I was going to post something completely different for today’s 2nd Halloween audio freebie, but then I spotted *this* little gem lying around in our music room and decided this would be a lot more fun! I love all the screaming, novelty goofball Halloween 60s tracks as much as anyone else, but product music oddities such as this one also entertain me to no end. I can’t say I’m very familiar with Winchell’s Donuts as I don’t think they ever crossed the border to Canada, but I’m sure I haven’t missed out on much.

This record, I should point out, is brought to you today by the man with whom I share, among many other things, a record collection: Mr. Otis Fodder. Even the more special, Otis still remembers going to Winchell’s Donuts as a child around Halloween time with his mom, getting the record with a box of donuts, bringing it home and listening to it. Which is quite amazing, because all the records I had as a child have certainly not been subject to the same, attentive care as this one!

Otis also included the track in his infamous 2 volume Halloween CD-series called “Ghouls With Attitude“, a compilation that has travelled all over the Internet since its release in 2004. Shockingly, Otis never kept a copy, and while trying to find a copy online today we came across a blogger who recently posted both volumes, which I’m happy to report you can download here and here).

The record, in a nutshell, has a Vincent Price-like voice actor telling a “scary” story to children (who don’t seem the least bit scared or impressed). Mr Creepy voice actor makes it very difficult not to cringe or laugh at his not-so-subtle product placement at the end of the story, when he tells the children that “Winchell’s Donuts does magic things to your mouth”.
:

Note to self: start using words like “flame retardant” more in conversations.

Waaaaatch oooout for ghooooooosts!!

Winchell’s Donuts Spooky Sounds & Scary Tales MP3

Whatever you say, world!

Little unknown girl duo from Frankfurt, Germany, circa 1965. I realised today while searching for some info on these two lovelies that their great tune “I Get the Message” was featured on Vol 1 of Girls in the Garage!

“Stop that Man”, the single that was intended as the A side, is a fun-yet-creepy plea to save The Interpreters from “that man”, ie the obvious STALKER who follows them around town and keeps making eyes at them. Not only that, but he’s as “mean as he can be”. Who knew sociopaths could be this much fun?

Not much is out there about who Sylvia and Beate were, or how this record ended up on American shores. If anyone has a clue, do tell!

The Interpreters – Stop that Man
The Interpreters – I Get the Message

Continuing on our Rock n’ roll children’s theme, I figured it would be nearly impossible to not post about Ricky Wilde. Ricky Wilde is the tops! In fact, this is so good, every other “kiddie a Go-Go” posting I will do after this will pale in comparison. But it’s just so great, I couldn’t wait until the end!

Born November 6, 1961 in the UK, Ricky was/is the brother of singer Kim Wilde, and the son of Marty Wilde.

This was his first single released in 1972 (at the age of 11), called “I Am An Astronaut” with the freakin’ fantastic B-Side “The Hertfordshire Rock”. Both these songs are so great that I’m amazed they didn’t do well. Was it because they were sung by a child? What the hell is wrong with you, world?!

“I am an Astronaut” has that innocent quality mixed with superb Bowie-esque arrangements and is just a great tune on its own. “The Hertfordshire Rock” is its evil rock and roll B-Side with intense guitars and lyrics no one can really make out (or is that just me?). If only René Simard would have gotten quality tunes like these!

Anyhoo, other later titles by Ricky included the quality glam tunes “I Wanna Go to a Disco” and “Teen Wave” (both my favorite of his). Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well for Ricky saleswise and stardom did not come a-knockin’ at the door in the UK, but he did find a fan base in Sweden (where this single originates from – thanks Sasha!).

Ricky Wilde produced his sister’s mega hit song “Kids in America” and continued to work in the music industry as a songwriter and producer. I sincerely hope you enjoy these!

Photo of young Ricky taken from Pop45

Ricky Wilde – I am an Astronaut
Ricky Wilde – The Hertfordshire Rock

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to continue on this idea I had, which was to post some rockin’ children’s songs from the 60s or other. In fact, I’ve been toying with the idea for several years now of producing a CD comp of garage/60s/punk/new wave children’s songs (as in: sung by children, from the time). The only problem is I wanted this comp to feature kids from around the world, not just focus on the U.S, the UK, France, etc. Quite a hefty mission. As you might guess, it hasn’t gotten me anywhere, but at least I have a few kick ass kiddie records lying around the house that could use a few blog posts. And, like I mentioned in my previous La Pendilla post – don’t let it scare you. It’s not like I’m gonna post René Simard or the Mini Pops. Trust.

Which brings us to post number 2. One could not talk about children recording stars without mentioning one of the most infamous child recording stars in US recording history: Keith Green.

Keith Green is well known today amongst Christian/Gospel music fans and is a posthumous member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Regardless of what your thoughts or opinions on Christian music are, he was a true artist and a musical prodigy. At the age of 11 in 1965, he was the youngest singer-songwriter to be signed to ASCAP.

From Wikipedia, about his late 70s period: “Green was signed to Contemporary Christian music label Sparrow Records in 1976 and worked on the album Firewind (1976) with Christian artists 2nd Chapter of Acts, Terry Talbot, John Talbot, and Barry McGuire. His first solo project, For Him Who Has Ears to Hear, was released in 1977 and his second solo release, No Compromise, followed in 1978. In 1979, after negotiating a release from his contract with Sparrow, Green initiated a new policy of refusing to charge money for concerts or albums. Keith and Melody mortgaged their home to privately finance Green’s next album, So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt. The album, which featured a guest appearance by Bob Dylan, was offered through mail-order and at concerts for a price determined by the purchaser. As of May 1982, Green had shipped out more than 200,000 units of his album – 61,000 for free. Subsequent albums included The Keith Green Collection (1981) and Songs For The Shepherd (1982).”

However, this is not the era I am interested in, obviously. Let us go back to 1965, when Keith Green was all but 11 years old, with already over 40 songs under his belt. His father, seeing green (geddit?) dollar bill signs in his son’s talent, knocked on DECCA records’ doors, requesting a session with a producer. None other than Gary Usher, producer of the Beach Boys, and co-writer of “In My Room”, among others, was commissioned to produce this shy young man, whom DECCA had high hopes for as their next teen idol star. Story has it that Gary Usher didn’t think much of Keith Green’s songs and that the DECCA big suits forced him into producing Green. Usher easily transformed Keith’s compositions into Beach Boys sounding material, with the help of Chuck Girard on backing vocals and “voilà”, here you have “A Go-Go Getter” and the A-side, “The Way I Used to Be”.

Two more singles were released until Donny Osmond came along and stole every young girl’s heart. Pffft!

Keith Green suffered a severe depression, until marrying and converting to Christianism in the late 70s, and started on a new, impressive recording career. He later died in a plane crash in 1982.

Here’s a fantastic clip of little Keith on “I’ve Got a Secret”. His secret being “I Just Signed a 5-Year Contract as a Rock and Roll Singer”.

Keith Green – A Go-Go Getter/The Way I Used to Be

So just the other day at work I was happily singing out loud “Un rayo de sol, woh-oh-oh! La la la la la, woh-oh-oh!” over and over, until my boss finally snapped and asked “What the HELL are you singing??”. I had no clue what to answer, even though I knew I was singing La Pendilla’s version of Un rayo de sol. What could I say? “Well, it’s this Spanish children’s album I have and uh….”. Oh no, trust me, I now know when to avoid the blank stares of complete incomprehension. So I just said “something to bring in the…uh…sun?” (since it’s been raining every day for a month here now anyway).

Last week I thought I should start posting more, and that’s when I decided I would start posting a new series of mp3s: kiddie a go-go! Before you cringe and decide to no longer visit this blog, ever, listen to La Pendilla’s “A-chi-li-pu”. It kind of kicks ass.

La Pendilla was the brainchild of Pepe Aguirre, and most of the band members were his children or nieces and nephews. The band was originally from Spain but was most popular in South America. I can’t say I know more about this cute bunch, so if anyone wants to chip in, please feel free.

Next week: Keith Green!

La Pendilla – A-chi-li-pu
La Pendilla – Canciones
La Pendilla – Un rayo de sol