Get Involved blog

Tennessee Ernie Ford - Blackberry Boogie

I recently acquired this 1952 ditty by Tennesse Ernie (Ford) and only heard it for the first time when I put the needle on the record. I don’t like it quite as much as Ford’s previous (1950) track, Shotgun Boogie - or his brilliant Sixteen Tons from 1955 - but this is still pretty good. Lyrically, it’s about going blackberry picking with a girlfriend - with a whole lotta making out thrown into the bargain. There’s even the suggestion of baking a pie - which is, as far as I’m concerned, always a great idea - whether literal or (as it is in this case) loaded with inuendo. And doesn’t it look fetching in its company sleeve?

Rockabilly legend Delmar Allen (Dale) Hawkins sadly passed away at the weekend (on February 13) in Little Rock, Arkansas, age 73. He’d been fighting colon cancer for the best part of four years and his condition had been getting steadily worse this year. Hawkins will be best remembered best for his track Susie-Q which he cut for Chess’s Checker label in 1957 - and as the “architect of swamp rock boogie”. There’s a really good biography here.

Susie-Q was covered by among others, the Rolling Stones in 1964, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, who recorded an 11-minute quasi-psychedelic version on their first LP in 1968. Among Hawkins’ other hits were “La Do Da Da,” later recorded by the Blue Things. He has been inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and The Lousiana Music Hall of Fame.

Dale Hawkins – Lifeguard Man

Rather than stick up Susie-Q, I wanted to flag up a lesser known track by Dale that I only discovered last year called Lifeguard Man. Top seaside spin! RIP Dale.

Frank Minion - Watermelon

Since stumbling upon this 1958 record by Frank Minion quite by accident last week, I must have played it about 50 times… It’s one of those tunes that just gets under your skin. Bongo, tom tom and high hat provide the lolloping beat - which combines with one of the most pared down bass lines of all time to create what I can only describe as a minimal groove - over which Frank Minion delivers a flippin’ great vocal about having to sell Watermelons all day long (hollering “Watermelon” all the time to advertise his wares) in order to feed his baby / make a living. Wow.

Louis Prima - Beep! Beep!

There aren’t that many white artists whose music would sit naturally on a rhythm’n'blues compilation - but “Uncle” Louis Prima is one of them. This is a cut of his from 1957 that I just love with it’s talk of a space-travelling girlfriend and some frankly awesome, Clanger-like beep-beep-beepings in the chorus. And his delivery of the line, “Aw lay that sound on me” just before the final beeps of the track is just brilliant.