There are two songs that I know of that go through the calendar. One was written and sung by Neil Sedaka: “Calendar Girl.” The other is performed by the unusual group that goes by Boney M. 

Wikipedia calls Boney M “a Euro-Caribbean vocal group created by German record producer Frank Farian.” While the line-up has changed over the years, one thing has stayed the same: the people you see are probably not doing the singing you hear. The male voice is actually Frank Farian himself, with some help from filters to make his voice sound deeper than it really is. 

In 1974, Farian recorded a dance song called “Do You Wanna Bump?” (The bump was a dance where you would bump hips with another person. Deliberately. I didn’t say it was a good dance. It was, however, very easy to learn, if occasionally painful.) (And in the video, no one is even doing the bump!) In this song, Farian provided all the vocals. Somehow it became a hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. Farian decided that he needed a group to front the song. And, thus was born Boney M.

They had a few smallish hits in Europe. My favorite is their song “Rasputin.” It has some amazing lyrics:

​You really should check out the video. It is fabulous. You may be wondering how they rhymed Rasputinwith queen? They pronounced Rasputin Ras-poo-teen.
Why am I talking about “Rasputin”and not the “Calendar Song?” Well let me give you the lyrics for that one:
January, February, March, April, May June, July, 
August, September, October, November, December.
 
That’s it. They repeat a few times. Just a listing of the months of the year.
Keep in mind that the people we see in the videos are not the ones singing. (One of the women was singing some of the time, but that’s it.) Somehow, it does not come as a surprise that Farian was the producer who gave us Milli Vanilli.

 If you haven’t heard of them, they were a German R&B duo that won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990. The only problem was that the two men you saw were not the ones you heard singing. When this came out, they were forced to give their Grammy back. It was a huge scandal at the time. And Frank Farian was their producer.
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I understand that there are other, well-known singers who have lip-synced to someone else’s vocals. Jennifer Lopez(allegedly) comes immediately to mind. To me, this is another facet of the actor/singer problem that a lot of movies face. To cast someone who is well-known but cannot sing, or someone who might be less well-known but cansing. Must all of our respected performers be pretty? Meatloaf wasn’t easy on the eyes, but what a voice!

​What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. I’ll be playing some of the songs mentioned here on my Minnich Music Facebook page, (I promise, not many will be by Boney M!) so please be sure to check them out.

Until next time!

When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next you
When I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
If I get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I haver up, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's havering to you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

When I'm working, yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money, comes in for the work I do
I'll pass almost every penny on to you
When I come home (when I come home) well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow-old (when I grow-old) well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da da da (da da da)
Da da da (da da da)

Da da da dun diddle un diddle un diddle uh da

Da da da (da da da)
Da da da (da da da)

Da da da dun diddle un diddle un diddle uh da

When I'm lonely, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
And when I'm dreaming, well I know I'm gonna dream
I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you
When I go out (when I go out) well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home (when I come home) yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you
I'm gonna be the man who's coming home with you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

(Lots more da, dasfollow)

And I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
​

My husband and I have two Songs. This and “Happy Together.” I don’t think its possible to listen to either one without smiling.

This song was written and originally performed by the duo called The Proclaimers, made up of Scottish twins Charlie and Craig Reid. They were born on 5 March 1962, making them a little over a year younger than me. 
In 1987, Craig wrote the song in roughly 45 minutes. It was released as the lead single on their second album, Sunshine on Leith. The song made it to #11 on the UK charts, but soon hit it big with #1 ratings in Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand by 1990!

Then, in 1993, a movie called Benny & Joon came out. If you haven’t seen it, you need to. This was Johnny Depp at his best, before he turned into what he is now. It is what would be called a quirky rom-com. On the other hand, it deals with mental illness in ways which have brought it under fire for trivializing schizophrenia. So, there is that. (There is a musical version playing off-Broadway right now!!!!)

But, asides aside, the movie brought “I’m Gonna Be”back into the public’s awareness, and it took off, reaching the top 5 in the US and Canada. And this in spite of the fact that several US stations refused to play the song, believing (mistakenly) that the word “havering” was sexual. It is not. Havering is a Scottish term meaning babbling, or talking nonsense, the result of going out drinking. 

In researching this, I found that since the song appeared in Benny and Joon, it has been in many a TV show, movie and cover. Imagine Dragons covered it live at a concert in Scotland in 2014. In their video game, Alvin and the Chipmunks cover the song. (Wait! Alvin and the Chipmunkshave a video game?!!?!) Budweiser used the song for their Super Bowl adin 2015. 

One of my favorite versions is the one that the cast and crew of Doctor Who put together for David Tennant as he was leaving the title role. 

In 2007, it was performed for Comic Reliefby two comedians who portray characters who are wheelchair-bound. (The actors are not themselves handicapped.) They slightly altered the lyrics to “I will roll 500 miles and I will roll 500 more.” To be honest, I found the video in rather poor taste, but The Proclaimerscame out and finished the song with them.

The Proclaimersare an unusual duo. They are endearing more than attractive, and very geeky-looking. They sing with a thick Scottish accent that makes their music a bit hard for some people to understand. They even have a song about it: “Throw the ‘R’ Away,”referring to the English way of not pronouncing r’s when the Scots tend to roll them. The following are just a sample of the lyrics: 

I'm just going to have to learn to hesitate
To make sure my words on your Saxon ears don't grate
But I wouldn't know a single word to say
If I flattened all the vowels and I threw the "R" away

There are a lot of unusual references in this song. I love it! And turning “Saxon” into an insult is great!

The Reid brothers have said that they make more money from “I Wanna Be” than all the rest of their songs combined. And they are still recording, having put out a new album just last year. I suppose to some people they qualify as one-hit-wonders, but not to the people of Scotland. And they do not seem to have any negative feelings toward their biggest hit. Todd in the Shadows did a great review of The Proclaimersand their music. 

What do you think of this duo and their hit? Have you heard any of their other songs? I’ll be playing this and some of their other songs on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so please be sure to check them out.

Until next time!

Let me start by saying that while I’ve probably been through Tennessee once or twice, it would have been when I was very young, and have no memory of it. None. So, I have no idea what Memphis is like in June or any other time of year. (Google tells me the average temperature in June is 89, with 6 days of rain.)

“Memphis in June” was written by a gentleman named Hoagy Carmichael. I remember hearing the name when I was a kid and wondering what Hoagy was short for. (Did he reallylike sandwiches?) Turns out it was short for Hoagland. Yup. His parents named him Hoagland. Apparently, there had been a circus troupe named “The Hoaglands” that had been staying with the family while his mother was pregnant with Hoagy. Perhaps this was more common back in 1899, when he was born. I could not find any explanation of why this group was staying with the family, as there was no circus connection prior to this. Hoagy’s father was a horse-drawn taxi driver and later an electrician while Mom played the piano at the silent movies and the occasional private party. 

It was through his mother that young Hoagy learned how to play the piano. There were some lessons with Reginald DuValle, a black bandleader. (Hoagy was not black, so having lessons from a black man was progressive at the time.) That was the extent of his musical training. 

Hoagy went on to become one of the most successful Tin Pan Alleycomposers of the time. (Tin Pan Alley refers to a specific area in New York City where popular songs were being composed from the end of the 1800s until well into the 1900s.) He also had an acting career. He even played himself (sort of!) in an episode of the then prime-time cartoon: The Flintstones.

Our song is not really about anything. There is no plot to follow, no character to delve into. This is just a slice of time, a picture of what one moment in a particular place was like. The song dates back to 1945 when Hoagy performed it in a movie, Johnny Angel, with his own orchestra. 

Until next time! Memphis in June
A shady veranda under a Sunday blue sky
Memphis in June
And cousin Amanda's makin' a rhubarb pie (Annie Lennox sings blueberry pie)
I can hear the clock inside tickin' and a-tockin'
Everything is peacefully dandy
I can see old granny cross the street, still a-rockin'
Watching the neighbors go by
 
Memphis in June
With sweet oleander blowing perfume in the air
Up jumps the moon to make it that much grander
It's paradise, brother take my advice
Nothing's half as nice as
 Memphis in June
Memphis in June
With sweet oleander blowing perfume in the air
Up jumps the moon to make it that much grander
It's paradise, brother take my advice
Nothing's half as nice as Memphis in June

It has been covered by dozens of singers in the years since. Nina Simone, Sister Swing, and in 2014 by Annie Lennox. The song definitely has staying power.

Do you have a favorite song about June? Summer, in general? Let me know in the comments section below. I’ll be playing different versions of this and a few other Hoagy Carmichael songs this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so please be sure to check them out.

Until next time!

March went out like a lion, A-whippin’ up the water in the bay,
Then April sighed and stepped aside, and along come pretty little May.
May was full of promises, but she didn’t keep ‘em quick enough for some,
And a crowd of doubtin’ Thomases was predictin’ that the Summer’d never come. 
But it’s comin’ by gum, y’ken feel it come!
Y’ken feel it in yer heart, y’ken see it in the ground,
Y’ken hear it in the trees, y’ken smell it in the breeze.
Look around, look around, look around!
 
Yup, “June Is Bustin’ Out all Over” is one of the songs from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. I’d planned on just writing about this one particular song, but then I did some research and found so much interesting information about the musical itself, that I’ve kind of changed my focus.

Liliom 
Our story starts in 1909 when the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar put on his new playLiliomin his native Budapest. Liliom(Liliom is his nickname. It is Hungarian for lily—slang word for a tough guy) is the story of a carousel barker (the guy who could coax you into paying your hard-earned cash to ride his carousel) who falls for a young servant girl named Julie. They both lose their jobs, and time passes. Liliom proves himself to be a wife beater. But Julie tells a friend that she feels like every slap is actually a kiss. (Julie needs therapy.) Just as he is on the verge of leaving Julie, she finds out that she is pregnant. Now desperate to provide for his wife and soon-to-be child, he agrees to take part in a robbery. Things go badly, and Liliom stabs himself. He dies.

The next part of the play takes place just outside of Heaven. Liliom is told that he may return to earth for one day to right the wrongs he has done to his family, but that he must first spend 16 years in Purgatory. So, the 16 years pass, and Liliom has stolen a star from Heaven to give to his now teen-aged daughter, who, like her mother, works in a factory. She refuses the star, and he slaps her. Julie sees this and goes running to berate this stranger who has hit her daughter. (For some reason, she does not recognize Liliom.) Having failed in his task, he retreats into, presumably, Hell. Daughter ask her mother if it is possible to feel a slap like a kiss, and Mom says that yes, it is. The End. 

The audience in 1909 was a bit confused by the play, and it only ran for a few weeks. When it came to the US in 1921, however, things went differently. It was a hit. A few years later, the play ran on the West End in London with Charles Laughton in his first stage role. 

In 1939, Orson Welles directed and starred in a one-hour adaptation of the play for his radio broadcast. (This was a year after his famous War of the Worlds broadcast.) By 1940, the play was back on Broadway with a young Burgess Meredith as the male lead. (Meredith would many years later play the Penguin in the BatmanTV series.) It was this version that Rodgers and Hammerstein would go and see. (Liliom, not Batman. That would be silly.)

Carousel 
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had just done Oklahoma! While today, many think of that musical as dated and cliched, at the time it was ground-breaking. The music and dancing all progressed the story, and not everything was funny. In making this decision, they were following in the footsteps of Showboat, for which Hammerstein had written the lyrics. 

The two had seen Liliom, and thought that they could do something with it, but there needed to be a few changes: with the outbreak of war in Europe, they needed to take the story out of Budapest, and it needed a more hopeful ending.

When first approached, Molnar was not willing to have his play turned into a musical. He had already turned down Kurt Weillof Three-Penny Opera fame. (Think Mack the Knife.) He had also turned down Giacomo Puccini! He wanted people to remember his play, not an opera by Puccini. (Instead, people think of the musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein! How is this different?)

But he was convinced to see Oklahoma!and agreed to let them make their musical. He even agreed to a location change and a (slightly) happier ending.

Now, R&H just needed to find a better location. Their producers wanted Louisiana with the male lead being Cajun. Thank goodness that R&H kyboshed that idea. It’s really hard to get the Cajun accent right. Of course, it’s hard to get the New England accent right, too. But, because one of them had a house on Cape Cod, they chose to make Maine the location for the story.

They kept most of the plot intact. Liliom is now Billy Bigelow. Looking for their Billy, R&H heard a young singer from California,John Raitt, who warmed up with the famous baritone aria from Rossini’s Barber of Seville (Yes, you’re next. You’re so next!). They were so impressed with his warmup that they hired him immediately, and even cast him as the replacement Curly in Oklahoma!that they’d been looking for. (Along with his own long career, John Raitt is the father of singer Bonnie Raitt.) 

Billy is still a wife-beater and a thief. He still dies in the course of a botched robbery. As he lies dying in Julie’s arms, her Aunt Nettie sings “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” a truly great song. (My mother had an Aunt Nettie. Don’t know if she ever sang that song, though.)

As for the more hopeful ending, Billy comes back to earth to help his out-cast daughter Louise. He offers her the star he stole from Heaven and she turns it down. He slaps her hand and drops the star as he becomes invisible when Julie comes out. Louise still feels the slap as a kiss not a slap and asks if Julie understands. Julie does. Julie also finds the star and picks it up as Billy tells her that he loves her, something he’d never been able to say before.

We go to Louise’s high school graduation, where, as Billy whispers in her ear, she reaches out to another girl, who does not rebuff her. Louise realizes that she is not as alone as she thought, as the entire group reprises the fabulous song—"You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Billy ascends to Heaven. The End.

June is Bustin’ 
There is so much glorious music in this play. “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the duet “If I Loved You,” and Billy’s “Soliloquy” as he imagines himself the father of a son, or a daughter. “Soliloquy” shows us Billy’s thoughts through the tough braggadocio thinking of his son, his boy, Bill, to the very different idea of a daughter. It is this that leads him to the robbery. He needs money to give his daughter a better life. With its musical and dramatic changes, “Soliloquy” is more an operatic aria than a song in a musical. In fact, R&H almost turned Carouselinto an American opera, sung-through, but decided not to. Lost opportunity.

“June Is Bustin’ Out All Over” is a fun song. I wouldn’t call is great. The operatic soprano, Renee Fleming has recently played Aunt Nettie on Broadway. She gets to sing “June Is Bustin,” “This Was a Real Nice Clambake,”and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I’m trying to find her singing our June song live, but so far, no luck
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However, there is a dark topic that I feel needs to be addressed: violence to women. Billy is a wife-beater. Julie, and later Louise, say that when he hits them, it feels like a kiss. No. When you are hit, it feels like you are being hit. I have been the victim of “domestic violence.” Trust me, it does not feel like a kiss. The character of Billy is supposed to be handsome and charming, and we are supposed to find him sympathetic. I did not see the latest revival of the show, so I don’t know how or even if they dealt with this issue. I’m sure that a lot of people would say that this was a different era and we need to look at it with that in mind. And while I understand that thought, I don’t agree. Particularly now, when violence to women and minorities is on the upswing, we need to talk about this and not accept it because “it was a different time.” 

What do you think? Do you like this musical, hate it? Why? I’ll be playing some of the music (including the infamous Leslie Uggams version where she forgets the words and starts making up the most delightful gibberish!) on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so please be sure to check them out.

Until next time!