The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 79

Double-siders

Today more music and less talk and still such a short playlist - that is possible with songs and instrumentals that are twice as long as usual. Double-siders, because for their length they had to be split up over both sides of the record. 78 RPM records could hold just a bit more than three minutes of music, so for songs that were too long they had two choices - trim them down or split them up.

That limit pretty much set the standard for popular music, being a convenient chunk of music for the juke box and on radio. In the fifties, the average length even shrunk to a mere two or two-and-a-half minute, even though the new record formats could easily accomodate longer songs.

Transcript

Playlist

All tracks are "part 1" and "part 2" combined
  1. Sonny Thompson - Real Real Fine
  2. Jo Jo Adams - Jo-Jo Blues
  3. Jimmy Mundy - I Gotta Put You Down
  4. Willie Bryant & Tab Smith Septet - Blues Around The Clock
  5. Trixie Smith - My Daddy Rocks Me *)
  6. Velma Nelson - If I Were A Itty Bitty Girl
  7. Roy Milton - Rainy Day Confession Blues
  8. Roy Brown - Butcher Pete
  9. Paul Gayten - Driving Home

*) My Daddy Rocks Me is strictly not a double-sider; the two halves were issued on different Decca records, #7469 and #7617, but they were recorded in the same session. See transcription.

Outtro:

  • Wild Bill Moore Sextette - Bongo Bounce

The following music served as background music during the spoken parts:

  • Kirk Kirkland - The Saxaphone Rag
  • Lloyd Glenn - Chica Boo
  • Lucky Millinder - Heavy Sugar
  • Sonny Thompson - Mellow Blues