’d never even heard of Jimmy Barnes until today, but he’s quite popular.
AN IKE AND TINA TURNER TIMELINE TO EARLY 1991 (borrowed from the book, “Rock Movers and Shakers” by Dafydd Rees).
Tina Turner left behind a lengthy, rich recorded legacy going all the way back to 1960. The following lists of Ike and Tina Turner and Tina Turner 45 rpm singles is borrowed from the book “Goldmine 45 RPM Records Price Guide, 8th edition“, by Dave Thompson.(Krause Publications, 2018).
My first eight years of schooling took place in the public schools. I started learning the cello in the 4th grade at Robison Elementary School, using an instrument provided by the school. I continued playing while at Mansfeld Junior High, and really came to love it. I even went to music summer camp one year at the University of Arizona, and was beginning to get better and better at playing, even though I never had private lessons.
All of my brothers and sisters attended Tucson High School, and I was expecting to do the same. Instead, however, I begged my parents to let me go to Salpointe, a private Catholic school with a great academic reputation, but no orchestra. Sadly, the move to Salpointe meant that I had to give up playing the cello, because my parents could not afford to buy me one of my own, and there was nowhere else to play the instrument. I hadn’t heard of Tucson Junior Strings, a local youth orchestra that I could have joined, but even if I had, I likely would not have been able to participate because of the costs involved. Going to Salpointe was going to stretch my parents’ budget beyond what they could afford as it was.
During orientation at Salpointe, the band director recruited me and encouraged me to try the saxophone. I really didn’t know much about the instrument, but I really liked the saxophone solos I had heard on the pop tunes of the late fifties and early sixties. Songs like Tequila, the Twist and the Mashed Potato featured saxophone solos that really helped make the tunes come alive. So I gave it a try.
At first, I played the tenor saxophone, and later the alto, using instruments provided by the school. The band director at one point bought a brand new alto and let me be the first to play it. I liked it a lot and took to it quickly. Before long, I had learned how to play the song “In the Mood”, made famous years ago by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. As I think back, this was really my first exposure to the music of the swing era. I didn’t really know any other songs from that time period, except for maybe Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters. Everyone knew those tunes. Sometimes there would be commercials on tv advertising the music of the big band era, and while it sounded intriguing, I didn’t go crazy over it. This was the music of my parents, so it was considered old-fashioned.
I learned how to play this song in while in the high school band.
Once I started earning money my junior year of high school, I began to collect record albums, and expanded my musical interests in many directions. Around the time I started college, I began listening to jazz. I have been collecting jazz recordings and books for many years now. My love of the music of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and my reading about their lives led me to the swing era, and I learned a little bit about all the great musicians of the time, and a few of the orchestras. I knew that the Chick Webb Orchestra, for example, was one of the best swing bands of the era, and that Ella Fitzgerald worked with him when she first started singing. I also knew that Billie Holiday worked with both the Count Basie band and the Artie Shaw orchestras, and had recorded with Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson at the start of her career. And, of course, I knew about Glenn Miller and “In the Mood”. However, I was never a fanatic about swing era music to the point where I collected everything I could find and knew the repertoire of all the great bands. It wasn’t until recently that I realized what an impact this music had on American culture. Swing was a real phenomenon. It was huge. The youth of America went crazy over it.
Benny Goodman was always one of those musicians in whom I was interested, and when I was collecting 78’s, I found a lot of his recordings. I didn’t know a whole lot about him or the details of his life and work, however, except that Peggy Lee worked with him in the early 1940s and that he was known as the “King of Swing”. On a whim, I recently decided to read a biography about him by James Lincoln Collier. The book was titled, “Benny Goodman and the Swing Era”. I found the book fascinating and especially liked reading about Chicago and New York in the 1920s and 1930s, how the Great Depression affected popular culture, and how popular music made a comeback in the mid-30s, in large part due to the popularity among American youth of Benny Goodman and his Orchestra. The musical analysis provided in the book was a bit beyond me, but I made it a point to listen to Goodman’s music along the way, and I watched a lot of videos of Goodman and his band. The most fascinating were the ones that included Gene Krupa, the famous drummer and bandleader. That guy was a bundle of energy. His playing on the tune “Sing, Sing, Sing” is just outrageous!
Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. They were quite a pair!
Sing, Sing Sing is one of Goodman’s signature tunes, and this clip features Gene Krupa going crazy on the drums.
I’ve been intently listening to Goodman’s work for the past few months, and I must admit I like his early work (mid to late 30s) better than what he recorded in the latter part of the 40s. The trio and quartet material is great too, as are the tunes he recorded when Peggy Lee was his vocalist in the early 40s. As bebop became more popular in the 40s, Goodman tried to incorporate it, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. The high pitch of the clarinet and the band playing at full throttle on tunes that are more dissonant and experimental in nature, sounds awful to my ears. I know everyone has their own tastes and preferences, however. By the mid-40s, interest in swing had faded, and more attention was paid to individual performers, particularly singers. Goodman never stopped recording or performing, but he reached his peak as early as 1940, and was never able to get “back on top” again, so to speak.
I’ve put together some materials in my collection. I purchased most of the cds on Ebay while I was reading the biography, but I’ve had the albums for many years, and I have more 78s in storage that I need to find. I even have an extended play (these feature two songs on each side, rather than one) 45rpm record that I just dug out from my 45’s collection. I didn’t realize until I started looking, how many books about Benny Goodman and the swing era were already in my collection. I now have 5 Goodman biographies, after having purchased two on Ebay recently. I even have a glossy, 8 x 10, autographed portrait. I’m not sure the signature is real or if the portrait was published with the signature on it, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve put everything together and wow, I’ve got a very nice collection!
I was saddened to learn that many of his fellow musicians thought Goodman was such a jerk in real life. Collier alludes to this several times in his biography, but never really goes into any depth. However, toward the end of the book,he makes reference to a publication called “Jazzletter” and a very revealing four-part series about the Benny Goodman tour of the USSR in 1962, written by a member of the band. The story, which I found available online in Jazzletter, (see below), was quite revealing. Goodman’s band members thought he was a tightwad, aloof and bad-mannered, and that he always needed to be top dog, in the spotlight at all times.
I’ve since read other material about Goodman, and have learned that John Lincoln Collier’s biography leaves out a lot of interesting information, such as the fact that Goodman performed in concerts for various progressive causes, and that his role as a band leader with an integrated ensemble was groundbreaking and had an impact that was felt far and wide. It helped to bring down at least some of the racial barriers in place at the time in American entertainment. His defense of fellow musician Gene Krupa, who was busted and jailed for possession of marijuana also stands out as a noble act. He publicly stated after Krupa was released that he could play in his band any time. Goodman’s brother-in-law, John Hammond was immersed in the American left, and he undoubtedly influenced Goodman to take risks he may not have otherwise taken.
In the end, Goodman’s music has stood the test of time, and is absolutely wonderful.
I found some of my 78s. I think I have more…
Record albums in my collection, including a 10″ lp recording of Peggy Lee singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. “The Best of Benny Goodman: 30 years of his greatest Hits” is a four record anthology produced by Columbia House and issued in 1972. The rest are all standard 12″ single lps. Goodman recorded for Columbia, Decca, RCA and Capitol over the years. I’m sure there were others as well.
A mish mash of stuff in my collection, including a 7″ 45rpm e.p, a cassette, the soundtrack to the Benny Goodman Story, and an anthology of Goodman’s best music on red vinyl that is part of the legendary “Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time” series produced by the Institute of Jazz Studies and the Franklin Mint back in the mid-1980s.
New acquisitions. I purchased these lps at Zia Records on October 12, 2022.
I picked these lps up on a recent trip to Phoenix and Prescott, Az. The first one is a two-record set.
Here are two more recent additions. The one on the left is a vintage lp, and the other is a cd. The lp is a bit beat up, but I’m glad I bought it anyway. It’s an original copy, released in September, 1954.
My latest acquisitions as of 12/18/22. All lps. Here is one more lp. Purchased on 1-16-2023 at the Goodwill for $1.49. It sounds pretty good!
CDs in my collection.
2 new cd acquisitions. Purchased October 12, 2022.
I purchased this 3 cd set in New Orleans in January, 2023. It was released in 2012.
Four recent acquisitions, all 10″ lps. Purchased on August 7, 2024.
Books in my collection. The one called “The Kingdom of Swing” is a small paperback called “An Armed Services Edition”, produced specifically for American soldiers during World War II. There are other books about Goodman, but this is what I have…so far.
Another recent acquisiton. Benny has his own postage stamp!
The Benny Goodman Quartet, including Lionel Hampton on vibes, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa on drums and Benny Goodman on clarinet, performing “I Got a Heartful of Music” from the movie, Hollywood Hotel.
Original 1935 program advertising the Benny Goodman Orchestra at the Palomar Ballroom.
Goodman made national headlines back in late 1937. This article is from the Arizona Daily Star, Monday, December 20, 1937.
Two years later, Goodman appeared in Tucson. April 23, 1940. Az Daily Star.
Ad from the Arizona Daily Star, May 2, 1940. In addition to the show on May 3rd, Goodman and his band made a special appearance at the University of Arizona the following afternoon.
Why Don’t you Do Right? featuring Peggy Lee, early 1940s.
This compilation of tunes that Peggy Lee sang with the Benny Goodman orchestra in the early 1940s was originally released on lp in 1957. I have the cd version.
Goodman appeared in the 1944 movie, Sweet and Lowdown, with Linda Darnell.
Charlie Shavers was the featured trumpeter in this film clip from the Sid Caesar show in the mid-50s.
Released on February 2, 1956, this film loosely follows Benny Goodman’s real life up until his 1939 Carnegie Hall concert. The soundtrack is excellent.
Goodman visited Tucson again in 1960, appearing wiht the Tucson Synphony Orchestra.
China Boy and Sheik of Araby, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa, 1961.
I’ve had the following article in my research files since 1986, when the article first appeared. It’s an obituary/tribute written for the Village Voice by writer Gary Giddens. It was published on July 8, 1986, shortly after Goodman died.
Benny Goodman materials in my collection
September 5, 2022, updated October 8, 2022
Cassettes
Let’s Dance 1999 compilation
Compact discs
The Hits of Benny Goodman Capitol 1989 cd
The Essence of Benny Goodman Columbia/Sony 1991 cd
The Original Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Sessions Vol. 1 After You’ve Gone RCA / Bluebird 1987 cd
Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 1938 Complete Columbia 1999 cd
Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert 2 cd set. London 1978, 1986.
The Blue Room, cd. TIM no date.
Benny Goodman: The King of Swing 1998 Sugo Music cd
The Best of the Big Bands: Benny Goodman Madacy1994
Benny Goodman Yale Archives Vol. 6 Amerco/Musical Heritage Society 1991 cd
Benny Goodman Rarities 1940-1942
The Benny Goodman Sextet, featuring Charlie Christian (1939-1941)
Benny Goodman, Vol. III / All the Cats Join In 1986 cd
Benny Goodman Sextet 1988 cd
Benny Goodman, Vol 1 (Yale University Music Library Series)
Benny Goodman (Ken Burns Jazz) Sony 2000 cd
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra: Sing, Sing, Sing 1987 cd RCA/BMG
LPs
Benny Goodman, His Orchestra and Sextet, Vocals by Peggy Lee Columbia 10” lp CL 6033
Columbia Presents The Great Benny Goodman Columbia lp CL 820
Benny Goodman: Swing Into Spring Columbia XTV28995 Prepared expressly for Texaco
The New Benny Goodman Sextet Columbia lp CL 552
Together Again: The Benny Goodman Quartet RCA Victor LPM-2698 1964
The Benny Goodman Story Decca Records DXB 188 2 lp set. I only have one of the lps, however.
The Best of Benny Goodman: 30 Years of His greatest hits 4 record set Columbia House P4M 5678
Benny Goodman–Lionel Hampton/Jazz Milestones (The Greatest Jazz Recordings of All time, vols. 37-40)
Benny Goodman: Mostly Sextets Capitol T668
The King of Swing, Vol. 1 1937-38 Jazz Concert No 2 Columbia lp CL 817
Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Live 1937-38 Columbia Special Products/Aimez Vous le Jazz No. 7
Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Vol. II (1937-38) Columbia Special Products/Aimez Vous le Jazz No. 15
B.G from 1927-1934 Brunswick Records BL 54010
The Benny Goodman Trio Plays for the Fletcher Henderson Fund Columbia lp, GL 516
Benny Goodman 2 lp set (Time-Life Music: The Big Bands series STBB003)
The Complete Benny Goodman, Vol. III 1936 2 record set Bluebird AXM2-5532
BG: The Small Groups RCA Victor LPV-521 (RCA Victor Vintage Series)
Benny In Brussels, featuring Jimmy Rushing, Vol. 1 Columbia lp CL1247
The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Vol. 1 Columbia lp CL 814
7 inch 45 rpm EP’s
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
78’s
My Blue Heaven / Put That Kiss Back Where You Found It
On the Alamo / Rattle and Roll
Don’t Be A Baby, Baby / All The Cats Join In
My Guy’s Come Back / Symphony
Six Flats Unfurnished / Why Don’t You Do Right?
Idaho / Take Me
The Way You Look Tonight / The Wang Wang Blues
Heaven In My Arms / That Lucky Fellow
Boy Meets Horn / Let’s Dance
Where or When / I Cried For You
A String of Pearls / Jersey Bounce
He Ain’t Got Rhythm / This Year’s Kisses
When It’s Sleepy Time Down South / Changes
Let’s Give Love A Chance / Somebody Nobody Loves
That Did It, Marie / Somebody Else Is Taking My Place
Books:
Benny Goodman and the Swing Era, by James Lincoln Collier. NY: Oxford, 1989.
Benny: King of Swing, a pictorial biography based on Benny Goodman’s own archives, with an introduction by Stanley Baron. NY: Morrow, 1979.
Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman, by Ross Firestone. NY: Norton, 1993.
Memorabilia and other stuff:
Signed autograph black and white 8 x 10 portrait of Benny Goodman
Ad: Benny Goodman Sextet Gammage Center, Sunday, February 20, 8pm. (Tempe, Az.)
“The Mirror of Swing, by Gary Giddens. Village Voice July 8, 1986.
“To Russia, Without Love: The Benny Goodman Tour of the USSR”, by Bill Crow. This is a 4 part story featured in Jazzletter (August, September, October November, 1962). Crow writes a critical review of the trip, and describes Goodman as a difficult bandleader and all around asshole. A very unflattering portrayal, to say the least.
Newspaper ad, Arizona Daily Star May 2, 1940. Benny Goodman in person at the Santa Rita Ballroom, Friday, May 3, 1940
Newspaper artcle, “Goodman Swings in City Tonight” Arizona Daily Star, May 3, 1940.
This is a 78 rpm anthology of Benny Goodman tunes that I have in my collection. These “albums” usually included 4 10″ discs with a song on each side.
Gene Lees’ Jazzletter includes four issues devoted to Benny Goodman’s 1962 trip to Moscow. It’s not a very flattering portrayal, but from what I understand, this is how Goodman behaved with his band mates throughout his career as a band leader. His music was great, but he was not a nice guy. You can read about the tour by looking up the August, September, October and November 1986 issues of the newsletter.
“Ellington, Goodman, Shaw” by John S. Wilson, in Liberty Magazine, Spring, 1973. (I’ve had this magazine in my personal collection for many years, and only recently realized that there was a very good article on these three jazzmen included in it.
I recently found this in my music research files. I had no idea I had this! Not sure if the signature is “original” or if it’s a print, but that’s okay.
Mike Carroll died today. He was Denise Shavers longtime partner. They have lived in New York for many years, but I first knew them when they lived here in Tucson downtown in an apartment on 9th street near my friend Richard back in the early 1980s. Mike was Irish, born in Massachusetts, but raised here. He loved beer.
Mike and Denise
My birthday party in 1983. Mike and Denise were there.
He was also an amazing artist. He gave me a painting he did once of Bob Dylan. It was a dual portrait. One was of Dylan before Highway 61 Revisited and the other was post Highway 61, kind of like what he looked like during Blonde on Blonde. I also have a hand-painted Christmas card he and Denise sent me, and a couple of photos of the two of them together. I treasure these things.
Dylan, then and then…
One day we had a big party at Richard’s house. This was in the early 80s. Everyone was drinking and smoking. We may have even been doing hallucinogenics at the time too. He he he. Someone put on The Basement Tapes by Dylan and the Band, and wow, there were moments when everyone was singing along. Only a few of us die hard Dylan fans knew all the lyrics, but it didn’t stop the rest of the gang from joining in. With Dylan’s songs, one can just mumble their way through the tune and nobody notices… Mike was in the middle of it all, singing his heart out along with Bob and the Band, his buddy Jimmy, and all our friends. We sure had fun right then. It was a magical moment, one I’ll never forget.
We sure had some great times back then. In mid-June, 1982, we all piled up in my brand new 1964 Galaxy 500, given to me by my mom as a college graduation gift a couple of months earlier, and drove up to Mesa to see the Clash perform. Denise had made some really cool silk screened t-shirts to sell at the concert. (I used to have one, but wore it out). On the way up to Phoenix on this particular trip, we were all partying in the car, and as luck would have it, a cop stopped us. It turns out I had expired plates. The cop could tell we were partying. Who wouldn’t have smelled the smoke? But he was kind that day and let us off the hook, and we ended up getting to the concert in plenty of time. It turned out to be a blast after all. The Clash were on the same bill as the English Beat, but they sucked.
One of the greatest rock bands ever.
A 1964 Galaxy 500, just like the one I used to own. Having six to eight people pile up in a car like this will turn it into a “low rider” for sure. No wonder the cop stopped us.
Another time, we all drove down, in my Galaxy 500 again, to Nogales to eat,drink and shop. It was also a fun trip. We sang songs along the way and had such fun. I was into listening to music of the civil rights era at the time, and had everyone singing along to tunes like “If you miss me at the back of the bus”.
We also sang “South Street”. Seems like Denise was the only other person in the world who knew the song!
My favorite girl singer of the early 60s!
In the summer of 1987, I traveled to San Francisco to meet my future boss from the University of Michigan Library. She wanted to check me out before deciding whether or not she wanted me to come to Ann Arbor for a job interview. The American Library Association conference was in progress, but I was there just to meet her. Once that was all over, I hooked up with Mike, who lived there with Denise in the Fillmore district at the time on Hayes Street. Denise was out of town so I got to hang out just with Mike. He took me out drinking all over the city to a number of Irish bars, and then we ended up at a party with a lot of his “artist” friends. It was the strangest scene, with artsy-fartsy gabachos everywhere, and I of course felt totally out of place. Mikey fit right in. He was an artist too, after all, and a gabacho, but a cool one! Wow.
Later that same night, I came up with new words to the song, “On Top of Spaghetti”, which I had been singing to the kids in Nogales at the time. They went something like this…On top of your chi chis, all covered with cheese, I lost my virginity, when you said please. We rolled on the table, then on to the floor, and when it was over, you wanted some more…” Wow. That’s Pulitzer prize material, for sure! Or at least National Poetry award stuff…Actually I was drunk as a skunk. The words just flowed out of me as easily as the alcohol had been flowing in the entire day…
On Top of Spaghetti. When I was a children’s librarian back in 1987, I would sing this to the kids during story hour. They loved it.
What I look like when I’m shit-faced…
Mike’s gifts were art and music. I don’t know if he ever had a “straight,” regular job. He leaned on Denise a lot.
A photo of Mike, Denise, RIchard, Emily and Luz, circa 1995.
I got a text message earlier today from Richard’s wife Emily that Mike had died this morning. Now Mikey and Richard are both up in heaven, probably partying and singing the same Dylan songs they sang together that day at Richard’s party almost 40 years ago. At least I like to think that.
I called Denise and we talked for a while. Mike died of melanoma. It had spread throughout his body and ended up in his brain. He wasn’t in any pain and he got to be at home when he passed. That’s probably all he wanted at the end, was to be at home with Denise. Denise has covid, but she sounded okay. After all she’s been through, the poor thing needs a rest. I hope she gets it. Mike will be cremated next week. And life will go on.
Here’s something interesting from 1964. This ad appeared in the Arizona Wildcat, p10, Nov. 20, 1964.
Linda Ronstadt’s music has been a part of my life since I was a teenager and first heard the song “You’re No Good” on the radio in the mid-70s. She had a couple of other hits before that, including “Different Drum” and “Long, Long Time”, but I never connected the fact that these songs were from a woman born and raised in Tucson. When her breakthrough album “Heart Like A Wheel” came out in late 1974, it was huge news, and everyone in Tucson talked about Linda being a hometown girl. That album was the first one I ever really got to know and love. I bought every album she released after that, one by one. I was never really interested in her work with the Stone Poneys, or her first two solo albums, “Hand Sown, Home Grown” and “Silk Purse”, however. Her songs selections on those albums weren’t as appealing to me and her voice sounded twangier then, and in my opinion, not as well developed as it was when she released “Heart Like A Wheel”.
I saw Linda perform at the Tucson Community Center twice in the late 70s, and then again much later at the Tucson International Mariachi Conference. I even got to meet her once back in 2004. She remains one of my very favorite singers, and I have nearly all of her recordings either on lp, cassette or cd. I played her music all the time on my radio show, the Chicano Connection too. I’ll always love her.
A poster from the Sixties
Linda at Palo Verde High School where she performed with the Stone Poneys.
Her birthday is coming up soon, so I thought I’d create my own playlist of tunes she recorded that I especially enjoy listening to. Most of these are either folk songs or country songs. I think Linda does an exceptional job interpreting these kinds of tunes. I also love her rock material and her music in Spanish, but this time around, for the most part, I’m focusing on Linda Ronstadt, the barefoot folkie.
At home playing the guitar…
Ramblin’ Round
Keep Me From Blowin’ Away
I Never Will Marry
My Blue Tears
Love Has No Pride
Love is a Rose
I Can’t Help it If I’m Still In Love With You
Crazy Arms
Rambler Gambler
I Ride An Old Paint
Desperado
Willin’
Carmelita
I will Always Love you
I Fall To Pieces
Duet with James Taylor
If I Should Fall Behind
I bought this poster when I was in college. I ended up giving it away. Stupid me.
Back in 2004, Linda Ronstadt showed up to an event at Raul Grijalva’s campaign headquarters in Tucson one day. I was there too, and asked for her autograph. She signed it on one of my buddy Richard’s campaign flyers. He was also running for office that particular year. This is one treasure that I’ll never give away.
I’ve never really said much about giving up the Chicano Connection, my radio show on KXCI. I’ll just say that it was time to let it go. Altogether, I worked there as a volunteer for about 20 years, from 1983 to 1986 and then again from around 2004 to 2020. My last show was on February 26, 2020, two years ago this week. Every now and then I get nostalgic and long to hear all those old Mexican rancheras that I used to feature, so tonight I decided to put together a blog post with some of the great songs I miss playing. Many of these songs remind my of my mom, and others I think are just beautiful tunes. If you have time, listen to a few of these. Some are sad, some aren’t. Just don’t start drinking, or you won’t be able to stop…
I’m so grateful and humbled by these comments. They were posted on Facebook.
Loved your show—Chuck Leon
Your show was a great bouquet of music and culture—Steve Leal
Bob, I know so many are missing your show. Thanks for sharing your love of this music. It is truly beautiful! –Alexandra Rivera
I miss your show, too. It was always on as I as driving home from work.—Lisa Bunker
Your show was such a staple in our household. I miss it.—Andy Schmitt
I miss your show! It was the reason I donated to your public radio station, and I told them that. You taught me so much about Mexican music, and I loved your themed shows. And of course, I loved the Motown and Aretha you would sprinkle in! Love you! –Karen Downing
You gave us a beautiful show! Thank you!—Andrea Marie
Your show was life altering for me Bob. I break out my cassette recordings once and a while.—David Gouge
Bob, I remember being in the old studio watching you and Richard dj for one show, in the early yrs.–Ramon Federico
I loved your show and the playlist always taught me something!–Felicia Frontain
I miss your show, Bobby. I look forward to listening!!–Betty Villegas
Mil gracias for your special gift…we’re about to enjoy!–Margo Cowan
I have been collecting records since I was a teenager. I started working in high school, and my job as a carry out at Fry’s provided a nice check every two weeks, and I remember spending most of my money on ,both new and used. I still have all of them. I even have some that belonged to my mom and my brothers and sisters. A couple of weeks ago, I started posting my favorite albums on Facebook. I was chosen to name one album a day without any comment, and to pick other people to play along. That got old after a couple of days, and I just decided to post an album a day, with commentary about it and a song selection from it linked from Youtube. I have gone way past posting 10 of them at this point. I have so many I want to talk about. I’m replicating here what is on Facebook so that I can remember what I’ve done without having to scroll through my wall,, which can sometimes take forever, as there are other things I post along the way. I will be updating this post daily as I post new material on Facebook. Stay tuned!
Here we go. This was the first one.
My older brother Rudy bought this album on the day it came out and he played it to death. He owned all of the Beatles albums, and they were all very influential, but this one was a favorite of mine. I really liked “When I’m 64” and “It’s Getting Better All The Time”. The only song I didn’t care for was “Within you, without you”. it was just too weird for me at the time. I’ve since learned to appreciate it, especially the lyrics. George Harrison was a beautiful cat.
La Enorme Distancia came out in 1961. All my aunts and uncles owned it, it seems, as did my parents. My favorite song was El Corrido del Caballo Blanco. The introduction was especially cool. We played this album at Christmastime a lot. There’s a song on it called “Se Va Diciembre” that’s about Christmas and the coming new year. This is my all time favorite ranchera album. Every song is a classic. Para Morir Iguales is another favorite.
My brother Rudy bought this back in 1965. Like A Rolling Stone was a huge hit. I wasn’t crazy about Dylan when I was a little boy, but this album and Blonde on Blonde had a huge impact on me when I was a teenager. I especially love the song It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry and Desolation Row.
This album was introduced to me when my brother Charles met his wife Elaine. She had this album and left it at our house sometime around 1970. It got destroyed, of course. We never took care of our records while I was growing up, and this album got played a lot when there were parties and lots of beer everywhere. “A la guerra ya me llevan” was great. Little Joe later re-did the song, but it wasn’t the same as the original. Here’s the original.
I played the cello from the 4th grade to the 8th grade, and was very interested in classical music, but hadn’t much exposure to it growing up. That changed one day back in the early 70s, when my sister brought home a stack of classical albums that a friend had given her. Among them was this little gem. This pianist is my favorite of all. Her playing is just incredible. It’s so clean and light and precise. Here’s the entire Piano Concerto No. 15 in B Flat Major, in three parts. My absolute favorite.
This album was released in November, 1963, the same month John F. Kennedy was shot. I stumbled upon it one day about 10 or 11 years later at the public library downtown, back in the days when it was located across from Armory Park, and when cassettes were in use. I fell in love with it and with Joan Baez, and soon found my own lp copy. Here’s Joan singing, Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, live on the BBC. The song also appears on this album, but on the stereo version only of the lp. If you bought the original mono version, it wasn’t included. Luckily for me, when I found my own copy, it was the stereo version. I love this song, and Joan’s guitar picking is just incredible.
My mom bought this for me at the El Campo Drugstore when I was a freshman in high school in 1974. Antonio Aguilar recorded scores of albums, but this is my favorite. He used to perform at the Rodeo grounds with his wife Flor Silvestre and his sons Pepe Aguilar and Antonio Aguilar, Jr. The album is filled with classic corridos, such as Juan Charrasqueado and Rosita Alvirez. This one is very popular, and it’s called Gabino Barrera. It’s the title cut.
I found this one at the old Main public library downtown. In the 70s, the library used to have the most amazing music room, filled with recordings of classical music, and the librarian that worked there was one of the nicest people I’d ever met. This is from the Concerto for Flute and Harp. It’s the most beautiful of all of Mozart’s melodies.
I first heard this in high school. It’s filled with songs about being Chicano, like America de los Indios, and the great tune, America. I wish Daniel Valdez would’ve written and recorded more. Here’s a sample from this amazing album.
This is the very first Aretha Franklin album I ever owned. I didn’t know much about her at all when I first started listening to her back in the mid-70s, but I’m glad I picked an album from the Atlantic label. She recorded for Columbia before making the switch to this label and that stuff is not as “soulful”, shall we say. This song was only released as a 45 single prior to appearing on this album.
This is the very first album I ever bought with my own money. I purchased it at Discount Records on University Blvd. back in 1973, 46 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. Here’s one of my favorite songs from the album.
My brother Charlie owned this album back in the mid-60s when he was in the Navy. This is my favorite Motown album of all time. None of the other greatest hit packages available by the Temptations include all of these songs. Every one is a gem. This song was on it.
I first heard this back in the late 60s. My sister owned a copy of it, and she would play it all the time when she was home. While all of the songs are amazing, I really like this one a lot.
I found this recording, a compilation of Lucha Villa’s best loved songs, on cassette at the swap meet a few days after my mom died. She used to love listening to Lucha Villa, so I bought it and took it home. I played it for my dad, and he almost wept, saying that it was mom’s parting gift to us. Every song, it seemed, spoke to him directly about their relationship. This one hit especially hard.
Time for the album of the day. I played this one to death. I know every song by heart. It’s just the best. I have many of Carole King’s albums in my collection, but this one was the first. One of my all-time favorites…This was THE song. For my buddy, Richard.
Today’s album is one I will always treasure. Back in high school, my friend Richard and I were inseparable, mostly because I was a royal pest. He owned this album, and it spoke volumes about friendship and heartbreak and other things that adolescents experience like only they can. Every song was so, so deep…at least they were at the time. I still enjoy listening to it, and with Richard’s passing, it’s taken on new meaning. Here’s one of the songs.
Here’s my album of the day. Picking one by Joni Mitchell was difficult, as I love many of her albums. This one, however, really struck a chord with me. When I first started at the University back in 1977, I had a big console stereo that I bought from a lady with whom I worked at Fry’s. One of the speakers didn’t work, and when I would play this album, I couldn’t really hear some of the instruments. The dulcimer sounded so faint at times. It wasn’t until I could afford a better stereo that I realized what I was missing! Here’s one of the songs.
Amparo Ochoa was a Mexican singer who was known as one of the leading proponents of “la nueva cancion” in Mexico and throughout Latin America. Her song “La Maldicion de Malinche,” written by Gabino Palomares was well known and loved by many. She recorded many traditional Mexican folk songs as well as many political tunes. I love this album. I found a cassette copy of it at a very small and cramped music shop that used to be a drive thru camera store in St. Mary’s Plaza one day. I wore it out, and was glad when I was able to find a cd version. Other songs of hers include La Muerte Viene Echando Rasero and La Calaca, both of which I would play on my radio show every year around El Dia De Los Muertos. Here’s a live version of my favorite song on the album. It’s called La Caritina.
I was eleven years old in 1970, and the breakup of the Beatles was a real shock for everyone, particularly those of us who loved their music. Everyone hated Yoko Ono at the time. It was all her fault, of course. Or so we thought. As soon as the break up occurred, each of the guys in the group went off and recorded their own albums. John Lennon released this one, and it was amazing. Songs like “Mother” and “God” were quite shocking. I remember hearing the song God at home, and the words, “God is a concept, by which we measure our pain” hit hard. What? He didn’t believe in God? Wow! And then the song, Mother….”Mother you had me, but I never had you. I needed you, but you didn’t need me…” Dang, this dude was saying some heavy stuff. I’ve loved this album for a long time. It took me a while to “get it”, but I did eventually. Here’s the song Mother.
My friend Richard was a big Neil Young fan. He started listening to him in high school. Tonight’s the Night and Zuma were his favorite albums. I liked Neil too, but wasn’t crazy about him at that point like Richard was. Then, as luck would have it, I was walking down 22nd street one day when I found this album on the ground, beaten up and tattered. There was no record inside. I was intrigued by the cover, so I kept it and brought it home. It took me a while before I was able to find my own copy. There’s something so melancholy about it. It’s haunting. It convinced me that Neil Young was a genius. Richard was right. Here’s a cut from the album. It’s called Ambulance Blues.
My mother drank. She and dad had a volatile relationship. He liked to gamble and he loved women, and he betrayed my mother more than once. For many years, they argued every single day, and there were moments of violence and abuse. Sometimes she would stay up late at night and clean the house, drinking wine all the while and she’d play all these really sad Mexican songs about love and betrayal. Her heart was heavy, and she felt like she had no way out. I witnessed it all, and being a little boy, always felt to blame for her sadness, as she’d tell my brother Fred and me, “if it weren’t for you kids, I’d have left your father long ago”. She didn’t mean any harm, but it made us feel quite guilty. We were children and didn’t realize how much she suffered nor did we realize we had nothing to do with how our parents relationship unfolded. Over time, they found love again, but it took many years. They were together for 45 years, until the day she died. I’ve long since forgiven them, and would give anything to hear their voices, and feel their warmth again. My mom loved this singer, and while she didn’t own this particular album, she did have a 45 e.p. that included a couple songs from it. When I was in my late teens, I bought this in Nogales, Sonora at a record store, just a block or two from the border. I’ll always treasure it, even though I usually cry when I hear it. Here’s my mom’s favorite song.
My exposure to country music as a kid was minimal. I had heard of Hank Williams, and knew that my mom said that he had been to Tucson in concert once in the early 50s. She loved all kinds of music, and him especially. Ray Charles too. Songs like “Cryin’ Time” and “I Can’t Stop Loving You” were her absolute favorites. I myself wasn’t crazy about this music at the time, but every now and then, I’d turn the radio on and listen to KCUB late at night before going to bed. Nobody in the family knew. The stuff wasn’t taboo necessarily, but it wasn’t cool either, especially among my friends and siblings. It was considered “hick” music that gringos and kids who went to Amphi and Flowing Wells listened to mostly. Shit kicker, cowboy music was another way it was often described. Then, in 1971, Hee Haw began to air on TV, and when I was bored I would sometimes watch Buck Owens, Roy Clark, Grandpa Jones and Lulu Bell do their thing. It was a silly show, and corny as hell. I still didn’t care for the music all that much, but then, a couple of years later, as if by magic, all of a sudden there was this pudgy dark-skinned guy with kinky hair from Texas who appeared on the scene, almost out of nowhere, and he single-handedly changed a lot of people’s opinions in my neck of the woods about country music. His name was Baldemar Huerta, but the world knew him as Freddy Fender. This album, released in 1974, was quite popular, and his songs, “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”, were all the rage. Suddenly, country music wasn’t all that bad after all. Artists like Linda Ronstadt showcased songs like “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love With You” on their recordings and new artists like Emmylou Harris came onto the scene. Willie Nelson became popular too, although he’d been around a long time. Since then, I’ve been a big fan, and over time fell in love with all of these musicians. Dolly Parton, especially, will always have a special place in my heart. When I was with KXCI, I always made a point to add country music to my shows, and while it turned a few grumpy, die hard p.c. Latinxers off, it was for many listeners, a welcome addition to the mix I played. It was part of my adolescent youth, after all, even though it wasn’t as significant as other types of music were early on. Anyway, to make a long story short, here’s to Freddy Fender and the album of the day!
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan. My album of the day is Blonde on Blonde, which along with Highway 61 Revisited are in my opinion, two of Dylan’s best works.There are so many great songs on this album. Again, I have to credit my brother Rudy for turning me on to another great one. I remember him listening to Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands in his bedroom at home in 1966, when the album was released. The song took up a whole side of the album, something which was unheard for a pop album up to that point. It’s hard to say which song is my favorite. I love every one of them, but Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again brings back memories of hanging out with my friends Richard and Albert Elias at a pizza joint near Park and Speedway sometime in the early 80s, munching out and playing pool while listening to this song. The beer was flowing and the pizza was delicious, and of course, the music was the absolute best. Dylan played on a jukebox. There was nothing like it! I remember it like it was yesterday. Here’s the song.
One of the lines in one of the songs is, “if you can’t find me at the back of the bus, you can’t find me nowhere, come on over to the courthouse, I’ll be voting over there”. A musical masterpiece.Here’s Pete singing the title song.
I’ve been debating over which Judy Collins album to post first. I just looked at the song list on this one, and decided this was the one. It was issued back in 1964. Judy Collins’ voice was huskier when she was younger, and I just fell in love with it. Her choice of songs on this album is the best. It includes works by Tom Paxton, Billy Ed Wheeler, and Bob Dylan. She also includes some songs pertaining to the civil rights struggle. It’s a wonderful album, one of many great ones she’s done over the years. And she still doing it into her 80s…
Linda Ronstadt had been recording for several years by the time this gem came out in 1974. It includes her big hit, “You’re No Good” and it introduces the world to Emmylou Harris, who sings harmony on the song, “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love With You”. The album was produced by Peter Asher, who had previously worked with the Beatles. I think it’s Linda’s best work of all. Here’s a live version of the song, “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love with You” featuring Emmylou Harris on harmony vocals.
My album of the day. Judy Collins first recorded Leonard Cohen’s songs in 1966 on her album, In My Life. This was the first album of his that I ever owned. Take a moment and listen to this song. It’s one of my favorites.
My album of the day…Lila Downs is amazing. I especially love this album because she sings a lot of Jose Alfredo Jimenez songs on it and other rancheras, but arranges them with modern accompaniment. What an amazing voice!
My album of the day is one by Buffy Sainte Marie. “Little Wheel Spin and Spin” was released in 1966, when I was 7 years old. It took another decade or more before I found it. It has some lovely folk songs and some original compositions, including one of the most scathing indictments of this country I’ve ever heard on record called “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying”. I can’t think of anything more appropriate to post on a day like today. The genocide continues, my friends, one body at a time. It’s as American as apple pie.
Today’s album of the day.
My album of the day…This is one of my favorite James Taylor albums. I really love Mud Slide Slim, Gorilla and Sweet Baby James too, but this one for some reason stands out. The song, “Another Grey Morning” just breaks me up. He got the gist of depression down pat.
I am posting this as my album of the day. I had a hard time picking one of Emmylou’s albums. The first four are some of my favorites, but this one stands out because I remember who I bought it from. It was a guy I worked with at Fry’s named Claude. He didn’t like the album and it was brand new. I thought he was crazy. I love every song.
My album of the day. I love this album. The Persuasions came to Tucson in the mid-80s and I got to see them. I think KXCI brought them.
My partner Ruben is moving to a new hair salon, as the owner is closing the shop where he works. He decided to buy the chair he’s been using there from her, as the hydraulics are good and the chair can be easily adjusted for Ruben’s height. Yesterday, he reminded me that it was the same chair in which my buddy Richard and I always got our haircuts. For several years running, once a month, like clockwork, we’d all show up at 9am on Sunday morning at the salon and Ruben would cut our hair, first Richard’s and then mine. We had a great time, clowning around and shooting the breeze. Once we were done and we had cleaned everything up, we’d all then drive across town to Laverna’s for breakfast. We enjoyed each other’s company so much, we would hang out together until noon at times. The place was always busy, but we usually found a spot quickly and were treated quite well. Richard knew everyone, it seems, and enjoyed talking to people. Ruben and I would just watch in amazement at how well he could b.s. his way through any conversation and in the end leave people laughing and happy. He sure had a gift for gab. I still can’t believe my friend’s gone. He was my brother, and I miss him. Today’s album and book are ones that were some of Richard’s favorites. Here’s a live version of the song “Albuquerque”, which appears on Tonight’s the Night.
Here’s my album of the day. Janis Ian was only 14 when she wrote the song, “Society’s Child”. Written in the mid-60s, the song was very controversial in that it dealt with inter-racial romance. It took several more albums and almost another decade before she had another hit with the song, “At Seventeen”, which appears on the album “Between the Lines”. This album, “Stars,” came out just before that one, and it has one of my very favorite songs on it, which is the title cut. I got to see Janis perform at Centennial Hall in 1977, my freshman year in college. She has since “come out” and is a proud member of the LGBT family. She also has an autobiography out that’s very good. Here’s the song, “Stars”.
My album of the day….Our family bought a new t.v. console set back in the late 60s at Flash TV on S. 6th Ave. It was one of those big, long ones with a record player and radio on either side. Included in the deal were 50 brand new record albums. Most of the records were by artists who I had never heard of, but there were some real gems included. This is one of them. I love this album. It’s one of Nina Simone’s earlier ones, from the late 50s/early60s when she recorded for the Colpix label. She was a volatile artist, and had lots of issues, but she was a genius too. My favorite song of hers is on it. It’s called Wild Is The Wind.
My album of the day. I bought this in the mid-70s at JC Penney when it was downtown right next to Jacome’s. I love this album. It came out around the time that Pinochet took power in Chile in a bloody, US-backed coup that left thousands dead, including the great singer-songwriter Victor Jara, whose song “Te Recuerdo Amanda” Joan covers on this album. Joan later toured South America, helping to bring to light the plight of the mother’s of “los desaparecidos” in Argentina. She was closely followed by the secret service there, and not allowed to sing, but had a huge following. This song also has a number of other great songs like De Colores, La Llorona and Cucurrucucu Paloma. It would be another dozen years before a popular singer in the US released a Latin album. That album was Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de mi Padre. Here’s No Nos Moveran.
My last album of the day. My friend Bubba Fass gave this to me for my birthday when I was seven years old. It’s a great party album. It has the Hokey Pokey and Las Chiapanecas, plus many other fun kiddie songs.
I was very tired yesterday when I got home from work at 5, so I took a nap, thinking I could just sleep for half an hour and wake up in plenty of time to work on my radio show from 5:30 to 7pm. As luck would have it, however, I overslept and woke up at 5:50 rather than 5:30. I thought to myself, oh oh, what am I gonna do? I don’t have a lot of time to prepare this show. I hate having to rush, but the clock was ticking away. I decided, to heck with it, I’m just going to play nothing but songs that last 5 minutes or longer. Where could I find a whole show’s worth of songs that were that long? And then the lightbulb went on! Last week I had played an all-English language dance music show, so this week I decided I would play an all Spanish language dance show and feature nothing but salsa! Those songs are all usually 4 to 6 minutes long and they’re quite danceable too. So lo and behold, that’s exactly what I did. I went through my small collection of salsa and musica tropical and came up with a good handful of tunes, all of which were at least 4 minutes long. I gave folks a heads up on Facebook that I would be having another dance party, but that this time the featured music would be a mix of salsa and Latin jazz, and one friend in particular got very excited and told me she had just put her dancing shoes on and was ready to boogie the night away. I dubbed the title of the show, “Salsa A to Z”. I almost made it all the way through the alphabet, but had to skip one or two artists because I had run out of time. That same friend who was ready to bop the night away later told me she thought it was a perfect show. Wow, sometimes you never know how things are going to turn out. I have to admit that initially I wasn’t all that excited about doing an all salsa show, as I was bummed that I had to rush things, and I usually like to mix things up, but I’m glad at least one person liked it.
Rufus with Chaka Khan/Dance Wit Me–Aretha Franklin/What a Fool Believes–Grace Jones/I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For you)–The Weather Girls/It’s Raining Men–The Pointer Sisters/I’m so Excited–Wham/Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)–Madonna/Like a Prayer-Natalie Cole/This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)–Lipps, Inc./Funky Town–Cher/Take Me Home–Alicia Bridges/I Love the Nightlife–Deniece Williams/Let’s Hear It For the Boy (partial)
Deniece Williams/Let’s Hear It For the Boy(partial)–Aretha Franklin/Who’s Zoomin’ Who?–Whitney Houston/How Will I Know?–Gladys Knight/Love Overboard–Chaka Khan/I Feel For You–Darlene Love/He’s Sure the Man I Love–The Staple Singers/I’ll Take You There–Madonna/Holiday–Natalie Cole/Pink Cadillac–Etta James/Jump Into My Fire–Grace Jones/Pull Up to the Bumper Baby–Labelle/Lady Marmalade–Aretha Franklin/Deeper Love
I didn’t know what the heck I was going to feature on the program yesterday. I’ve been so focused on getting my website updated that I haven’t had much time to pay attention to birthdays or holidays etc. When I finally sat down to start preparing it, it occurred to me that I needed a good workout, as I haven’t been exercising regularly lately, and I thought about doing an oldies show, but for some reason, I decided on featuring 70’s and 80’s dance music. I started by looking at Aretha Franklin’s music from the 80s. I wanted to hear songs that had a strong dance beat, so I decided on stuff like “What a Fool Believes”, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” and “Deeper Love.”, all three of which I played last night. I actually had six of her songs in mind, but once I got started pulling other material, I ended up playing just three of them.
Because I wanted the show to be a dance show, I decided to open it with an invitation, and played “Dance Wit Me” by Rufus and Chaka Khan. I then played Aretha’s version of “What A Fool Believes” and Grace Jones song, “I’m Not Perfect, But I’m Perfect for you”. From there, I did my usual introduction and let folks know that the evening was going to be nothing but dance music by women, and proceeded with “It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls. I also played Madonna’s song “Like A Prayer” , Lipps, Inc. tune “Funky Town”,and other stuff. One of my boo boos included playing the song “Wake Me Up, Before You Go Go”, by Wham. I miscued the darned song, thinking I was going to play the Deneice Williams’ tune, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”. I ended up joking about George Michael sneaking in and being one of the girls… oh well. I played the song by Williams later in the program.
The show proceeded without too many other boo boos, but one other big one occurred when, to my horror, Cher’s song, “Take Me Home”, started, rather than “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges. Another miscue. Damn, that was the very first time I’ve ever played Cher. I think she’s tacky, stuck up and rude, and I don’t like her. I’ve never played her and never will again. I cut that song short, as a result, and segued into the Alicia Bridges song.
Other than those two miscues, everything else turned out fine. I included stuff by Whitney Houston, The Staple Singers, Labelle, Gladys Knight and others. I had a blast and danced my ass off for two whole hours. I’m now very sore, but I needed a good workout. I hope folks enjoyed the music!
I have no idea what I’ll be playing next week. That’s what makes this all so much fun!
It’s so shocking to know that Donald Trump is going to be our next President. I am filled with dread. I’m also heartbroken, sad and angry, yet determined to fight for our right to freely exist. Our insurance, our marriage, our rights–they’re all likely to disappear in the coming months. This is a huge deal, and a scary proposition.
I had to put a radio show together the day after the election. Here is the show.
There we were, in the middle of Palm Springs, when who do we see? Murray from the Mary Tyler Moore Show!!! Gavin MacCleod is his name. He was also on the Love Boat. There he was on the main drag in the main shopping district getting his own star put in on the sidewalk. How cool! He lives there now. He and I hugged real tight. He was nice. Richard liked him too. He said Mar… for me in that heavy accent of his. as in Mary…He asked us to keep Mary Tyler Moore in our prayers, as she is battling severe diabetes. Poor soul.
Dylan had just won the Nobel Prize for Literature the day before. How’d I ever end up this lucky? It was my friend Richard’s doing. Bless his heart. He got us the tickets. He got us the car. He got us the motel room. He got us to the bar… My buddy. I love you. Thank you.
Dylan opened with Rainy Day Women #12 and #35. Yee Haw! Somewhere along the way, we did get to feeling really good. It was such a blast being in the middle of a mob of people, all there to see Dylan and the Stones! Old people, young people…it was a rainbow festival of people. Beautiful young men were everywhere. I lucked out and ended up right next to a whole group of pretty boys. These guys were gorgeous. They were young and had beautiful, angelic faces and gorgeous bodies. I thought maybe the older guys that were with them were the movie directors or something. Ahem…
My feet gave out on me during the Stones segment of the show. I had trouble with my left shin all day for some reason. Don’t have the vaguest idea what I did to it, but it hurt. I ended up in the back by the bar. It wasn’t bad. Took my shoes off and massaged my poor feet. Some woman couldn’t stop laughing at me. A minute later I was up dancing and shaking my big ass in her direction. Toma, cabrona!. I shouldn’t be so volatile. Didn’t hurt anyone, and anyways she was the one that laughed at me!
Richard drove the whole way. We made good time, and lucked out with the food. We found a good Mexican restaurant in Quartzsite, and we also had two really good ones within walking distance from our motel. The shuttle to the show was across the street. Everything worked out beautifully.
I never dreamed I’d see the Rolling Stones. I missed them when they came to Tucson in ’78 with Etta James and Linda Ronstadt. Damn! But I lucked out and got to see them after all. They were wonderful. They play the fucking blues like nobody’s fucking business. They are bad ass motherfuckers. Long live the Rolling Stones!!
I wish my sister Becky could’ve seen the Stones. They have always been her favorite band. I called her the morning of the show and told her I was going to dance a number or two for her. She said, nah, just have a drink for me, ok? Ha ha ha. That’s my girl! Beckaroo! She taught me and Freddie so much, I can’t begin to tell you! I love her dearly.
Bob Dylan should be seen in smoky nightclubs instead of large outdoor venues. He’s so subtle, but such things do not make it to the people in the further reaches of the compound. You miss the nuances if you’re too far away. That sucked. I love Dylan. I was with him all the way, but I would have loved to have been up close so that I could cling to every word in awe of him and his magic. He himself has said the following, according to a Facebook post I read somewhere: “I can’t stand to play arenas, but I do play ’em, but I know that’s not where music’s supposed to be. It’s not meant to be heard in football stadiums. The best sound you can get is in an intimate club room, where you’ve got four walls and the sound just bounces”. Right on, Bob!
Richard’s list of the songs played.
Rock and roll feeds my soul. I was fed well this past weekend. God bless the Rolling Stones, and love live our Nobel prize winning folksinger, Blind Boy Grunt!!!!
“Special Collections hosts its third annual evening of song, featuring local musicians performing Mexican corridos in Spanish. Similar to English ballads, corridos tell the story of an event, a person or a place, and often include words of wisdom for those tempted by lust or greed. A brief lecture, titled, “An Introduction to the Corrido” will be given by Bob Diaz, Special Collections curator for the performing arts. This program is supported by the Mexican American Studies department”.
Wow, what can I say? I’m so glad that “Una Noche de Corridos” event turned out so well, in spite of the fact that the musicians that agreed to play for us were not able to make it after all. We had over 100 people in attendance. I had asked the musicians to show up 15 minutes early. By 6pm, they still hadn’t shown up. I was sweating bullets by then.
When 6pm rolled around it was time to start the program. I gave my presentation on the corrido, and fumbled a bit along the way with having to toggle back and forth from one program to another, but I got through it. The audience was very receptive and understanding, and they seemed to enjoy the videos I presented.
Once I ended my part of the program (see my previous blog post, What’s to know about corridos, anyway?, as I used it as the basis for the presentation), it was time to announce that our expected musicians hadn’t shown up. I then asked if there were any other musicians in the house who wanted to sing. I knew Bobby Benton was there with his guitar, so I figured I could count on him. He agreed to sing. And lo and behold, to everyone’s delight and surprise another individual also came forward. Her name is Tiffany Alvarez. I had my guitar on hand, so she used it to perform. Tiffany is a biologist and mariachi musician who has performed with Mariachi Mujer 2000, and Bobby Benton is a native of Barrio Anita, and a well respected singer whose talents can be heard on the cd recording titled Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona-Sonoran Borderlands.
They each sang three songs, and accompanied one another on guitar. The songs included: El Siete Leguas, La Herradera, El Corrido de Nogales, and El Preso Numero Nueve. The audience just ate it up. They loved it!
Again, I can’t say how grateful I am to these two wonderful individuals!
After the program, folks stuck around to enjoy some food and beverages. I met many wonderful people last night. My good friends Mima and Pernela were there too. We sang happy birthday to Mima, and I mentioned that Pernela had won a corrido contest at Tucson Meet Yourself. She said she was going to get me back for that one. She brought her sister Gloria, who used to babysit me when I was a baby. I love Gloria. She reminds me of Mrs Jones. She and Irene, my sister, were great friends in their youth.
By the time I got home last night, it was nearly 9pm. I was exhausted, and still a bit in shock over what happened. Thank goodness it all turned out so well!
Here is a very nice note I just received from someone who attended:
Hello Bob:
Just a quick note to say how much my son and I enjoyed last night’s program! We had a great time.
I really enjoyed the musicians and the snacks after. The whole thing reminded me of when I was a kid and my dad and uncles would sit in the backyard on a Saturday night playing the guitar and singing, all while the beer and tequila flowed. Of course, my mother wasn’t happy about the last part but I remember when my grandmother would join in the singing. I haven’t thought about that for a long time, so thank you.
Anyway, I wanted you to know that it was a lot of fun. And we enjoyed your talk, too. My dad used to play all kinds of Jose Jimenez records.
Karen
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P.S.
Writer Xavier Omar Otero wrote this review of the event for the Tucson Weekly.
There is one answer for you. Other writers note that the corrido is derived from a combination of Spanish song styles, not just the romance. Corridos were quite popular during the Mexican American War and reached even greater heights of popularity during the Mexican Revolution. A typical corridista would stand on street corners and sing to the passersby, often distributing the songs on “hojas” or leaves of large pieces of colored paper (referred to in English as broadsides). While some scholars such as Vicente Mendoza argue that the true form died out after the Revolution, others stress that the corrido has merely evolved, and that it flourishes to this day.
Corridos can be written about any number of topics. Some of the more popular corridos are about the Mexican Revolution, its heroes and villains, and the great battles that were fought. Others are about places, or about people who get themselves into trouble for being too bold or stubborn. There are also corridos about horses, cock fighting, and drug running. The latter are called narcocorridos, and they are extremely popular today.
According to the Mexican scholar Vicente Mendoza, a typical corrido usually contains some of the following elements: the initial call of the corridista or the balladeer to the public, sometimes called the formal opening; the stating of the place, date and name of the protagonist of the ballad; the arguments of the protagonist; the message; the farewell of the protagonist; and the farewell of the corridista. (Mendoza, Vicente. La Lirirca Narrativa de Mexico, pp17-18, 1964). Of course, not all corridos follow this formula to the letter, but most corridos do include a closing or farewell message of one kind or another.
Simonett states that, “the corrido is usually sung in 2/4 or 3/4 time, and that its harmony is based on the tonic, dominant and subdominant chords. It is usually constructed of a number of stanzas of four or six octosyllabic lines, and the melodic phrases are repeated for each stanza. Occasionally, the corrido has a melodic refrain, which may be in a different rhythm”. (Simonett, Helena. Banda: Mexican Musical Life Across Borders, 2001).
I grew up listening to El Corrido del Caballo Blanco from the time I was 2. The song opens with the sound of a galloping horse. Anyone who hears that sound who is familiar with Mexican music, recognizes it almost immediately as being the opening to one of Jose Alfredo’s most popular songs.
When I was in my early teens, our local drugstore, El Campo Drugs on the corner of 22nd and Country Club, had a record bin with Mexican albums. One day I asked my mom to buy me one. She liked Mexican music a lot, so it wasn’t hard to convince her. I chose Antonio Aguilar’s album, Corridos. It included some of the most famous corridos ever written, such as Gabino Barrera, Juan Charrasqueado, El Hijo Desobediente, and Rosita Alvirez.
In high school, I learned more about Mexican popular music in a class called “Cultural Awareness”, one of the very first Chicano Studies classes (1974) ever offered in Tucson. Our teachers brought record albums to the classroom that included corridos of the Mexican Revolution. Songs like La Adelita and Valentin de La Sierra (see Ana Gabriel’s version below) resonated with me. They alluded to a history I was not yet familiar with, but was closer to me than I realized. My own grandparents had immigrated to the U.S. both during and after the Mexican Revolution. Their lives were directly impacted by this conflict. It took me a while to realize what this really meant to me.
I began to slowly collect record albums in high school, although I didn’t have a strong interest in Mexican music until after I graduated from college and joined KXCI radio in 1983 as a volunteer disc jockey. At that point, I started hosting two radio shows. One was a three hour morning program, and the other was a specialty program called The Chicano Connection. My goal in doing this was to present both American and Latin music to the public. Once I started listening to and collecting more music in Spanish, particularly Mexican folk music, I started to become more familiar and comfortable with the corrido repertoire, and I began to collect songbooks, albums and whatever else I could find. One artist, whose song Doña Elena y El Francés, was one of my uncle’s favorites, was the great actor Ignacio Lopez Tarso. He issued two albums of corridos of the Mexican Revolution. They are comprised of spoken word monologues accompanied by music. Here’s an example.
I have discovered over time that there are a variety of types of recordings of corridos. Some would argue that the only ones that are “authentic” and worth listening to are those that were recorded in the early part of the 20th century, or “in the field” so to speak, by folklorists. These are performed generally by working musicians, who may or may not possess the best voices. They appeal to me on a different level than those recordings that are considered more commercial, and which are quite frankly more readily accessible to the general public. (Below, however, is one set of recordings that were made in the early 20th century that is readily available from Arhoolie Records).
Another recording, one that has the feel of a field recording, but was actually recorded in 2002 , is titled, Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona Sonora Borderlands. It is also readily available from Smithsonian Folkways. It was compiled by James Griffith, folklorist and co-founder of Tucson Meet Yourself.
Some of Mexico’s greatest ranchera singers, including Miguel Aceves Mejia, Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa and Antonio Aguilar, have helped preserve the corrido by recording them on their albums. Aguilar, for example, has issued several corrido albums, including one about the Mexican Revolution and another one all about horses.
Here’s one more corrido, this time by Lucha Villa. It’s called El Hijo Desobediente.
One of my all time favorite albums of corridos is Amparo Ochoa’s recording, Corridos y Canciones de la Revolucion Mexicana, which was issued in 1983. It includes definitive versions of La Adelita, El Soldado, and Valentin de la Sierra. It also includes a very moving song called La Caritina, written by Victor Cordero, a contemporary composer. The song is about a female revolutionary colonel who fought alongside Pancho Villa, but who was not officially recognized by the Mexican government, and who ends up dying in abject poverty. Here’s Amparo Ochoa singing this song live.
Since the 1970s, narcocorridos have been very popular with the Mexican public. A wildly popular group called Los Tigres Del Norte are largely responsible for popularizing this type of corrido. Other artists such as Chalino Sanchez helped further the form’s popularity.
Corridos continue to be written to this day. Many are political or deal with current events and contemporary issues. Below is an example of a relatively new corrido about President Obama. It was recorded in 2008 by Los Dorados Del Norte. Youtube is a great source for finding these songs. There even exist corridos about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, some of which are very biting and funny. I’ll leave it to you the reader to explore these on your own. Have fun!
Locally, corridos are very popular in Southern Arizona. Back in the 1980s, a local group called Mariachi America, led by Gilbert Velez, recorded “El Corrido de Tucson”. Tucson Meet Yourself has also held corrido contests for many years, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center has sponsored a number of contests for high school students. Below is an example of such a corrido, written and sung by Araceli Valenzuela. The corrido won the 2010 Bilingual Corrido contest. Alfredo Valenzuela is a local teacher, now retired, who created the youth mariachi program at Davis Elementary School.
Below is a list of books you can read to learn more about the corrido. Those available online are linked to Amazon. Local libraries such as the University of Arizona Library, Pima Community College LIbrary, and the Pima County Public LIbrary also have some materials.
Here are a few corrido recordings that are available for sale online via Amazon.
The Mexican Revolution: Corridos. These recordings are from the early 20th century. They are considered some of the most authentic corrido recordings available.
An album by Bud and Travis (titled “Naturally: Folk Songs for the Present”)that I bought up in Phoenix the other day piqued my curiosity, so I started searching the web, including Ebay and Amazon to find more of their material. I also checked Youtube to see if there were any videos posted of them performing together. It turns out that their careers are well documented at budandtravis.com. Youtube contains a number of very interesting live performances, and many of their recordings and other related material are available both on Amazon and Ebay.
I decided to gather up all of the recordings in my own library at home–lps, a cassette, and some cds– and it didn’t take long to figure out that there was only one lp the the duo recorded together called “Spotlight on Bud and Travis” that I didn’t have. I had forgotten that I also have some solo recordings of both singers. I even have duplicate copies of at least three of their albums! There were some double cds of a few of these albums available on Amazon, and I purchased two of them, including one that contains the “Spotlight on Bud and Travis” recording. With the acquisition of these cds, I’ll have acquired a significant portion of their catalog. Of course, I don’t have everything, particularly their solo material, but all in good time! I love these guys. Their voices blend so well together, and their guitar work is superb. Here’s a link to their discography: http://budandtravis.com/discography.html
Travis Edmunson grew up in Nogales, and was an Arizonan through and through. He sang lots of songs in Spanish, and with his singing partner Bud Dashiell, recorded an entire album in Spanish called The Bud and Travis Latin Album, as well as a number of other songs in Spanish scattered throughout the various recordings that they made together. One of their best recordings is of the traditional son jarocho, La Bamba. I also like El Abandonado. Here’s a live version of La Bamba that they performed on the Ozzie and Harriet Show:
Post Radio show notes:
I just had to play a song by these guys on my next radio show. The song I chose was Malaguena Salerosa. It was in my opening set, and was sandwiched in between Lola Beltran’s “Del Cielo Cayo’ Una Rosa, and Martha Gomez’s lovely version of “Cielito Lindo”. It was a great little set, and I even got a phone call from a listener who let me know he enjoyed it very much. That was nice!
Here’s Del Cielo Cayo’ Una Rosa, by Lola Beltran:
Here’s Malaguena Salerosa, by Bud and Travis:
Here’s Cielito Lindo by Marta Gomez:
The rest of the show also turned out well, which was a pleasant surprise, because I changed my plans midstream, and had to “wing it”, which meant picking and choosing what to play during the show itself (I usually have every song planned out beforehand!). I was originally going to play a bunch of songs that were about betrayal, anger, hurt and loss , since I had recently been through an unpleasant experience, but then I thought, why subject everyone else to these unhappy feelings? I want my show to be an uplifting experience, not a drag. I ended up playing two songs by the Grateful Dead and two by Bob Dylan, as well as some rancheras and salsa. Towards the end, I included two songs that expressed disappointment, but they didn’t dominate the mood. Overall it was an upbeat show, one that I thought turned out well, especially since it was one of those “spontaneous creations”.
La Adelita 
