Friday 10 June 2011

Green Door by Jim Lowe 1956

Well, if you watched a few videos of Simon's Cat from the last blog post then you get an idea of its innocent and chuckle-worthy humour. The artist does the sound effects too... purrs and miaows. Look for the video (on YouTube) where he talks to camera about the phenomenon which is the worldwide popularity of these Simon's Cat movies.

Thanks to Gwenda I am reminded of the 1956 song Green Door and you can check out the link to a nice YouTube clip of the Jim Lowe song. There were increasingly odd versions of the song in the 60s and 70s... then much later another "performed" by muppet Fozzie Bear, and I seem to recall a link to it on this blog about a year ago. The most iconic performance was probably that by British crooner Frankie Vaughan (1928-'99). Until this re-encounter - because like everyone else around at the time I did hear it often in the U.K. following its first release (in the U.S.) back then in September '56 - I had never until now heard that it stayed at the top of the charts for 22 straight weeks until replaced, eventually, by Elvis's 'Love Me Tender'. Curious and compelling as the little tune and its lyrics may be, I tire of it much sooner than five months. In fact, being made to listen for that amount of time would surely qualify as cruel and unusual punishment. But if you can stand a briefer listen, here it is, and if you stick around the link will offer you many more versions

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