WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 8 - The Fruit Of Self-Control

A collection of some really interesting song-poems as we wind down in the last gasp of mp3s originally posted on ASPMA.  Truly, how could any woman not be impressed when compared to poultry?

(click here to download artwork)

1. MSR Singers - Oh That Zipper On My Pants
2. MSR Singers - Chicken Leg
3. Kay Weaver - Gyrate For Physicet
4. The Rave-Ons - You Put It Inside
5. unknown - In Love In Love
6. unknown - You And Your Big Ideas
7. unknown - Virgin Child Of The Universe
8. Sonny Marshall - The Saddest Story
9. Gene Marshall - The Great Richard Nixon
10. Gene Marshall - The Didgeridoo
11. Gene Marshall - Do It While You Can
12. Bobbi Blake - The Fruit Of Self Control
13. Little Donnie Lane - Go Away
14. unknown - Love Song Of '74
15. Rod Keith & The Raindrops - Merry-Go-Down
16. Charles Clark - Common Less Sure
17. Buddy Raye - 10 o'clock is Boogie Time
18. Buddy Raye - 1040 Coal
19. Michelle Wood - For You With Love
20. Buddy Raye - Gymnasium Girl
21. Buddy Raye - Lucy
22. Michelle Wood - Music Of Today
23. John Muir - I'm Tootin' Gods Horn
24. Buddy Raye - We Have The Right Man In The White House
25. Dick Kent - I'm Pushing For Love
26. Kay Weaver - Shake
27. Rodd Rogers - Mary's Launderette
28. Rod Rogers & the Swinging Strings - Sing Your Address
29. Rod Rogers & the Swinging Strings - Big Weekend

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 7 - Train Of Destiny

This volume notably contains the rare "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been In Love With Me?", written by ASPMA curator Phil X. Milstein.  Click here to read Phil's article  "Profile of a Dead Song-poem" about his song-poem writing experience, originally from Sharpeworld.com

1. Rodd Keith - Get Wet
2. Matt Vincent - Broken Promises
3. Jim Ward - Working Chant of a Woman
4. Jim Ward - Dusk
5. Gina Val - Here With My Luna Love
6. Bonnie and Nita - Dance With Me
7. Bonnie Graham - Tiny Tiny Heart
8. Bonnie Graham - Train Of Destiny
9. Bonnie Graham - Let's Fall In Love Again
10. Sue Lloyd and Will O'Donnell - Ballad Of Patty Hearst
11. The Downtowners - Pink Pink Lady Of Malibu
12. Matt Vincent - Whiskey Friend
13. Matt Vincent - Heading Out Of This World
14. Matt Vincent - Bo Derek On My Mind
15. Ted Powers - Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been In Love With Me?
16. William LeBlanc - The Green Mandala
17. Jim Reid - Evening Time
18. Joe Freeman - My Nana
19. Sonny Marshall - A Two Buck Fiddle
20. Bob Brown and Orchestra - Let's Twist
21. Johnny Cargill - A Soldiers Prayer
22. Joe Freeman - Are You Giving Green Stamps Baby?
23. Sonny Marshall - I'm Sam The Handy Man
24. Jeff Reynolds - Music For Four Footers
25. Charlie Clark - Americas Love Carrier
26. William LeBlanc - A Long Walk Home
27. William LeBlanc - Domestic Violence is a Deadly Sin

(click for artwork: front | back)

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 6 - Peace and Love

As you can see, this volume is titled after the famous song-poem "Peace and Love" (aka Blind Man's Penis) written by the infamous John Trubee (which I'm happy to include here with John's permission) and performed by Ramsey Kearney.  If you haven't read the story behind the song, click here.

Also, the last track on this volume isn't technically a song-poem, but was originally included on the ASPMA site because you just have to hear it.

1.  Dick Kent - Never Seen A Thing

2.  Erica Campbell - Remember Me Darling
3.  Chuck Jones and The Links - Sputnik Hit The Moon
4.  Bonnie Haven - Total Woman
5.  Jim Wheeler - What I Like
6.  Liza Evans - Yea, That's Me!
7.  Dick Kent - Your Body's Makin' Eyes At Me
8.  Prof Marcell Collegians - The ACL and The SAL
9.  Prof Marcell Collegians - Be No Fool, Play It Cool, Stay In School
10. The Melodiers - Barbra
11. Lew Tobin's Orchestra - Darling Don't Put Your Hand On Me
12. Dick Kent - George's Song
13. Rod Keith - Get Down and Wiggle It A Little
14. Bobbi Blake - I Got A Record
15. Dick Rogers - I Understand Him
16. Bob Gerrard - Joedy Is A Wise Guy
17. John Fulker - An Unpredictable Girl Like Julia
18. Jerry Britton and the Downtowners - Lazy Old River
19. Dick Rogers - I Wouldn't Hide The Moulding Rock
20. Cara Stewart (with Lee Hudson Orchestra) - Mr Memory
21. Cara Stewart (with Lee Hudson Orchestra) - New Year Song
22. Gene Marshall - Nurse Nurse
23. Bobbi Blake - Sometime Somewhere
24. Dick Kent - Unlock My Chains
25. Jim Hall and the Radio Pals - Hydrogen Nitrogen Potassium
26. Norm Burns and the Five Stars - Whirl Whirl Whirl
27. Rodd Keith - Danny's Return
28. Ramsey Kearney - Peace and Love
29. W.L. Horning - Rockin' And Rollin'

(click here to download artwork zip)

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 5 - Life is a Flame

1.  Kay Weaver - Sleep On
2.  Ralph Lowe - Grow Up And Go Away
3.  Sammy Marshall - Jingle Mint Twist
4.  Bobbi Blake - Four and Twenty Big Black Crows
5.  Cathy Mills - Monster Hop
6.  unknown - Rocking Disco Santa Claus
7.  Rod Rogers - It's A Shindig
8.  Rod Rogers - Beatle Boys
9.  Bonnie Graham - I Just Knew In My Heart
10. The Sophamores - Mama Wears The Pants
11. Gene Marshall - Dig Dig Girl
12. Charles Vickers - Come On Baby
13. Norris and The Collegians - Mary Ann McCarthy
14. Norris The Troubadour - Yamtang Yamtang Rankytang
15. Cara Stewart - Any Dance Any Dance
16. Dick Kent - Christopher Columbus and The Compass
17. The Real Pros - Deep Freeze Mama
18. Jimmie James - Free Love For Sale
19. Tony Rogers - Her Name's On My Locket
20. unknown - I Am Going To Where Jesus Is
21. Gary Roberts - Keep Those Hopes Up
22. Jack Kim - Lady Off Pedestal At Notre Dame
23. Bob Storm - Let's Lay It On The Line
24. Gene Marshall - Life And Myself
25. unknown - Life Is A Flame
26. Jimmie James - Mini Girl Song
27. The Real Pros - I'm Having My First Heartbreak

(click here to download artwork)

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 4 - During Evening

This particular collection features two works by the 'Avant-Garde Linguistic Genius' Thomas Guygax Sr, plus many more worthy tunesmithes and tunesmithesses.

(click here to download the artwork zip)

1. Sonny Cash - Psychic Cigarette

2. Sonny Cash - Merry Christmas Polka
3. The Sisterhood - Yonder
4. Ralph Lowe - Shall We Not Forget The Times Of Our Lives
5. Ralph Lowe - Stars Love
6. Kay Lastima - Furdee
7. Dick Kent - Common Sense Of Love
8. John Fulker - She Knows How To Do The Doo Dee Do
9. The Sisterhood - During Evening
10. "Linda Lane" - A New Kind Of Letter
11. Allen Scott - Bopping In Flip Flops
12. Allen Scott - A Corner Of Your Heart
13. Matt Vincent - Sky Diver's Lament
14. Linda Lane - Tribute To America
15. Keith Sargent - What's In A Mind?
16. Norris And The Collegians - Wall St. Daily Cry
17. Rodd Keith - Gloria
18. Kay Weaver - Junkies and Monkeys
19. Kay Weaver - Is It The End?
20. Ralph Lowe - The Crime Shows
21. Rod Keith - Put A Little Love
22. Rod Keith - Whisper To Me
23. unknown - Rock Me Slow
24. unknown - Put A Little Love
25. Gene Marshall - We Are The Men Counting Sheep
26. Kay Weaver - Wish I Could Shoot A Gun
27. Kay Weaver - Ripoff USA
28. Ralph Lowe - An Old Man's Life
29. Ralph Lowe - Becky
30. Ralph Lowe - Joe Goes Disco

Song-poem Archived Music: Volume 3 - The Hill

Volume 3 concentrates on the wonderfully-generic productions of Columbine Records. 

(click here for the artwork zip)

1. Ralph Lowe - Stop In And Howdy With Me
2. Ralph Lowe - Munchikins
3. Lee Scott - Moonlight Rocket from the USA
4. Kay Weaver - The Girl With The High Hopes
5. Ralph Lowe - One Little Son, Then Another
6. Ralph Lowe - Lonliness
7. Ralph Lowe - Harold The Drag Strip Streaker
8. Kay Brown - Daddy Is Santa Really 6'4"?
9. Ralph Lowe - You Better Cool It Baby
10. Lee Scott - Love In A Ring
11. Lee Scott - That Kind Of Girl
12. Ralph Lowe - I've Been In Trouble
13. Ralph Lowe - My Life Is Too Short
14. Ralph Lowe - The Fights
15. Ralph Lowe - The Lottery Freak
16. Ralph Lowe - Funk With Us
17. Ralph Lowe - Don't Come Crawling
18. Kay Weaver - Old McDonald No. 1
19. Sy - Toot DKO
20. Kay Weaver - Watermelon Man
21. Kay Weaver - Strip Mining Blues
22. Kay Weaver - The Chosen One
23. Kay Weaver - The Gasoline Engine
24. Kay Weaver - The Hill
25. Ralph Lowe - Of The USA
26. Ralph Lowe - Believe In God Until You Die
27. Ralph Lowe - Thank You Mr. Seward
28. Ralph Lowe - The King Lives On
29. Ralph Lowe - Las Vegas

Song-poem Archived Music, Volume 2

 Here is Volume 2: these were all originally posted on the ASPMA site before they were removed as with Volume 1 (and the further volumes to follow), although I will mention one track in particular...

The Downtowners (aka Rodd Keith) "Baby I'll Give It To You" has long been a favorite out of Rodd's output, and probably one of the few song-poems that actually could be mistaken as an actual honest-to-goodness pop song of its time, due to the simple but catchy melody and the almost-groove the band gets into (which I'm assuming is Rodd too).  Full label and songwriter info for all the tracks is on the backcover, which is in the artwork zip.

(click here to download artwork zip)

1.  The Real Pros - In Love With Elvis
2.  Bobby Swanson and his Sonics - Rockin' Little Eskimo
3.  Bobbi Blake - My Husband Lover Friend
4.  Rodd Keith - The Ballad Of Juan Rio
5.  The Downtowners - Baby I'll Give It To You
6.  Gene Marshall - The Amazing Helicopters
7.  Gene Marshall - Scat Car Scat
8.  Rodd Keith - Like The Lord Said
9.  Norm Burns - Our Thanksgiving Blessings Are Great
10. Mel Moore - Speed
11. The Silhouettes - I'll Follow
12. Billy Grey - What Love Is All About
13. Dick Kent - Five Nine A Half Inches Tall
14. Norris The Troubadour - Midwifery (1949)
15. Norris The Troubadour - Midwifery (1975)
16. Ralph Lowe - Drive And Live
17. Bob Gerrard - Snow Man
18. Billy Grey - Let's Really Rock
19. Ben Tate - Betty-Sue
20. Norman Burns - Checker's Blues
21. Lee Scott - Strange Cold Feeling
22. Ralph Lowe - Pretty Girl With The Natural Look
23. Ralph Lowe - Lay It On Me Slow
24. Lee Scott - The Red Skidoo
25. Ralph Lowe - Oh Baby, You Thrill Me
26. Lee Scott - Generation Gap
27. Ralph Lowe - Mr. Destroyer
28. Lee Scott - Blue Jean Stringbean

Song-poem Archived Music, Volume 1

One of my favorite websites of all time was the American Song-Poem Music Archive.  Back in 2004, all the song-poem mp3s from the ASPMA site mysteriously disappeared.  However, I've managed to collect all the tunes from the site and squirreled them away into my collection on randomly-sequenced audio CDs.  I always wanted to make them available again and thanks to Otis Fodder and the WFMU team, I now have a means of doing so.

I humbly present the Song-Poem Archived Music series - I have at least nine volumes planned for re-release and I will be posting one each month.  All tracks have been fixed up (I hesitate to say remastered) and re-encoded at a higher bitrate for maximum enjoyment.  Any audio quality problems are with the original files, and this is the best they can be.

And of course, a huge thank you to Phil Milstein, who hosted these files in the first place.  And from his original mp3 page he also thanks "MP3 contributors: John Fitzpatrick, Brian Linds, Tom Ardolino, Jeff Miller, Jeremy Pisani, Michael Greenberg, Will Louviere, Barbara Economon, Pea Hicks, John Trubee, Robert Dayton, Chuck Foster, Jim Blanchard, Bob Purse, Narkspud, Marc Smith and Gregg Turkington."

Volume 1: It's Not The World, It's What's In The World  (download full artwork zip)

1. Joe Stanton - A Has-Been

2. The Tune-Timers - Mental Letter

3. Sonny Marshall - South Bend, Indiana

4. Jim Wheeler & The Swinging Strings - Go-Go Girl

5. unknown - It's Not The World, It's What's In The World

6. unknown - Temptations and Desires

7. unknown - Pinch Me

8. unknown - Daddy Don't You Love Us Anymore

9. unknown - The Birth Of Spring

10. unknown - Jesus The King Of the Jews

11. unknown - My Glory Ladder

12. unknown - The King

13. Karen Kimberly and Big Action Sound - Heart Break Of Love

14. Dick Kent - Pucker Up

15. Dick Kent - On Blackness

16. Bobbi Blake - Shadrach, Meshcak and Abednego

17. Dick Kent - Mind Of Mine

18. Bobbi Blake - Too Many Babies

19. Bobbi Blake - The Yo-Yo

20. Bill Joy - Livin' In Sin

21. Rodd Keith - Run Spook Run

22. Rodd Keith - The Watchin' Man

23. Milford Perkins - The Vacant House

24. Rodd Keith - Don't Look Back, Babe

25. Gene Marshall - This World Was Planned

26. Gene Marshall - Doing The Wagon-Na-Gal

27. Gene Marshall - Crazy House Twist

28. Gene Marshall - Love Can Strike You

29. Norman Burns - Blue Atoms

30. Gary Roberts & The Satellites - You Need Time

31. Gary Roberts - What I Am, You Know

32. Mary Kaye - I Don't Want A Bracelet or Diamonds