Tom McMahon

Irony For The Kids

Irony For The Kids

Hot Potatoes, Hot Potatoes

Hot Potatoes, Hot Potatoes

Since people already mishear these lyrics in Falco's Rock Me Amadeus, why doesn't some clever food company use them in a commercial?

Tanha Shudham Tanha by the Iconic Afghani Singer-Songwriter Ahmad Zahir: It Was Later Remade As The Song El Bimbo by the Group Bimbo Jet. But You Know It As The Police Academy Blue Oyster Bar Tango Dance Song

From Wikipedia:

The Blue Oyster Bar is a fictional bar, and the setting of a recurring gag-scene of the comedy film series Police Academy. The bar is a stereotypical depiction of a leathermen's/bear gay bar, featuring patrons dressed up as bikers in leather clothing, police officers, sailors, and other stereotypical masculine gay fashion archetypes. The Blue Oyster was originally located on Howell St. in the first movie but was relocated to 655 Cowan Ave. in the second (Proctor erroneosly gives the address number as 621).

Within the Police Academy film series, unsuspecting characters periodically enter the bar unaware of its nature (this usually happens as a prank by the lead characters). Once inside, a group of patrons are depicted as leering towards the police officers and ready to force the frightened victims to dance with them, invariably to a tango called "El Bimbo", a 1972 hit from Bimbo Jet.

The Blue Oyster Bar only appeared in the first four Police Academy movies. Among those lured into the place were... 

• Cadets Blankes and Copeland (twice in the first movie; once intentionally by Mahoney, once accidentally in order to avoid rioters) 
• Sweetchuck (as a civilian in the second movie as he tries to evade Zed's gang, although he manages to escape after a brief tango)    
• Mahoney (in the second movie as he fails to put down a bar-room brawl between Zed's gang and the patrons - the brawl was singlehandedly brought to an end by Hightower)   
• Proctor (in the third and fourth movies) 
• Captain Harris (in the fourth movie) 

But evidently "El Bimbo" was an uncredited copy of the song "Tanha Shudham Tanha" by Afghani singer Ahmad Zahir. Here are the three YouTube clips; I'll let you decide for yourself.

YouTube Clip: The Blue Oyster Bar

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YouTube: El Bimbo by Bimbo Jet

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YouTube: Tanha Shudham Tanha by Afghani Singer Ahmad Zahir

Sometimes Life is Stranger Than You Could Ever Imagine, Eh?

How Miss Abrams Got To Mill Valley

If you're unfamiliar with the story go read my previous post The 1970 Hit Song Mill Valley, by Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class. From Marin Nostalgia, here's how it happened:

Finding Mill Valley was one of my happiest accidents. I came out here from Boston with no prospect of either a place to stay or a teaching job, just a few days before school was to start. On the map, one town looked like another,and I called all of them to find work. When I was offered a job, I knew I should take it and cancel the one interview I had left. But, just to be sure, I kept that last appointment.

I drove into Mill Valley, and by the time I reached the door of the school district office I was in love with the place. The people I met inside gave me even more of a feeling that Mill Valley was where I wanted to be.

My eMusic Downloads, Extending My Gimme5 Lists

Fellow Right-Wing blogger J-Walk lists his eMusic picks every month, so I thought I would do the same. Except I'll list the favorite singles I've found, some picks extending my Gimme5 lists.

• Ridillo: Se Io Ti Regalo Un Fiore (Gimme Little Sign): Bretton Woods Brenton Wood's Gimme Little Sign in Italian.
• Geir Ødegården: Diggy Liggy Loo: An uptempo Cajun number sung in Norwegian. You'll be secretly tappin' yer toes to this one, just like you did when you watched Hee Haw with your Grandpa.
• Billy Swan: Wooden Heart: Just Like Elvis Used To Do. Nuff said?
• Die Windows: How Do You Do?: What can I say? I've fallen absolutely heart-over-heels in love with this song.
• Perfect Thyroid: Hawaii 5-0: The quickest 85 seconds of any ska-enhanced cover of any 1960's TV theme you'll ever hear.
• Sattalites: Too Late To Turn Back Now: Dreamy Easy-Listening Techno-Ska
• The Chordettes: Wooden Heart: The Sheboygan girls who gave us Mr Sandman do a nice job on yet another Englisch version of the traditional German song Muss i Denn
• The Glitter Band: Tell Him: The perfect complement to this Gimme5
• My Fitness Music: Gimme Little Sign: For aerobics
• Bobby Caldwell: Sukiyaki: The only decent English-language version of this classic: I look up when I'm walking, So the tears won't fall, But one by one they will come, As a sad reminder, And with every tear, I hear her goodbye, And she left and took my heart forever
• Del Shannon: Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun): What a great song.
• Los Mocosos: I'm Your Puppet: The great James and Bobby Purify tune to a Latin beat.
• Randy and the Rainbows: Denise: Classic Doo-Wop: Denise Denise, Open your eyes so blue, Denise Denise, I've got a crush on you . . .

Die Windows 1972 German Language Hit How Do You Do?, Which Was An English Language Hit For The Dutch Duo Mouth and MacNeal: If You Took High School German 40 Years Ago, You Gotta See This Video!

Die Windows 1972 German Language Hit How Do You Do?, Which Was An English Language Hit For The Dutch Duo Mouth and MacNeal: If You Took High School German 40 Years Ago, You Gotta See This Video!

I would be rather remiss if I didn't include the lyrics, eh?:

Es war Sonntagnachmittag, ich wollt' ins Kino geh'n, da hab ich an der Eingangstür dich einsam stehen seh'n. Ich stellte mich halt neben dich, du hast mir's angetan, da sah ich, daß du traurig bist und sprach dich einfach an.

How do you do, aha, bleib nicht allein, komm geh mit mir, ich schenke dir nananana mein Herz dafür und was du willst nananana du bist bei mir nie mehr allein nananana du wirst immer glücklich sein.

How do you do, aha, bleib nicht allein komm geh mit mir, ich schenke dir nananana mein Herz dafür und was du willst nananana du bist bei mir nie mehr allein nananana du wirst immer glücklich sein.

So verliebt war ich noch nie, ich geb dich nie mehr her weil ohne dich ein Glück für mich doch wirklich sinnlos wär. Dir allein will treu ich sein ein ganzes Leben lang ich weiß noch heut' ein jedes Wort, mit dem das Glück begann.

How do you do, aha, ich liebe dich nananana, drum bleib bei mir ich schenke dir nananana mein Herz dafür und was du willst nananana ich weiß, du bist das Glück für mich nananana glaub' mir, dafür lebe ich.

How do you do, aha, ich liebe dich, nananana, drum bleib bei mir ich schenke dir nananana mein Herz dafür und was du willst nananana ich weiß, du bist das Glück für mich nananana glaub' mir, dafür lebe ich.

How do you do, aha, ich liebe dich, nananana drum bleib bei mir ich schenke dir nananana mein Herz dafür und was du willst nananana ich weiß, du bist das Glück für mich nananana dafür, glaub' mir, lebe ich.

How do you do aha nanananananananananana.... dafür, glaub' mir, lebe ich How do you do aha nanana

Gar Nicht Schlecht, eh? You can read all about Die Windows and lead singer Peter Petrel in German, whereas you can catch Jeanette McKinley singing with her sister Sheila in this 1964 video in English.

And if you liked those videos, be sure to catch Die Windows and Mouth and MacNeal together doing a double duet on this YouTube video. And if you're now curious about how Peter Petrel looks to-day, why there's a video for that, too!

The Anita Kerr Singers As The Living Voices Sing Positively 4th Street and Other Message Folk Songs

The Anita Kerr Singers As The Living Voices Sing Positively 4th Street and Other Message Folk Songs

Here's what I'm talking about:

The Anita Kerr Singers As The Living Voices Sing Eve Of Destruction and Like A Rolling Stone

You can click on the album cover to download all the songs for just a buck twenty-five. As I said on this non-related post, adding commentary would be like dousing a fine steak with ketchup.

The Shivvers: Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop 1979-82

The Shivvers: Lost Hits From Milwaukee's First Family Of Powerpop 1979-82

Also available now on eMusic.

Eivets Rednow

Eivets Rednow

So What Is Chantilly Lace, Exactly?

So What Is Chantilly Lace, Exactly?

An interesting history, this stuff:

In the 17th century, the Duchesse de Longueville organised the manufacture of lace at Chantilly. It has been produced from then up until this century. Owing to the patronage of the Duchesse, and the proximity of Chantilly to Paris it became popular. It came into fashion again during the reign of Louis XVI, and was an especial favorite of Louis XV's last mistress, Mme du Barry (Louis XV's mistress) and Marie Antoinette. When the French Revolution began in 1789, the demand for the lace ceased. The lace-makers were seen as protégés of the royals, and after Mme du Barry and Marie Antoinette were guillotined in 1793 the lace-makers of Chantilly were themselves killed. At this point production ceased.

I had no idea the lace-making could be so dangerous. Anyway, Chantilly Lace was revived by Napoleon and remained popular through the 19th Century. Most of it back then was made in black for mourning wear for when people died, which they did a lot in the 19th Century. More info in the fascinating book Lace and Lace Making.