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How about a little music? Your webmaster is a YouTube junkie, and has a penchant for looking up obscure stuff from years back. Here are some interesting things you might never have heard, or at least not recently:

Jud Strunk was a Maine resident who appeared regularly on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and on many other shows including Johnny Carson. His biggest hit was "Daisy a Day", a sweet song that hit the charts in 1973. It was taken on the Apollo 17 mission, and was the first recorded music played on the moon! He also recorded a very funny song called "Biggest Parakeets in Town" ... which I'd never heard before, and which I'm sure would have gotten a DJ in trouble back then! Strunk once ran for a state senate seat in Maine, and lost by one vote. After retiring from performing, he began restoring old planes. Unfortunately, in 1981, at the age of 45, he was killed in a crash when he suffered a heart attack during a takeoff.

Jim Stafford was a Florida native who had a big hit with "Spiders and Snakes" in 1974, and hosted his own TV show in 1975. Most, if not all, of his music was funny stuff, although some was too risque for the censors of that time! Here are three of his best-known songs. After retiring from touring, he set up shop in Branson MO and is still a popular performer there. Dr Hook, aka Dr Hook and the Medicine Show, was a popular band in the 1970s. Many of their lyrics were penned by Shel Silverstein, best known as an author of very entertaining children's books. He also wrote the lyrics to one of Johnny Cash's best-known songs, "A Boy Named Sue" ... and "The Unicorn," a hit for the Irish Rovers. Dr Hook's biggest hit was probably "Cover of the Rolling Stone." Others included "Sylvia's Mother," "Queen of the Silver Dollar," "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball" (which I never heard played on the air) ... and which my then-young son was always admonished to "NEVER sing that one for grandma!" They covered a few songs that had been done by others, including the simple and sweet "Only Sixteen," which had been a hit for the late Sam Cooke many years before, and not at all typical of their music. Oh yeah ... they had censorship problems, too! Shel Silverstein was mentioned earlier as having written the lyrics of a lot of the music recorded by Dr Hook. Here are links to some other songs he wrote: Johnny Cash ... there's no need here to provide links to the many well-known songs by this legendary writer and performer. But I'm including some of lesser-known songs, and a few which received a lot of play years ago but which you don't hear often anymore. I've often said that if I had to be marooned on an island with the works of only one artist, it wouldn't take me a second to reply ... "Johnny Cash." The first song listed below is "The Ballad of Ira Hayes." Cash believed, growing up, that he was part Cherokee, and although this proved to be untrue ... (Johnny Cash bio) ... he retained a lifelong affinity for Native Americans and their plight. This song was written by Peter LaFarge, a true account of the life and death of one of the Marines who raised the American flag on Mt Suribachi ... Iwo Jima ... in WWII. There was some resistance on the part of some radio stations to play it (1964), during the early Vietnam war years and civil rights struggles. Cash took out full page ads at his own expense in Billboard magazine, drawing attention to this story, which he felt deserved to be told ... read more about it. Jerry Lee Lewis  aka "The Killer" ... along with Cash, Presley, Orbison, and Carl Perkins, Lewis was one of the stars who began at Sam Phillips' Sun Records in Memphis in the mid 1950s. A world-class honky-tonk piano player, he had some huge hits such as "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and "Great Balls of Fire." A scandal broke when he married his 13 year old cousin, and it impacted his career. Troubles with drugs and family tragedies knocked him down, but never out. Fifty years ago, it would have been hard to believe he'd outlast his contemporaries, but one of his most moving performances was at the tribute to Johnny Cash, where he performed the grand finale, "Will the Circle be Unbroken" (see above). Here are a few Lewis gems you may not have heard before. "You Win Again" is a shortened version of a Hank Williams tune, and it was the flip side of "Great Balls of Fire."  Most folks know that Lewis and TV preacher Jimmy Swaggart were cousins who took very different paths. In my vision of heaven, Jerry Lee is singing and playing piano forever. In my vision of hell, Swaggart is preaching forever. Amen.  Click here for Lewis bio. Bobby Darin had a massive range of talents ... singer, songwriter, actor, producer, and he did everything well despite frail health (heart). He died at 37. His first big hit was "Splish, Splash" ... but he's probably remembered best for "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea." Darin left an astonishing body of work, and his music ranged from rock to jazz to standards to country to folk to protest songs. The list below includes many you don't hear often, and covers of the hits of others. Darin introduced many young performers as his opening acts. It's very difficult to summarize his career in a brief paragraph ... we suggest reading this Darin bio. Hank Williams was another meteoric talent who died young. His distinctive voice was perfect for the kind of "lonesome" music he wrote, but the songs themselves have been covered by so many artists over the years that a lot of folks no longer know he wrote them. Some of 'em have been listed elsewhere on this page as performed by others ... "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", "Cold Cold Heart", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "You Win Again", and more. Williams' life was plagued by physical pain, leading to drug and alcohol abuse. He was only 29 when he died in the back seat of his Cadillac on New Years' Day, 1953. But what a legacy he left ... the sheer number of songs he wrote ... and the fact that so many of them are still being performed today by such a wide variety of artists! He had eleven number one hits ... I can't begin to cover the huge biography or works of this tragically short life, but I recommend you take time to read this Hank Williams bio. Here are some songs in Williams' own voice ... and a few covers. I suggest you look for more of his music on YouTube. Tom Lehrer was a professor at Harvard and MIT who was a very good piano player and had an uncanny gift for writing very funny stuff, mostly satirical. I'm not even going to attempt to describe his material, just to say he's had a cult following since the 1960s, and you can read more about him in this Lehrer bio. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all my favorite bands and singers, but I'll add more as time permits. My tastes are eclectic, and about the only things you won't hear are big bands, heavy metal, rap, or opera. You'll get lots of classic rock and old country stuff, and I'll probably have to have dedicated sections for one-hit wonders and novelty songs. The Tom Lehrer section opens the door to parody and satire, so you can expect we'll include such artists as Homer & Jethro, the Smothers Brothers, and Weird Al Yankovic.

 

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