Hello

It’s night time in the big city.
Something isn’t quite right.
Nobody will answer the phone.

The Singers and The Songs

Sherman Williams Orchestra – Hello “A little riff rocker”

Ricky Nelson – Hello Mary Lou
“One person we got to say hello to is someone who said goodbye much too soon. He’s the man who brought rock and roll into America’s living rooms. Here’s a song that reached number 9 on the Billboard Charts…then they turned it over, and the B side went all the way to number 1.”

The Nazz – Hello, It’s Me“As Todd (Rundgren) always used to say to me ‘Dum vivimus, vivamus,’ which roughly translated means, ‘While we live, let us live.’ Todd’s a smart guy.”

Conway Twitty – Hello Darlin’“His dad was a river boat pilot who taught him guitar at age 4. And as much as he loved music, he loved baseball just as much. He actually received an offer to join the Philadelphia Phillies, but patriotic-minded Harold joined the army instead. When he got out of the army, he heard Elvis’ Mystery Train, and started writing songs.”

Long Gone Miles (Luke Miles) – Hello Josephine“This record is probably most familiar to ya from Fats Domino, but I couldn’t resist playing this hard rocking version.”

Pee Wee King – I Wanna Say Hello“The man who brought accordion into Western Swing.”

Mardi Gras Loungers – Hello Mello Baby“A song that’ll help you get down to the real nitty gritty.”

Buck Owens – Hello Trouble “Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. nicknamed himself after a mule on his family farm.”

The Radiolites – Hello! Aloha! How Are You?“Here’s an example of some great Hawaiian-influenced music that caught the ear of New Yorkers…An example of how Hawaiian music met big bands and created something new.”

Willie Nelson – Hello Walls“Another great American…”

The Carter Family – Hello Stranger
(AP, Sara, and Maybelle)

Barbara Lewis – Hello Stranger

John Prine – Hello In There

(Groucho Marks – Hello I Must Be Going)

The Beatles – Hello, Goodbye“The song was originally called ‘Hello, Hello’ and if it had kept that name we couldn’t have played it here, because we need a hello song that says goodbye!”

“I always love the crazy fade on that record…”

Other singers and players

Skippy Brooks
Elvin Woods
James Brown
Gene Pitney
The Crystals
Carson Van Osten
Lord Buckley
Elvis
Fats Domino
Minnie Pearl
Freddie Coleman
The Buckaroos
Don Rich
Eddie McDuff
Orville Crouch
Don Helms
Faron Young
Bette Midler
Joan Baez

Other Folks

Jesus
Emily Post
“Call me old fashioned, but I still always say ‘How do you do?’ when I see someone.”
Abelard and Eloise
Mark Twain
The President
Bugs Bunny
John Wayne
Ransom Stoddard
Jimmy Stewart

Other People With Diminutive Nicknames

Pee Wee Russell
Pee Wee Reese
Pee Wee Herman
Little Miss Dynamite – Brenda Lee
The Little Sparrow – Edith Piaf
Reverend Parker – Little Junior Parker
Little Milton
Little Richard
“And my personal favorite, big Tiny Kennedy”
Little John

Femme Fatales

Lilith
Morgan le Fay
Delilah
Lucretia Borge
Mata Hari

Femme Fatales In Movies

Theda Bera – A Fool There Was
Marlena Dietrich – Blue Angel
Barbara Stanwyck – Double Indemnity
Rita Haworth – The Lady from Shanghai
Faye Dunaway – Chinatown
Kathleen Turner – Body Heat
Sharon Stone – Basic Instinct
“One of my personal favorites is Lila Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice. She’s beautiful, and deadly. Listen to this.” – clip

Record Labels

Bullet
Kent
Capital Records

Places

Nashville
Nazareth
Friars Point, MS
Arkansas
Twitty City
Paris
Notre Dame
Avalon
New Orleans
Bourbon Street
Hawaii
Mexico
Niagara Falls
Michigan
Israel
Italy
Korea
Liverpool

New Orleans Lounges

500 Club
Sho Bar
Casino Royale

New Orleans Dancing Girls

Lilly Christine the Cat Girl
Evangeline the Oyster Girl
Alouette LeBlanc the Tassel Twirler
Rita Alexander the Champagne Girl
Tee Tee Red
The Cupid Doll
“Nowadays it seems like every girl is named Amber”

Other songs

Travelin’ Man
He’s a Rebel
The Nazz – a retelling of Jesus’ story in ‘Hipster Patois’
Mystery Train
It’s Only Make Believe
Tennessee Waltz

Guests

Richard Lewis
Deke Dickerson “our resident hillbilly expert”

Movies

Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol – clip
Robinhood – clip
Pete Kelly’s Blues
Pretty Baby
Angel Heart
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Books

Roughing It – M. Twain
The Stranger

Poets / Writers

Albert Camus – “poet of existentialist nothingness”

Young and Old

It’s night time in the big city.
A man bangs the 8 ball into the corner pocket.
Neon sputters and goes out.

(Smells Like Teen Spirit (instrumental) – The Bad Plus)

Bob reads from William Shakespeare

The Singers And The Songs

NBC background music – Albert King,”As the Years Go Passing By.”

Mose Allison – Young Man Blues“Here’s that madman, the gentleman out of Tippo, MS, no stranger to you long-time listeners.”

Hot Lips Page – Small Fry “A trumpet player and a singer who filled that gap between rhythm and blues and jazz.”

Linda Lawson – Like Young “Got kind of a beatnik sound to it, so feel free to snap your fingers, on the two and the four, please!”

“Yeah, Ridin’ that rainbow to cloudsville…crazy, man!”

The Ramones – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up 
“The Ramones mostly wrote their own songs, so when they decide to do someone else’s, it better be a hell of a song.”

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians – Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)“Here’s an example of how a great song is not a prisoner of time or place. Music travels through the air, so it knows no boundaries, it knows no borders.”

Prince Buster – Enjoy It (Enjoy Yourself)

Laura Lee – Separation Line

The Flying Burrito Brothers – Older Guys “Recorded for A & M. And I believe the A & M Studios were on the site of Charlie Chaplin’s old studio, right there on Labrea. I’m not sure if this song was recorded there, but it would be somehow appropriate because Charlie Chaplin was definitely an older guy who had a taste for the younger girls.”

Muddy Waters – Young Fashioned Ways “Maybe some day there will be a question on the Trivial Pursuit card ‘Who was the first artist ever played on TTRH.”

Jimmie Murphy – We Live A Long Long Time To Get Old

Charlie Poole – Old And Only In The Way“Interestingly, oftentimes when Charlie Poole performed live, he would obscure parts of the lyrics when he sang. He forced record buyers to buy his records, simply so they could figure out what he was singing…He was known as a country artist, so that’s mostly what he recorded, but if you saw him live, you would hear a mixture of minstrel songs, Victorian ballads, humorous burlesque-type numbers, as well as old-timey country music.”

(Little) Esther Phillips – Aged And Mellow

Neil Young (and the Stray Gators ) – Old Man“From his best selling album, Harvest…gee I thought it would have been ‘Trans’”

Ray Barretto – Happy Birthday Everybody

Albums

Mose Allison Sings
Live At Leeds
Adios Amigos
Introducing Linda Lawson
Burrito Deluxe
Harvest
Trans (album)

Places

Tippo, MS
Bloomington, IN
Hollywood
The Sands
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Glendale
London
Jamaica way
Chicago
Detroit
Berlin
Birmingham, AL
Nashville
Bimini
Bahamas
Spain
St. Augustine, FL
Argentina
Aruba
Brazil
Canada
Denmark
Vietnam

Record Labels

Prestige
A & M Records
RCA Victor
Columbia
Federal

Other People and Players

The Who
Hoagland Howard Carmichael
The Carmichael Syringe Orchestra
Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke — He threw my judgment all out of kilter (H. Carmichael)
Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
Jerry Lewis
Henry Mancini
Kathleen Brennan
Tom Waits
Peter Pan
J.M. Barrie
Andre Previn
John Foreman
Jack Sheldon “I saw him playing the other night in Glendale; he sounded great.”

Mary Martin
Frank Moody
Aretha Franklin
Charles Mason
Jeremiah Dixon
Gram Parsons
Charlie Chaplin
Marie Antoinette
Clark Gable
Winston Churchill
Don Law
Robert Johnson
Joe Bussard, ‘78 Collector
Johnny Otis
Dinah Washington
Ben Webster
Methuselah
Noah
Kenny Buttrey
Russ Kunkel
Tim Drummond
Ben Keith
Jack Nitzsche
Ponce De Leon –“He discovered Florida, but not the fountain of youth. Ponce De Leon is currently living in an assisted living facility in Boca Raton. He never calls, he never writes.”
Christopher Columbus
JFK
Madonna – “In the 1980’s, Madonna began a trend of wearing underwear as outer wear. You see that happening to this day…Thanks, Madge!”

Ages

The coming of age
The age of consent
The Stone Age
The Age of Reason
The Age of Aquarius

Movies and Plays and other Entertainment

As You Like It
Stan Freberg Show — Old Man River (clip)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Sometimes a Great Notion
Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
The Man Who Would Be King
Prizzi’s Honor
The Threat
Peter Pan (The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up)
It Happened One Night

Other Songs

Stardust –“One of the most famous songs Hoagie ever wrote was Stardust, and like many songwriters, he wasn’t sure where it really came from. This is what he had to say, the first time he heard a recording of Stardust: ‘And then it happened, that queer sensation that this melody was bigger than me. Maybe I hadn’t written it at all. The recollection of how, when, and where it all happened became vague as the lingering strains hung in the rafters of the studio. I wanted to shout back at it, maybe I didn’t write you, but I found you’… I know just what he meant.”
What a Difference A Day Makes

Syndromes

Peter Pan Syndrome“Some people think this is a bad thing, but I think if more adults kept their youthful sense of wonder, this might be a better world.”

Guests

Marianne Faithful

Other Separation Lines (in the background-Allen Toussaint, “Second Liner.”)

The Mason Dixon Line
The Equator
The Iron Curtain
Berlin Wall
The 38th Parallel
The Intl Date Line
The 50 Yard Line

May / December Romances in the Oval Office

James Madison (43) & Dolley Payne Todd (26)
Grover Cleveland (49) & Frances Folsom (21)
Benjamin Harrison (62) Mary Scott Lord Dimmick (37) (also the niece of his first wife)
John Tyler (64) & Julia Gardner (24)

“Your home for youthful schemes, mature themes, and timeless dreams…”

Days of the Week

It’s night time in the big city
A storm is coming
A woman wonders.

Monday ‘s child is fair of face.
Tuesday ‘s child is full of grace.
Wednesday ‘s child is full of woe.
Thursday ‘s child has far to go.
Friday ‘s child is loving and giving.
Saturday ‘s child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
— Mother Goose

The Singers and The Songs

Sterling Harrison – Seven Days “There is great music happening all over the country, and sometimes you got to seek it out and if you don’t seek it out, it’s just gonna disappear.”

U2 – Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Frankie Lee Sims – Lucy Mae Blues “That song is kind of a mash-up between a couple of blues standards“

Smiley Lewis – Blue Monday “It’s time for Monday, and if I know my radio show that sounds like a sound cue.”

Rolling Stones – Ruby Tuesday “Supposed to only be a B side, for those of you who don’t know what a b side is, that was other side of a 45 that wasn‘t a a hit. The A side, in this case, was supposed to be Let’s Spend the Night Together but most DJs thought it was too sexual”

Lonnie Johnson – Tomorrow Night

The Undertones – Wednesday Week “Kind of an English / Irish way of saying next Wednesday” “The Finnish call it something I can not pronounce, but it is transpated as ‘center of the week’. Here in the US we just call it Hump Day.”

Morphine – Thursday “they had kind of an unusual instrumentation…the got a drummer, a guy playing saxophone, and Mark Sandman who sings and wear a homemade D-tuned, 2 string bass that he built himself.”

Jolie Holland-Old Fashioned Morphine *clip*

The Easybeats – Friday On My Mind

Charlie Rich “The Silver Fox” – Lonely Weekends

Tom Waits – The Heart of Saturday Night

Doug Sahm – Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Morning Comin’ Down “After all those wasted days and wasted nights, you know there’s gonna be a Sunday morning coming down.”

Other Artists, DJs and Producers, etc.

Holland Dozier Holland
Little Junior Parker
Lightnin‘ Hopkins
Mississippi John Hurt
Fats Domino
George Jones
Brian Jones
Eddie Lang
Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5
Duke Ellington
Elmer Snowden
The Blues Revivalists
DJ John Peel
The Clash
Sonny Boy Williamson
Sheryl Crow “Sheryl Crow sells hair-dye, more power to her…have you ever seen a Victoria Secret’s Ad?”
Jimmie Rogers

Sam Phillips
Johnny Cash
Warren Smith
Billy Lee Riley
Ray Smith
Nick Drake
Buddy Holly
Mark Sandman – singer from morphine
Harry Vanda and George Young – The Easybeats
Grace Jones
Freddie Fender (who was sentenced to Angola State Prison for marijuana Possession)
Jimmie Davis-Governor
Billy Wilder

Places

Ireland
Derry
New Orleans
Dallas
Philadelphia
Toronto
Rome
San Benito TX

Names of the people who died that day (Sunday, Bloody Sunday)

Patrick Joseph Doherty
Bernard McGuigan
Hugh Pious Gilmour
Kevin McElhinney
Michael G. Kelly
John Pius Young
William Noel Nash
Michael M. McDaid
James Joseph Wray
Gerald Donaghy
Gerald (James) McKinney
John Johnson

Holidays

Easter Sunday
Ash Wednesday

Guests

Jack White

Gods

Jupiter
Venus

Things days of the week are named after

Saturn
Wodan
Thor
Freyja

Other Songs and Albums

Between the Buttons – album
“He’s a jelly roll baker“
Teenage kicks
Cure for Pain – Morphine
“Hey, St. Peter”
“Walking in the Rain”
“Not Fade Away” – clip
The Heart of Saturday Night
“You Are My Sunshine“ – clip
The Heart of Saturday Night – album

Instruments

Recorders

Flute“I think it’s one of the most beautiful sounds known to man. I brought mine with me today and if you don’t mind I’m going to play you a little something…” *Bob plays Blowin’ in the Wind
Theremin

Literature, etc.

Anton Chekov
Percy Bysshe Shelley – “Good Night”
The Bible

Record Labels

Okeh Records
King Records
Bluebird label
Prestige
Sire Records
National Label

Clairvoyants

Madame Blavatsky– founded theosophical society
Edward Casey
The Amazing Criswell — clip“He had a great voice and even better hair”

Movies and TV

Plan 9 from outer space
The Addams Family-clip
The Flintstones – clip
The Lost Weekend
Frankenstein

The Army Disease – Morphine addiction

Mother Goose Rhyme

Solomon Grundy, Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end of Solomon Grundy… clip of ska song

“Well I can see the sun coming up over the horizon meaning our day here is done. Night creeps in, throwing shadows across the Abernathy building.”

California

(Dragnet Theme in Background)
“This is the city-Los Angeles, Ca…Sometimes you want to know about more than just the city, you want to know ahout the whole state. That’s where I step in, I host the radio show.”

The Singers and The Songs

Al Jolsen “Worlds Greatest Entertainer” (Asa Yolsen)-California Here I Come
Joni Mitchell-California
(clip) Woody Guthrie speaking about California, the dust bowl and fruit picking
Webb Pierce-California Blues
Geraint Watkins-Go West“That 2-handed piano pounder”
Dionne Warwick-Do You Know the Way to San Jose
Sir Douglas Quintet-Mendocino
(clip) California Blues?“There’s a lot of earthquakes in California. If you feel a tremor there’s 2 things you should do: get in a doorway and makes sure that doorway’s in Cleveland.”
Thee Midniters– Whittier Blvd
Dave Alvin-Surfer Girl
Jesse Fuller-San Francisco Bay Blues (Fuller was the creator of the Fodella)“It never caught on enough to get it in you local music store. I wish it had, it’s sure cut down costs on the road”
(clip) Going to Hollywood
Dorothy Shay- Been to Hollywood
Bobby Womack-California Dreamin’
Jolie Holland-Goodbye California

Places

Fresno-Raisin capital of the world
San Francisco (original Spanish name means good herb or good grass)“ironic isn’t it”
Hollywood
San Jose
Lithuania
Vaudeville
Texas
Alaska
Eureka
Mt. Whitney
Death Valley
Humboldt Redwoods State Park
Laurel Canyon
Paris
Mexico
S. Wales
Colorado
Nevada
Silicon Valley
LA
Sacramento
Medocino County CA
Little River, CA
Caspar, Ca
Albion, CA
Boonville, CA
Elk, Ca
Westport, Ca
Cleone, CA
Silver Lake, CA
Colmont, CA-The only incorporated US city where the dead outnumber the living
Boston
Texas
New Jersey

Other Singers and music industry folks

Bud Desilva
Joseph Meyer
Jimmy Rodgers
Van Morrison
Paul McCartney
Tracy Ullman
Hal David
Bert Bacharach
Hank Ballard
Willy Garcia
The Beach Boys“The Kennedy family with surf boards”
John and Michelle Phillips

Guest

David Hidalgo
Amy Sedaris
Richard Lewis

Other Songs and Albums

Blue-album
“Feudin’ and Fightin’”
Escondido-album

Literature

“The Grapes of Wrath”-Steinbeck (exerpt)

Other People
Richard Nixon
Archimedes
Fred Allen “California is a wonderful place to live if you happen to be an orange.”
Walt Disney (clip) Wish Upon a Star
John B. L. Soule -Newspaper Writer
Horris Greeley- “Go west young man and grow up with the country.”
John Sutter
James Marshall
President Polk
Levi Strauss
Gucci
Queen Califia of Spain
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev-Kitchen debates (The discussion of Krushchev and Nixon appears from a quick research to be somewhat accurate and somewhat fiction, made up.  The Kitchen Debates did not occur in the year identified, the conversation then did not contain what is stated, and Krushchev’s-Nixon’s confrontation later was not quiet as described.  Someone (probably Bob) is playing with the history for effect.  Fair enough.  The Cold War produced much in the way of nonsense that was issued sincerely.)
Pachuco (Background- Mambo Del Pachuco by Don Tosti Y Su Conjunto)
Dwight Eisenhower

TV and Movies

It’s a Gift (clip)
The Egg and I (clip)
Superman  (1978) (clip)
Blow (clip)

Record Labels

Vocalion
Anti

*Bob Reads from Woody Guthrie (This Land is Your Land in the background) ”We rounded a few hills and knolls, curving in our little jitney, and all at once, coming over a high place, the lights of Los Angeles jumped up, running from north to south as far as I could see, and hanging around on the hills and mountains just as if it was level ground. Red and green neon flickering for eats, sleeps, sprees, salvation, money made, lent, blowed, spent. There was an electric sign for dirty clothes, clean clothes, honky tonky tonks, no clothes, floor shows, gyp-joints, furniture in and out of homes. The fog was trying to get a headlock on the houses along the high places, Patches of damp clouds whiffed along the paving in crazy, disorganized little bunches, hunting some more clouds to work with. Los Angeles was lost in its own pretty lights and trying to hold out against the big fog that rolls in from that ocean, and the people that roll in just as reckless, and rambling, from the country as big as the ocean back East.”

“West coast schemes, California dreams and specific pacific themes”

Classic Rock

It’s night time in the big city
A woman dances beneath a strobe light
A man rolls a joint on the second Johnny Winter album
(Jimi Hendrix, Third Stone From The Sun in background)

“It’s October, or as I like to call it, Rock-tober. Which of course means next month is Roll-vember…May you never hear surf music again. That’s actually Jimi’s thought, not mine.”

The Singers and The Songs

The Staple Singers – Be Careful of the Stones That You Throw

Ray Anthony Orchestra – Rock Around the Rock Pile“You’ll hear a siren on this record; it’s not really a siren, it’s Jane Mansfield screaming.”

Muddy Waters – Rolling Stone

The Stanley Brothers – Rock Of Ages

Ray Charles – Sticks and Stones“A lot of people think that Ray Charles stopped making tough R & B when he left Atlantic Records. They think all of his records had strings and he was going after the pop audience. While a lot of his albums were like that, he was still issuing singles that had that great combo sound. Here’s an example.”

Hardrock Gunter – Gonna Dance All Night
“You know why that record sounds so good? Because it was a performance. The whole band was playing together in the studio. It wasn’t a thing assembled from parts, put together in little bits and pieces, until you had a complete take. Everyone started at the same time and finished pretty much at the same time, and all the time in between you just hung on for dear life. You can feel that energy in the record. And you can hear also in there how the line is blurry. It’s a hillbilly record, but if I told you Louis Jordan recorded that song you wouldn’t blink an eye.”

The Heartbreakers (featuring Johnny Thunders) – Chinese Rocks

The Osborne Brothers – Rocky Top

Dick Curless – A Tombstone Every Mile“If you’re listening to this show while driving, pull over and get your rest. Don’t be tempted by those little white pills: the crossroads, the greenies, the bennies, the West Coast turnarounds…no matter what they’re called, they spell trouble, and that’s with a capital T. A public service announcement from your friends here at TTRH.”

The Marigolds – Rollin’ Stone

Warren Smith – Uranium Rock“This one’s for all the metal heads.”

The Dirtbombs – Your Love Belongs Under a Rock

Swamp Dogg – Sam Stone

Other Singers, Players, and People

Jesus
Fats Domino
Rockpile
Eddie Cochran
Tom Ewell
Jayne Mansfield
Frank Tashlin
Bugs Bunny
Bob Hope
Dean Martin
Jerry Lewis
Edmund O’Brien
Mimi Vandoren“Another sex-pot”
Bobby Troup
Little Richard
Augustus Montegue Toplady
Henry Glover
Titus Turner
Dash Riprock
The Hoot Owl Ramblers
Johnny and The Jaywalkers
The New York Dolls
The Sex Pistols
Boudeleaux and Felice Bryant
Tony Bennett
Jim Reeves
Eddie Arnold
Ruth Brown
Joe Stampley
Moe Bandy
Leo Sayer
The Everly Brothers
Gary Dahl
Johnny Cash
Sly Stallone
Mohammed Ali
Chuck Webner
Thomas Jefferson
Aristophanes
Mick Collins
The White Stripes
Sharon Stone
John Prine
Jacob Reese

Movies and Other Entertainment

The Girl Can’t Help It
Pet Rocks
Rocky

Record Labels

Atlantic
Excello

Places

Tahiti
Chile
Blagdon, England
Stonehenge
Ft. Fairfield, ME
Athens
Persian Empire
Greece
Marathon
Lagrange, TX
Huntsville, AL
Longview, TX
Detroit

Other Songs and Albums

The Girl Can’t Help It (clip)
Bye Bye Love
Wake Up Little Susie
All You Have To Do Is Dream
Love Hurts
Iron Man (Black Sabbath) (clip)
Gonna Fly Now (clip)
Cuffed, Collared, and Tagged (Swamp Dogg)

Guests

Cat Power
Porky Pig
Jack White

Bob’s geology lesson
“The earth is divided into three layers: there’s the core, the mantle, and the crust. The core is very hot. The middle layer, the mantle, is made of minerals and it rides on top of the hot core. The very top, the part we’re standing on, is the crust. There are two types of crust: flaky and graham cracker…nah, just checking to see if you were listening.”

Famous people’s headstones

W.C. Fields: I’d rather be in Philadelphia
Oscar Lavonte: I told them I was ill
Alexander The Great: A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.
Jackie Gleeson: And Away We Go!
Groucho Marx: Excuse me, I can’t stand up.
Emily Dickinson: Call Back.
Aeschylus: This tomb, the dust of Aeschylus doth hide
Euphorion’s son and Gela’s pride
How tried his valour, Marathon may tell;
Long-haired Persians knew it all too well.
Mel Black: That’s all folks.

“For all you first time listeners, this is how we roll: with nothin’ but classic rock!”

Cadillac

It’s night time in the big city
Vandals deface a wall
There are no stars in the sky.

“Here at TTRH, we’ve always aspired to be the Cadillac of radio shows. So it’s only apropos that we take one of those baby’s out on the road!”

The Singers and The Songs

Buddy Johnson and Ella Johnson – A Pretty Girl (A Cadillac and Some Money)“That’s from 19 and 64, and you can tell by the way that saxophone roars in that rock and roll was just around the corner.”

Vince Taylor and The Playboys – Brand New Cadillac“Perhaps the best rockabilly record to come out of England.”

Paul and Dud Bascomb – Pink Cadillac“You can tell those guys got their start in a swing band. You hear a little bit of Count Basie’s ‘Sent For You Yesterday and Here You Come Today’ in that song.”

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys – Cadillac And Model A“One of them mid-fifties recordings. Features Bob’s brother, Billy Jack Wills. I like this song because it uses Cadillac as a verb.”

Bo Diddley – Cadillac

Howie Strange – Real Gone Daddy

Mildred Jones – Mr. Thrill“A song that’s kinda like a single entendre”

Andre Williams – Cadillac Jack

Red Simpson – Jeannie With The Light Brown Cadillac

Jerry McCain – Courtin’ in a Cadillac“A record like this isn’t even about the song, it’s about the whole thing: the singer, the musicians, the lyrics and the sound – especially the sound. You couldn’t make a record that sounds like this today.”

The Blasters – Long White Cadillac

The Cadillacs – Speedo“One of the premier rhythm and blues vocal groups…In front and center was Earl Carroll, with a straw hat and a cane. He would always bring down the house when he sang the song that gave him his nickname. In 1961, Earl got an offer to join The Coasters, and for the next 20 years her toured and recorded with them. That was a time when there was more than one Coasters group out there on the road. I can’t speak about the other ones, but if you saw the Coasters with Earl Carroll you were in for one hell of a show. ”

Michael Martin Murphey – Geronimo’s Cadillac “The veracity of this song is not total; however, it is quite catchy.”

Dizzy Gillespie – Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac

William DeVaughn – Be Thankful For What You Got

Other People and Players

Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac
Elvis Presley – reportedly gave away over 200 Cadillacs.
Webster
The Clash
Scheherazade
Joe Barbera
William Hanna
Robert Taylor
David Bowie
Natalie Minster
Erskine Hawkins
Count Basie
Pink “I don’t know what color car she drives, but I like her. Silver is the most popular color right now. I don’t know any singers named ‘Silver;’ if you’re a young singer, it’s a good name and it’s available.”
Billy Jack Wills“Billy Jack was 20 years younger than Bob, and brought in a breath of fresh air and some new inspiration to the Texas Playboys.”
James Dean
Donald Trump
Jay Ohrberg
Pluma Davis
Robert Thurston
Robert Miller
Buck Owens
Merle Haggard
Stephen Foster
Jane McDowell
Hank Williams
Charles Carr
Charles “Cholly” Atkins
The Coasters
Geronimo
The Apaches
Teddy Roosevelt
John Wesley Work
Hannah Shepherd

Famous People Who Drove Cadillacs

Willamena of the Netherlands
Gustaffe V of Sweden
Pope Pius XII
John The 13th
Ike
Teddy Roosevelt
Nixon
Calvin Coolidge
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton

Famous Person Who Died in the Back of a Cadillac

Hank Williams

Famous Mr.’s

Reggie Jackson – Mr. October
James Brown – Mr. Dynamite
Joe DiMaggio – sold Mr. Coffee
Mr. T
Milton Burle – Mr. Television
Don Rickles – Mr. Warmth
Ray Milland – Mr. X, the man with the X-ray eyes
Mr. Zip

Other Songs and Albums

Mushmouth (Instrumental)
London Calling
Sent For You Yesterday and Here You Come Today (Count Basie) (clip)
Faded Love
Jail Bait
Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair (played in background, Bob recites lyrics)
Beautiful Dreamer
Oh, Susannah
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Places

French North America
Lake Erie
Lake St. Clair
Detroit
California
England
Switzerland
Connecticut
Burbank
Bakersfield
Blackboard Club
Higley, AZ
New York
Canton, OH
Bristol, WV
Oak Hill, WV
Arizona
New Mexico
Mexico
Washington, DC

Books, Movies, TV and Other Entertainment

1001 Nights
Aladdin’s Lamp
Webster’s Dictionary
Huckleberry Hound
Quick Draw McGraw
Rebel Without A Cause
Chicken

Record Labels

Gem
Peacock
Chess Records
Excello –The distinctive orange and purple

Cadillac Commercials

1958 Cadillac Commercial
Cadillac 1974

Kinds of Cadillacs:

El Dorado
Coupe Deville
Cimarron
Allante
Sedan DeVille
Series 75
Series 62
CTS
XLR
Escalade
The Catera

Head to Toe

It's nighttime in the Big City
2 high school kids steal a case of beer
Sneakers hang from a phone wire.

“ ‘What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals!
…Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’
William Shakespeare was asking‘What a piece of work is man’. Here on TTRH we’re more concerned with all the pieces. Tonight, or today if you’re listening during the day, I’ll be speaking off the top of my head. I excited down to the tips of my toes cause I have my fingers in a lot of pies but I’m not going to leave you without a leg to stand on. I’m gonna tell you that today we’re gonna be talking about the human body from head to toe.”

The Singers and The Song

“It’s important in a show like this to define our parameters, so lets start things off with Smokey Robinson and The Miracles-From Head to Toe”

“Did you know that it only takes 7 pounds of pressure to rip your ear off? Everyone’s tongue is different. They’re like fingerprints, though they wouldn‘t be as convenient for identification. Many people think that parts of your body continue to grow after your dead. This is not true. It’s an illusion. Your nails and your hair look like they keep growing because your body dries out and begins shrinking. Strange but true.”

The Delta Rhythm Boys with Lee Gains– Dry Bones

“We’re discussing the human body here on TTRH, and here’s the largest organ of the body, it grows faster than any other organ; I know you’re way ahead of me. You know it’s the skin.”

Louis Prima and Keeley Smith – I’ve Got You Under My Skin
“Louis was an influence on many people. As a matter a fact, back in the 50’s when they asked Elvis Pressley where he got his wiggle, he told them ‘from Louis Prima, of course.’ ”

“This is TTRH with Boney Themes, Sinewy Schemes, and Muscular Dreams”

Loretta Lynn – Fist City“that combination of fingers you don’t want to be on the business end of”

Johnny Copeland – Down On Bended Knee

Heart of Glass-Blondie (in background)

Sol Hoopii – Ten Tiny Toes, One Baby Nose

“Here’s another great finger song”

Hank Ballard and The Midnighters – Finger Poppin’ Time

The Monroe Brothers – Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms –“Like the speed metal of blue grass”

Gene Phillips – Big Legs “He’s in love with a woman who’s got some big legs. I understand his position completely.”

The Barbarians — Moulty

Archibald – She’s Scattered Everywhere

“We’d like to remind you that what soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul and the more you use your brain, the more brain you will have to use.”

(Shorty Walters-If I Only Had A Brain) background

Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys – Brain Cloudy Blues

Pete Seeger – Waist Deep in the Big Muddy

Rilo Kiley – With Our Arms Outstretched (Feat. Blake Senate, Jenny Lewis, Pierre Dereeder, Dave Rock)

Record Labels

Motown Records
RCA Victor Label
King Label
Modern Record Label

Places

Helsinki, Finland
Caanes, France (Bob’s there for the festival)“I wish you could see it. The planes going by, the girls in bikinis. Hard to keep my mind on the show but press on we must.”
Butcher Hollow, KY
Honolulu, HI
Los Angeles
Rural China
Southern Central LA
Houston, TX
Penn Station
Blarney Stone
Turkey, TX (where they have the Bob will’s Festival every April)
“ I guess you know where you can find me next April.”

Other people, etc.

Hugh Bryant
Billie (Betty) Friedan-feminist
Aimee Semple McPherson – evangelist
Ford Motors
Bahari Brothers -Modern Record Label
Doug Morris-Universal Music group“Hey Doug! Why don’t you write some more songs!”
Dave Bartholomew
Captain Hook
Lyndon Johnson
Lon Cheney – one of the greatest actors ever

TV, Entertainment and Movies

Disney
The Jungle Book (clip)
The David Frost Show
Movie (or something) clip “Human heart in circulation”
Jimmy Durante – clip
The Twist-dance
Sanford and Son – clip
Movie Clip – Marx Brothers??
The Wizard of Oz
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The Unknown (Lon Cheney as Alonzo)

Other Songs Singers and Albums

Van Lear Rose (2004 Loretta Lynn)
Jack White
Sonny Boy Williamson
Big Mama Thornton
Freddy King
The Royals
Bert Monroe
“Big Fat Mama”
“Fatso”
“Pumpkin Headed Woman”
Victor Moulton
Yip Harburg
Tommy Duncan

7 primary odors of the nose

camphor
Musk
Floral
Peppermint
ether
pungent
putrid

Literature

“The sense of smell is closely related to memory perhaps most famously explained by Marcel Proust. ‘When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered· the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls· bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory’ -Marcel Proust-Prose Author“ (The Remembrance of Things Past)

Laxative Makers

Texas Crystals Company
Crazy Water Crystals

Guest

Tom Waits (guest) x2“I don’t tell a lot of people this, but Tom Waits and I have been sending cassettes back and forth to each other for quite some time…“

History of handshake

When meeting, an open right hand shows you are not carrying a weapon.
Left hand considered the bathroom hand and is never used.
“I don’t know, I still don’t trust anybody who shows me only one hand.”

Rhythms Popular in the Past

Mambo
Tango
Cha Cha
The Twist
Mad Beats
“Great Music is not a prisoner of time. I love listening to stuff from 100 years ago and I love listening to stuff made last Tuesday. There’s a whole world out there and I hate think you’re going through it wearing blinders…Gettin’ crunk, here on TTRH.”
“Well, as the sun sets over the harbor here in Caanes, I can see that it’s time for us to go. In Closing I want to leave you with the words of Walt Whitman:

‘I sing the body electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.
Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?’
Good Question Walt. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go get a full body massage. I’ll see you next week right here on TTRH with more full-bodied Themes, Dreams and Schemes.”

Smoking

It’s night time in the big city
A man’s wife confronts his mistress
There’s a low cloud cover
Two runaways sleep in a doorway.

“This week we’ve got kind of a controversial subject…Something you’re not allowed to do inside a restaurant, or even a bowling alley. It didn’t used to be that way. It was something you used to be able to do right out in public. You didn’t have to hide in your own house doing it. Today’s show is all about smoking. We’re not here to encourage it or to glorify it. You’re smart enough to look up all the facts…So sit back, smoke em if you got em, and enjoy the next 60 minutes as we blow a few musical smoke rings your way.”

The Singers and The Songs

Tex Williams and His Western Caravan – Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)

The O’Jays – Lipstick Traces on a Cigarette
“…can get you in trouble or can remind you of the wonders of the night before”

Joe Maphis & Rose Lee – Dim Lights, Thick Smoke, and Loud, Loud Music

Baron Lee – Reefer Man
“You know some people don’t smoke tobacco. They’re smoking some other stuff. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. Some people call it pot, weed, grass, marijuana, loco weed, ganja, reefer, chiba, sensimilla, chronic, mary jane, or dope. Whatever you call it, you smoke it and you get high. Here’s a song all about it. It was written in 1927, though this version’s from a few years later…You gotta be smokin’ something to be calling watermelons pickles!”

Steve Purdy and the Studs – The Weed
“Here’s the crazy part of this record – it’s a band of 15 year olds! Imagine a group of 15 year olds singing about smoking now days…the mind boggles!”

The Replacements – More Cigarettes
(Paul Westerberg, the Stinson Brothers, and Chris Mars)

The Reverend J. M. Gates – Smoking Woman in the Street

Sam Cooke – Smoke Rings

Billy Briggs – Chew Tobacco Rag I & II

Paul Champlain and the Emeralds – Nicotine“The thing I like about bands that put out only one record is that sometimes both sides of it are amazing. I turned over Shortnin’ Bread and I found this!”

Brownsville Station – Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room

Red Ingle and the Natural Seven – Cigareets, Whuskey, and Wild, Wild Women

The Visions – Cigarette“It’s one of the great mysteries of life that I know more about Spud cigarettes than I do about our next artists, but that’s not gonna stop me from playing ‘em.”

John D. Loudermilk – Tobacco Road

Other Players and People

Oscar Wilde
Merle Travis
Spade Cooley “Smart man that Spade Cooley – at least until he beat his wife to death.”
Christopher Columbus
Jean Nicot
Gamblin’ Huff
Alan Toussaint
Robert Golag
Tex Ritter
Rick Nelson
Wanda Jackson
Semie Moseley
Native Americans
Lakota and Sioux
Douglas Leigh
James Joyce
Lucky Millender
Lew Chudd
Willard Scott
Wayne McLaren
David McLean
Cub Koda
The Del-Tinos
Houndog Taylor
Motley Crue
The Hombres
Gary McEwen
B.B. Cunningham
Huey P. Meaux
Spike Jones
Ernie Kovacs
Edie Adams “Hats off to Edie Adams: sexy, loyal, patron of the arts.”
Erskine Caldwell
Jeeter Lester
Cherokee
Paul Revere and The Raiders
Luis Bunuel– If alcohol is queen, then tobacco is her consort…

Other Songs and Albums

I’m A Fool For a Cigarette (Ry Cooder) (clip)
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Mr. Soul
Shortnin’ Bread
Let it All Hang Out
Indian Reservation

Places

Texas
Ramsey, IL
LA
Europe
France
Walworth, England
Fort Worth, TX
The Plaza Hotel
Palmer House
Chicago
Webster, MA
Georgia
Durham, NC “I’m pretty sure that’s tobacco country.”

Record Labels / Guitar Companies

Bear Family
Mosrite Guitars
Imperial
Harper

TV, Movies, Books, and Magazines

Ranch Party
Ranch Party
The Tonight Show
John Wayne PSA (clip)
The Magnificent Seven (music played in background)
The Vinyl Junkie“It was a constant booster of music you couldn’t hear anywhere else – at least until Theme Time Radio Hour came on. Cub was a good writer and had great taste. He opened a lot of people’s ears to a lot of great music.”
Goldmine Magazine
God’s Little Acre
Tobacco Road

Guest

T Bone Burnett“Thanks for calling, Bone…enjoy the Weed!”
John Cusack

Cigarette Brands and Advertisement

Lucky Strike
Virginia Slims commercial – last cig commercial shown on TV
Times Square Camel Billboard
The Marlboro Man “From 1943 to 1944, Marlboro ads were created to attract women. The cigarettes were more feminine. But eventually they wanted to butch it up a bit.”
Marlboro commercial – clip
The Flintstones Winston commercial
Kool
Spud
Muriel Milds

Slang for Cigarettes

Smokes
Butts
Ciggies
Stogies
Bogies
Darts
Straights
Jacks
Fags
Cancer Sticks
Coffin Nails
Doogies and Rollies (Australia)
“Whatever you call ‘em, light ‘em up!”

Misc

The All Music Guide
Peace Pipe

“Well that’s it; we’ve covered the pros and cons of smoking. I’m gonna empty out the ashtrays, air the room, and get ready for next week, cause you know there’s another theme just around the corner, and I hope you’ll be there when we hold it up to the light.”

Dreams

It’s night time in the big city
Thunder echoes through the streets
A man rents a hotel room under an assumed name.

The Singers and the Songs

Dinah Washington – Darn That Dream“We play a lot of jazz singers on this show…but sometimes the great soloists go unappreciated. In the background, there’s a long tenor saxophone solo from a live recording by Dinah Washington. The saxophone player’s name is Harold Land http://hardbop.tripod.com/land.html , and like many great horn players he came from Texas. He moved to Los Angeles and played with both of the Liggins brothers, starting off with Jimmy’s band and then going with the more famous Joe Liggins”

The Everly Brothers – All I Have To Do Is Dream “I got to hear that intro again, can we hear that, Tex?”

Tony Bennett – Boulevard of Broken Dreams (song)

Otis Redding – I’ve Got Dreams to Remember

Roy Orbison – In Dreams

Charlie Mingus – Weird Nightmare

The Chords“I always make a point whenever possible to give the names of vocal groups, because all too often they’re just given as a collective noun. Like in this case, you talk about the Chords, you’ve heard them played on oldies shows, on roots of rock shows, but no one ever gives them a moment as individuals. So for James, Carl, Claude, the other James, and Floyd, here’s their big hit, in 1954 – and they wrote it, by the way! It wasn’t even supposed to be the hit. You know Jerry Wexler, who was their A & R guy, had them record this Patty Page song, ‘Cross Over the Bridge,’ but the buying public wasn’t having it. They turned it over, and found this on the B side. Listen carefully to the saxophone solo. A lot of the guys that play horn on these records have deep jazz roots, and if you listen to the beginning of this solo, you can hear the sax player quote the standard, ‘Mean to Me.”

The Louvin Brothers – When I Stop Dreaming

The Lovin’ Spoonful – Daydream“…who by the way got their name from the same place as the English rock band, 10cc ”

The Cherry Pies – Do You Keep On Dreaming?

Big Bill Broonzy – Just a Dream (On My Mind)

Arnett Cobb – When I Grow Too Old To Dream

Tom Waits – Innocent When You Dream“Here Tom Waits captures that drunken sea-sick lurch that dreams sometimes have, while he bemoans the real world.”

Other Songs and Albums

The Honey Dripper
Pink Champagne
Otis Redding
Camptown Races
Swanee River
My Old Kentucky Home
Hard Times
Oh, Susannah
Flying Home
Frank’s Wild Years

Other People and Players

Clifford Brown
Max Roach
Eric Dolphy
Tangerine Dream
Chet Atkins“Probably the most recorded solo instrumentalist in music history. He built RCA Studio B, probably the most hit-generating studio in Nashville. He lived for the music, and at one time said, ‘Years from now, after I’m gone someone will listen to what I’ve done and know I was here. They might not know or care who I was but they’ll hear my guitar speaking for me. We hear ya, Chet.”
Les Paul
Dolly Parton
Skeeter Davis
Waylon Jennings
Napoleon Bonaparte
Jose Canseco
Mitch Miller
Langston Hughes
The Bar-Kays
Stephen Foster
Roy Orbison
David Lynch
Dennis Hopper
Frank Booth
Duke Ellington
Willie Smith
Bucky Thompson
Lester Young
Lee Young
Claude Treniers
The Treniers
Mary Shelley
Robert Louis Stevenson
Abraham Lincoln
Frederick August Von Kekule “He once had a dream about a snake biting its own tail. From that dream, he figured out the structure of Benzene. I woulda just figured it was a sex dream or something.’”
The Greeks
Heraclides
The Romans
Alfred Maury
Elvis Presley
James Edwards
James Keyes
Floyd McCrae
Pete Townsend
Faye (Ira Louvin’s 3rd wife)
Anne Young
10cc
John Sebastian
Lionel Hampton
Illinois Jaquet (tenor sax solo on Flying Home)“It was great on the record, but especially when played live people could hear the birth of rock and roll.”
Oscar Hammerstein
Sigmund Romberg
William Butler Yeats “Emerald Poet”

Record Labels

Cadence Records
Columbia

Places

Texas
Madison, WI
The South
Pennsylvania
Cincinnati
New York City
Ancient Egypt
Kansas City
Williamsburg, MO
Houston, TX

Books and Poems

The Talmud
Dreams (L. Hughes)
Frankenstein
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Aunt Sally’s Policy Players Dream Book
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (WB Yeats)
Ode (Arthur O’Shaughnessy) (Quote from this poem also used in movie Willie Wonka, below)

Guests

Elvis Costello (sings a few lines of Beautiful Dreamer)
Jenny Lewis
Marianne Faithful – ran into her at Dunkin Donuts“She had an old fashioned powdered and I had a cruller”

Movies

Blue Velvet
Willie Wonka (clip)
The Wizard of Oz (clip)

Common Dreams (according to Bob anyway)

Being chased or attacked
Being injured, ill, or dying
A car or other vehicle trouble
House or property loss or damage
Poor tests or other poor performances
Falling or flying
Being naked in public or inappropriately dressed
Missing the boat or other transport
Machine or telephone malfunction
Sex
Natural or man made disasters
Being lost or trapped
Being menaced by the dead or a spirit

“These are the most common dreams, as opposed to candy colored clowns.”

Party

It’s night time in the big city
A woman cuts pictures of places she’ll never visit out of a magazine
I wonder if there’s any cake left.

Words for parties and partying

Banquets and bashes
Benders and binges
Carousels and Crushers
Feasts and galas
Get-togethers
Hoedowns
Hops
Hullabaloos
Jags and jigs
Carousing
Cavorting
Celebrating
Commemorating
Drinking
Getting down
Grooving
Hanging loose
Having fun
Letting down our hair
Making merry
Painting the town red
Raising the roof
Rejoicing
Reveling
And whooping it up
“Let’s get this party started!”

The Singers and The Songs

The Showstoppers – Ain’t Nothin’ But A House Party“I love records like this one where they use the baritone sax to drive the bass along. It’s a sound you never get sick of.”

Wanda Jackson – Let’s Have A Party“Elvis recorded this record before Wanda did, but you can give me Wanda’s version any day…You know, it’s almost criminal that she isn’t in the rock and roll hall of fame. I mean you just heard that record.”

Jesse Allen – Let’s Party“He was a guy I don’t know a lot about. I know he’s from New Orleans. I like the way he sings; love the way he plays guitar. And other than that, I don’t know anything.

Don and Dewey – Baby Gotta Party“Here’s a wild record, two twin bundles of TNT.”

Lesley Gore – It’s My Party

Buddy Knox – Party Doll

Smiley Lewis – Caledonia’s Party

The Enchanters – I Paid For The Party

Claudine Clark – Party Lights“It’s a shame this was her only hit but if you have only one it’s a good thing it sounds like Party Lights.”

Al Johnson – Carnival Time

Louis Jordan & His Tympany 5 – House Party“He had 57 R & B chart hits and many more that are less known, but they still rock with a steady roll.”

Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton – The Party
“One of those melodramatic life lessons that country music is so full of”

Lord Beginner – After the Bacchanal

Elvis Costello & the Attractions – Party Girl

Blossom Dearie – The Party’s Over

Other People and Players

Alec and Laddy Burke
Solomon Burke
Amy Winehouse
Nick Thompson (discovered Wanda Jackson)
Gene Shepherd
Elvis Presley
Link Wray
Richard Barrie
Don Terry
Don Bowman
Don Harris
Don Sugarcane Harris
Art Rupee
Dale and Grace
The Osmonds
The Righteous Brothers“Pretty much based their entire act on Don and Dewey”
Lee Allen (musician)
Earle Palmer
John Lee Hooker
Johnny Otis
Frank Zappa
Quincy Jones
Lionel Hampton
Dizzy Gillespie
Jimmy Bowen
Roy Orbison
William S. Burroughs
Neil Armstrong
Buzz Aldren
Michael Jackson
Steven Spiel berg
The Rhythm Orchids
Norman Petty
Buddy Holly
Garnet Mimms
Bob Elgin
Jerry Ragovoy
Spanish Missionaries
Aztecs
Bacchus– Roman god of wine and intoxication
Eduardo Sa Gomes
Attila the Hun
The Growling Tiger
Lord Kitchener
Emily Post
Paris Hilton
Betty Comden
Adolph Green
Jule Styne
Woody Herman
Alvino Ray
The Blue Stars of France
Norman Granz

Artists in the TTRH Wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Wanda Jackson
Link Wray
Richard Berry
Jesse Allen

Other Songs and Albums

Rehab (clip)
Hot Barbecue (clip)
Off The Wall
Thriller
The Theme from the Cosby Show
I’m Leaving It Up To You
Cocoa Joe
Justine
Big Boy Pete
Willie the Pimp
Hot Rats
Austin Powers music
Fly Me To The Moon
I’m Stickin’ With You
Soul Bossa Nova (clip played in background)

Places

New Orleans
Paris
Clovis, NM
Philadelphia
Macon, GA
Mexico
Italy
England
Trinidad and Tobago
New York
The Catskills

People Who Made ‘Party Records’“…would be kind of tame by today’s standards, but they were titillating and risqué in their day.”

Belle Barth
Bruce Wallace
Kay Martin
Rudy Ray Moore (Dolemite)
Redd Foxx (Clip)

Record Labels

Specialty Records
Roulette Records
Port-Of-Spain Label
Verve Records

Books and Poems

The Wild Party – Joseph Moncure March (W.S. Burroughs once said it was this book that made him want to become a writer)

Movies, TV Shows, Etc.

The Pawn Broker
In Cold Blood
In The Heat of the Night
The Color Purple
The Fresh Prince of Belair
Mad TV
What Makes a Good Party
The Warriors (clip)
Mary Jane (clip)

Guests

Amy Sedaris
Richard Lewis

Ways to light a party

Rope lights
Colored bulbs
Chinese paper lanterns
Tea candles
Black light
Glow sticks

“Well, that’s it for us this week. I gotta go fish the cigarette butts out of the sink, sweep up the broken glass, call the carpet cleaners, and I got to figure out who that is sleeping on my couch. While I’m gonna do all that, you do what you got to do and we’ll meet up here again next week for an all new theme on TTRH. Party on dude!”

Countdown

It’s nighttime in the big city
Rain beats against the window pane
A woman takes a shower before going home to her husband

“Remember, some cars can go from zero to sixty in under 10 seconds. But, here on TTRH we can go from 10 to zero in just a little under an hour.”

The Singers and The Songs

Eve’s Ten Commandments – Helen Fleming

Nine Have Tried (And Nine Have Died) – The Carlisles“We could use some great musicians to don’t take themselves to seriously nowadays.”

Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar – The Andrews Sisters

7 H Du Matin – Jacqueline Taieb“Wear the red one, Jackie!”
(clip of English version as well)

007 (Shanty Town) – Desmond Dekker “Song about the rude boy gansta ghetto culture in Jamaica”

James Bond Theme (clip)

Six Days on the Road – Dave Dudley

Five O’Clock Whistle – Duke Ellington & Ivie Anderson

Four Five Or Six Times – Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies

Three Hearts In A Tangle – James Brown

Cocktails For Two – Spike Jones & His City Slickers “That was all done live in the studio…”

“What we just heard was ridiculous-delightfully so…”

I Want Two Wings – Rev. Utah Smith“He wore giant angel wings strapped to his shoulder blades when he performed this song as a street corner evangelist…”

One Bad Stud – The Honey Bears

One Hand Loose – Charlie Feathers “The wild man himself, the tip top daddy…”

Less Than Zero (Dallas Version) – Elvis Costello & the Attractions (the rare Dallas live version)

Other Singers, Players and Songs

Rocket # 9 – song clip Sun Ra (Herman Sunny Blount)
Going Home
Bill Carlisle
Cliff Carlisle
Chet Atkins
Hee Haw Gospel Quartet
Michael Fugain
Vivian Tibot
Eve Montagne
Jacqueline Tiab is Back – album
Truck Driving Son of a Gun — song
Trucker’s Prayer – song
5 O’Clock Shadow
Dick Nixon and The Richards (faux)
Roy Dusky– song clip
Casey Kasem American Top 40 clip
Ray Pennington (Ray Star)
Sid Nathan – talking clip
Sam Coslow
Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller
Sam Phillips
Elvis
“I Forgot to Remember to Forget”
“Radio, Radio”

Other People

Charlton Heston
Moses
Cecil B. DeMille
Leona King Carlisle
Ian Fleming
Sean Connery
Jack Mcall – shot wild bill
Oswald Mosley

Record Labels

Bluebird
Golden Wing Label
Constitution Label
King Record Label
Spark Record Label
Sun Records
Flip records
King records

Places

Cahn
Spencer, WI
Minneapolis
Hollywood
NYC
Slayton MS
Memphis

Movies, TV and Entertainment

The Ten Commandments (1956)– movie clip
Touch of evil
The Big Country
Planet of the Apes
Soilent Green
The Eight to the Bar Ranch (radio show)
Sesame Street – clip
Goldfinger
Casino Royale
License to Kill
Warner Brothers (cartoons)
Murder at the Vanities
SNL

Awards

Gene Hershelt Humanitarian award
Kennedy Center Lifetime Achivement Award

Guests

Cat power
Amy Sedaris
Elvis Costello

Etc.

Busman’s Holiday – doing something on your day off that you do all week at work

People who died while playing cards

Wild Bill Hickok
Al Jolson
Buster Keaton
Arnold Rothstein – fixed 1919 World Series

“I got to blast off!”

One

It’s night time in the big city
Temptation is on every corner
A man rents a hotel room under an assumed name.

“For the next sixty minutes, we’re gonna be talking about one horse towns, one track minds, one armed bandits, one false move, one in a million, one too many, one way or another, one brick shy of a load, and one and only. So stay here one and all, and listen to songs on a singular subject, that subject being ‘number one.’”

The Singers and The Songs

Harry Nilsson – One

Buddy Guy — First Time I Met the Blues

Jan Howard and Wynne Stewart – The One You Slip Around With

The Five Royales – Dedicated to the One I Love“I don’t think anybody ever did it as good as the folks who did it first.”

Smiley Lewis – One Night (clip)

Elvis Presley – One Night “Even though it’s a little cleaner (than S. Lewis’s version), you can’t fault Elvis. It was the taste of times and he’d already broken enough rules.”

The Contours – First I Look At The Purse

Anita O’Day – Johnny One Note

Josh White – One Meat Ball

The Impressions – I’m The One Who Loves You“…had Curtis Mayfield at the helm. Curtis was a triple threat: he wrote the songs, he played guitar on the songs, he sang on the songs.”

Miriam Makeba and the Skylarks – Make Us One

Los Lobos – One Time, One Night“It’s like a series of snapshots of a neighborhood in the bayou.”

Billy Gayles w/ Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm– Just One More Time“He was a tortured soul capable of great darkness, but you can’t always let someone’s bad qualities be the only thing that you remember them by. Ike Turner was capable of great art and the world of music is a poorer place for his loss.”

George Jones – Just One More

Otis Spann – One More Mile To Go

Other Singers, Players, and Folks

The Monkees
The Yardbirds
The Beatles
Godzilla
Willie Dixon
Herman Melville
Ishmael
Harry Stanley
King George IV
Caroline of Brunswick
The Earl of Malmesbury
Harlan Howard
Kitty Wells
Patsy Cline
Bill Anderson
James Browne
Eric Clapton
Steve Cropper
The Mamas and Papas
Lowman Pauling
The Shirelles
Agatha Christie
Maurice Chevalier
Albert Pierrepoint
Perry Como
The Eagles
Bill Haley
Joe Turner
Thomas and Henrietta Maria Bowdler
Charles Thompson
Smokey Robinson
Hubert Johnson
Jackie Wilson
Berry Gordy
Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart
Alexander Dumont
The Hells Angels“A noted motorcycle gang”
Pete Seeger
Roosevelt
Pete Rose
Cincinnati Reds
Harry Belafonte
JFK
Marilyn Monroe
Hugh Masekela
Stokely Charmichael
Nelson Mandela
Betsy Ross
Carl Sandburg
Thomas Paine
Edgar Allen Poe
Mozart
Tina Turner
Howling Wolf
B. B. King
Johnny Guitar Watson
Beethoven
Dallas Frazier
Muddy Waters
Dirty Rivers (pseudonym)
James Cotton

Movies, TV, Broadway and Books

Midnight Cowboy
The Point
Moby Dick
The Matrix
Sunshine and Shadow
The Secret Adversary
Sermons on the Doctrines and Duties of Christianity
The Family Shakespeare
High Times, Hard Times
The Garrick Gaieties
Babes in Arms
The Three Musketeers
Spinal Tap
King Kong (the musical)
Common Sense

Places

Brooklyn
Agora, CA
Iceland
Tokyo
Chicago
Los Angeles
Las Vegas
Memphis
Vietnam
Columbia University
Johannesburg, South Africa
Carnegie Hall
Madison Square Garden

Record Labels

Cobra
Federal
Sun Records
Chess Records
Prestige

Other Songs and Albums

Mommy for a Day
I Fall to Pieces
My Son (Jan Howard)
Catch a Falling Star
The Eagles Greatest Hits Worlds – 1st platinum record for selling over 1 million copies“I know I musta bought it five times.”
S hake, Rattle and Roll
Do You Love Me
Lady is a Tramp
My Funny Valentine
Pata Pata

Bob’s Perfect Meatball Recipe

3 minced cloves of garlic
¼ c veg oil for frying
1 lb. ground meat (Bob uses equal parts beef, pork, and veal)
¼ c grated parmesan cheese
9 saltine crackers, (crush ‘em up fine)
½ t each of salt, black pepper, oregano, and dried basil
1 T chopped fresh parsley (gotta be fresh)
¼ c water
1 egg
1 t tomato paste
Heat oil over low heat in a large Dutch oven
In a big bowl add meat garlic cheese crackers spices
Mix with fingers, don’t be shy, get into it
In a small bowl whisk water egg and tomato paste
Add the two mixtures and mix lightly with fingers
Form into balls
Cook in batches until brown on both sides, about 5 minutes

Walking

It’s nighttime in the Big City
A local band packs their gear into a van
It’s easier to buy a gun than cold medicine

The Singers and Songs

Jack Scott (Jack Scarfone JR.) – The Way He Walks
(Frankie Lee Sims – Walkin’ With Frankie)
Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers – Walk Right In
Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – Walk ‘Em
“This is TTRH. Strolling themes, parading schemes and walking dreams.”
Fats Domino – I’m Walkin’
Jimmy Rogers – Walking By Myself
Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side
Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
Jimmie Rushing – Walkin’ Slow Behind You
Allen Brothers – Jake Walk Blues
The Mills Brothers w/ Louis Armstrong – My Walking Stick“A man isn’t completely dressed without a hat and walking stick.”
Jimmy McCracklin – The Walk
(Johnny Smith – Walk Don’t Run! -background)
Stonewall Jackson – Why I’m Walking

Other people

Frederick Nietze
Aldous Huxley
Thomas Jefferson
Picasso
Renee Fladen – girlfriend of Tom Fin
Arthur Blessed – walked across the country and world w/ a 12 foot cross (1969)“I wonder if he ever ran into Art Garfunkle?”
Lucky Luciano
Meyer Lansky
Bugsy Segal
Murder Inc.
Thomas Stonewall Jackson
Pete Fisher – General manager of Grand Ole Opry

Other singers and songs

Robert Gordon
Link Wray
The Weavers
Eric Darling
Pete Seeger
Lynn Taylor
Frank Sinatra
Sophie Tucker
Jerry Lewis
Brian Wilson
Michael Brown
The Beach Boys
Tom Fin
“Pretty Ballerina”
Earl Palmer
Frank Fields
Walter Papoose Nelson
Ricky Nelson
“I’m Walking”
Art Garfunkle
Muddy Waters
“Sloppy Drunk”
“Back Door Friend”
Big Walter Harden – harmonica – “playing like his life depended on it”
The Velvet Underground
Transformer
David Bowie
Mick Ronson
Andy Warhol
Berlin-Lou Reed Record
Waylon Jennings-disc jockey on KLLL
Buddy Holly
Holy Blanc? – song
The Big Bopper
Count Basie
Paul Gonzalez
“Walking with Mr. Lee”
Smiley Lewis
Bill Richard
Lloyd Price
The Blasters
Lee Allen
Austin Allen
The Chattanooga Boys
“Salty Dog Blues”
“Bow Wow Blues”
Laughing and Crying Blues
Harry Mills
Irving Berlin
The Ventures
Johnny Smith
NBC Pit Orchestra
Stan Goetz
“Moonlight in Vermont”
Grand Ole Opry
Ernest Tubbs and the Texas Troubadours

Places

Canada
The Left Bank
Boston
New Orleans
Manhattan
New York
Oregon
Chicago
Nicaragua
Morocco
Tanzania
Lithuania
Kenya
Assisi, Italy
Nigeria
Lubbock
Phoenix
LA
Piqua, OH

Record Labels

Vanguard Records
A and M Records
RCA
Victor Records
Columbia (Race Series and Old Time Series)
Chess Records

Guest

Ricky Gervais
John C. Raleigh (Chicago guy)

TV, Lit., Movies etc.

Lord Byron-She Walks in Beauty
Zoolander(clip)
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett
A Midnight Cowboy (clip)
“…any guy that we hit, he asked to be hit.” (movie clip)
Robert Frost – The Fork in the Road
Jake – Jamaican ginger extract
The Jake walk, the Jake leg

“Until next week, if I see you or you see me, just keep walking”

Around The World pt.1

It’s night time in the big city
A pawn shop owner shuts his iron gate
A man realizes he is in love.

“As we told you on our ‘Hello’ show, there’s many ways to say hello. Well I hope you’re taking notes, cause this week we’re gonna use em.”

The Singers and The Songs

Blossom Dearie – Rhode Island Is Famous For You

The Coasters – Down In Mexico

Freddy Fender – Acapulco Rock

Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London

The Pogues – Dark Streets of London

Edith Piaf – Sous le Ciel de Paris

The Four Lads – Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Shoba – A Sambe Siye E Goli (Let’s Go To Johannesburg)

Joe Ely – She Never Spoke Spanish to Me

Toots Thielemans & Elis Regina – Aquerela Do Brasil

The Byrds – Blue Canadian Rockies

Hal Swain and His Band – Hunting Tigers Out In India (Yah)

Buck Owens – Made in Japan“The last man to hit the top 10 with a crew cut.”

(Sonny Rollins – How are Things in Glocca Morra – (background)

The Beatles – Back in the USSR

Other People and Players

Howard Dietz
Arthur Schwartz
Jack Haley
George M. Cohan
Nelson Eddy
Peter and Bobby Farrelly
Spalding Gray
H.P. Lovecraft
Gilbert Stuart
Scott Hamilton
Aztecs
El Santo
Fats Domino
Big Joe Turner
Eddy and the Shades
Scotty Wayne
Eddy Medina
Billie Holiday
Louis Leplee
Johnnie Ray
Mitch Miller
Constantine the Great
Sultan Mehmet II
George Bernard Shaw
L.L. Zamenhof
Bernard Stollman
Pharaoh Sanders
Ornette Coleman
Sun Ra
The Fugs
The Holy Modal Rounders
William Burroughs
Paul Bley
Butch Hancock
Samuel De Champlain
Queen Victoria
Sean Connery
Spice Girls
Yip Harburg
Burton Lane
James Hilton
Plato
Donovan
Superman
Brainiac (comics)
C.S. Lewis
L. Frank Baum
The Marx Brothers

Movies, TV, Broadway, Books

Inside U.S.A.
The Wolf Man
ESPN
Finian’s Rainbow
Lost Horizon
Duck Soup

Places

Mexico
Rio Grande
Turkey
Paris
Africa
Warsaw, Poland
Lubbock, TX
South America
Sao Paulo
Rio De Janeiro
Brazil
Canada
Quebec
France
India“…has half the world’s population of tigers; I think the rest of them are in Detroit.”
The Indian Empire“There were rumors at one point we were going to swap England India for Canada, but actually this is just a rumor I’m trying to start.”
Suez Canal
Bakersfield, CA
Shangri-La
Himalayas
Atlantis
Kandor
Krypton
Narnia
Oz
Utopia
Freedonia
Moscow
Armenia
Estonia
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Russia
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
Uzbekistan

Places that have undergone a name change

Ethiopia / Abyssinia
Ceylon / Sri Lanka
Persia / Iran
Mesopotamia / Iraq
Siam / Thailand
Moldavia / Moldova

Record Labels

Atco
ESP

Guest

Luke Wilson

Other Songs and Albums

Cry “Cry and Little White Cloud on one single…that’s value for your buck!”
The Little White Cloud That Cried
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
(not Sweethearts of the Rodeo)
Freedonia National Anthem (clip)
The White Album

Random Etymology

POSH

Around the World pt. 2

It’s night time in the big city
A woman realizes she’s no longer in love
The batteries in the remote control are dead

“Here at TTRH, we circumnavigate the globe and bring back music for your edification.”

The Singers and The Songs

Little Willie John – All Around the World

Sir Douglas Quintet – Nuevo Laredo

Gerry and the Pace Makers – Ferry Cross the Mersey

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie – Night in Tunisia (clip background)

Celia Cruz – Africa

The Ink Spots – When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano“Everybody wanted to sing like Bill Kinney. You can hear him in Clyde McFadder, Jackie Wilson, Elvis Presley, and a host of others who don’t even know they’re trying to sing like Bill Kinney, who try to sing like Clyde McFadder, Jackie Wilson, Elvis Presley, etc. etc., and so it goes, down the lines of history.”

Chris Powell & The Blue Flames – I Come From Jamaica“This song’s from the early 50’s and it’s one of the first American records I know to be influenced by the rhythms coming out of Jamaica.”

Lloyd Clark – Japanese Girl

Cannon’s Jug Stompers – Going to Germany

Warren Smith – Ubangi Stomp

Hank Thompson – Rockin in the Congo“A lot of the rockabilly and country guys were fascinated with this part of the world.”

Maxine Sullivan – Loch Lomond “…along with her husband John Kirby, swinging the traditional song.”

The Clancy Brothers — The Irish Rover “This song…is an old songs. There’s lots of variant versions of it, but these are the guys I first heard singing it. I heard it live; you’re gonna have to hear it on a record.”

Ricky Nelson – Travelin’ Man

Josh White – I Don’t Intend to Die in Egyptland

Dean Martin – Arrivederci Roma“Italy is shaped like a boot, and one guy I get a boot out of is Dean Martin. He was the smoothest singer of the 50’s and 60’s; Elvis Presley wanted to be him, as did Frank Sinatra, for two very different reasons. Here’s Deano…and I call him Deano.”

Wreckless Eric – Whole Wide World

Other People and Players

Sid Nathan (clip about a trip he took to Europe)
Alfred Wegener
Brian Epstein
George Martin
Bob Wooler ‘DJ of The Cavern Club’“I can only hope I can be as influential as a disc jockey as Bob Wooler was.”
The Beatles
Chano Pozo
Clyde McFadder
Jackie Wilson
Elvis Presley
Max Roach
Clifford Brown
Derek Morgan
Derek and Lloyd
Yoko Ono (song clip in background)
Toshi Ichiyanagi
Walter Scott
Robert Louis Stevenson
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sean Connery
Annie Lennox
John Hannah
Robert Burns
Loch Ness Monster
Dr. Robert Kenneth Wilson
John Huston
John Ford
Leif Erickson
Marco Polo
Christopher Columbus
Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco De Gama
Vasco Balboa
Cortez
Fernando Desoto

Places

Italy
The Congo
Pangaea“a super-continent…and I’m not makin that word up.”
Texas
The River Mersey
Liverpool
United Kingdom
Cavern Club
The North End Music Store
Capistrano
Albania
Philadelphia
Jamaica
Tokyo
London
Carnegie Hall
India
Italy
Spain
Memphis
Ubangi River
The Republic of Congo
The Central African Republic
The Sudan
Uganda
Rwanda
Burundi
Tanzania
Zambia
Angola
The Atlantic Ocean
Memphis, TN
Scotland
Loch Ness “no relation to Elliot”
Ireland
Dublin
New Bedford, MA
County Cork
County Galway
North America
China
W. Indies
Caribbean Isles
Panama
Mississippi River
Frank Sinatra
Elvis Presley

Record Labels

King
Sun
Capital

Guests

Steve Earle
Tom

Other Songs and Albums

Satellite Radio (clip)

Movies

Braveheart
Moby Dick

“Some people are just travelers. Other people want to get there first; they’re called explorers.”

Lock and Key

It’s night time in the big city
A school teacher drinks alone
They’re finally tearing down the old shoe factory

“We’re gonna be locked up, locked out, keyed up, wound up, we’re gonna be talking about church keys and skate keys, we’ll listen to the key of C and learn about the key to good living. There’ll be lip locks, Loch Ness, time locks, and vapor locks. Before the end of it we might even get the key to the city. So I hope you’re all locked and loaded and sitting by your radio.”

The Singers and The Songs

Bessie Smith – Lock and Key“We’re gonna start it all off old school.”

Sonny Boy Williamson – The Key (To Your Door)“Kind of a crazy march…sounds like they were all playing in different keys there for a minute. Personally, I don’t think it was actually the key to her door that he was looking for; maybe he was looking for the key to her chastity belt.”

Adam Hebert & The Country Playboys – Ouvre Cette Porte

Jimmy Nelson – Unlock the Lock

Lucinda Williams – Changed the Lock“Time Magazine called her America’s best songwriter in 2002…I guess I was out of town.”

Wynonie Harris – Somebody’s Changed the Lock on My Door

Dusty Fletcher – Open the Door, Richard (partial clip)

Jack McVea and His All Stars – Open the Door, Richard“See, that song can be done any kinda way…’bout time for it to come back again. Maybe I’ll even do it.”

Little Walter – Key to the Highway

Groovey Joe Poovey – Ten Long Fingers“Kind of a rockabilly, piano based version of Johnny B. Goode.”

Henry ‘Red’ Allen – Who Stole the Lock on the Henhouse Door“One of the last great New Orleans trumpet players. He was overshadowed by Louis but he actually had a fresh approach. In the 60’s he was still playing, and Don Ellis called him the most creative and avant garde trumpet player in New York.”

Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies – You’re Bound to Look Like a Monkey“You don’t get any more western swing than this.”

The Detroit Cobras – You Don’t Knock

Other People and Players

Ma Rainey
Robert Johnson
Robert Nighthawk
Robert Lockwood Jr.
Howlin’ Wolf
Mary Burnett
Gus Cannon
Clay Richard
Belton Richard
Big Joe Turner (clip played)
Harry Houdini
Kinky Freidman
Bihari Brothers
Jimmy Nelson
Bing Crosby
Gus Edwards
Jimmy Valentine
William Sydney Porter
O. Henry
Wynona Judd
Louis Jordan
Dick Haymes
The Pied Pipers
The Yokels
Fred Allen
Clive and Naomi (clip of Open the Door, Richard)
Count Basie
Eric Clapton
Buddy Guy
John Hammond Jr.
Derek Trucks Band
Junior Wells
The Band
Big Bill Broonzy
Egyptians
Sampson
John the Baptist
King Tut
Francis Scott Key
Kathleen Key
Buster Keaton
Tirzah
Ellen Key
(And of course I would be remiss if I did not mention) Alisha Keyes
Carlos Santana
Sri Chinmoy “difficult to pronounce poet”
Don Ellis
Sy Oliver
Clarence Williams
Gordo
Pop Staples
Porter Wagoner
St. Peter
Jesus
Walt Whitman“safecracker of the soul”

Places

The Delta
Louisiana
Mississippi
Georgia
Arkansas
Mexico City
Santiago, Chile
Jamaica
Dallas, TX
Louisiana
Detroit

Record Labels

Trumpet
Chess
Swallow Records
King Records
Apollo Records
Victor
OK Records
Vee-Jay Records

Books, Stories, Movies, and Other Entertainment

Webster’s Dictionary
King Biscuit Radio show
The Skeleton Key
The Secret Life of Houdini
A Retrieved Reformation
Vaudeville
The Chitlin’ Circuit
Borat
The Bible
Ghostbusters (clip)
Ben Hur
Foghorn Leghorn (clip)

Poems

The Lock and The Key (Sri Chinmoy)
The Imprisoned Soul (W.Whitman)

Other Songs

Johnny B. Goode
Star Spangled Banner

Guests

Larry Ratso Sloman
Amy Sedaris
Luke Wilson

Types of locks

Cylinder locks
Pin tumbler locks
Combination locks
Permutation locks
Electronic locks
Ignition locks
Mortise locks
Padlocks
Bicycle locks
Child safety locks
Magnetic locks
Warden locks
Key card locks
Bagels and Lox (in the northeastern states)
Dreadlocks

“Sometimes we tell you who wrote the song, what kind of music it is, who else recorded it, but you know sometimes we don’t get it right. I mean it’s important to remember this isn’t a classroom here; it’s music of the field, the pool hall, the back alley crap game, the barroom and the bedroom. We don’t want to make it dusty and academic. It’s full of sweat and blood, it’s like life itself. If every once in a while we get a name wrong, or we tell you it’s on the wrong label, it’s not gonna kill anybody…just listen to the music.”

Mail

It’s night time in the big city
A hotdog vendor drains water from his cart
There’s a low cloud cover.

“We’ll be talking about love letters, pen pals, going postal, ransom notes, letters to dear John, and Dear Abbey, Miss Lonelyhearts…we’ll be returning things to sender, and we’ll be telling you that your check’s in the mail.”

The Singers and The Songs

John Worthan – I Wrote You A Letter (background)

The Marvellettes – Please Mr. Postman“You know, when we come up with these themes, we try to stay away from the obvious choices. But occasionally there are some that you just have to play, like this one.”

Jimmy Ricks & The Ravens– Write Me a Letter“You got to wonder, why don’t piano players play like that any more?!”

Alex Chilton & The Box Tops – The Letter“the 2nd shortest single to reach #1”

Tiny Bradshaw & His Orchestra – Mailman’s Sack

R. B. Greaves – Take a Letter, Maria

Earl Robinson – Mail Myself to You

Vernon Green & The Medallions – The Letter

Memphis Slim – A Letter Home“Our next artist joined the high tone label, where he first recorded this song; but we’re gonna play the version of 1949 that he recorded for king. I’ve always been partial to the band he had around that time…I’m sure all you jazz fans recognized that after Slim sings ‘Things ain’t like they used to be’ the saxophone players play the riff from the Duke Ellington song of the same name.”

Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky – A Dear John Letter

Eddy Arnold – That’s All She Wrote (clip)

Fats Waller – I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter“He took up the piano at age six and also played the Hammond organ and the pipe organ, which he called the God Box. He was a great singer as well as a piano player.”

Gene Terry & The Downbeats – No Mail Today“He grew up listening to his father and grandfather performing Cajun songs, but when he formed his first band, the Cool Cats, in the mid 50’s he was doing straight ahead country and western songs. But the rock and roll bug bit him and he started playing louder and faster.”

Jo-El Sonnier – Tear Stained Letter

Jim & Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys – Air Mail Special On The Fly“The longest active professional brother duet in country music history…55 years.”

The Velvetones – The Glory of Love

Sister Wynonna Carr – A Letter to Heaven

Other People and Players

Samuel Johnson
Benjamin Franklin
William H. Russell
Wild Bill Hickock
Buffalo Bill Cody
Chips Moman
Dan Penn
Big Star
REM
The Replacements
Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs
Montgomery Ward (the guy)
Tony Cohen
Henry Box Brown
Sam Cooke
The Mynah Birds
Rick James
Neil Young
Woody Guthrie
Joe Hill
John Cryer
Duke Ellington
Willie Dixon
The Melody Ranch Girls
Janis Joplin
Gene Terry & His Kool Kats
Doug Sahm
Richard Thompson
Cajun French Music Association
Dr. Seuss
Rudyard Kipling
John Kennedy Toole
Tootsie Williams

Places

St. Joe to Sacramento (1st pony express route)
Chicago
Hollywood
Japan
Paris
Pauls Valley, OK
Harlem
Lafayette, LA
Port Arthur, TX
San Francisco
New York
Carfax, VA
Cleveland, OH

Record Labels

National
Motown
Duotone Records
Hightone Label
King
Goldband Records
Capital Records
Specialty Record Label

Other Songs

Stay
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be

Movies and TV

The Andy Griffith Show (clip)
The Great Man’s Whiskers
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Pompatus of Love

Books

The Diary of Anne Frank
A Confederacy of Dunces

Guests

Marianne Faithful
Deke Dickerson
Billy Vera

Other Songs and Albums

A Tribute To Woody Guthrie
The Joker (clip)
Postage Due (clip)

Presidents

It’s night time in the Big City
The serve is down
The parakeet is restless

“You know what happens every president’s day, stores have big sales. They gotta clear their shelves and we’re gonna do the same thing. We’re gonna go through the TTRH supply closet and pull up some of the old stock and songs we didn’t have time for in our other shows while we celebrate all of the years presidents.”

The Singers and The Songs

Charlie Poole – White House Blues“You know a lot of early blues and folk songs have lyrics that are passed around from performer to performer. Each one putting their own spin on it, with the lyrics kinda floating from person to person.

Johnny Taylor – Hello Sundown

Ruth Brown – Hello Little Boy “singing with a whole lot of enthusiasm. Nowadays you hear all these singers that are too cool for school. No such problem with Miss Rhythm. She was a fellow disc jockey hosting Public Radio’s “Harlem Hit Parade”. I always enjoy playing a fellow Disc Jockey. ”

They Might Be Giants – James K Polk“They Might be Giants might sound like a odd name for a band, but it was actually taken from a film starring George C Scott called The Hustler.”

Tony Joe White – Polk Salad Annie “Doesn’t have anything to do really with James K Polk, but it was a good excuse to play it.”

Kelly Harrell – Charles Giteau

Percy Mayfield – I Don’t Want to Be President

Wynonie Harris – I Feel That Old Age Coming On“We’ve played a Wynonie Harris a few time in the past, but sometimes I think we should be playing him every show.”

Pete Seeger – Lincoln and Liberty “A song about our tallest president”

JB Lenoir – Livin’ In The White House

Nina Simone – Don’t Smoke In Bed

Attila – Roosevelt In Trinidad “He wasn’t just a calypsonian, he was a politician!”

The Soul Stirrers – Why I Like Roosevelt

Tommy Edwards – It’s All In The Game “The only hit I know written by a vice president, though I hear Dick Cheney is working on a Folk Rock record.”

“It’s president’s day here at TTRH as you know, that’s when we pass the savings along to you, the listener.”

Joe Liggins & The Honeydrippers – Walkin’

Jackie DeShannon – When You Walk In The Room

Frank Sinatra – High Hopes “Frank always liked powerful men…He performed at fundraisers. Is that the kind you shave with? That’s a fun razor. This was a fundraiser, you have to pronounce the “d“. Anyway Sinatra went back and forth between day-time democrat supporting Kennedy and a nighttime full of rat pack, booze, broads and crime.”

Clover – Mr Moon

“We’re emptying out our closets in honor of President’s day.”

Country Joe & The Fish –  Super bird“Here’s a group that took their name from Mao Tse Tung and Stalin. No wonder they never had a hit.”

James Brown – Funky President

Billie Holiday – Gloomy Sunday “the Suicide song”

Phil Ochs – That Was The President

Buddy & Ella Johnson – Go Upside Your Head “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of that fist.”

“While we’re talking about presidents, let talk presidents everybody loves. Those’d be dead presidents. The ones that jingle in your pocket or you carry folded up in your wallet.”

Little Walter – Dead Presidents

Roy C & The Honeydrippers – Impeach The President

Hank Penny – Politics

Rod & The MSR Singers – Richard Nixon

Gene Marshall – Jimmy Carter Says Yes

Randy Newman – Have Pity On The Working Man

Other People

William Jennings Brand
Leon Czolgosz
Charles Giteau
Alexander Graham Bell
Robert Todd Lincoln
John Wilkes Boothe
Jackie Kennedy
Elizabeth Shoumatoff
Arthur Pretty Man
Peter Wolfe“he’s surprisingly well-read”
Alvin Barkley “He was the oldest person ever to serve…but that’s not what I like most about him. What I like most about Alvin Barkley is that he was 71 years old when he married his 36 year old girlfriend. I understand they gave birth to a son named Charles. I don’t know if it’s the basketball player, but it’s not that common a name.”

Sam Giancana
Bobby Kennedy
Albert B Fall (Fall guy)

Other singers, albums, music folks and songs

Blind Willie McTell
“Delia”
The Melody Kings
Sam Cooke
The Soul Stirrers
William Bell
Booker T Jones
Little Johnny Taylor
“Disco Lady” (First single to ever go Platinum)
Ruth Brown
Frank Sinatra
Charles Gates Dawes
“Melody in A Minor”
Carl Sigmund
Van Morrison
Jimmie Page
Randy Newman
Jack Nietzsche
The Searchers
Huey Lewis
Nick Lowe
Elvis
“Milk Cow Blues”
Seress Rezo and Lazlo Szabo
I Ain’t Marching Anymore
Muddy Waters
The Genies
“Who’s that Knocking?”
“Shotgun Wedding”
Ice Cube
NWA
Big Daddy Cane
De La Sol
EPMD
Sid Nathan
Ahmet Ertegün

Presidents

Chester A Arthur (made Washington’s birthday a holiday in 1885)
Washington
Lincoln
Harrison
Polk
Fillmore
Nixon
FDR
McKinley (known as “The idol of Ohio” who put this country on the road to world power.)
Rutherford B Hayes
Teddy Roosevelt (whose induction led the way to “xenophobia and paranoia” due to McKinley‘s assassination being thought to be a conspiracy.)
James Garfield (who succumb to Death By Doctors)
Taylor
Harding
Kennedy
Carter
Franklin Roosevelt
Coolidge
Grant
Tyler
Johnson
Clinton

Places

Monticello
Trinidad
China
Buffalo
Washington
New Jersey
Ford Theatre
Monticello, MS
Urbana, IL
Chicago
Lincoln, NB
Germany
England
Hungary
Ohio

Guests

Jack White
Richard Lewis
John C Reilly
Penn Gillette

Record Labels

Sar
Stax
Columbia
Atlantic
Job
Aladdin

Requirements to be President

Native Born US Citizen
35 Years of Age
Must Live in US for at least 14 Years

Entertainment

Give a Buck: 1956 Non-Partisan “Register, Inform Yourself, and Vote”Program
American Idol“Imagine if American Idol was on the radio instead of on TV, we’d have a very different set of winners.”
Nixon Speech denying nomination

“I wanna remind you, while we’re talking about all things presidential, that this is election year. Get out and vote. Go make a difference before they change the rules and just appoint the president for us. It’s getting pretty close”.

Doctors

It’s night in the big city
A lawyer has troubled sleep
The dogs can smell rain.

“We’re gonna play doctor, we’re gonna doctor the books. We’re gonna talk about Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Who, Dr. Doom, Dr. Phil, Dr. Zhivago , Dr. Death, and Dr. Nick .”

The Singers and The Songs

The Rolling Stones – Dear Doctor“I love Mick’s hillbilly accent.”

Snooks Eaglin – Saint James Infirmary

Horner Clemons and His Texas Swingbillies – Operation Blues

Doc Pomus – Send For The Doctor
“Just like Jimmy Nelson, he had his mind blown by hearing Big Joe Turner when he was 15…Nobody loved music like Doc; you could always see him at clubs in New York, right up front.”

Jackson Browne – Doctor My Eyes

Dinah Washington – Long John Blues

Lord Lebby – Dr. Kinsey Report“..recorded in the style that was known as rural mento. It was kinda the pre ska which was kinda the pre reggae. The mento band would usually feature banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion and something called the rumba box. Like calypso, this music was often taken from the newspaper and usually quite risqué. Here’s a song that meets both those criteria.”

Bill Nettles & His Dixie Blue Boys – Hadacol Boogie

B.B. King – Walking Dr. Bill“Ya know sometimes you see a record and the title just doesn’t make sense to ya. The first time I saw this 45 I thought the name was Walking Dr. Bill; I didn’t know who Dr. Bill was. But I listened to it and I realized that B.B. King is saying that he’s a walking Dr. bill, cause he’s messed up ever since his lady left him. Well now it makes perfect sense.”

Harmonica Frank Floyd – The Great Medical Menagerist

Huey Piano Smith & The Clowns – Would You Believe It, I Have a Cold

The White Stripes – Girl You Have No Faith In Medicine“That’s for all the folks who wonder what it might have sounded like if Robert Plant sang The Monster Mash – and I mean that in the best possible way, Jack!”

The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi – You Done What the Doctor Couldn’t Do

Other People and Players

Hippocrates
Cicero
The Pharos
Louis Armstrong
Sid Nathan
Dr. Jonah Salk
Jerome Felder
Raoul Felder
Jimmy Nelson
Big Joe Turner
Doc Holliday
Wyatt Earp
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Linda Ronstadt
The Birds
Ben Franklin
Dr. Alfred Kinsey“According to his (Dr. Kinsey’s) research, there were 6 different outlets to sexual orgasm. They were: masturbation, petting, nocturnal dreams, heterosexual coitus, homosexual behaviors, and bestiality. I’m batting about 40 percent.”
Connie Boswell
Carmen Miranda
Roy Acuff
Chico Marx
Minnie Pearl
Hank Williams
Charles Alderton
Dudley J. LeBlanc
Dr. Charles Pepper
Jerry Lee Lewis
James Bryce
Bobby Marchan
Hermes
Mercury
Alchemy
Christian Scientists
The Velvet Underground
Voltaire
Joe Bussard
Jules and Saul Bahari
Roy Hall and his Blue Ridge Entertainers

Types of doctors

Podiatrist
Urologist
Dermatologist
Cardiologist
Hematologist
Gastroenterologist
Psychiatrist
Pediatrician
Obstetrician

Famous Doctors That Aren’t Doctors

Julius Erving / Dr. J
Theodor Geisel / Dr. Seuss
Doc Watson
Dr. Dre
Dr. John
Doc Severinsen

Other Songs and Albums

Beggar’s Banquet
The Unfortunate Rake
The Cowboy’s Lament
Streets of Laredo
Save the Last Dance for Me

Places

Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Egypt
County Cork Ireland
West Indies
Sugar Land, Texas
Los Angeles
New York
Tombstone, AZ
OK Corral
Heidelberg, Germany
Los Angeles
St. Mary, Jamaica
Waco, TX
Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store
St. Louis
Toccopola, MS
Sun Recording Studios

Record Labels

Modern Records
Colonial Records
Flare Records
Asylum Records
Kalypso
Mercury Label

Books

The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
The Kinsey Report
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
Sexual Behavior in the Human Female

TV and Movies

The Tonight Show
Star Trek
Camel ad

Songs and Albums

Good For What Ails You “I got nothing against downloads and mp3s, but getting’ this cd without the pictures and liner notes – well, it’s not as good as having it on the big twelve inch record, but at least there’s a booklet there. And believe it or not folks, you can even read it in a power failure – as long as it’s daytime.”
Heroin
Sympathy for the Devil
“You know we’ve gotten a bunch of emails, people saying they don’t like gospel music. Mostly they say they don’t like don’t like it cause of the subject matter; they don’t want to hear religious music. Let me just point out, you can just listen to it as music. The beautiful part of it is that the people singing believe it so much. Any time people sing about what they believe, it elevates it. You don’t have to be a junkie to enjoy the Velvet Underground song, ‘Heroin.’ You don’t have to have horns and a pitchfork to enjoy ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ but it does help. The thing is it’s all music, and when the people believe what they’re singing, it’s just better.”

Guests

John Cusack
Tom Waits

Famous patented medicines

Stillman’s Freckle Cream
Excelsior Skin Food
Dr. Bunker’s Egyptian Oil
Dr. Lindley’s Epilepsy Remedy
Tuberculozene: the new remedy for consumption
Todd’s Teething cordial
The Rattlesnake Oil King’s Liniment for Rheumatism

“Theme Time Radio Hour, where music meets medicine.”

Danger

It’s night time in the big city
That car’s still outside
The first ray of sunlight peeks over the Jaquet mountains
Jack head mountains

“I don’t mean to be an alarmist but today’s show is dedicated to telling you to be careful. We’re gonna sound the klaxon, put up the yellow perimeter tape, don our hazmat suites, and ride like Paul Revere as we shout ‘Danger’s afoot!’ So grab your gas masks, keep your eye on the speedometer, take your Cipro, and stay at a heightened state of awareness.”

The Singers and the Songs

The Sunshine Boys – Danger Zone

Esther Phillips – Better Beware“Here’s a track which is a great snapshot. It’s from 1951. R & B was just beginning to turn into rock and roll, the bee bop players were still playing in the clubs, and this record has all of it.”

Michigan & Smiley – Eyes of Danger

Bob Dorough – You’re the Dangerous Type

John Brim – Be Careful What You Say and Do

Doye O’Dell – Diesel Smoke (Dangerous Curves)

Dave Edmunds – Crawling From the Wreckage

Eddie Constantine – Hey Mr. Caution

Irving Caesar – Ice Skating is Nice Skating (partial)

Arctic Monkeys – D is for Dangerous

First Choice – Armed and Extremely Dangerous

Cousin Keith Loyd – Dangerous Crossing

Mercy Dee Walton – Danger Zone

Charles Oldfather – Shake Hands With Danger

Other People and Players

Eddie Wallace
John Tennessee Smith
A.L. ‘Smitty’ Smith
Ace Richmond
The Red River Rangers
Neil Simon
The Light Crust Dough Boys
The Sons of the Pioneers
Pete Lewis
Little Esther
Johnny Otis
Kenny Rogers
Dinah Washington
Coxsone Dodd
Groucho Marx (clip)
Charlie Parker
Sugar Ray Robinson
Victor Lustig
Al Capone
Thomas Jefferson
Grace Brim
Van Halen
Speedy West
Doc Snyder’s Texas Cowboys
Tex Ritter
Ronald Reagan
James Garner
Roy Rogers
Love Sculpture
Smiley Lewis
Graham Parker
Edward J. Claghorn
Humphrey Bogart
Lemmy Caution
Jean Luc Godard
Fiorello LaGuardia“who was named after the airport”
Renee Dubois
Daniel Defoe
Robinson Caruso
Charlie Sheen
The Ebonettes
Harold Lloyd 
Chris Strachwitz
Herk Harvey
William Shakespeare “The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger.”

Places

Atlanta
Cincinnati
Houston
Cherry Hill, AZ
Vienna
Cardiff, Wales
France
England
Philadelphia
University of Kansas
Copenhagen, Denmark

Other Songs and Albums

Lead Me to that Rock
He’ll Understand and Say Well Done
Please Release Me
What A Difference a Day Makes
Yardbird Suite
Ice Cream Man
I Hear You Knockin’
Repeat When Necessary
Swanee
Tea for Two
Is It True What They Say About Dixie?
Just a Gigolo
Animal Crackers In My Soup

Movies, Plays, other Entertainment

The Sunshine Boys
French Vicks Vaporub Commercial
Nick Danger from Firesign Theater – clip
Excellent Chances: 1953 PSA with Groucho Marx (clip)
Schoolhouse Rock
Alphaville
Platoon
Grandma’s Boy
Safety Last!
Why Worry?
The Kid Brother
Welcome Danger
Carnival of Souls
Venus and Adonis

Record Labels

Bethlehem Records
Aladdin
Arhoolie Records
Imperial Records

Guest

John C. Reilly

Bob’s A – Z List of Dangers
“They (Arctic Monkeys) took care of D; I wanna help them out with the other 25 letters of the alphabet. Personally I think any one of these would be a good song title.”

A is for Acid
B is for Bomb
C is for Cyanide
E is for Electrocution
F is for Fence – Electrified
G is for Guillotine
H is for Heroin
I is for Invasion Forces
J is for Jagged Edges
K is for Kicking Mules
L is for Lightening
M is for Murder
N is for Napalm
O is for Organized Crime
P is for Pythons
Q is for Quicksand
R is for Rustlers
S is for Strychnine
T is for TNT
U is for Unabomber
V is for Vixens
W is for War
X is for X-Rays
Y is for Yellow Fever
Z is for Zeppelins – like the Hindenburg

Birds

“Look up in the sky, it’s a bird. Most likely it’s a bird…you might want to gather up some twigs, some little bits of yarn, almost any kind of material that you might find, build yourself a little nest, settle in for the next hour…We’ll talk about bird brains, eagle eyes, the bluebird of happiness, we’ll play a little chicken, we’ll find something to crow about, and maybe even flip you the bird.”

The Singers and the Songs

Fats Domino – The Rooster Song

Merrill Moore – Cooing To The Wrong Pigeon “It’s good to hear him step up to the microphone and poundin’ those 88’s”

Buffalo Springfield – Bluebird

Mississippi John Hurt – Chicken

Clarence Ashley – The Coo Coo Bird

Leonard Cohen – Bird On A Wire

Al Jolson – When The Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob Bobbin’ Along

Rudy Green And His Orchestra – Buzzard Pie

Mel Blanc – Daffy Duck’s Rhapsody

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band – Ice Cream for Crow
“Here’s a song that goes as straight as the crow flies”

Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans – Great Speckled Bird“…Four songs, one melody. What’s all the noise about – I’ll let you listen. Maybe you’ll write some new words to it and it’ll climb to the top of the charts. It worked before, maybe it’ll work again.”

Tony Allen & The Champs – Night Owl

The Blues Busters – Wings of a Dove

The Five Du-Tones – Shake A Tail Feather

Other people and players

Alfred Hitchcock (clip)
Frank Perdue
Calvin Coolidge
Mrs. Coolidge
Slim Gaillard (clip)
Johnny Cash
Farron Young
Wanda Jackson
Caesar
Napoleon
The Rothschild Banking Dynasty
Paul Julius Reuter
“It pays to keep pigeons”
The Beatles
Maurice Maeterlinck
Jacques Duval
Red Foxx (clip)
Air Supply
Percy Diaconus
William Faulkner
Warner Bros
Estelle Rosenbaum
Porky Pig
Bugs Bunny
Barney Rubble
Yosemite Sam
Sylvester the Cat
Billy Mays
Frank Sinatra
Warren Foster
Mike Maltese
Franz Liszt
Don Van Vliet
Heckyl and Jeckyl (clip)
The Carter Family
Roy Acuff
William Warren
Hank Thompson
Kitty Wells
Edward Hopper
Lloyd Campbell
Phillip James

Places

Egypt
Rome
Gaul
England
The Battle of Waterloo
The Black Forest
Montreal
Korea
Glendale, CA
Texas
Jamaica

Other Songs and Albums

Blackbird
Serenade to a Cuckoo
Songs from a Room
Hungarian Rhapsody #2
I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes
The Wild Side of Life
Honky Tonk Angels

Books, Art, Movies, TV, and Other Entertainment

The Blue Bird
Cobwebs & Nuts
The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 12, Verse 9
Nighthawks at the Diner
The Birds
The Producers (clip)

Record Labels

Capital
Specialty Records

Guests

Billy Vera

“How bout next week, we postpone the show we were going to do and we just play more bird songs? ‘Cause I ain’t even touched the dance crazes yet. You got The Funky Chicken, The Drunken Pelican, The Spastic Penguin, The Tufted Puffin… those are just the ones I can do. In the meantime, you go ahead and dance around your house, or as the Five Du-Tones put it, shake a tail feather. We’ll see you next week. Don’t stray to far from the nest.”

More Birds

It’s nighttime in the Big City
Freshly fallen snow turns gray in the gutter
The engineer won’t stop coughing

“It’s time once again for more bird songs here on TTRH. We’ve gotten a lot of response to last weeks show. A lot of people have written in with their favorite bird songs. People are asking me questions about birds. I’m no exactly an expert, but I’ll try and help as much as I can.”

The Singers and The Songs

Howlin’ Wolf – The Red Rooster“ A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I rooster in the hand…well, never mind.”

Jimi Hendrix Experience – Little Wing

“We’re flying high and we know no borders. We travel the world, slave to no boundaries.”

Miles Davis – Bye Bye Blackbird

Charlie & His Orchestra – Bye Bye Blackbird

Anita O’Day – Skylark

Johnny Taylor – Little Bluebird

The Light Crust Doughboys – Listen To The Mockingbird

Inez & Charlie Foxx – Mockingbird

Ersel Hickey – Bluebirds Over The Mountain

Bobby Pauneto – Why Is Woody Sad?

Big Joe Turner – The Chicken And The Hawk

The Rivingtons – The Bird’s The Word

The Trashmen – Surfin’ Bird

Eddie Floyd – Big Bird

Charlie Parker – Bird Gets The Worm

(Johnny Cash Reading Clip)-2217 end of tack

The Stanley Brothers – White Dove

Prince – When Doves Cry

Other Singers, musicians and Songs

Johnny Jones
Hubert Sumlin
Willie Dixon
Sam Lay
The Rolling Stones“I got a special spot for the Stone for standing up for the music that inspired them.”
Axis: Bold As Love
Band of Gypsys
Nina Simone
Judy Garland
Liza Minnelli
The Ink Spots
Everly Bros.
Hoagie Carmichael
Johnny Mercer
Bix Beiderbecke
“One for My Baby, One for the Road”
“Mr. Bluebird”
Bob Wills
Vincent Brown
The Aladdin Lanties
Pappy O’Daniel
Phil Everly
Rodger McQuinn
The Emanons
The Lamplighters
The Tenderfoots
The Rebels
The 4 after 5
Booker T
Otis Redding
Louie Armstrong
Duke Ellington

Other people

Hitler
Joseph Goebbels
Roosevelt
Churchill
Judy Garland
Lyndon Johnson
Chickie Evans
Gene LaVerne
Charles Darwin
Chip Hanson
Caroll Spinney
Nietzsche
Robert William Service
William Blake

Places

Germany
Texas
Brighton, NY
Rochester, NY
Buffalo, NY
The Studio of The Stars
KingFisher, OK
Cincinnati
Minnesota
London
Salt Lake City

Entertainment/Lit

Ghost Dog
The Birds
Atticus Finch
Boo Radley

Record Labels

Atlantic
Stax

Birds

B&W Warbler
Bee Hummingbird (smallest wing span)
Duck
Goose
Scissortail FlyCatcher
Mockingbird
Baltimore Oriel
Bluebird
Woodpeckers
Passenger Pigeon
Black Neck Stilt
Big Bird

Guests

Richard Lewis
Tom Waits

“I’m tempted to do a third show about birds”

Why Do Birds Sing? by Robert William Service Let poets piece prismatic words,
Give me the jewelled joy of birds!
What ecstasy moves them to sing?

Is it the lyric glee of Spring,
The dewy rapture of the rose?
Is it the worship born in those
Who are of Nature’s self a part,
The adoration of the heart?

Is it the mating mood in them
That makes each crystal note a gem?
Oh mocking bird and nightingale,
Oh mavis, lark and robin – hail!
Tell me what perfect passion glows
In your inspired arpeggios?

A thrush is thrilling as I write
Its obligato of delight;
And in its fervour, as in mine,
I fathom tenderness divine,
And pity those of earthy ear
Who cannot hear . . . who cannot hear.

Let poets pattern pretty words:
For lovely largesse – bless you, Birds!

Joe

It’s night time in the big city
A man’s wife confronts his mistress
A firefly hovers near the window

Some Joes

Joe Average
Joe Namath
Little Joe From Kokomo
Bazooka Joe
Joe the Bartender
Cotton Eyed Joe
Mean Joe Green
Joe Strummer
Cup a Joe

The Singers and The Songs

Foy Welling & The Riders of The Purple Sage – Ragtime Cowboy Joe

Andre Toussaint – Hold ‘Em Joe

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Cotton-Eyed Joe“It started out as a folk blues song, but it became a country bluegrass standard, and there was even a techno dance version recorded in the ‘90’s…the 1990’s.”

Hank Williams Sr. – No, No Joe

The Dixieaires – Joe Louis is a Fightin’ Man“One of those groups that went back and forth between gospel and rhythm and blues.”

Joan Baez – Joe Hill “The very talented and ever generous”

The Georgia Crackers – Diamond Joe “No matter how you slice it, that’s rock and roll.”

Bo Diddley – Ride On Josephine

Joe Bataan  – Subway Joe

Jerry Lee Lewis – Old Black Joe“Jerry Lee had such a strong left hand that he didn’t need a base player. He could make anything swing.”

Blu Lu Parker – Where’s Joe

Cisco Houston – Diamond Joe

Van Morrison – I’m Tired Joey Boy

Other Songs and Albums

Take the “A” Train
Happiness is a Thing Called Joe (clip)
Oh, Susanna
Get that communist, Joe
Avalon Sunset

Other People and Players

Trinidadian Sam Manning
Macbeth the Great
Mary
Jesus
Jacob
Tommy Duncan
Joseph Cotton
Orson Wells
Vincent Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Judy Garland
Ethel Waters
Rochester Anderson
Lena Horne
Duke Ellington
Harold Arlen
Yip Harburg
Joseph Stalin
Truman
Churchill
Memphis Minnie
Joe Louis
The Du Droppers
The Cats and The Fiddle
Max Schmeling
Nazis
IWW – Industrial Workers of the World
Blind Willie McTell
Joe Morgan
Joe DiMaggio
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Swede Risberg
Buck Weaver
Happy Felsch
Chick Gandil
Eddie Cicotte
Charles Comiskey
The Yanks
Marilyn Monroe
Josephine, Empress of France
Napoleon
Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium
Josephine Baker
Josephine March
Jo Stafford
Joey Heatherton
Joseph Heller
Joe E. Lewis “I always wake up at the crack of ice.”
Sophie Tucker
Eddie Cantor
Al Capone
Machine Gun Jack McGurn
Milton Burl
Red Skelton
Frank Sinatra
Sam Phillips
Jack Clement
Roland James
J.M. Van Eaton
Stephen Foster
Henry Kleber
Morrison Foster
Charles Shiras
Billie Holliday
Woody Guthrie
Joseph McCarthy – clip
Sisyphus

Places

New York’s Town Hall
University of Wyoming
Petersburg, VA
Broadway
Hollywood
USSR
Germany
Las Vegas
Arlington National Cemetery
Sweden
Stockholm
Salt Lake City
Georgia Academy for the Blind
California
Savanna, GA
France
Coxsackie State Prison
The Green Mill Gardens
Chicago
Rendezvous Café
Texas
Nashville
Sun Studios
Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame
Grand Chute, WI
Wisconsin
Wheeling, WV
Asbury Park, NJ

Movies, Books and Other Entertainment

Calypso At Midnight
The Bible
Citizen Kane
The Magnificent Ambersons
Journey Into Fear
Shadow of a Doubt
Gaslight
Duel in the Sun
The Third Man
Niagara
Under Capricorn
Touch of Evil
Vanity Will Get You Somewhere
Cabin in the Sky
Louis-Schmeling Fight radio clip
Meet King Joe (1949)
G.I. Joe commercial
Little Women
The Joker Is Wild
Louisiana Hayride
The Cradle Will Rock
The Gil Houston Show

Guests

Mick Jones
Record Labels
Apollo

Heat

It’s night time in the big city
There’s a gas leak somewhere
The bartender’s hairpiece isn’t fooling anyone

“The heat and serve episode of Theme Time Radio Hour”

Cold

James Brown – Cold Sweat (in background over intro)

It’s night in the big city
A man falls asleep far from home
The last piece of pie is gone.

“This is Theme Time Radio Hour, and there’s a chill in the air. We’re cold as ice. We’re looking at cold cuts, cold feet, we’re giving you the cold shoulder but we’re not a cold fish. We’re out cold. We’re talking about cold snaps and we’re coming in from the cold.”

The Singers and The Songs

T-Bone Walker – Cold, Cold Feeling“Here’s the king of Texas blues guitar…got his nickname from his middle name which is Thibeaux. You won’t find that name on those little license plates that you can buy for your bicycle but I hear it was a pretty common name down in the Bayou.”

Porter Wagoner – The Cold Hard Facts of Life“A great example of how you can tell a complete short story in a little over two minutes.”

Ray Charles & Betty Carter – Baby, It’s Cold Outside

John Lennon – Cold Turkey

Lightnin’ Slim – Winter Time Blues“Where do you even begin with a record like that, there’s so much right with it! First of all, nobody’s in any hurry, you could just about drive a truck between the beats. You got a girl named Priscilla, barely 16 years old. Lightnin’ Slim employs the Socratic Method, starts asking himself questions half way through the song. Just the perfect record. Nobody makes records like that any more.”

Loretta Lynn – When the Tingle Becomes a Chill

Big Joe Turner – The Chill Is On

Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley – Chilly Winds (Lonesome Road Blues)“It was originally recorded back in the 20’s and many people recorded variations of it. Riley Puckett did it in 1924, Bill Monroe did a version of it. Woody Guthrie turned it around a little bit and got ‘Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.’”

Willie Walker – Warm to Cool to Cold

Charlie Feathers – Defrost Your Heart

The Charmer – Stone Cold Man“In the interests of equal time we’ll let other people discuss politics and we’ll just stick with the music.”

Roy Hogsed – So Cold, So Dead, So Soon“He’s one of those guys that you don’t know where to put his records. Are they country boogie? Are they early rockabilly? Are they country and western? That’s why I file everything alphabetically. I don’t separate it by style. That’s why you find Thelonius Monk right next to the Monkees.”

The Parliaments – I Can Feel the Ice Melting“George Clinton back when he still wanted to be Curtis Mayfield, before he went off in outer space. I like the outer space stuff too, but Curtis Mayfield, come on!”

Tom Waits – Cold Cold Ground

Other People and Players

Chuck Richardson
Charlie Christian
Dolly Parton
Lionel Hampton
Miles Davis
Keith Richards
Charles Bukwoski, Streetwise Poet“While we’re on the subject of junkies and thieves, here’s a poem about that ilk…” (Trashcan Lives)
Slim Harpo
Riley Puckett
Bill Monroe
Woody Guthrie
Duane Allman
Quinton Claunch
Louis Farrakhan
Thelonius Monk
The Monkees
George Clinton
Curtis Mayfield
Buddy Holly – clip
David Hidalgo
Blind Willie Johnson
Hamlet
Horatio
Osric
Willa Cather

Places

The Country Music Hall of Fame
St. Louis, MO
Memphis

Record Labels

Apple Records
ExCello Records
Goldwax
Checker
Revilot Records

Movies, Books and Other Entertainment

Kellogg’s Cornflakes jingle
Prophet of Rage
Hamlet (Act V, Scene I)

Words That Mean Emotionally Cold

Cool
Dead
Emotionless
Frigid
Impersonal
Indifferent
Icy
Joyless
Lukewarm
Passionless
Reserved
Reticent
Stony
Unfeeling
Distant
Unmoved
Inhospitable

Other Songs and Albums

Going Down The Road Feeling Bad
I Wanna Testify
Frank’s Wild Years
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

“This is TTRH and we’re talking about cold. The chill. The cool chill crisp. The frosty frozen icebox. The intense nippy one dog night. The snappy snowy stinging wintery. The icy sleet, and the frosty glare. And I know what I’m talking about. I come from a very cold part of the country. The part of the country I come from is so cold that when you talk to somebody outside the words freeze in mid air and you have to bring em in and thaw em out by the fire so that people can hear what you’re saying. It’s so cold out there that the politicians have their hands in their own pockets.”