Drinkin Spo-Dee-O-Dee
(McGhee)
Vocal by Les Guthrie
Western Magic
Hit Parades Tunes
1949
A cover of the Sticks McGhee song. Not listed in Second Hand Songs
A subsidiary of the Swing Records Manufacturing Company, from Paris, Texas, operated by Jimmy Mercer.. In all likehood the Western Magic was a short-lived budget label.
At least two other records were issued by this label. See 45cat Les and His Western Playboys are not related (Ohio family group led by Les Haven)
Interesting information about Jimmy Mercer and his Swing Records Company can be found at Counterfeit Records in the 1940s (and Beyond) by Allan Sutton
I reproduce here the pertinent part of the article :
The only pressing plant operating at the time in Paris, Texas, was the Swing Record Manufacturing Company, a small start-up owned by Jimmy Mercer (née Harry Schaefer, a.k.a. Jivin’ Joe Jackson). His checkered past included a 1928 conviction for robbery and forgery, and allegedly, a 1931 arrest for passing bad checks. By the mid-1940s, Mercer had moved to Paris, where he worked at radio station KPLT, operated the Melody Lane Record Shop, and gave piano lessons. Mercer is perhaps the best-documented example of a small-time entrepreneur whose output simultaneously included original, pirated, and counterfeit records.
The October 1946 launch of Mercer’s Swing Records was well covered in the local press. The Paris News devoted a feature story to the company in November, at which time Mercer invited local artists to audition for his new Swing and Downbeat labels (the latter having no connection to DownBeat magazine). Mercer’s records were pressed on poor-quality recycled scrap and bore equally shoddy labels. He regularly solicited broken records in the local want-ads, along with “strong active women” to work the night shift at his plant.
Although Mercer claimed to be pressing for several “well known” (but undisclosed) labels, his only confirmed connection with the established companies consisted of pirating their discs. He is known to have copied recordings from Atlantic, Cow Town, Freedom, 4 Star, Gold Star, and other labels, which he then issued on his own labels. Gold Star’s Bill Quinn sued Mercer, then settled out of court after Mercer agreed to purchase some masters from the company. Atlantic Records reportedly threatened legal action as well.
It was Mercer’s party-record pressings (some on the Zest and Zip labels, others lacking any brand name) rather than his pirating and counterfeiting activities, that eventually brought him to the attention of federal authorities. In March 1949, he was arrested and charged with delivering obscene records for shipment across state lines. He pled guilty to two counts in January 1950, and was sentenced to three years’ probation.
Mercer’s arrest marked the end of his involvement with the record business. With few other offenders apprehended, the investigation into record counterfeiting wound down in the early 1950s, causing the problem to worsen considerably. By September 1951, Billboard was reporting that one operation in the New York area, which had so far eluded all efforts at detection, was believed to be pressing more than 50,000 counterfeit discs weekly.
