Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965)[1] was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music.Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, and outlandish and comedic vocals.In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including Al Jolson's Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall.[6] The City Slickers developed from the Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist Del Porter, who took a back seat to Jones during the group's embryonic years.Original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson, and pianist Stan Wrightsman.James joined Healy for a two-year run in the Shubert revue A Night in Spain (1927–1928) where he worked alongside Shemp Howard and Larry Fine.The original recording with the unedited ending was later issued on a German RCA LP collection and on some CD and audio tape releases containing the song.In the 1940s, Spike also recorded a comedic song titled "Trailer Annie", about a woman who tries to find a job in the United States military.Among the recordings Spike Jones and his City Slickers made in the 1940s were many humorous takes on classical music such as the adaptation of Liszt's Liebestraum No.An LP collection of twelve of these "homicides" was released by RCA (on its prestigious Red Seal label) in 1971 as Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics.They include such tours de force as Pal-Yat-Chee (Pagliacci), sung by the hillbilly humorists Homer and Jethro, Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours, Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart, Strauss's Blue Danube waltz, and Bizet's Carmen.In 1944, RCA Victor released "Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies" version of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, in three 10-inch, 78- rpm records, P-143, arrangement credited to Joe "Country" Washburne with lyrics by Foster Carling.Another Drink", "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy", "The Sheik of Araby", and "Blacksmith Song"), and, according to musicologist Mark Cantor, provided background music for at least thirteen others.Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink!The virtual disappearance of big bands immediately following the end of World War II and the rise of rock and roll in the early 1950s had a marked effect on Spike Jones's repertoire.There is a clear line of influence from Harry Reser's 1920s hot-comic "Six Jumping Jacks" band (whose drummer and vocalist was the distinctive Tom Stacks, "The Voice With a Smile"), the Hoosier Hot Shots, Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers, and the Marx Brothers to Spike Jones — and to Stan Freberg, Gerard Hoffnung, Peter Schickele's P.D.Q.Bach, The Goons, Joe Raposo, Mr. Bungle, Frank Zappa, George Maciunas, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.[citation needed] According to David Wild's review in Rolling Stone magazine, Elvis Costello's 1989 album Spike was named partly in tribute to Jones.In the 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short Back Alley Oproar, a caterwauling Sylvester the Cat does a Spike Jones-inspired solo finale cover of "Angel in Disguise" by opening with a brief, serious-sounding introduction before immediately breaking into a jazzy rendition featuring a collection of crazy sound effects produced by firing guns, breaking bottles and exploding firecrackers among other sounds, much to Elmer Fudd's annoyance.[20] Spike Jones is referenced several times in the American TV series M*A*S*H. In season 2, episode 5, "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde", an exhausted Hawkeye sings a line of "Der Fuehrer's Face" in reference to the great songs that came out of World War II;[21] in the season 8 episode ""Good-Bye, Radar: Part 1", when Radar returns from leave in Tokyo to a generator-less 4077th, he calls up Sparky to unsuccessfully bargain for a new one with a variety of items, which included some Spike Jones records; and in the season 11 episode "Foreign Affairs," visiting French Red Cross nurse Martine LeClerc (Melinda Mullins), who develops a warm if brief affair with Charles Emerson Winchester III, tells him that she's a huge fan of Spike Jones, which inspires him to admit, in a rare confession, secretly loving Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Spike JonzeSpike Jones (disambiguation)Long Beach, CaliforniaHelen GraycoSpike Jones Jr.Leslie Ann JoneshiccupsLong Beach Polytechnic High SchoolSouthern Pacific railroadrailroad spikepit orchestrasVictor YoungAl JolsonBurns and AllenBing CrosbyKraft Music HallRCA VictorDel PorterDer Fuehrer's Facethe John Scott Trotter OrchestraWhite ChristmasCindy WalkerDecca RecordsStan WrightsmanBluebirdtelevision showsChester GouldDick TracyGeorge RockMickey KatzDoodles Weavermalapropismsstand-up comedyRed IngleFrank RehakPerry BotkinA. Purvis PullenBilly BartyLiberaceLock MartinJad PaulGil BernalPaul GarnerTed HealyShemp HowardLarry FineThree Stoogesstrike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942Adolf HitlerraspberryCocktails for TwoHawaiian War ChantHoliday for StringsYou Always Hurt the One You LoveMy Old FlameVaughn MonroeGhost Riders in the SkyAll I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front TeethDora BryanBeatleclassical musicLiebestraum No. 3Rossinihorse racechrome yellowRed SealPagliacciHomer and JethroDance of the HoursNone but the Lonely HeartBlue DanubeCarmenThe Bob Burns ShowThe Chase and Sanborn ProgramEdgar BergenFrances LangfordGroucho MarxCoca-ColaFrankie LaineMel TormeDon AmecheBurl IvesFrank SinatraLassieDorothy ShayMike WallaceJay SommersDead End KidsThank Your Lucky StarsMeet the PeopleBring on the GirlsBreakfast in HollywoodVariety GirlAbbott and CostelloUniversal PicturesHugh O'BrianBuddy HackettFireman Save My Childsoundiesmusic videosMel BlancBugs BunnyWarner BrothersBill DanaEddie ClineThe Colgate Comedy HourAll Star RevueThe Spike Jones ShowThe Ford Showbig bandsrock and rollElvis PresleyLibertyWarner Bros.Lawrence WelkDinner Music for People Who Aren't Very HungryBob NewhartMort SahlStan FrebergShelley BermanSpike Jones in StereoDominiqueThe Singing NunWhen the Saints Go Marching InSpike Jr.Leslie Ann