This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And it's legends what you're gonna hear today, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman where I compiled a bunch of songs that I've been listening this week while driving my car. Most of the digitalized music, I burn on CD's for use in my car, after all these 78s and 45s are a bit unpractical while driving - they don't fit in the CD slot of my car stereo. So from two of these pretty random compilation CDs I took the best and that mix is what I'm gonna play for you. A whole lotta music and not too much blabla, after all I know you came here for the music, so let's start off with the first one and that is a nice little rocker from Lillian Brooks. I guess it's backed up by the Moroccos though the label doesn't say so. Here is She Boodle Dee Boddle Dee - what a title.
01 - Lillian Brooks - She Boodle Dee Boddle Dee
A side with rocking rhythm and a cute novelty lyric - that's what Billboard Magazine wrote about this song on June 16, 1956. It was released on the King label.
Next the Dozier Boys who were a vocal group from the North side of Chicago. They started in the late forties as a gospel group called the Four Tones and they had their own Sunday spot on a local radio station in Hammond, IN, some 20 miles from Chicago, for a few months. When that ended they decided to go sing secular music and they changed their name after their sponsor, the lead tenor's stepfather Cyrus Dozier. Hey Jack was recorded in 1949 for the Aristocrat label, later known as Chess, but it wasn't released until the nineties on a CD box titled Chess Rhythm And Roll.
02 - Dozier Boys - Hey Jack
03 - Artie Wilkins - Please Come Back
And with Artie Wilkins we stayed in Chicago though somewhat later, in the mid-fifties, with Please come back.
On with the Du Droppers. They were a vocal group that stood a bit out of the ususal as they didn't consist of teenagers but men in their late thirties and forties. They recorded most of their singles with RCA and its fairly unsuccesful R&B subsidiary Groove, but this one was on the Red Robin label from 1953. Here is Go Back and after that you will get Artamer James with the Ditty Bop Walk.
04 - Du Droppers - Go Back
05 - Artamer James - Ditty Bop Walk
(rocking dutchman jingle)
06 - Bobby Long - Did You Ever Dream Lucky
07 - Jacks - Sugar Baby
The Jacks with Sugar Baby on the RPM label from 1956, and before that you got Bobby Long with Did You Ever Dream Lucky on the Unart label, a subsidiary of United Artists, from 1959.
Next Camile Howard, The Boogie Rhythm Girl, with a great shouter I tried to tell you. Born in Texas she moved to California for her musical career where in 1945 she hooked up with Roy Milton. She became the piano player on many recordings of Milton with whom she worked for many years. But also as a singer and pianist under her own name she made name in the forties, where she was backed up by Milton and his Solid Senders and later with her own combo. In the mid-fifties she gradually disappeared from the radar, when rock 'n roll made her boogie-woogie outdated. Listen to her I tried to tell you.
08 - Camille Howard - I tried to tell you
09 - Don Julian & The Meadowlarks - I Got Tore Up
Don Julian & The Meadowlarks with I Got Tore Up. Don Julian was another singer from Texas who went westwards and joined the California Rhythm & Blues scene. He was backed up by a group called the meadowlarks, later the Larks, but that wasn't the same group as the more famous Larks led by Gene Mumford and that originated from North Carolina but settled itself in New York. Don Julian later made some fame as a funk singer.
Next the Blue Notes who were a vocal group that originated from Philadelphia as a streetcorner group in 1954 by the name of the Teardrops, and they changed their name in 56 after the Blue Note lounge on Ridge Ave. They went to New York and won the Wednesday Night Amateur Contest in the Apollo Theatre for five times on a row and signed with Josie records, the subsidiary of Jubilee that already had the succesful vocal group the Caddilacs on their roster. The Blue Notes lasted until 1971 recording for several labels. Here is Devoted to you.
10 - Blue Notes - Devoted To You
11 - Blue Dots - Don't Do That Baby
More vocal delight with the Blue Dots on the DeLuxe label from 1954. Next Doles Dickens with a song from 1949, Hold me baby. Originally he'd been a band member of several groups, the Eddie South Orchestra, Steve Gibson’s 5 Red Caps and the Phil Moore four that actually had a line-up of six members. Doles Dickens started his own combo in 1946 where he recorded for the Continental and Gotham labels and later for Decca. From that label is Hold me baby.
12 - Doles Dickens & His Quintet - Hold Me Baby
13 - Four Tunes - Sugar Lump
Sugar Lump - that were the Four Tunes, a succesful and influential vocal group from New York. And actually their first big achievement was in the very beginning of their career in 1944, when they recorded - as the Brown Dots - For Sentimental Reasons. It was co-written by two of the group's members, Ivory "Deek" Watson and William "Pat" Best, though Best later said Watson had nothing to do with the song apart from founding the group who recorded it first. Of course For Sentimental Reasons has been made a standard by Nat King Cole and I think I have enough versions of it to record two full CDs.
They later changed their name to the Sentimentalists, after the title of that succesful song, and they backed up Savannah Churchill on her 1947 # 1 R&B hit "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You). But they found out another group with that name existed and so they changed their name to the Four Tunes. They recorded for Manor, RCA Victor and most notably for Jubilee. The group lasted well into the nineties.
From the Four Tunes we go to the Five Notes. This vocal group was initially led by Henry Pierce but it had a star-to-be in it that later made a name in soul music, Al "TNT" Braggs. From them their very first single Thrill me baby from 1953 on the Specialty label. The 45 was pressed on red vinyl and that rarity does way too much on Ebay. Here's Henry Pierce & His Five Notes with Thrill Me Baby.
14 - Henry Pierce & His Five Notes - Thrill Me Baby
15 - Bobby Davis - One Love Have I
Bobby Davis singing One love have I and I'm afraid I must admit that I wasn't able to find anything on this artist. So let's go to another Bobby - Bobby "Mr. Blues" Merrell, with a reworking of a song I ain't mad at you. The song originates from 1942 when Buddy Johnson recorded it with his orchestra. Merrell was the former singer and trumpetist in Cootie Williams orchestra and his version of this old song is from 1960. Here it goes.
16 - Bobby 'Mr. Blues' Merell - I Ain't Mad At You
17 - Hollywood's Four Flames - Wine
Wine - Hollywood's Four Flames from 1951 on the Fidelity label as the flip of Tabarin. A group that had about as many personel changes as how many labels it has recorded on - the latter probably nineteen in about the same number of years that the group existed, from 1949 to 1967. They originated from Watts, Los Angeles, and they were pretty succesful in the area but they had just one national hit, in 1957 with Buzz Buzz Buzz.
As we reach the end of the show I have time for one more. I mentioned his name earlier in the show when I played Camille Howard who did the piano work for many of his recordings. I'm talking about Roy Milton of course. Here is Red Light.
18 - Roy Milton & His Solid Senders - Red Light
And Red Light marks the end of another episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Roy Milton was that and the song was recorded in 1947 for the Specialty label.
So now you got an idea what spices up the long drives in my car so if you ever see a little black Fiat rocking over the Dutch roads, it's probably me. I hope you liked what I played and if so, or if not, or if you have questions, comments or suggestions for this show, please don't hesitate to email me at rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. Of course you can also find me on the web, just do a Google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and it'll pop up first.
As for now, so byebye, and have a great day. No, have a rocking day. See you next time on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.