More Cowbell, Maestro
When told that mice don't make music, Groucho answered, "you've heard of the old maestro, haven't you?"
We don't know for certain which maestro he was referring to, but Spike Jones coulda been the guy; he was a master of music as the Marx Brothers were to their genre. The earliest memory I have of records were some old Spike Jones 78s my Dad loved. Somehow they became what I considered to be "normal" music, just like Mad Magazine was "normal" humor, and Ernie Kovacs was "normal" television. I'm sure the shrinks would have a blast analyzing my musical tastes.
I was delighted to hear this tribute on NPR yesterday, with interviews with his wife and son. And they told the delightful story of how Spike's work was inspired by Igor Stravinsky's shoes. I guess he's making somewhat of a comeback, with an Amazon store and many recent reissues. If you aren't familiar with this delightful musical anarchy, I'd recommend "Spiked: The Music of Spike Jones" (with liner notes by Thomas Pynchon!), and you can get a good feel for his work. There are also plenty of examples on You Tube (the City Slickers were a very visual band) and on DVD of his old TV show.
Like the many groups that were inspired by him (Hoosier Hot Shots, Bonzo Dog Band, Mothers of Invention, etc.), this seemingly loose music required musicianship of the highest degree; Spike himself was the most in-demand studio percussionist of the 1940s, playing behing Bing Crosby and other top stars of the day. After a few minor hits, he struck gold with "Der Fuhrer's Face", a very sharp dig at Herr Schicklegruber, total humiliation of that nasty dictator. This song (recorded by a different artist) was used in a Donald Duck cartoon that helped homefront morale greatly. Spike's music was a musical version of what the more extreme cartoon directors like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones were doing visually.
Today we have a few musical satirists like Weird Al, but could surely benefit from a little more absurdist humor in our music. It makes a nice balance for the "normal."
Recommended listening:
"The William Tell Overture" - imagined as a horse race (bubble gum is on the rail, cabbage is winning by a head), featuring the malapropic commentart of Doodles Weaver (uncle of the lovely Sigourney!)
"Pai-Yat-Chee" - cornball interpolation of opera, with vocals by his disciples Homer and Jethro
"Drip, Drip, Drip" - if music could paint a picture...
"Cocktails for Two" - the original composer tried to sue, until he realized Spike's version sold more copies than the original
Comments
Jonesin'
Hi there Mr. Kilowatt. Thanks for this post. I followed the link and just listened to the NPR tribute. I met his daughter, Leslie Ann Jones in 1997 at Skywalker Sound when she was hired to manage the scoring stage/recording studio. At that time I had no idea she was the daughter of the great Spike Jones. The subject never came up in my conversations with her or anyone else for the longest time. We were comparing notes one day and found out that although we had not met we were both aware of each other's jobs as far back as the 70s. She was on staff at the Automat in S.F. formerly CBS Recording and I was at Fantasy in Bezerkely. It must have been two or three years after she started work at Skywalker when the subject came up and someone told me that her dad was Spike Jones. I must admit that I was rather star struck. We frequently interacted as my engineering duties included overseeing equipment purchases for her. The next time we spoke, I felt like some weird geeky fan saying something stupid like, duhh, "you're REALLY the daughter of Spike Jones!?". Leslie Ann is a great person and a talented recording engineer. We recently ran in to each other at Merl Saunder's memorial and got to talk for a awhile. Your website is very kool Mr. KW. Take care. David T. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Ann_Jones http://www.skysound.com/bio/lajones.html http://www.skysound.com/qtvr/qtvr_tour_scoring.html http://www.skysound.com/qtvr/qtvr_tour_scoring_control.html