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Babalu + Babalina

It’s Song Lyric Sunday again! This week, Jim has asked us to choose a song by a Canadian group. The Eternals, a Canadian Group, immediately came to mind. Here’s Babalu’s Wedding Day:

 

Lyrics

Where’s everybody running
Look at everybody go, go-go-go
Somebody please tell me, what’s all the rush
But tell you Babalu’s getting married, what you say?
Babalu’s getting married, that cheap skate
Hear the church bells ringing-ding dong
All the people are signing’s, hay, hay
And the bride is waiting, wait wait
Hear them all celebrating, so gay
But he ain’t the money, oh oh
Babalu’s wedding day

Some people think it’s funny
Some people think it’s true, true, true, true
Babalu’s getting married, what will he do?

He met his woman at a baseball game
Playing second base for the Milwaukee Braves
Husky Babalina was her name
Asked her for an autograph and made a date
Babalu, Babalu, Babalu’s wedding day

He had a friend who lived at the corner
He thought Babalu was a gone-er
From his friend he tried to borrow a dime
So he could get to church in time
Babalu, Babalu, Babalu’s wedding day

He had a monkey tied on a string
An organ grinder that he played
Counting the money at the end of the day
The monkey took the money and he ran away
Babalu, Babalu, Babalu’s wedding day

Babalu, Babalu, Babalu’s wedding day
Babalu, Babalu, Babalu’s wedding day.

The Story

The Eternals were based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and recorded several cover songs that became Canadian hits in the late ’60s.

The Eternals formed during the late ’50s, in the Freeman Street neighborhood of the Bronx, where the quintet — Charlie Gerona on lead, Fred Hodge on first tenor, Ernie Sierra on second tenor, Arnie Torres on baritone, and Alex Miranda on bass — started out singing in junior high school as the Gleamers, cutting their teeth on covers by the Flamingoes and the Spaniels; Gerona, meanwhile, was crafting songs in the humorous pop tradition of the Coasters, the Cadets, and the Olympics. Soon the Gleamers were calling themselves the Orbits, and developing a sound all their own. A novelty Gerona penned for the holidays, “Christmas in the Jungle,” which came complete with jungle sounds and bird calls (mostly done by Torres) received airplay from the Murray the K and WABC’s disc jockey Bruce Morrow’s shows and soon became their calling card.

Their new manager, Bill Martin, a friend of Morrow’s, then turned them on to Melba Records chief Morty Craft, who put the group in Beltone Studios in late spring of 1959 to record the song, which by now had been changed to “Rockin’ in the Jungle.” The   group also felt that a new name was in order and crowned themselves the Eternals, no doubt hoping for everlasting success. “Rockin’ in the Jungle” was released in early summer on Craft’s new Hollywood Records label, becoming an immediate hit in New York (number 11 locally). On July 13th, the song hit Billboard’s national Pop Charts, where it lodged at number 78. The Eternals’ second novelty release — “Babalu’s Wedding Day” — was just starting to break, when the Etemals’ manager felt compelled to sue shady booking agents who were apparently attempting a less-than-ethical move on the group. As a result of the court case, “Babalu’s” distribution was stopped and the Eternals were denied their
shot at stardom. (The single became a jingle on WABC disc jockey Bob Lewis’ radio show and helped kept the group’s image alive for years to come).

The original Eternals were:

  • Carlos “Charlie” Girona
  • Ernie Sierra
  • Fred “Pineapple” Hodge
  • Anibal “Arnie” Torres
  • Alex Miranda

This song has a VERY interesting background. A lot of jocks began to play this in the August to early sept of that year.. then for some reason the major stations stopped cold playing it. There was never an explanation. We all thought the record was GREAT and went around to as many record stores till we found a copy. In some circles there was a kind of well, ripple because the ethnic makeup of the group was not considered regular doo-wop. In those days you had to be one or the other. Well, that’s the way it was in a lot of neighborhoods. But it didn’t matter because we all went crazy and Babalu blasted out of every party, local juke box and if you has a 45 player option in your car, and we had in our Grand Prix, you could blast it in simulated stereo from your ride….Hey, wonderful memories! ~ Cindy S. YouTube

 

 

Asleep All Night

This week over at Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the prompts, above/below/between, which must be somewhere in the song we choose. This time, out of thousands of songs and for whatever reason, I decided on Asleep at the Wheel’s  Stay a Little Longer.

Song Facts

In 1969, Ray Benson (a nice Jewish boy from Philly)  and Lucky Oceans (Reuben Gosfield) co-founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and soon after they found themselves opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna in Washington, DC. A year later, they moved to East Oakland, California at the invitation of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. After being mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine by Van Morrison, they landed a record deal with United Artists. In 1973, their debut album, Comin’ Right At Ya was released by United Artists. At the request of Willie Nelson, they left Oakland for Austin in 1974.

Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have been presented numerous awards throughout their career. Most recently, the 16th Annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Award for the making of “A Ride With Bob”, recognition by Mayor Kirk Watson of Austin, Texas, and the Darrel K. Royal Music Patron Award by The Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association. In 2007, The Austin Chronicle recognized Asleep at the Wheel for Band of the Year, Best Country Band, and into their Hall of Fame. Benson was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2002, was given The Texas Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, and recognized as an Outstanding Producer by the National Academy of Recording Arts in 1988. He has also been given numerous Citations of Achievement by Broadcast Music, Inc. for his work in the country music field. Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel have been one of the strongest names in Country Music for the last forty years.

 

 

Lyrics

You ought to see my blue eyed Sally
She lives a way down on Shinbone Alley
The number on the gate, the number on the door
And the next house over is the grocery store

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Can’t go home if you’re going by the mill
‘Cause the bridge washed out at the bottom of the hill
Big creek’s up, and the big creek’s level
Plow my corn with a double shovel

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Sitting in the window, singing to my love
When slop bucket fell from the window up above

Mule and the grasshopper eating ice cream
Mule got sick and they laid him on the green

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer

Grab your gal and pat her on the head
If she don’t like biscuits, feed her cornbread
The gals around big creek, about half grown
They jump on a man like a dog on a bone

Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer
Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat throw it in the corner
Don’t see why you don’t stay a little longer.

The Dark

Today over at Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has asked us to choose a song that uses clear/light/dark in the title or lyrics. I chose one of my favorites, “On the Dark Side” by John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band.

Lyrics

The dark side’s calling now
Nothing is real
She’ll never know just how I feel
From out of the shadows
She walks like a dream
Makes me feel crazy
Makes me feel so mean

Ain’t nothing gonna save you
From a love that’s blind
Slip to the dark side
You cross that line
On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah

Dark side’s calling now
Nothing is real
She’ll never know just how I feel
From out of the shadows
She walks like a dream
Makes me feel crazy
Makes me feel so mean

Ain’t nothing gonna save you
From a love that’s blind
Slip to the dark side
You cross that line

On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah

Ain’t nothing gonna save you
From a love that’s blind
Slip to the dark side
You cross that line

On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah
On the dark side, oh yeah

Writer(s): John Cafferty
“On the Dark Side” is a song by American rock band John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, though they were credited as Eddie & the Cruisers. The song was written and recorded for the 1983 film Eddie and the Cruisers, and appeared on the film’s soundtrack album. When initially released in September 1983, the song peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard, while the film itself was pulled after three weeks in the theaters. When the film was released to home video and pay cable outlets in early 1984, the film as well as the song received renewed interest and the single was re-released.[1] This time, the song reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 19 on Canada’s RPM 100. It also spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart.

They first achieved success with a 1980 self-released single pairing two of their songs, “Wild Summer Nights” and “Tender Years”, which sold over 10,000 copies and had radio play up and down the Atlantic seaboard. Despite their success, the act was ignored by the major labels due to persistent critical comparisons to Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They finally achieved international success when producer Kenny Vance, a longtime fan, offered them the score to a movie soundtrack he was helming based on a best-selling novel about a legendary bar band, Eddie and the Cruisers. Thanks to frequent airings of the film on HBO and the purchase of the soundtrack album by their established fanbase as well as hundreds of thousands of new converts, Eddie and the Cruisers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and produced a number 7 hit single (“On the Dark Side”) on the Billboard Hot 100. “On the Dark Side” also held number-one on the Album Rock Tracks chart for five weeks. The album was eventually certified triple Platinum by the RIAA.

Elsewhere Tableau

It’s the Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip over at MLMM! This week we’ll be crafting a Tableau. Any topic. A tableau consists of one or more verses, each having six lines. Each line should have five beats. There is no set rhyme scheme, although rhyme may be present. The title should contain the word tableau.

Veil of twilight falls

Like it always has

The stars still appear

Twinkling bright silver

And as if nothing

in this world had changed.

 

But how can this be?

Even birds still sing

How can they not know?

That you are not here

Forever elsewhere.

And daisies still bloom?

 

SusanWritesPrecise

Nikki

Today, Fandango’s Dog Days of August prompt is “Pets.”

It all started when my mom & I were trying to cross a busy street. There were lots of loud machines coming & going in both directions, plus it was raining. Mom & I were both wet and she was irritated. Finally she saw a break & thought we could make it across, so we ran.

Mom didn’t make it.

The big machine that hit her just kept going, like nothing happened, but right away another machine stopped on the side of the road. A human got out and picked me up and took me…  I dunno, somewhere. Everything happened so fast!

The next thing I knew, this other human came to get me and I lived with her for 21 years.

She took me to the vet and even gave me this gigantic name: Nicole Tatiana. Everybody just called me Nikki, though.

It was a good life. My humans were an absolute laugh riot. I used to do this thing where I’d stand by a closet door and whine really loud and look at the humans. It never failed, one of them eventually got up and opened the door to see what was in there, and I’d walk away. Then they would start laughing their asses off. The humans got such a kick out of that! No matter how many times I did it, they always fell for it. At least they were easily amused.

I lived with three other cats, too, but not always the same ones. Some went to Rainbow Bridge and then after a while a new cat or kitten would move in. For the most part, we all got along.

Many years passed and then one day, I noticed that mouths were moving, but no sound came out. At first I thought they were all playing a joke on me, but then it came to me that I wasn’t hearing any of the usual noises. No birds chirping, vacuum cleaner, music, no garbage disposal. Nothing.

The next thing that happened was little by little things got blurry. Each day, they got blurrier until eventually I couldn’t see anything at all. Boy, was that scary! Imagine not being able to hear or see. By memory (and smell!) I was able to make to the litterbox & back, but it took forever. My bones hurt like hell for some reason.

Sometimes I’d lose all sense of direction and had no clue what room I was in. Talk about terrifying! I’d start howling I think, but I’m not sure because I couldn’t hear myself. My human came right away and picked me up, which startled me of course, because I couldn’t hear or see her coming.

It got old bumping into walls and getting disoriented. That’s when my human began carrying me around everywhere. That worked okay but she didn’t always know where I wanted to go, or when.

I was ready to go and my human knew it.

So we took our last car ride together and now I am at Rainbow Bridge.

What humans don’t know though, is that The Bridge isn’t far from Earth at all.

It’s just behind a thin curtain-like thing. Like all the pets here, I can come back and visit whenever I want.

So don’t worry; you’re never really alone.

 

SusanWritesPrecise
Nicole Tatiana (Nikki)