Yeah, Homer & Jethro's "song butcher" version of "Shifting Whimpering Sands" might make a nice compliment to Ken Nordine's original (below), but...sex sells better, don't it? So in one last salute to this neglected duo (them Bear Family German cowboys have done box sets on just about every over RCA C&W act), here's two rude-y toots.
One reason that you don’t find Homer & Jethro on too many blogs, is that most of them are run by people for whom English is a second language. They know how to mewl in Portuguese about their love for “smooth jazz.” They can post in French or Italian their devotion to Claudine Longet or their need to wax everyone's ears with the easy listening of Melachrino and Mantovani. In broken Swedglish and Dutch Pig Latin, they'll offer a daily flood of guitar hero discographies or sappy sunshine pop. But they won't download PUSAN U or GO TO HAL, and really, the latter is good advice to them.
"If I'm being honest," as Piers Morgan often says (but rarely means), people in America don’t really get the humor of Homer & Jethro either. The boys admitted, “we’re too corny for sophisticated people, and too sophisticated for corny people.” They didn’t go the “Hee Haw” route and take the stage in bib overalls, or wear straw hats. No outlandish costumes at all for these two. They dressed like proper businessmen. Their business was fracturing popular songs, everything from Broadway (“Hernando’s Hideway”) to The Beatles (“I Want to Hold Your Hand”) to “sacred” songs by such icons as Marty Robbins and Hank Williams. They had enough success to turn up on Jimmy Dean's variety show and some other TV programs. RCA was sufficiently reimbursed to let 'em do 2 or even 3 albums a year (mostly during the days when "Beverly Hillbillies," "Petticoat Junction" and "Green Acres" were popular). Still, the average music fan wasn't likely to have more than a 45 rpm single ("Battle of Kookamonga," a parody of the hit "Battle of New Orleans") in the collection.
During their heyday (1963-1967) when they churned out so many albums for "poor ol' Victor,) they had to vary their attack to remain interesting. They didn't just sing hee-haw lyrics with goofy imagery ("my poor heart is as heavy as a bucket of liver.") They sang about The Great Society, income tax, politics, and even were called on for potential TV theme song success (“Second Hundred Years” and “Camp Runamuck,” — two shows that didn’t last more than a season). They parodied The Beatles several times and always balanced the humor with excellent musicianship, from their harmonies to Jethro Burns' tone-deft mandolin playing.
And, yes, once in a while they stooped to being dusty, if not dirty. But not often. Among their widely varied albums (“There’s Nothing Like an Old Hippie,” “Old Crusty Minstrels,” “Barefoot Ballads,” “Wanted for Murder”) is “Nashville Cats,” which atypically contains TWO pretty obvious, kind of strange but hardly offensive double entendre tunes.
“Go To Hal,” a distant cousin to such novelty inanities as “Go Take a Ship For Yourself” and “She Has Freckles On Her But She is Nice,” is one joke that almost makes it through its 2:30. As Carson used to say, “You buy the premise, you buy the bit.” The set up is that Hal has what you need. So, go to Hal. The other one, "Pusan U," doesn't need to be explained, does it? Just listen, and to borrow a quote from comedian and sometime singer George Gobel, "it just might keep you from gettin’ sullen.”
These days, when vinyl is almost completely devalued, record sellers can actually turn to Homer and Jethro and smile, because few of their RCA albums have made it to CD. Many of these have "out of print Jack Davis lithograph" covers. So instead of a buck, MAYBE they get a fiver or even a tenner. Especially if the record is also in Living Stereo! Yee ha!
GO TO HAL (no Rapidgator slow download, no heil to Imagenetz, no money to Iron Curtain bastards)
PUSAN U. (listen online or download - no ego Passwords, no dodgy link-hiding)
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