This is our first exercise in what I call 'Genre Whiplash.' It'll be happening quite a bit.
298. Eternals "Babalu's Wedding Day"
From the New Wave of British Heavy Metal we take a sharp turn into the land of Doo-Wop. In the early days of rock and roll, one of the big criticism that it's enemies levelled at it was that it was nothing but nonsensical racket. In this case they were right, and thank goodness. As Dave Marsh describes this tune in his tome The Heart of Rock and Soul*:
The Announcement that Babalu (apparently a household name in whatever universe this song is situated) is finally getting hitched sends an entire society into frantic activity. Some laugh. Some sigh. We learn that he met his fiance, Hoskie Bopalena, at a Milwaukee Braves baseball game. Then it seems, Babalu misses the ceremony because his cheapskate friend refuses to lend him a dime to call for a ride. So he goes to work with a trained monkey, who steals all the cash and runs away as soon as the day is over. That's it.... That is, if I've gotten any of the details right. Amidst all the racket it's hard to be sure.
With the clattering percussion and off-kilter vocals, this song is probably the ultimate example of rock and roll as absurdist fable, and absurdism is an idea close to my heart, obviously.
*It was Marsh's description, that I first read at age 19, that inspired me to try and hunt this tune down. A few weeks after I read it, it was played by Cousin Brucie on the (now deceased) WCBS-FM, the greatest oldies station ever, featuring hyper-adenoidal DJ's bathed in echo. I grew up hearing that staion from the back seat of my parents' car. But I'm willing to bet the song was requested by some doo-wop geek who had read Marsh's book. Rarely has a review been so accurate. Proof that geeking out over (the right) rock criticism has it's rewards. I eventually got a hold of a reissue 45 via a neighborhood oldies shop where a friend was the owner.
Marsh's book (a list of his favorite 1001 singles (I impose no such restrictions on my list) )has been hugely influential for his exquisite taste and the wit and clarity of his writing. I met the guy at a signing years later. He was cool. But plenty of people have constructed file sharing libraries around his list, and rightly so.
From the New Wave of British Heavy Metal we take a sharp turn into the land of Doo-Wop. In the early days of rock and roll, one of the big criticism that it's enemies levelled at it was that it was nothing but nonsensical racket. In this case they were right, and thank goodness. As Dave Marsh describes this tune in his tome The Heart of Rock and Soul*:
The Announcement that Babalu (apparently a household name in whatever universe this song is situated) is finally getting hitched sends an entire society into frantic activity. Some laugh. Some sigh. We learn that he met his fiance, Hoskie Bopalena, at a Milwaukee Braves baseball game. Then it seems, Babalu misses the ceremony because his cheapskate friend refuses to lend him a dime to call for a ride. So he goes to work with a trained monkey, who steals all the cash and runs away as soon as the day is over. That's it.... That is, if I've gotten any of the details right. Amidst all the racket it's hard to be sure.
With the clattering percussion and off-kilter vocals, this song is probably the ultimate example of rock and roll as absurdist fable, and absurdism is an idea close to my heart, obviously.
*It was Marsh's description, that I first read at age 19, that inspired me to try and hunt this tune down. A few weeks after I read it, it was played by Cousin Brucie on the (now deceased) WCBS-FM, the greatest oldies station ever, featuring hyper-adenoidal DJ's bathed in echo. I grew up hearing that staion from the back seat of my parents' car. But I'm willing to bet the song was requested by some doo-wop geek who had read Marsh's book. Rarely has a review been so accurate. Proof that geeking out over (the right) rock criticism has it's rewards. I eventually got a hold of a reissue 45 via a neighborhood oldies shop where a friend was the owner.
Marsh's book (a list of his favorite 1001 singles (I impose no such restrictions on my list) )has been hugely influential for his exquisite taste and the wit and clarity of his writing. I met the guy at a signing years later. He was cool. But plenty of people have constructed file sharing libraries around his list, and rightly so.
