Saturday, August 15, 2020

Take Me To Your Leader

"Take me to your leader" is a popular catchphrase said by an extraterrestrial alien who has just landed on Earth in a spacecraft to the first human it happens to meet. . It started, presumably, with a 1953 cartoon by Alex Graham in The New Yorker magazine. This showed two aliens telling a horse “Kindly take us to your President!”.

I was quite surprised to find, during a research, a profusion of songs copyrighted in 1958 and 1959. The very first, by Timmie Rogers, obviously inspired by Chuck Berry, was on Cameo Records.  What has stimulated that music craze in the late fifties is not known.  Perhaps a popular sci-fi sitcom or a TV show ?



Record

Credits© date
Not recorded?

w & m Carl Kent;

Jan. '58
Take Me To Your Leader
w Kal Mann m Bernie Lowe 

Timmie Rogers       
Cameo  C131
Feb. '58
Take Me To Your Leader
w & m Eddie Safranski & George Spota © Erica Music

Jonathan Winters With The Martians     Coral 9-61988

Apr. 58
 Not recorded?
w & m Berdie Abrams & Hank Levine; 12 May58

May '58
 Take Me To Your Ladder
(I'll See Your Leader later)
w & m Robert H. Babcock & Marvin Milligan
   
Buddy Clinton
Madison M144

Jul. '58
Not recorded?
w & m Nathan Starr; 11aug58

Aug. '58
 Take Me To Your Leader, Cha Cha Cha
 
w Mel Mandel, m Danny Davis © Knollwood Music Corp.

Sam Space And The Cadets
Cabot CA-127

Dec. '58
Take Me To Your Leader
w & m Marc Mittendorf & Dee Da Costa ©Alan-Edwards, Inc.

The Lancers
Imperial X5564
Jan. '59
Take Me To Your Leader
Nick Smith and Rae Temple
Arr. Nick Smith

The Vi-Counts
Donick DR 100

Mar. '59 (or earlier)
 Not recorded?
m Hugh Halliday & Homer Denison 27Mar59

Mar. '59
 

Take Me To Your Leader
w, m & arr. Ben Hunter & Steve Steventon (G.H. Steventon)

Bernie Parke on Dynasty

Apr. '59
 Not recorded?

w & m Everett J. Welsh  22Apr59


Apr. 59
Not recorded?

Not recorded?


w & m Stephen Ondek, 23may61

Louise Waller & Leslie Waller. 1961-07-26


May '61

Jul. '61

 

 

 

 
 

 

 





8 comments:

  1. 1973 U.F.O. (TN) 45 - 000 : Tommie Peairce & The Country Gentleman - Take Me To Your Leader (DrunkenHobo / Apesville) if you need mp3 let me know Dean

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Apesville, I've it. In my post, I've limited the tracks to the 1958/1959 years only.

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  2. If your limits are 1958 and 1959, then April 1958 should also include Jim Lowe's DOT release, "Take Us To Your President", the phrase that seems to have started it all.

    http://www.45cat.com/record/4515753

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Fred Clemens for the addition. Jim Lowe has not started it all : his "Take Us To Your President"; w Fred Hertz, m Joel Herron © 18Apr58.

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  3. I was referring to the phrase, not Jim Lowe. You mentioned above the listing about a 1953 cartoon that said "Kindly take us to your President".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK Fred. As it's the case for so many catchphrase, it's difficult to find the very first use that started it. See for instance:

      https://wordhistories.net/2020/06/09/take-me-to-your-leader/

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