Long-Forgotten (by you) Songs

[Peanuthead]

@cjepson

This one’s mainly for the older Dopers. Do you, every once in a while, find yourself thinking of some song that you’ve forgotten about for decades? This happened to me today. I suddenly, out of nowhere, remembered the 1971 song “Double Barrel” by Dave & Ansell Collins. This song is probably better remembered by those in the UK, where I believe it went to #1, but it stalled just outside the Top 20 in the US. It was mostly instrumental but every once in a while either Dave or Ansell would interject, “I… am The Magnificent!! W-O-O-O.” That is, he didn’t say “wooo”, but said the letters “W, O, O, O”. Anybody remember that? Anybody have any idea what the hell that was about???

I actually have a copy of that tune on one of my Ska compilation CDs. I think the WOOO are call letters of a radio station.

[Peanuthead]

I was recently reminded of Melanie’s “Lady Down, Lay Down (Candles in the Rain”. Man, oh man what a powerful song that is! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=530Hqoamf3Q&feature=related

[Chefguy]

Shrimp Boats is a-Comin’ pops into my head every once in awhile. It’s sung by Jo Stafford (1951), but I remember it.

Also Itsy Bitsy, etc., Bikini.

Surfin’ Bird, by The Trashmen

[hajario]

@needscoffee

Master Jackby 4 Jacks and a Jill - what the hell is that song about? It’s got to be the creepiest mainstream song of all time. Lyrics here.

I’ve wondered on and off about that song for decades. They were a South African group. I worked with a South African guy several years ago and I asked him about it but he didn’t have a clue. He called his wife, also from S.A., to ask her and she was similarly clueless.

[salinqmind]

OK. I am dumb. what is so creepy about Master Jack lyrics? (I think it’s about a pupil of a guru or a teacher, who’s learned things from him, is about to go out into the world to find out things on her own…something like that.)

[delphica]

@Baggins111

I recently heard Sneaky Snake by Tom T. Hall.

That brought me WAY back. I used to love that song when I was a kid. Forgot all about it my whole adult life. I cracked up. I know I looked like a nut driving along laughing to myself.

Oh how weird. I also heard that recently, and I had completely forgotten it even existed until then. And I loved it as a kid. Now I find myself singing it randomly.

[Misnomer]

@Emily_Litella

Lately I was also thinking of “There’s a kind of hush all over the world” by ??? (not Deep Purple)

Someone else already provided the Herman’s Hermits answer, but I came into this thread to mention “Hush” – by Deep Purple. I’d forgotten about that song until a day or two ago, when I learned that Deep Purple did it.

[cjepson]

@Peanuthead

I actually have a copy of that tune on one of my Ska compilation CDs. I think the WOOO are call letters of a radio station.

Thank you! That was my default guess.

By the way, anyone around my age (54) who wants a real trip down memory lane – go to Wiki’s “One-Hit Wonders of the 70s”.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

My unidentified song:

It’s a ballad, and the first words are something like “If there’s somewhere else you’d like to go, I wish you’d go there now. . . .”

It was released sometime between '81 and '84.

Thanks.

“Master Jack” is a about a miner–I think sung to a veteran miner “Master Jack” by a newbie presumably–according to the album liner notes. If anyone’s still interested, and hasn’t found one yet, I’ll dig mine out and post the details.

There’s also a poignant song on the same album “Mr. Nico,” about an old (I guess) shopkeeper who’s having to give it up to make way for progress.

[running_coach]

Right now, I’m listening to Alice’s Restaurant. Haven’t heard this long bit of weirdness in decades.

[Emily_Litella]

@runner pat

Right now, I’m listening to Alice’s Restaurant. Haven’t heard this long bit of weirdness in decades.

My local radio station plays this every Thanksgiving at noon, it’s a tradition.
(Thanks CateAyo)

[Soul_Brother_Number_Two]

I heard Child of the Moon at my coffee shop the other day and it stopped me in my tracks, transfixed.

- YouTube

[It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery]

Beep Beep by the Playmates.

One of my sisters had the 45 of this song.

[Misnomer]

@It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery

Beep Beep by the Playmates.

Oh. My. God. I can’t believe that song is on YouTube! My mom had a cassette tape full of old novelty songs (My Ding-A-Ling, Spiders & Snakes, Hello Muddah Hello Faddah, etc.) and this song was on it. My brother and I loved that tape and would have her play it over and over. To this day I will randomly find myself singing parts of this song!

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

Eh, if anyone’s interested in “Master Jack”. . .

@From the album 'Fables':

The first thing we wanted to know, for we’d all formed theories since he release, was what “Master Jack” meant. We wish we had [lead singer] Glenys Lynne’s answer on tape to send around the world. In her charming, soft-spoken and intelligent way, she related the delightful story to us:
In certain mines, the foreman is called “Master Jack,” and the song tells the story of a laborer who works diligently for this master for years and years and then decides to go out on his own and exercies his desires and aspirations as an individual to be something other than a laborer.

[The_Real_Regency_Elf]

She Sheila by the Producers. I used to go nuts when I heard this on the radio. Had no idea there was a video for it, shot at the Pan Pacific Auditorium no less.

It’s a Fine Fine Day by Tony Carey. Stumbled over this the other day on another forum. Another one I used to wait eagerly to hear on the radio when I was a kid. That guy could tear the Hammond up!

And I don’t even know how So Long by Fischer Z ever got on my radar to begin with, let alone why I think of it from time to time, but such is the mystery of memory. Creepy but haunting. And I love the keyboards after the first verse.

[spud5050]

Try this!

*Top *Of *The *Pops* 70s*-#35. Dave and Ansell Collins - Double Barrel

Enjoy!

[Ponch8]

I had successfully repressed Amy Grant’s “Good for Me” from my memory until I heard it the other day. :mad:

Katy Perry’s new song “Last Friday Night” has a part where a chorus keeps chanting “T-G-I-F! T-G-I-F!” It is very similar (both in its theme and its cadence) to the horrible “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers, where they chant “S–A--T U R–D A Y–Night!” over and over.

[Dung_Beetle]

My entire goal when listening to the radio is to hear something I haven’t heard in forever…in fact, I’m tempted to keep a list of the unusual stuff that crops up on my drives to and from work. This morning’s gem was Angel in Your Arms by Hot. I bet I haven’t heard that since the seventies.

[xizor]

Clones by Alice Cooper is a great song that I haven’t heard on the radio since the 70s.