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Mel-o-dy 110 (B), January 1964
B-side of Shambles
(Written by Howard Hausey)
“I had a beautiful woman… Then I left her for a prettier one. Then another one after that. I’m paying for it now, though – FINANCIALLY, that is! Am I right, eh, fellas? Eh? Eh?”
(Alright, it doesn’t actually say that, but it might as well.)
A sickening, woozy-sounding, objectifying, patriarchal, thoroughly misogynistic waltz, written by Henslee’s labelmate Howard Crockett under his real name; a “beware the evils of pretty girls” screed set to almost the exact tune of How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?, and one that can’t be rehabilitated by some neat pedal steel work. The narrator just comes across as such a buffoon that it’s hard to warm to this, even as unintentional comedy.
Love her, and show
And let her know
You’ve let all the other ones go
Beautiful beautiful women
Beautiful beautiful girls
Running my life tomorrow
Giving my world a whirl…
Something you’re trying to tell us, is there, Gene? (cough alimony cough)
Tosspot.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
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In an opinion at amazon.com I got hammered with brickbats after finding quite a lot of patriarchal misogyny, and overflowing arrogance, in a far more beautiful -indeed a classic- record: Glen Campbell’s immortal, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” Instrumentally, the record is undeniably majestic and dreamy, and in those pre-feminist days, I believe, even picked up a Grammy.
Despite its magnificent Al DeLory production -and I have the record, actually- it irks me to listen to the narrator passing named-out-loud town after town, listing what she’s doing at the given moment (which reminds me, in turn, of the threatening, stalking attitude in The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”), and so very sure the woman he left behind is falling to pieces because “she just didn’t know, I would really go…”
Maybe she did him wrong (which he doesn’t detail) and Campbell’s character did the right thing by departing. And I haven’t always felt this way, but in the passing years when listening to “Phoenix,” I imagine the poor woman throwing open some windows, pouring something cold and bubbly, and thanking God that smug, over-sure ego monster is out of her life.
Needless to say, among Campbell-can-do-no-wrong visitors to the review, I got lots of ‘not helpful’ votes. That stings, but I ain’t gonna delete it or edit it, because I haven’t changed my mind.
BY THE WAY, Nixon, if we don’t say it enough to you here, you are doing a splendid job with Motown Junkies. I visit every single day now, without fail, and if a new review isn’t up, I read an old one or two again. đŸ™‚ I doubt I’m the only regular with that routine.
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Thanks for the kind words, Dave! I’m sticking to an every-2-days schedule now, baby permitting, except in some novelty/country cases (like this) where I want to move ahead a bit more quickly, where I’ll try and post daily instead – no offence to Mr Henslee, but I don’t really like to leave two Mel-o-dy C&W records up on the front page for two straight days…
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perhaps had AL Klein deciced to take a road trip about 200 miles in a southeasterly direction, he may have found better than Henslee [or had Gene done anything remotely close to DIGGIN’ and DAT’N]. Trust me the better Dallas artists ha gone elsewhere [ ie. Orville Couch, Gene Summers, ]
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Try Isaac Hayes version the same year on the Lp “Hot Buttered Soul” where it is explained that the character had already left her 7 times before.And 7 times he came back. She cheated on him and called him a fool. Wishful thinking is you would have caught a few less brickbats if the full story was understood.
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This is the style of C&W music I can’t stand. And, I’ve never really cared about lyrics – only the sound of the music. But, I’ve heard a LOT of this style C&W that is a lot better. This seems to have little emotion and feeling behind it, no hooks and is just boring. A 1 is about right. The flip is better, but still very boring. And this isn’t just that I can’t stand this style of C&W. I DO like many of Hank Williams’ recordings, and liked the Dorsey Burnette and a few of the Bruce Chanel Mel-o-dy cuts.
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