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MOORE |
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 SPIKE JONES ...with his handy washboard |
Music appreciation?
Well, maybe for us!
of TheColumnists.com
It was a shock to learn that the gentleman who had entertained us in our home so many times during the early 1940’s had passed away. Not only was he dead but he had been since 1965.
Lindley Armstrong Jones was a regular and welcome guest at South Thompson Street, Tacoma, Washington. We didn’t actually SEE the skinny guy they called “Spike Jones” in person, but we had a stack of his records that had plenty of wear.
It wasn’t only our dad that admired Spike Jones and his City Slickers. We kids inherited a love of the finer things in life right along with our drummer father who, like Mr. Jones, also had a lot of the clown in his makeup.
Anyone who recalls Spike will also remember some of the “instruments” he and his highbrow musicians employed while bringing to life their unique sounds. The "sweet potato," the "bazooka," the washboard and spoons were only a few of the weapons in Spike's “arsenal.”
Mr. Jones could whip out some smooth examples of symphonic tunes when he chose to do so. Most of the time, though, he...well, I wouldn’t say he actually murdered the classics, but he sometimes injured them a hairsbreadth this side of sudden death.
We laughed until we cried at the Jones arrangements like “Chloe,” which was in reality a lovely ballad about a lover searching for his lost love in the swamplands. More than once our living room resounded with the laughter of the Moore family listening to the band's vocalist beginning a serious rendition of the song, as he called so sadly, “Chlo-eeeee,” Chlo-eeeee.” And then, the whole group came in with their raucous parody and the singer let loose with his snarly question, “Where are ya, ya old bat?!”
Another pretty piece of music that had been composed as a love song came out of the City Slickers rehearsals as only a satirical shadow of its former self. “Cocktails for Two,” though intended to be a serious, lilting tune appealing to the high-brows of the music world, landed on the most popular lists among those whose brows weren’t quite so high. We loved Spike Jones’ rendition, which included gargling noises, pistol shots and tons of garbage being dumped somewhere.
“As we enjoyed a cigarette,” the lyric went as somebody cough! cough! coughed! into the microphone. (We should have listened a little closer to that one.)
Sadly, Spike Jones developed a terminal case of emphysema over time and went through some tough days when he had to have an oxygen tank offstage and was confined to a chair behind his drums.
Jones did have another band. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played heart-stirring sweet songs at the dance clubs, but it wasn’t what the fans wanted to hear. They preferred the, “silly,” knee-slapping antics of the City Slickers.
In reading Lindley Armstrong Jones’s obituary I was glad to see that he had a happy family life on the whole, with a wife and children and lots of music from the time he was 11 years old and beating on his first set of drums.
Alas, the “silly” years seem to have departed the music world, and it has left a gaping hole in what we call “entertainment.”
I could use a bit of silliness. How about you?
There is neither time nor space to list
all of the songs Spike Jones e,mployed to accomplish his desire
to make people happy. However, in closing, here’s one for
you to think about: “ Never Hit Your Grandma With a Shovel.”
©2008 by Audrey Yeager-Moore.
The caricature of Audrey Yeager-Moore is ©2001 by Jim Hummel.
The photo of Spike Jones is courtesy of Wikipedia, the online
encyclopedia. This column first posted July 28, 2008.
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