Loony Tunes for Kooky Times (MP3s)

January 30, 2008

Loony Tunes for Kooky Times (MP3s)

[There are 21 MP3s contained in this post]

Call me crazy, but in 2005, I compiled a bunch of whacked out tunes for my WFMU marathon premium. Back then, the disc, Loony Tunes, was given out exclusively to pledgers to my show Give the Drummer Some, but now, invoking the insanity clause, I'm making the whole shebang available here. Posted below are the original liner notes, MP3s of (most of) the tracks, and quotes uttered by each manic maestro. Go nuts!

LOONY TUNES:
Loony Tunes reveals that, right up there with love, sex and death, insanity is among the most enduring—and entertaining—themes in popular music. The idea for such a collection originated with Madness in Opera, a sampler of tormented arias released in '76 as part of a promotional blitz for Loxitane, a new schizophrenia treatment from Lederle Laboratories. No psychopharmaceuticals are included with this compilation, but repeated listening just may produce similar results!

1. WILLIE DIXON & KOKO TAYLOR ~ Insane Asylum
"I can't eat and I can't sleep. Lord, I can't even live in peace.
Please take me baby for your slave. And save me from that early grave."

Insane Asylum (MP3)

2. SCREAMING JAY HAWKINS ~ I Hear Voices
"I long so much to be where I was before I was me.
My mind can't stand the strain. Wow if my heart
could help the pain."

I Hear Voices (MP3)

3. PORTER WAGONER ~ The Rubber Room
"Illusions in a twisted mind to save from self destruction...where a man can
run into the wall till his strength makes him fall and lie still and wait for help."

The Rubber Room (MP3)

4. LA LUPE ~ Going Out of My Head
"Out of my head, night and day, day and night, and night,
right or wrong, yeah, yeah, uh-huh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
uh, uh, ay, ah, aaay, yah, ah, ah, aaah, yeaaah, aaah, ah,
oy, eh, ah, oy, yah, ah, oy, eeaaah...."

Going Out of My Head (MP3)

5. BETTY HUTTON ~ I've Got Blue Birds in My Belfry
"Do I look funny? Do I look strange? I feel a mysterious change....
I do weird things. I can't help it."

I've Got Blue Birds in My Belfry (MP3)

6. DINAH WASHINGTON ~ New Blowtop Blues
"I see all kinds of little men, although they're never there.
I tried to push a subway train and poured whiskey in my hair.
I'm a gal who blew a fuse."

New Blowtop Blues (MP3)

7. ANNIE ROSS ~ Twisted
"They all laughed at A. Graham Bell, they all laughed at Edison, and also at Einstein,
so why should I feel sorry if they just couldn't understand the idiomatic logic that
went on in my head."

Twisted (MP3)

8. HANK SNOW ~ I've Got a Tangled Mind
"I lost a million friends, I'm trudgin' on in the dark. Can't find my way,
don't know where to start. I had a home one time, I left it all behind,
I can't go back."

I've Got a Tangled Mind (MP3)

9. CLINT EASTWOOD ~ I Talk to the Trees
"I talk to the trees, but they don't listen to me. I talk to the stars,
but they never hear me."

I Talk to the Trees (MP3)

10. DOLLY PARTON ~ The Bridge
"My feet are moving slowly, closer to the edge. Here is where it started,
and here is where I'll end it...."

The Bridge (MP3)

11. NINA SIMONE ~ The Desperate Ones
"And underneath the bridge, the water's sweet and deep. This is their journey's end,
the land of endless sleep. They cry to us for help, we think it's all in fun."

The Desperate Ones (MP3)

12. JOE BATAAN ~ My Opera
"Here comes the doctor to remind me it's visiting day.
Must convince him that I'm crazy so my folks will stay away."

My Opera (MP3)

13. THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY ~ Next
"One day I'll cut my legs off, I'll burn my self alive. I'll do anything
to get out of life to survive not ever to be next."

Next (MP3)

14. LENNY BRUCE ~ Psychopathia Sexualis
"My second wife was a ten-pound goose named Tex.
I'm paranoid and sublimated. In love with a horse that
ain't been spaded."

Psychopathia Sexualis (MP3)

15. JOHNNIE RAY ~ Mountains in the Moonlight
"Sometimes I feel as lost as a leaf, fallen from the tree on which I've grown.
Panic all around me, the black of night surrounds me like a child who's been
left alone."

Mountains in the Moonlight (MP3)

16. FRED LANE ~ Rubber Room
"I don't slip on the tile in an empty hospital. I don't choke on
my bile. Everything's sunny weather. I'm a happy, sappy
son-of-a-gun living in a rubber room."

Rubber Room (MP3)

17. MARIJATA ~ No Condition Is Permanent
"Condition is getting unstable. Aaaaaaaagh."

No Condition Is Permanent (MP3)

18. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES ~ Institutionalized
"And they keep on bugging me and it builds up inside,
it builds up inside."

Institutionalized (MP3)

19. NAPOLEON XIV ~ They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!
"I know you laughed. I heard you laugh. You laughed, you laughed and
laughed and then you left. But now you know I'm utterly mad."

They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa! (MP3)

20. WOODY LEAFER ~ There Are Drums in My Typewriter
"I think I'm losing my mind. I'll call up and find out.
Information, maybe you can tell me."

There Are Drums in My Typewriter (MP3)

~~ and here's a bonus track not on the Loony Tunes premium CD ~~

21. LITTLE WILLIE JOHN ~ Spasms
"Woooooooooooooo! Please save me from going crazy.
You're giving me spasms, baby."

Spasms (MP3)

This collection was created as a gift for listeners and supporters of WFMU and my radio program
Give the Drummer Some." Bone-chilling shrieks of thanks go to Steinski, Laura Cantrell, Mike Lupica,
and, especially, Monica Lynch. —Doug Schulkind

Other tracks on Loony Tunes:
The Beach Boys ~ "In My Room"
The Kinks ~ "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues"
Jimi Hendrix ~ "Manic Depression"

Any psychotic songs send you into convulsions? Leave them in Comments...

Posted by Doug Schulkind on January 30, 2008 at 11:50 AM in Doug Schulkind's Posts, MP3s, Music | Permalink

Comments

Do you have more mp3s of Reverend Fred Lane and his Hittite Hotshots or do you know where lo can get some?

Posted by: Daniel FR | February 08, 2008 at 05:49 AM

What about Marianne Faithfull's excellent version of Shel Silverstein's "Ballad Of Lucy Jordan?" It has to be one of the finest examples of Middle America Meltdowns ever put to music.

Posted by: David Meltsner | February 09, 2008 at 10:30 AM

Personality Crisis - New York Dolls.
My Dark Ages - Pere Ubu.
Ain't It Fun, Life Stinks,Final Solution
& Never Gonna' Kill Myself Again - Rocket From The Tombs.
Death Trip & Open Up And Bleed - The Stooges.

Just about anything by Lou Reed - Rock Minuet, being a total classic - check out the version on the Live At Montreux DVD

Posted by: Universal Panzie | February 10, 2008 at 07:49 AM

This compilation is absolutely blissful. There are a lot of choices, but these tracks flow very well together and are not excessively quirky; only in a complimentary way.

Posted by: Arvo | February 17, 2008 at 02:02 PM

The Marijata track is listed on this page as "No Condition Is Permanent." But the MP3 is tagged as "The Condition Is Permanent." So... which is correct? Obsessive-compulsive minds want to know. It's a pretty big difference in diagnosis.

Posted by: Editor B | February 19, 2008 at 01:58 PM

The Marijata track, above, is correctly labeled "No Condition Is Permanent." The tag for the MP3 is incorrectly labeled "The Condition Is Permanent."

Posted by: Doug | February 19, 2008 at 03:32 PM

Damn fine website, and blogs and music you cant find anywhere but here. I am a DJ at radio Satan.
If some one would contact me I have my own eclectic collecting I could share but the HTML and stuff is a bit beyond me.

Posted by: Sister Hairy Hymen | March 18, 2008 at 01:11 PM

Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band, "Dozin' and Droolin'", from 'ZOOM'.

Gave me Stelazine,
gave me thorazine,
gave me every 'zine they could think of.
Kept 'em under my toungue,
spit 'em out later on
I was crazy,
not just on the brink of.
I attacked a coupla guards
They made it awful hard
Got that needle in the thigh
Then the time slooowwed by.
by the time the doctors came around,
I waz Dozin'
and Droolin'

Posted by: bruceleh | June 19, 2008 at 10:29 PM