PAUL IS DEAD!

Remember those "Paul Is Dead" Beatle rumours that spread around for decades. They all started with this INFAMOUS 1969 WABC broadcast.

WABC 770 AM New York had a MAMMOTH nighttime skywave signal that could be heard as far west as Denver, CO. And people everywhere tuned in. They even showed up in the Pittsburgh radio ratings!

Granted, Roby Yonge did not last long on WABC. There's a story about this Rick Sklar (his former program director at WABC) wrote in his book "Rocking America" (A GREAT READ - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) you should read.....

You can just imagine the HORROR on his face when he heard this!......

"The Unicorn" The Irish Rovers (1967)

Happy St. Patrick's Day......Of which would NEVER be complete without a mandatory playing of this classic. Which was written by the late Shel Silverstein (who also wrote "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "Cover Of The Rolling Stone" and "Sylvia's Mother" for Dr. Hook. As well as the classic children's books The Giving Tree and A Light In The Attic. I should write a post on Shel Silverstein. He's far more prolific than you might have ever known....)

Glen Campbell also played guitar on this song.

The Irish Rovers were an Irish folk band by way of Canada. They had several Canadian variety TV shows and specials. But very few other American radio hits. Their last appearance on the US charts was in 1980 with "Wasn't That A Party", by this time the band credited themselves as simply The Rovers.

Admiral Stereo Demonstration Record, 1958

 

A classic stereo demonstration record from the late 1950s. With that PHANTOM Third Channel! This video sounds good on any decent stereo output. I have my computer patched in the AUX input of my 1983 vintage Sony STR-VX300 stereo receiver and it REALLY sounds good.

The label looks strangely like Decca's multi-color bar label of the early '60s to the early '70s. But it was made by RCA. Hmmm......

The Truth

"Tennessee Bird Walk" Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan (1970)

One of the last singles released on Mercury subsidiary Smash, the venerable label of off the wall country music (Roger Miller, George Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis all recorded for Smash during the '60s.)

Even though the label's founder, Shelby Singleton went on to form his own empire with Plantation Records and his purchase of Sun Records in 1968, Smash still kept it's offbeat nature. And that's where we find this song.