Can anything be done to prevent a sane person from turning off “Obla-di Obla-da?”
Not really, but Peter Nero gave it a try. For that, and for turning 85 in May, here’s a salute to the maestro. He was one of the most popular pianists in the 60’s (beginning with a “Best New Artist” Grammy in 1961) and recorded over 60 albums. Most were in the easy listening vein that had previously been mined by Roger Williams. If you weren’t quite highbrow enough for Horowitz and Rubinstein, but not low enough for Liberace, you could enjoy Nero’s classy blends of jazz, pop, "Great American Songbook" and movie themes. He went on to create and lead the “Pops” orchestra in Philadelphia (1979-2013) utilizing a style not too dissimilar from the inventor of the genre in Boston, Arthur Fiedler.
The photo up top? Back in 1957, the Brooklyn born Bernard Nierow put out his first album. He shortened his name to “Bernie Nerow" and added two guys to the act. Four years later, the solo pianist was winning fame as Peter Nero, with people logically figuring him for Italian.
Perhaps a few out there think “Obla-di Obla-da” is some kind of Italian phrase, like "Que Sera." Actually, it's kinda rasta in origin, but really, getting scholarly about "Obla-di Obla-da" is too ridiculous even for this, the trivia-prone "blog of less renown."
The only good thing one can say about the “PC” world we live in, is that MAYBE it will eventually ban Sir Paul from EVER singing “blackface,” by putting on an accent on the chorus of this intensely annoying tune. Paulie can take Sting (“Roxanne”) and Peter Gabriel (“Biko”) with him. What’s with white guys putting on ethnic accents used by “people of color” (once known as “colored people”)? Isn't it...offensive? How about some BDS sanctions on skinhead Pete for singing "da mon is ded" in a dialect he does NOT speak in? How about a spank to Sting for intimating that brown-skin women are all whores who "put out de redd lite." Oh, obla-di obla-da. Life goes on, bro. Some time, you hear some ting ya wish ya dint, know wuttum sayin?
Baroque-Bach Classical version of OBLA-DI OBLA-DA (the link takes you to listen or download, not to a porn site or Russian malware site)
"Oob La Di" was a phrase that DJ Mike Myers (aka The Mad Daddy) used often back in the 1950's..for what it's worth.
ReplyDeleteYou are the only sane blogger out there...and I read every word.
Thanks,
Michael
Thanks Michael!
ReplyDeleteYou've sent me on another pursuit of knowledge. Indeed! There's a Wavy Gravy compilation of Daddy's radio broadcasts, I think on CD via Norton, and there's a clip of him reciting "The Creature from Obla-Dee." (Duh, Daddy left out the Obla-Dah?) Not sure if "Obla-Dee" was Daddy's spelling, or a presumption from the compiler.
Now I feel compelled to give equal time to Nigerian reggae performer Jimmy Scott. According to McCartney, who wrote this one without the help of Lennon, Scott "used to hang around the clubs and used to say in a Jamaican accent, "Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on," and he got annoyed when I did a song of it, 'cause he wanted a cut. I said, 'Come on, Jimmy, it's just an expression."
John's contribution was getting so fed-up with having to rehearse the thing, that he went over and pounded the opening notes on the piano as fast as possible, perking up the pace of the song. He and the others still didn't like Paul's ditty too much, which led to George Harrison's stinging jab on "Savoy Truffle" that went: "We all know obla-di-bla-da, but can you show me where YOU are?"
To be fair if you were five to fifteen when you first heard the song, it was probably just catchy nonsense, and it didn't get on your nerves till you finally heard it one time too many. A lot of people also hate Paul's all too jaunty "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," but I like the sick humor in it. Sometimes Paul's underrated observational skills meant people didn't even try to think if the guy really had a point or not. Certainly in his solo career he seemed to throw anything into the music ("Band on the Run") but in his Beatles days, there seemed to be some method and purpose, and a slyness behind the choirboy look of innocence. The images in "Penny Lane" are a bit strange. The fragmentary (second verse same as the first) "You're Mother Should Know" is pretty weird, and most certainly something's goin' on with "Lady Madonna."