"My Ding a Ling" (Dave Bartholomew and Chuck Berry)

Been listening to Chuck Berry, and reading a very good biography about him. Very well researched. But Chuck's auto biography is much more fun.

Funny story about him and Pink Floyd. In 1972 the promoter on the English tour at the Lanchester Arts Festival in Coventry told Berry he could only play one more song because the fans outside were waiting for the next show, which was Pink Floyd. Chuck said okay, and then took 11 minutes to create his version of the song "My Ding a Ling" on stage. Dave Bartholomew had a minor hit with his own version of the song in 1952.

When Chuck's version hit #1 Bartholomew tried to sue him. Berry told him, "When you pull YOUR  pants down; that's YOUR Ding a Ling. When I pull MY pants down, that's "MY Ding a Ling." Bartholomew dropped the suit.

The song actually goes back to 1878 and was written by a songwriter/publisher in Philadelphia named Joseph Eastburn Winner/ aka R.A. Winner. He used to keep his office window open. It was above Bartholomew's father's barber shop. He would listen to the sounds coming from the street for inspiration. The kids were singing a very mild version of a song, based on the melody to "Little Brown Jug", the old drinking song.  So it was really one of those street rhymes which all kids learn.

They are similar, but Bartholomew did not write it. It may say so on the label of the 1952 recording, but that doesn't make it true. At any rate, titles are not subject to copyright. I believe he first recorded it in 1945,  but cannot find it at the moment.

Here is Chuck's 11 minute live improvisation from the concert in 1972. 

"My Own Peculiar Way" - Willie Nelson (1998))

I awoke briefly at 4:30 AM this morning thinking of the line "I love you in my own peculiar way." It's from the Willie Nelson song of the same name and appeared on his first studio album in 1962. It was re-recorded in 1969 on his 9th album named "My Own Peculiar Way" in 1969, with Jerry Reed and Charlie McCoy on guitars. That album was also the first on which he used his signature Martin N-20 guitar. 
Some people wonder about that guitar. The best explanation is in his autobiography where he describes how that guitar came to be, and why it has that extra hole in it.

"I switched over to a big Baldwin hooked up to an aluminum amp. When the neck broke, I traded it in for a Martin made of rosewood, an acoustic model with the richest, most soulful tone I’d ever heard. I had my man Shot Jackson, a guitar genius in Nashville, customize the Martin by integrating the guts and pickup from the Baldwin. It worked. I had the sound I was looking for. I heard it as a human sound, a sound close to my own voice. Didn’t take long for me to pick a hole in it. That’s ‘cause classical guitars aren’t meant to be picked. But that hole...seemed to deepen its soulful tone."

This video is from the album "Teatro", which was recorded in September of 1998 in the old movie theater in Oxnard, California. That album was his 45th. This is my favorite version of the song.

The musicians featured in this video are as follows;

Willie Nelson – Vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar.

Bobbie Nelson – (Willie's sister) Wurlitzer electric piano, organ.

Emmylou Harris – Background vocals.

Daniel Lanois – Producer, Gibson les paul, bass guitar.

Tony Mangurian – Drums, percussion.

Victor Indrizzo – drums, percussion.

It would be a comfort just to know you never doubt me
Even though I give you cause most every day
Sometimes I think that you'd be better off without me
Although I love you in my own peculiar way

And don't doubt my love if sometimes my mind should wander
To a suddenly remembered yesterday
'Cause my mind could never stay too long away from you
I'll always love you in my own peculiar way

And though I may not always be the way you'd have me be
And though my faults may grow in number day by day
And though I'll never say that I've ever been untrue
I'll always love you in my own peculiar way

And though I may not always be the way you'd have me be
And though my faults may grow in number day by day
Let no one ever say that I've ever been untrue
I'll always love you in my own peculiar way
I'll always love you in my own peculiar way

The Cokes at Vanatuan

At the end of World War Two the United States left the Vanatuan islands off Australia, after occupying most of them as a base during World War II. In doing so we were forced to leave behind  roads, buildings and runways.

The base at Espiritu De Santos was established as a  supply base, naval harbor and airfield after the attack on Pearl Harbor. For the remainder of the war it was used as a launch site to attack the Japanese fleet. Parts of Vanuatu were still under British and French colonization.

But, in leaving,  we were also were going to leave behind millions of dollars of goods in the form of tanks, jeeps, heavy equipment etc. We offered to sell it to the French and English at the rate of 6 cents on the dollar. They refused, believing that the Americans would simply abandon the items and then they could be gotten for free. But, that's not how it worked out.

Instead, the United States spent 2 days and nights dumping everything they could into the sea. And when they were done with that, they drove the tanks, jeeps and  heavy equipment off the piers at "Million Dollar Point". Today it is a popular destination for scuba divers to marvel at this veritable underwater museum of World WarTwo hardware. Mixed in with all of this are tons of cases of Coca Cola bottles. Even these were dumped into the ocean off "Million Dollar Point." But remember, they had orders to do so.

Meantime, halfway around the world, at Adaban in the Arabian desert, American War Correspondent Howard Fast wrote the far different story about the fate of the Coca Cola bottles filling the C-46 he was flying aboard when leaving the Middle East.

In his 5 page short story, aptly titled "Coca Cola," Howard Fast tells us about the plane not being able to gain enough altitude, instead barely skimming the tops of sand dunes as they flew towards their destination.  Time and again he asked, and then demanded that the pilot dump these tens of thousands of empty Coke bottles in order to gain altitude.

The pilot informed him that since they were private property he had no authority to do so. Now, had they been jeeps or tanks; no problem. But since he had no authorization to do so, they would continue the journey at the dangerously low altitude, simply hoping for the best. And, miraculously, they made it.

The whole episide reminds me of the scene in "Dr. Stranglove" when Peter Sellers needs 20 cents to avert a nuclear war by phoning the White House. His only hope is to have Keenan Wynn shoot the lock off the Coca Cola machine. The folliwing clip is a pretty realistic potrayal of the military mind set involved in such an endeavor.

https://youtu.be/RZ9B7owHxMQ

"Auld Lang Syne" - Dougie MacLean

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stoup!
and surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin’ auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand,
my trusty fiere!
and gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak’ a right gude-willie waught,
for auld lang syne.

"The Burning of the World" by Scott W. Berg (2023)

 So much has been written about the Chicago Fire that one would think the topic to be exhausted. Not so. In the hands of Scott Berg the event is explored in a new and ingenious way. There was no Mrs. O'Leary milking her cow. There was a Mrs. Leary, but the fire began at 9 PM, hours after the cow had been milked. There was no lantern for the cow to kick over.

The night before there had been a large fire known as the "Red Flash" fire to the North of where the Leary's lived on DeCoven Street between Jefferson and Clinton. An unseasonably warm October had made the city of mostly wood frame houses a veritable tinderbox, just waiting to be touched off. Most of the Fire Brigades were on stand down from the fire the night before.

What really caused a single dwelling fire to burn so quickly out of control was a combination of an error on the part of the city's fire watch, perched atop the City Hall. Combined with a high South westerly wind which blew flaming embers from DeCoven Street further and further from the point of origin, the fire was quickly out of control. It would burn for 2 days, beginning at 9 PM on the night of October 8th, 1871. 

The book is filled with all the heroics of every disasterous fire, even as the Chicago River, coming off Lake Michigan, boiled. But the real genius of this book is in what happened after the fire. In the age of the telegraph the news spread quickly. And in the age of train travel, fire companies from every state around came by train, each loaded with firefighters and their equipment. 

Within another 48 hours financial aid came pouring in. The "Friends", Quakers from Cincinnati, donated $100,000, providing enough pre cooked soup to feed the city for years if necessary. From this point on the book becomes a tale of what happened next. The political jockeying for the soul of the city was underway. It would wage for over a year, through a winter and an election. 

That election gave way to a Temperance movement and a struggle over "blue laws" to close saloons on Sunday's. No matter that beer and liquor had nothing to do with the fire, the Temperance League saw an opening, and the battle was set.

The big players in this drama were Joseph Medill, the owner of the Chicago Tribune, who became the next Mayor. There was even a new political party formed; the Union-Fireproof Party. The commercial rebuilding began with Marshall Field, owner of the legendary department store. The results were a division between those who wanted to rebuild only in brick rather than wood; setting off an economic clash between the working class, who favored wood as more affordable, and the more well to do, who wanted new fire limits in which buildings would only be of brick. . 

All in all this is an exciting new look at the story of the Great Chicago Fire. That it comes from the pen of Scott Berg should come as no surprise.

A Night in Spain 1979.

 Housebound almost 5 years now. An occasional trip to the restaurant, but not too  often. You'd think I'd be bored. Not really. You see, there is a story to everything you see on my walls. Right down to the little stuff tucked in the frames. 

Take, for instance, this photo. A strip of 4 for 20 Francs, taken in France in early 1979. It is one of only 2 photos I have of me, Dennis in the middle, and Ron Tabb together. That the photo was taken in France I remember distinctly, because I had "zee moustache!" 😀 But this story, several weeks later, took place in Spain.

It was a cold, rainy Spring night, and we got caught in a downpour. The last boat back to the ship  had gone. All the local inns were closed. Soaking wet we found an unlocked car. One of those which ran off a propane tank in the rear. You'd stop and exchange tanks, paying only for the gas. Like a grill. Had to get down to our skivvies because were were soaked! Langlands wouldn't and got real sick, high fever....

Imagine the surprise when the owner came down at the crack of dawn and found the car filled with two half naked guys and one with teeth chattering! 🤣😂🤣😂

I remember him screaming Spanish at us so fast we were hysterical! Drunk as skunks! Not to mention the smell from the smoke! Benefit of our Rating we had no Captain's Mast. 

Dennis has faded away somewhere, chosing to stay away from the past, and be absented from the present.

Ron Tabb tragically passed away about 30 years ago. He couldn't have been more than 40. Married to a girl named Candy, they had 2 kids and lived somewhere near Norman, Oklahoma. I used to laugh at that. I'd be,  "Norman? Never heard of it!"

You can't buy memories, or freinds, like those.........

"The Night Before Christmas"- Read by Louis Armstrong (1971)

 Louis Armstrong loved kids. In the summertime he would come out of his modest home in Queens, near old Shea Stadium, and buy the neighborhood kids ice cream. At other times he would have "block parties". His own impoverished childhood was probably the impetus for this.

He was the reason I began coin collecting. His official bio at the time gave his birthday as July 4th, 1900. So, my first coin was  a 1900 Indian Head Penny. I bought it at the Hobby House on Coney Island Avenue for 75 cents. I was 11 years old and used to fantasize that this coin may have passed through his hands at sometime. I still have it. (His birth date has since been disputed and is currently listed as August 4th, 1901)

On February 26th of 1971, the year he passed away, he was home in Queens, in the same house which is now his museum, and recorded "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on his reel to reel tape recorder. Whether he meant it to be released is not really known. He had thousands of these kind of tapes on his personal collection. You can hear some of them at the museum. Each one has a hand drawn cover which he did in pencil, ink and crayon.

On March 1st he began his last commercial appearance, playing for a few weeks at the Waldorf Astoria. 2 days after the last show he had the first of two heart attacks and by July 6th he passed away in the hospital, 1 floor away from his manager, Joe Glaser, who also passed away shortly after. The two had been together since 1935.

That Christmas his recording of the poem was distributed by the cigarette manufacturer Lorillard, which pressed it onto a million 45-rpm records as a free giveaway for anyone who bought a carton of cigarettes. Some candy store owners sold the records for about 75 cents to neighborhood kids. I was one of them. I had it for decades but lost track of it over the years. Luckily you can still hear it, and download it, from you tube.

Merry Christmas from Louis Armstrong. ❤