[78-L] Introduction (a bit long)

[David Lennick]

The thing about party records is that everybody stole from everybody else. In 
the 30s there were a couple of companies turning out some reasonably 
well-produced items, like Hollywood Hot Shots which actually identified the 
performers which included Ben Light and Cliff Edwards. You'll find these in 
dubbed form on labels continuing well into the 50s, sometimes dubbed from the 
dubs. About a year ago I was sent a load of these to transfer, from someone's 
father's collection, and I was able to eliminate 5 or 6 sides because they were 
duplicates, sometimes with different titles.

I don't know Benny Bell's Humoresque unless it has a different title. What are 
the lyrics like?

dl

Bart wrote:
> 
> Thank you, and Michael Biel, for this recommendation.  I had not seen this
> site before.  I spent a good time reading through some of the listings last
> night.  I didn't find answers to my question though, just fresh questions
> as it sometimes goes. "Offspring Deluxe" is the more outre song and to my
> ears the more interesting side.  I think I can identify the singer as Ray
> Bourbon because his (her?) voice is quite distinctive.  I emailed a fellow
> who has a web site about Ray Bourbon and he suggeted it may be a pirated
> pressing from the days when organized crime controlled certain jukeboxes
> and bars.  If so that would explain why no identifying information (even
> accurate song titles) would be on the disc itself.  Whether that is a
> reasonable explanation or a fanciful one I'm not competent to judge.  Going
> with that theory though, I thought it might be equivalent to "Love Child"
> WESTERN RECORD CO. BOURBANA WR-717-B because it tells a first person story
> of an illegitimate birth, even using the phrase "I'm a love child of the
> very first degree" in the verse before going into a disquisition on his
> family tree.  However on the Blue Pages I see another record by Bourbon
> named "Family Tree" IMPERIAL 100B, so I've got another candidate for
> equivalence if it is indeed a known Ray Bourbon recording under another
> name, unless "Love Child" and "Family Tree" are themselves equivalent.  But
> I haven't heard either of them, only my own "Offspring Deluxe".
> 
> On the other hand there was lots of good information about Benny Bell's
> records including dates, although Humoresque wasn't listed among them.  His
> songs can be heard at The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic
> University but they have very little info by which to date what you're
> listening to.  My ears tell me it must be much closer to 1950 than 1930,
> but my ears aren't more specific and are known to be wrong sometimes...
> 
> Bart