Avonelle Productions AU-101 1978 Produced and composed by Donnie Sanders, song published by Magic Trolley Pub. Co. BMI
Vero Beach, Florida drummer Diane Marie Mohr, 31-year old in 1978, has been drumming and singing the previous year at Rick's Dugout Lounge with the Glenn Shell Trio.. She started playing drums at age 14. Three years later, she was, providing the.beat for such name acts as Bobby Vinton, Anita Bryant and the Tokens. "1 was In a band in Louisville and we played at a benefit concert with some big singers," Miss Mohr said., "The Tokens even, asked me to join' them because it would have been pretty unusual, for a chick to be in the band. But Mom and,. Dad said no way. l wasn't even out of high school, yet," Instead, she continued taking drum lessons throughout high school.
The record was financed by Avonelle Call, who acted as her sponsor. "We have an agreement that if I ever hit it big,
she'll get 10 per cent. Actually, she's just a close
friend. who doesn't know anything about music. She thinks I just deserve
a shot..."
Ball Records label launched by John Dolphin in 1957. John Dolphin was killed at his record company in 1958 by a disgruntled songwriter. His wife, Ruth Dolphin, took over Dolphin's of Hollywood after his death.
Billy Hines has recorded for Tin Pan Alley, Ball and his own Wa-Tusi label. I'm unable to find much details on him (euphemism), he came possibly from Jamaica to New York in the fifties before finding his way to California.
Nino Ferrer : Je voudrais être un noir (also known as "Je veux être un noir" or "Je voudrais être noir")
Hey hey hey, Monsieur Wilson Picket Hey hey hey, toi Monsieur James Brown S'il vous plaît dites-moi comment vous faites Monsieur Charles, Monsieur King, Monsieur Brown Moi je fais de mon mieux pour chanter comme vous Mais je ne peux pas grand-chose, je ne peux rien du tout Je crois que c'est la couleur, la couleur de ma peau Qui n'va pas Et c'est pourquoi je voudrais Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Hey hey hey, dis-moi Monsieur Faubus Hey hey hey, dis-moi comment les blancs Font pour vendre les nègres à l'Argus Et pour en brûler de temps en temps Et moi je fais de mon mieux pour ne pas y penser Et je me sens très souvent très, très embarrassé Par la couleur de ma peau qui me démoralise Un p'tit peu Et c'est pourquoi je voudrais Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Hey hey hey, vous les Saints, les Élus Hey hey hey, vous les simples d'esprit Vous qui chantez tout de blanc vêtus Dans les verts pâturages près de Lui Dites-moi s'il vaut mieux pour entrer dans ce royaume Avoir plutôt la peau noire ou plutôt la peau jaune Et si le blanc n'est pas une couleur déconseillée Parmi vous Quoi qu'il en soit je voudrais Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Je voudrais être noir Noir, noir, noir, oui, tout noir Avec une belle couleur d'ébène et des cheveux crépus Et puis je voudrais habiter là-bas Pour pouvoir chanter tous les soirs À la Nouvelle Orléans Voir le Mississipi couler, pouvoir souffler dans une trompette Pouvoir taper sur un tambour entouré de mes amis noirs Et faire la nouba tous les soirs et je pourrais crier: Yeah, yeah! Yeah! Yeah, yeah! Yeah!
Translation
Hey hey hey, Mr. Wilson Picket Hey hey hey you Mr. James Brown Please tell me how you do Mr. Charles, Mr. King, Mr. Brown I do my best to sing like you But I can't do much, I can't do much I think it's the color, the color of my skin Who does not go And that's why I would like I would like to be black I would like to be black Hey hey hey tell me Monsieur Faubus Hey hey hey tell me how the whites Font to sell the niggers to Argus And to burn it from time to time And I do my best not to think about it And very often I feel very, very embarrassed By the color of my skin that demoralizes me A little bit And that's why I would like I would like to be black I would like to be black Hey hey hey you Saints, The Elects Hey hey hey you simple minds You who sing all dressed in white In the green pastures near Him Tell me if it's better to enter this realm Rather have black skin or rather yellow skin And if white is not a bad color Among you Anyway I would like I would like to be black I would like to be black I would like to be black I would like to be black I would like to be black Black, black, black, yes, all black With a beautiful ebony color and frizzy hair And then I would like to live there To be able to sing every night In New Orleans See the Mississippi flow, be able to blow a trumpet Being able to bang a drum surrounded by my black friends And do the shinging every night and I could shout: Yeah yeah! Yeah! Yeah yeah! Yeah!
Every day brings its share of amazing news. Nino Ferrer only wished to be black (surely not any kind of black) in his song, but Jessica Krug has taken an extra step :
Jessica Krug, a Professor at George Washington University, has written extensively about Africa, Latin America, the diaspora and identity, all while claiming her own Black and Latina heritage. But Krug has now revealed the truth: She is White.
"My grandparents, who gave me the best parts of themselves, music and
movement and storytelling, the inclination to ask and the soul to
listen. My ancestors, unknown, unnamed, who bled life into a future they
had no reason to believe could or should exist. My brother, the
fastest, the smartest, the most charming of us all. Those whose names I
cannot say for their own safety, whether in my barrio, in Angola, or in
Brazil," she wrote in the introduction to her 2018 book, "Fugitive Modernities: Politics and
Identity Outside the State in Kisama, Angola, and the Americas, c.
1594-Present" -- which traces the histories of communities in Angola --
begins with references to those who came before her, her grandparents
and her ancestors. It's now being held up as one way Krug lied about her
identity.
"To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness," she wrote.
Krug acknowledged that she had no right to claim these identities, saying that "doing so is the very epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures." She apologized for what she calls her "continued appropriation of a Black Caribbean identity," saying she was wrong, unethical, immoral, anti-Black and colonial.
Gwenn Johnson and the Rick Jones Quartet Galanlads, vocal group
Now Hear This Rick Jones-Bob Moody Monzahalla Music Publ., BMI
I've found so much discordant information about this recording, that the best thing to do is probably to just relax and listen again and again to this bewitching love song.
Song was first issued in 1956 on Steve Riggio's PIV label. Arjay is probably a second issue from the late sixties/early seventies issued by Rick Jones on his own label [my guess]. Gwenn Johnson may be or not the sister of Plas Johnson.
On the PIV single, the vocal group is credited to The Mad Hatters, but co-composer Bob Moody was member of The Galanlads, credited on this Arjay release. Go figure !
"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 ?
