January 19, 2009
Ella Mae Morse: The Cow-Cow Girl
“House of Blue Lights”
From an email dated November 3, 2006:
Ella Mae Morse turns out to be among the happiest musical discoveries I’ve made in some time - after lying about her age as a teenager in the late 1930s - she was 13 claiming 19 - to sing for Jimmy Dorsey, she sang with Freddie Slack’s orchestra, and fans of boogie-woogie, jump blues and jive at their 1940s roots swear up and down, correctly, of the scandal that she is not today a household name (she died in 1999) - she rocks, so to speak, with a rich, syrupy voice and a sassy honky-tonk rhythm all her own. Blogger “Eugene Ionesco” of Edinburgh, Scotland, sets the mood for her classic “House of Blue Lights“:
“Let’s go back, way back, to an old skool classic. And when I say old…I mean this was the school Methuselah useta play hookey from.
Freddie Slack and Ella Mae Morse were rappin’ over swing beats long before Dr. Dre enrolled for pre-med; back before Snoop Dog was a pup. Ol’ Dirty wasn’t even as a glint in Poppa Bastard’s eye. Pre-dating P. Diddy’s daddy: we’re talkin’ Grampa Diddy’s day, swingers.”
The spoken jive between her and lyricist Don Raye, “responsible for entering more hip phrases into the everyday lexicon than any other songwriter“, at the beginning of “House of Blue Lights” is priceless:Raye: Well, what‘cha say, Baby? You look ready as Mr. Freddie, the Slack - how about ‘chew and me goin’ spinnin’ at the track?Morse: What’s that, Homie? If you think I’m goin’ dancin’ on a dime - your clock is tickin’ on the wrong time!Raye: Well, what’s your pleasure, Treasure?…You call the plays, I’ll dig the ways -Morse: Hey, Daddy-O, I’m not so crude as to drop my mood on a square from way back - I’m in there, and have to dig life with Father - and I mean, Father Slack!Raye: Well, Baby, your plate gives my weight a solid flip - you snap the whip, I’ll make the trip…For an incisive cameo of Morse, see the inimitable Nick Tosches, “Ella Mae Morse: The Cow-Cow Girl“, in Tosches, Unsung Heroes of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Johnny Cash + Loretta Lynn + Norma Jean + Sissy Spacek
Johnny Cash - i walk the line - Sun Records Show (1955)Loretta Lynn: What's The Bottle Done To My BabyNorma Jean: Heartbreak USASissy Spacek: There He Goes
Dan Hill - Sometimes When We Touch
Dan Hill (born Daniel Hill Jr., 3 June 1954, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. He had two major hits with his songs, "Sometimes When We Touch" and "Can't We Try," a duet with Vonda Shepard. Hill is the son of social scientist and public servant, Daniel G. Hill, and brother of the author, Lawrence Hill. He sang the song "It's A Long Road" for the action movie First Blood. In 2005, he was one of the many Canadian performers to appear on the benefit single "Tears Are Not Enough" by Northern Lights. Although he had many hits in his native Canada, further singles did not fare as well in America. In 1987, Hill returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the Top 40 hit "Can't We Try", a duet with the then-unknown Vonda Shepard, as well as the near Top 40 hit "Never Thought (That I Could Love)". He continues to record, and in 2007, scored a stream of popular hits in Canada. A road trip to a Dan Hill concert was the subject of the 1994 Canadian comedy film South of Wawa. In 2007 he is touring with the CBC Radio program The Vinyl Cafe.
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