70s Song Nostalgia: Bad Leroy Brown and Angie Baby - 2009-06-04 14:45:10
<<< Previous - Iceplants are not Triffids - or at least, I don't think so... | Next - CD Cover Meme, Again >>>

So I dropped Jon off at the airport this morning for the Great Sullivan Moving Tour of 2009 and on the way home was wandering through the radio stations. Since I usually listen to NPR or my iPod in the car I often find that the other FM stations I had set months either have switched format or just won't tune in clearly in some parts of town. Which is how I ended up listening to The Walrus 105.7. (I confess, if I can't find anything on the alternative or rock stations that I can tolerate I go with the oldies.) I'm now laughing at their logo - that would make a humorous tshirt.

So Jim Croce's Bad Leroy Brown comes on (and thanks to the joy of YouTube)...



Jim Croce - Bad Bad Leroy Brown
Live performance on The Midnight Special, 1973

Now I clearly remember not only listening to that song on the radio as a child, but watching it. Or at least a cartoon of the action in the song. I'm pretty sure it was on the Sonny and Cher television variety show - but I'm not sure, and YouTube isn't helping me on this one. But it also got me to thinking how rare it is these days to bump into a song that tells a story like Leroy Brown - and gives you such a clear picture of a guy who's so bad that he not only has a concealed gun but also a razor in his shoe. First I'd ever heard of a junkyard dog too - but the phrase "meaner than a junkyard dog" has stuck with me. And for some reason this got me to thinking of another musical story in a song from around the same time...




Helen Reddy - Angie Baby
Song was released in 1974.
(Better quality video of it here, but not Reddy singing.)

Angie Baby still creeps me out - the idea of the boy disappearing inside a radio has a very "wasn't this a Steven King movie?" feel to it. And the cartoon in the video - well, you'll notice that the crazy girl actually becomes the radio and swallows him. Why no, that's not in any way disturbing... According to the Wikipedia page people have been fascinated by the song and what it means ever since it was released. (Read about the songwriter and the song on his wiki page - Alan O'Day. And interviews here and here.) So it's not amazing that the song dug itself into my brain and rooted there.

Now here's why I remembered Angie Baby immediately after Bad Leroy Brown - besides the whole "stories that give you a strong mental image of the story and characters" jazz. Both songs had cartoons made for them, like the one for Angie Baby linked above. I'm not a huge fan of that particular cartoon artist's style - it looks like it might have been rather hastily produced. But it was an early form of the music video, and even back in the 70s I loved the concept. I've also discovered who made them - they were released on video in 1981 as John Wilson's Mini-Musicals. If you check out John D. Wilson's IMDB page you'll see that he also animated the introduction to Grease - which I'm sure some of you who are fans will remember. (And here's some YouTube if you don't.) Wilson was the animator on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour from 1971 to 1974. I remember watching that with my parents - and I remember my father laughing over Leroy Brown. I somehow think that I'd recognize all the songs that Wilson provided animation for - I bet I managed to catch all of his work on that show.

And that would be your 1970s flashback trivia for the day.

Here's some song lyrics so you won't have to be besieged by pop up ads from the lyrics sites:

Jim Croce - Bad Leroy Brown

Well the South side of Chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man named Leroy Brown

Now Leroy more than trouble
You see he stand 'bout six foot four
All the downtown ladies call him Treetop Lover
All the men just call him Sir

(Chorus)
And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

Now Leroy he a gambler
And he like his fancy clothes
And he like to wave his diamond rings
In front of everybody's nose
He got a custom Continental
He got an Eldorado too
He got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun
He got a razor in his shoe

(Repeat Chorus)

Now Friday 'bout a week ago
Leroy shootin' dice
And at the edge of the bar
Sat a girl named Doris
And oo that girl looked nice
Well he cast his eyes upon her
And the trouble soon began
Cause Leroy Brown learned a lesson
Bout messin' with the wife of a jealous man

(Repeat Chorus)

Well the two men took to fighting
And when they pulled them off the floor
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone



Helen Reddy - Angie Baby

You live your life in the songs you hear
On the rock and roll radio
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
That's a really nice place to go
Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
But they had to take you outta school
You're a little touched you know, Angie Baby

Lovers appear in your room each night
And they whirl you across the floor
But they always seem to fade away
When your daddy taps on your door
Angie girl, are you all right
Tell the radio good-night
All alone once more, Angie Baby

Angie Baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe

Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy
With evil on his mind
'Cause he's been peeking in Angie's room
At night through her window blind
I see your folks have gone away
Would you dance with me today
I'll show you how to have a good time, Angie Baby

When he walks in her room,
He feels confused like he's walked into a play
And the music's so loud it spins him around
'Til his soul has lost its way
And as she turns the volume down
He's getting smaller with the sound
It seems to pull him off the ground
Toward the radio he's bound never to be found

The headlines read that a boy disappeared
and everyone thinks he died
'Cept a crazy girl with a secret lover
Who keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side, Angie Baby

Angie Baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Well, maybe

Randomly this reminds me that I keep meaning to have us try Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar which is in downtown San Diego, and is managed by Croce's wife. It's always had good feedback, and I've been curious about it for some time.

And annoying me still with it's earwormyness from the oldies station...



Neil Diamond - Cherry, Cherry

That is SUCH a catchy earworm. I wonder if there are any good covers of it with more gritty guitarwork. I would have loved to hear the Ramones do version of this. In fact - listen to Neil sing this in 72 - someone like Green Day could totally do a fast punk'd up arrangement of this. If they haven't already...must go research...

Oh and in a sign that EVERYONE is on Twitter now - Neil Diamond's Twitter.


Later...
Just for those surfing through, trying to find a video of Bad Leroy Brown - I haven't been able to find it yet on YouTube either. I'm looking too!

Even Later...

For those of you wanting more tv nostalgia: The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.

2 Comments

---

Comments:

---

---

To add your comment, click here.