[78-L] Close the door, Richard

[Royal Pemberton]

I heard it via YouTube.  I don't doubt it would have likely offended some
people then, between a couple of 'damn's and (maybe) that bit about the
'fine little chick....and the blue lights are on....and my wife's down in
Birmingham, Alabama....'.  No doubt it went over a treat in juke joints
then,  but back then, when even the word pregnant was a giant no-no on a par
with f*** today, this wasn't going to work on radio.

On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 2:22 PM, Stephen Davies <SDavies at mtroyal.ca> wrote:

> [source: http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/jantojun_1947.html<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejaymar41/jantojun_1947.html>]
>
> At "The way we were" pages, an entry for 1947-march says:
> <<<
> Most radio stations ban Walter Brown & Tiny Grimes recording of "Open The
> Door Richard" on Signature. The label then voluntarily withdraws it from
> sale.
> >>>
>
> Why?
>
> Signature 1006 seems like a low number in the series.  Was this issue a
> rookie mistake for the label, judged to be in poor taste by the public?
>
> I lovely the ongoing contradictory purposes of records in this era, whereby
> the Signature label clearly says it is for "non commercial uses on
> phonographs in homes".  But radio stations were playing it anyway.
>
> Would there have been a censorship problem sending a disc like this thru
> the mail?
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-vvKLopleA  courtesy of geofbrit59.
> - Stephen D in Calgary
>
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