r.i.p.

looking at wikipedia i just noticed that al wilson died yesterday at the age of 68. actually i don't know too much about him, his life and his music - but i discovered his song "the snake" recently which i find very cool. especially the lyrics are a break from the norm - at least when it comes to soul music.

the lyrics go like this:

On her way to work one morning
Down the path along side the lake
A tender hearted woman saw a poor half frozen snake
His pretty colored skin had been all frosted with the dew
"Oh well," she cried, "I'll take you in and I'll take care of you"
"Take me in oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman," sighed the snake

She wrapped him up all cozy in a curvature of silk
And then laid him by the fireside with some honey and some milk
Now she hurried home from workthat night as soon as she arrived
She found that pretty snake she'd taking in had been revived
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman," sighed the snake

Now she clutched him to her bosom, "You're so beautiful," she cried
"But if I hadn't brought you in by now you might have died"
Now she stroked his pretty skin and then she kissed and held him tight
But instead of saying thanks, that snake gave her a vicious bite
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman," sighed the snake

"I saved you," cried that woman
"And you've bit me even, why?
You know your bite is poisonous and now I'm going to die"
"Oh shut up, silly woman," said the reptile with a grin
"You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in
"Take me in, oh tender woman
Take me in, for heaven's sake
Take me in oh tender woman," sighed the snake

listen:
al wilson - the snake (1968)

last days of (myrna) march

i guess everyone who downloaded myrna march's album "explosive vocal percussion" from unpleasant.org about two years ago fell in love with that girl immediately. at least i did...

while searching the net for information about myrna march i found the website of her widower a. roufa who recalls his 24-year-marriage with myrna and tells about the circumstances of her death. but beware: it's becoming quite a sad story in the end. just read yourself...

for all of you who missed the chance of downloading the album from unpleasant and are unaware of myrna march's music i included my personal favourite from that album which is called "fandango" (though my favourites change frequently as "love is coming my way" and "majorca" are absolutely faboulous too).

unfortunately it's almost impossible to find any songs that are not included on the album, even though she recorded a whole lotta stuff. i only found two more tracks which were released on different compilations. the first song is called "our love it grows" and was written by ellie greenwich (at least i think so). it's from 1962 and can be found on the out-of-print album "on broadway: hit songs and rarities from the brill building era". the second song is called "parade of broken hearts" and was included on a compilation album called "follow me to the popcorn vol. 4". i'm not absolutely sure, but i think this song also was recorded in the early sixties.

listen:
myrna march - fandango (1961)
myrna march - parade of broken hearts
myrna march - our love it grows (1962)

barry sisters

i discovered the barry sisters a few months ago - and ever since then i've been fascinated with their power and passion.

starting as the bagelman sisters they soon changed their name to barry sisters (they also changed their first names from clara and minnie to claire and myrna) and gained some notable success from the 1940s to the 1960s with yiddish and english swing songs. according to the yiddish radio project they were considered the "yiddish answer to the andrews sisters".

wikipedia states that they made appearances in the ed sullivan show and even toured the soviet union in 1959. sadly myrna already died in 1976 - but claire still performs live. if i get it right you can book her over here (though the picture seems to be a little aged...).

personally i think their yiddish stuff is more amazing (maybe because it's more "exotic") - but there is at least one english song i absolutely fell in love with too. so i thought it might be best to have one english and one yiddish track to give a better overview.

unfortunately it seems to be pretty impossible to find out which years these recordings are from - and the spellings of the yiddish song titles often vary as they are transcripted from the hebrew alphabet. so "rumania" can also be found as "rumeine", "romanya" etc.
and last but not least: there is another group called the barry sisters - but they are from australia and sound pretty much different.

now: fasten seatbelts and...

songs:
barry sisters - rumania rumania
barry sisters - cha-cha joe

knowledge:
freedman catalog (discography)
second hand songs (incomplete list of cover songs)

videos:
youtube

buy @
israel music
amazon.com