The first 45 RPM 7" vinyl single HERC ever bought was THE novelty song of 1974: Ray Stevens "The Streak". Funny voices, funny sounds, funny story, funny song. Thus began HERC's habit of record buying which turned into CD buying, which continues to this day. (Somewhere in the Hideaway Library is a daily journal from 198X detailing every record he bought for a year.)
A couple of years later, in 1976, this silly slab of songs showed up in HERC's house in his Easter basket or maybe it was a birthday present. Sure, "The Streak" is on there but that was old news by then - the two new funny favorites HERC found were "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah! (A Letter From Camp)" by Allan Sherman and "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Napoleon XIV.
Allan Sherman won a Grammy for Best Comedy Record with 1963's "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah!" which peaked at #2. He released a live version, recorded on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show the following year. The song's melody is adapted from Ponchielli's "Dance Of The Hours".
Napoleon XIV was born Jerry Samuels and he made it to #3 with the original release of the song in 1966. Upon its 1973 re-release, it made it all the way up to #87.
After hours upon hours of listening to these songs, it's a wonder HERC can do that thing with the brain and talk good at all. These collections were often only about 67% true novelty songs with the other 47% just silly sounding songs from the Sixties like "The Name Game" or "Splish Splash" or "Volare".
After hours upon hours of listening to these songs, it's a wonder HERC can do that thing with the brain and talk good at all. These collections were often only about 67% true novelty songs with the other 47% just silly sounding songs from the Sixties like "The Name Game" or "Splish Splash" or "Volare".
It was also in 1976 when HERC finally bought his first vinyl LP album after trying unsuccessfully for a few weeks to buy his favorite song of the time as a 45 RPM 7" vinyl single. Here's the label of the single, a former #1 hit later sampled by LL Cool J in "I'm Bad":
And here's one of the most dated LP covers of all time, the very first vinyl LP album HERC purchased with his own hard-earned money, Rhythm Heritage's funky fresh Disco-Fied, which contained the above song.
And if you're still awake by the time you get to end of this post, there is a Spotify playlist waiting for you. Or you can scroll on down there now and skip all the cheesy commercials below!
Invasion of the As-Seen-On-TV Novelty Collection Commercials
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