Wednesday, January 12, 2011

THE ODDEST THING YOU'LL HEAR ALL YEAR (I PROMISE)


OK... This is just effin' weird -- I swear -- but oddly contagious at the same time.

Enjoy this novelty tune called "Delicious (The Laughing Song)" by Jim Backus and Friends. Actually, the one friend is Hermione Gingold and this 45 was apparently part of what was the "contagious laughter" sub-genre circa 1959. Mind you, this was a Top 40 hit when it was released. Gotta admit, though, I looove the "Mad Men" vibe of the background music. Bacus also recorded the novelty tune "Cave Man." The backing band was Appleknocker and His Group and the tune was written by Buddy Kaye.

As for Backus? He was a radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the Alan Young radio show, Joan Davis's character's husband (a domestic court judge) on TV's "I Married Joan," James Dean's character's father in "Rebel Without a Cause" and perhaps most popular, Thurston Howell III on the 1960s hit sitcom "Gilligan's Island."



6 comments:

  1. Well thank you for the earworm..will be whistling that ditty all day. I actually met Jim Backus when i was a teen. He was performing in a hotel I stayed at and he was the nicest guy.

    PS- I'm going to email you on FB about the particulars of adding audio to my page for a few of my pieces. Might be fun for you all to hear my Alabama laced, dropped with Demi Moore, layered with lazy words voice sounds..LOL:-)

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  2. "Mmmmm, a delicious post!" I like it.

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  3. "Waldo, my boy....that was hhmmmm delicious!"

    Anthony, I can't get that tune out of my head now!! Nice one!!

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  4. Sounds like old Jim and friend were half corked when recording that. He's got an infectious laugh. Grew up watching him on Gilligan and he was great in 'Rebel Without a Cause'.

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  5. I wish I could say I don't remember Backus before Gilligan's Island...

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