When it was about 14, Dr. Demento had his show on KPPC in Pasadena. Sunday nights at 9pm, I recall. Circadian 1972. Songs like this were great , until Wired Al showed up and spoiled the party.
To give credit where credit is due.... Never mind Dr. Demento; this song is "GET A LOAD OF THIS", performed by R. CRUMB & HIS CHEAP SUIT SERENADERS, written by band members Robert Armstrong & Allan Dodge, released on their eponymous 1st LP in 1974.
EVERY Sunday night in Orange County, CA during the early-1970s I was glued to my radio, listening to Dr. Demento on 'a little bit of heaven, ninety-six point seven, KMET... tweedle-dee'. Man, oh man, I really miss those heady days.
I used to tape DrDemento on Sunday afternoon and listen to the program through out the week,and I had this song ,I probably havent heard it since 79 Great find!
For those who have never eaten a snack cake with an R.C. Cola, you're truly missing out. Go out and try it immediately. Won't work with a Coke or Pepsi. Coke is too sweet and Pepsi too sharp. But R.C. has a robust, almost musky aftertaste that cuts through the fatty sweetness of the snack cake.
This tune is fun but pretty straightforward, musically, compared to some of the other tunes played on Dr. Demento... which can be hard going for the average listener. They're doing a rural string band tune... basically a blues, some of the 20s-30s of which have lyrics about food etc., and updating it for the 'space age' food of the 1970s. The musical part is RIGHT ON because they're not merely trying to copy old time musicians, they ARE old time musicians, just of a later generation but following in the tradition of their heroes and making fresh music. The irony and humor comes with the very old sounding traditional music colliding with the space-age processed food of the lyrics! I don't think I need to spell this out, but of course some people won't otherwise get it. Another good one by them in this vein is "Shopping Mall". In my opinion, another thing that makes these great is that it isn't too hard to imagine original musicians from the original era, magically brought into the 70s/80s, looking around them and marveling at the newfangled technology, and writing songs about it just as songwriters have always occasionally referenced technology, lifestyle, etc in songs, but of course those songs coming out in their most familiar idiom and style. And yeah, the original artists/heroes/inspirations were great, and the Cheap Suit Serenaders also recorded more "serious" (or at least, less humorous) material than this, and were great!
I have a few cassettes taken off the Demento show on KMET from that era, and a little from the Flo and Eddie Show. I was there from '73 - '76, end of high school.
For anyone who doesn't know, Crumb is super into obscure recordings from the 20s-30s. Check out "Keep it Clean" by Charley Jordan for what must have been the template for this song.
I still can't believe 'R.C Cola' is an actual product! That alone makes my day (I'm from the UK, hence I'm not entirely familiar with all the US brands!).
I remember back in day my oldest brother playing this record on his JVC while we built M80s in my mom's basement. Of course back then they were sorta legal.
Back then people wisely understood, "boys will be boys". Now, things like boys making fireworks are criminalized and felonies. It's one of many ways modern boys get emasculated
You should add Crumb's name to the title of the video. I was looking all over RU-vid for this under his name. Only found it remembering it's appearance on the Demento LP.
