Lock up your wife, Wilbur.
Ground your daughter, Gertrude.
I'm back! HEH! HEH! HEH!
I'm Lumpy Clarence Rutherford.
When I was a kid, I promised Daddy
I'd make something of myself and I did.
Today, people all over the world
recognize me as a symbol of success.
I'm CEO of three companies, live in a
mansion in Beverly Hills, own a private
villa on the French Riviera, a yacht and
a fleet of Rolls-Royces. Now I know what
you're thinking. You're asking yourself,
"How did Lumpy Clarence do it, and how
can I get my share of the good life?"
The answer is simple. Not only did
I ditch class to work on my jalopy,
I quit school altogether because
they weren't teaching me the things
I needed to learn to get rich quick.
"Hot Rod High" - The Hondells
(Oct. 1964, B side of "Little Honda")
Together with my
buddy Eddie...uh
...my associate
Edward Haskell...
I founded a
program called
Head Strong -
Turning Sheer
Ignorance Into
Dynamic, Life-
Changing Personal
Power Without
Trying Real Hard.
School's for losers, Sam.
If you're tired of gettin'
pushed around by teachers
and doin' time in detention, check out our cool online training academy instead.
Pretty soon you'll be
movin' on up and
finally gettin' a
piece of the pie.
"Carrie Anne" - The Hollies
(July/Aug. 1967, highest chart pos. #9 Hot 100/#10 Cash Box,
perf. on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Nov. 17, 1967)
At Head Strong Academy... we'll
teach you the secrets to attaining
awesome wealth in a jiffy.
That's right, Mildred. Learn our
amazing fast fortune techniques
in your spare time right there in
the comfort of your home while you
drink beer and eat Froot Loops.
amazing fast fortune techniques
in your spare time right there in
the comfort of your home while you
drink beer and eat Froot Loops.
HEH! HEH! HEH!
"The New Girl In School" - Jan and Dean
(Mar./Apr. 1964, highest chart pos. #26 Cash Box/#37 Hot 100)
Our Head Strong grads go places.
When you send in your modest
enrollment fee of $1,499.95
you will unlock the door
to your future.
The future's
so bright...
you gotta wear shades, Clyde.
HEH! HEH! HEH!
"Swingin' School"
- Bobby Rydell
(May/June 1960,
highest chart pos.
#5 Hot 100/#6 C.B.)
Bored of education? Tired of tests?
Sick of school? The Head Strong
program is the cure you've
been looking for.
Enroll in the next 30 minutes
and receive absolutely free an
autographed copy of my new book
My Way Highway -
Your Road to Riches!
"Bad Boy" - Larry Williams cover by The Beatles
(from June 1965 album Beatles VI)
The Head Strong program:
I'm not only the president...
I'm also a client!
Hurry and call now.
Operators are standing by.
Or check us out online at
There's no obligation, no salesman will
call, and there are no medical questions
to answer. Best of all, you can't be
turned down for any reason.
Unless you can't
pay your tuition.
HEH! HEH! HEH!
"Wonderful World"
- Herman's Hermits
(June/July 1965, highest
chart pos. #4 Hot 100,
#5 Cash Box, perf. at
NME Poll Winners'
Concert - UK)
Take the free tour of our virtual campus
and read the testimonials from millions
satisfied
Do what they did. Pass through the
ivy covered gates of our online
institute of higher learning and
start living large. Hurry, new
ivy covered gates of our online
institute of higher learning and
start living large. Hurry, new
classes are starting soon!
Can't wait to
matriculate?
Just don't
let your mama
catch you!
HEH! HEH! HEH!
So you don't forget, log on now
and unlock your future...
...and the
door to that
candy apple
red Lambo
you've had
your eye on.
HEH! HEH! HEH!
And remember our slogan...
"A mind is a terrible thing..."
HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Oh Tom, you crack me up! What a wonderful April 1st post!! The music tied in with the flow of your post perfectly. DH enjoyed reading Mad Magazines as a teen. He even had a couple of the paperback books. They might be sitting on our bookshelf. Thanks for putting a smile on my face this morning. It's gonna be a wild month! Thanks for your stopping by today for the double featured posts to start April off. Have a wonderful weekend, my friend!
ReplyDeleteHi, Cathy!
DeleteThanks for coming over to take the Early Bird title on this busy A to Z and BOTB day, dear friend! I'm delighted to see you and TO know that Eddie & Lumpy gave you the giggles with their bogus online get rich quick scheme. Thanks for noticing how the school related boomer oldies tied-in with the flow of the dialogue for the most part.
Like DH, I was an avid reader of Mad Magazine, but I don't remember reading any paperbacks.
Yessum, April is always a wild month. I know you are busy and it means a lot to me that you visit Shady's Place even though I am not participating in those two hops. Thanks again and have a safe and happy weekend, dear friend Cathy. I'll see you tamale for Day 2 of the A to Z Challenge!
Tom,
DeleteYour quick wit and love for music are two qualities about you that I like which very much reminds me of DH. He always delivers a zinger at just the right moment. He keeps the smiles on my face for sure. I wish I could come up with one-liners off the cuff like him. I'm not doing so well managing my visitations, replies, ... this month. I will just do the best I can. I knew going into the A to Z Challenge that it would be every bit of a challenge for me not having things completed. I hope next year or long before that I'm out of this funk and able to get back to doing things early. Thanks for being such a good friend to visit CAAC every day. That means a lot to me! :)
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteThanks for dropping back in, dear friend! You and DH already have a gazillion things going for you, and now I'm learning that he also has a quick wit and keeps you giggling. A good sense of humor is another big plus in a marriage.
I know you are super busy during the month of April, and I very much appreciate your visits and comments. All I can recommend is that you start on May 1 preparing for the next April A to Z. If you can complete just two A to Z posts per month, you will have your Challenge finished and ready to present when next April rolls around. I know it's easier said than done. :)
As you can tell, I love to visit your CAAC playground, dear friend Cathy. Thanks again for joining me here today and please look for my next post tamale!
Did I know that Herman's Hermits originally did Wonderful World?? I feel sure I know a later version better. (do my research for me, please!) Other than that one, I can only say for certain that I remember the Hollies song. (surely I've heard the Beatles song at some point...)
ReplyDeleteI read MAD Magazine all my life, only stopping my subscription when it got to be nothing like the magazine of my childhood. (by then all the best artists and contributors had died) What a classic!
Hi, Kelly!
DeleteYou're the Early Bird runner-up, dear friend! Thanks for joining the fun with Eddie & Lumpy on April Fools' Day.
To answer your question, it was Sam Cooke who waxed the original version of "Wonderful World," not to be mistaken with "What A Wonderful World," the song popularized by Louis Armstrong. Two giants of the music industry, Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, composed the song and Sam reworked the lyrics to make it more about schooling. Sam recorded the song in 1959 and it was released in 1960. The single peaked just outside the top 10 on the pop chart and reached #2 on the R&B side. Like many British bands of the 60s, Herman's Hermits covered a song originally recorded by a U.S. artist of color and enjoyed a bigger hit with it stateside. Later versions of "Wonderful World" were released by Otis Redding, Johnny Nash, Art Garfunkel, Don McLean and Michael Bolton.
That Beatles song is another example of a Brit band covering a black artist in the U.S. The rock & roll classic "Bad Boy" was penned and originally recorded in 1958 by R&B pioneer Larry Williams.
Hey, it's cool that you and I both read Mad Magazine! I haven't read any of the books you've reviewed, but at least we have Mad in common! :)
Thanks again for coming so early, dear friend Kelly. Have a safe and happy weekend!
Yes, Sam Cooke. That's the version I remember... and I didn't know Herb Alpert co-wrote it. I've always liked him. I do remember the "other" song by Louis Armstrong.
DeleteI'm sure Mad influenced my sense of humor over the years. So much good stuff in that magazine! Some of my favorites were the "marginals", Spy vs. Spy, MAD's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, and the back fold-in. Such fond memories.
Hi again, Kelly!
DeleteThanks for following-up on our conversation, dear friend. I'm surprised it is the older original recording of "Wonderful World" that you remember more so than the cover by the Hermits. I predicted you would say it was Art Garfunkel's version or maybe Michael Bolton's that you were thinking of. I need to keep reminding myself that you are closer to Shady's age than you sometimes seem. I hope you take it as a compliment that you often seem young to me.
We match again on Mad Magazine. You have been following me long enough to realize that much of the humor I bring forth here at Shady's Place is inspired by and similar to that found in Mad. Yep, I remember Spy vs. Spy, Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions and the fold-in gag at the end. It was a groundbreaking publication and I'm glad we both read it.
Thanks again for being an A+ friend dear Kelly!
Good afternoon my friend. I, too, remember the Sam Cooke version better but I didn't know that Herb Alpert wrote it. He's been around a while!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever heard that Beatles tune or any of the other ones in this list either but I certainly remember old Eddie and Lumpy. The fact that they took programs like auto shop, wood shop and home ec off the curriculum in high school is one of my pet peeves. Not all kids want to go to college, two of mine included.
Hi, Janet!
DeleteI'm pleased to see you again, dear friend!
Yessum, I was right in thinking that you and friend Kelly (above) would both know who Herb Alpert is. The other man I named as having co-written the original version of "Wonderful World" is another giant of the music industry - record producer Lou Adler. Adler founded Dunhill Records and produced and developed major recording acts of the 60s including The Grass Roots, Jan & Dean, The Mamas & the Papas and Carole King. Adler and Alpert actually started out as co-managers of Jan And Dean. In 1964, Adler married actress and singer Shelley Fabares - "Mary Stone" on The Donna Reed Show - and produced some of her records, several of which are arguably the best of her career.
I'm happy to have introduced you to some significant boomer era oldies, all of them related to the high school years of the 60s. Heck, I've been out of the loop so long I didn't know they dropped shop and home ec from the curriculum. You're right. College isn't for everybody, and there should be options available in schools to help those who would like to learn a trade or homemaking skills.
I'm glad you remember Eddie and Lumpy. Leave It To Beaver wouldn't have been nearly as great without those two colorful characters. Thanks again for joining the fun, dear friend Janet. I'll see you tamale at Janet's Smiles!
Happy April Shady! Fun post, lots of memories! Oh, how I loved Leave it to Beaver! The songs were perfect. Whenever I hear Wonderful World I always think of the movie, Witness, and Harrison Ford dancing with the Amish chick. Anyway, I hope you didn't have too many jokes played on you today and you have a great weekend! Midge says hi too!
ReplyDeleteHi, YaYa!
DeleteI'm very happy to see you, dear friend! Happy April to you as well, and thanks for coming all the way over from Chicago to catch the latest antics of that rascal Eddie Haskell, this time accompanied by his pal Lumpy Rutherford. I'm glad their sketch brought back fond memories of watching Leave It To Beaver.
Witness is one of Mrs. Shady's favorite movies. I remember it as one of the first films we watched together as a couple in the late 80s. Harrison Ford's co-star was Kelly McGillis, an "it girl" of the period. I'm sure you remember her from the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun. Kelly will soon be 65 years old!
Please thank Midge for me. I regard her as a member of my family, same as you. I hope all is going well in Chicago and that Midge's dog and yours are becoming new BFF's. Thanks again for dropping in and enjoy the rest of your weekend, dear friend YaYa!
I recognized Eddie from Leave it to Beaver. But I didn't recognize any of these songs this week. Fun post too. I hope you had a good 1st day of April.
ReplyDeleteHi, Mary!
DeleteThanks for coming over, dear friend! Yessum, my April is going well so far and I hope yours is, too.
I'm glad you remember manipulative wise guy Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beav. Looks like I introduced you to 7 songs today. I consider that a win-win.
Thanks again for attending the April Fools' party, dear friend Mary, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Oh Eddie Haskell...and that other dude-hahahaa. Well, I enjoyed the April Fool's along with all the fun music. The first song, I don't recognize but I enjoyed it but the second one I know but have not heard it in a long time. I love The Hollies and their get up and go clothing which is far out.
ReplyDeleteJan & Dean are so good and I love those first 4 beats at the beginning of the song.
Bobby Rydell is great and so squeaky clean looking as he sings with that smile.
You can't miss with The Beatles and this is another great song but not as famous as their others but I really enjoyed listening to it.
I also really love Herman's Hermits and their way of dealing with school.
It makes me think of the time I skipped...er....studied in school. I have to say I never understood the kids who studied and studied and studied.
Hi, Birgit!
DeleteThanks for coming, dear friend! My, you look nice today, Mrs. B. Is that a new dress you're wearing? :) Yessum, Eddie Haskell loved to engage in false flattery to get what he wanted, and he manipulated Wally, Beaver, Lumpy and others. (June was wise to him.) Eddie is a classic example of a breakout character on a series, one that made the show extra special. I couldn't envision anyone playing Eddie other than the late Ken Osmond. In the years after the series ended, Ken became an LA police officer. He was NOT pornstar John Holmes, as was widely rumored for decades.
I'm pleased that you ran through the seven songs and expressed something about each. I was thrilled to find that pristine video of The Hollies appearing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. I was also elated to find that brilliantly restored sync edit of Bobby Rydell doing "Swinging School." Thanks for singling out Jan And Dean, a duo that was prolific and terrific but didn't enjoy the same degree of success as their surf rock & hot rod genre counterparts The Beach Boys. Yessum, The Beatles' authentic sounding version of "Bad Boy" is regarded as one of their best covers. I'm glad you like it because I surely do. There again, I was lucky to find that nicely remastered track. Same with Herman's Hermits, another wonderful stereo sync edit. When I started blogging 13+ years ago, the pickin's were slim when it came to boomer oldies. I was hard pressed to find good sounding songs to post. Lately, many of them are being brought back batter than ever thanks to dedicated YouTube producers and remix specialists.
Hey, I'm with you (and Eddie and Lumpy). School's for the birds! Let's ditch and spend the day at the Shady Dell! I remember skipping school one day and hanging out at Bud's Drive-in, the other York, PA, teen venue that's the focus of a Shady's Place series. My buddy and I spent hours at Bud's smoking cigars and playing the pinball machine. Life was so damn good. What happened??? :)
Thanks again for coming, dear friend BB. If you'd like to enroll in Eddie & Lumpy's get rich quick seminar program, you can send me a check for $1,499.95 to cover your tuition. I'll be sure to forward the money to them. :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend, dearie!
Lumpy isn't entirely a self-made man. He was born of privilege. After all, his father produced The Alan Brady Show.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of The Hondells, I'm familiar with all of these acts but not with any of the songs with the exception of "Wonderful World" which I associate with Sam Cooke. Actually, I associate it with the prelude to the famous food fight scene in Animal House, probably the first time I'd ever heard it. John Belushi slurps up jello to Cooke's tune.
I always enjoy hearing John Lennon shout out an unornamented rocker and he always sounds like he's enjoying himself when doing so. For all the accolades bestowed on the Beatles, I think Lennon's one-of-a-kind voice remains a bit underrated.
That girl in the Bobby Rydell video. Specifically, her dress. If this was something made today but meant to take place in the 1950s, I'd say the wardrobe department was trying a bit too hard to evoke the era to the point of exaggeration. But no, it's authentic. By 1967, that dress would have been a period piece. Of course, that young woman probably had moved onto the Hollies by then.
That GIF was moving too fast for me to catch the date on that Mad cover, so I looked it up elsewhere. March 1966, so Alfred is right between the Beatles and the Hollies videos, timelinewise.
What--me worry? That's all I got.
Hi, Kirk!
DeleteThanks for stopping in, good buddy, and for your usual great comments!
Thanks for the tidbit about Lumpy's "daddy," Fred Rutherford, played by Richard Deacon, a familiar face on TV and in films of the 50s and 60s. As you hinted, Deacon was a key character on The Dick Van Dyke Show. In addition to his recurring role on Leave It To Beaver, Deacon was also in the cast of The Jack Benny Program and had minor roles in two of my favorite horror films, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).
The Hondells were a surf rock group inspired by the Beach Boys. "Hot Rod High" is the B side of their top 10 hit cover of the Beach Boys' song "Little Honda." I owned a copy of the 45 and played both sides often.
I forgot that "Wonderful World" played in Animal House. I am happy to introduce you to these other boomer era hits, all of them related to the joys and drudgery of going to school. Thanks for giving props to John Lennon. He was an excellent rocker, and "Bad Boy" is considered one of his and The Beatles best covers.
I don't know who that dancer is in Bobby Rydell's "Swingin' School" video. She looks like Toni Basil, but that's only a wild guess:
https://lastfm.freetls.fastly.net/i/u/770x0/3824feed11ff4c09944f1b62837ccac3.jpg#3824feed11ff4c09944f1b62837ccac3
If that Rydell performance was filmed in 1960 when the record was peaking on the chart, Toni would have been almost 17, but already a veteran dancer. I'm thinking the dancer in the video looks a little older, but I could easily be wrong about that, too. Of course, Rydell's performance might have been filmed years later for all I know. However, I can offer a different piece of trivia regarding "Swingin' School." The uncredited but prominently featured female backing singer on the recording is Willarene "Willa" Ward. Willa, along with sister Clara and their mother, Gertrude Ward, gained fame in the 1940s as a gospel music family act called The Ward Trio. Clara and Willa later made secular recordings as background session singers at Philadelphia-based Cameo/Parkway Records, Bobby's label. The Ward sisters' voices can also be heard on Dee Dee Sharp's chart-topping signature song "Mashed Potato Time."
Thanks for taking time to look up the date of that Mad Magazine cover. If you sit and stare at that gif for ten hours non-stop, I guarantee you will find spiritual enlightenment.
Thanks again for coming by and for the excellent comment, good buddy Kirk!
Hi Shady! I thought you might have a post on April fool's day, as you have in the past. I had a crush on Eddie Haskell, even though he was a 'bad boy' in swchool!
ReplyDeleteThis is fun, and I remember most of the songs except for "Hot Rod High". The Hondells have a similar sound to Jan and Dean. The Hollies was a group I liked very much. They were pretty diverse in their songs. "Carrie Anne" has quite different dynamics than "Bus Stop", and "Long Cool Woman" for example. These are star qualities in my musical mind-not always predictable in their choices of tunes. Of The Hollies, you can't say that all of their material sounds alike!
I do remember "The New Girl in School" with Jan and Dean, who were probably the pioneers of our surfer era which I loved! It was a sad day when we lost Jan after his accident.
What a great cover by the Beatles of "Bad Boy". They always shined with their covers of our classic rock and soul songs. I remember "Swingin' School" with Bobby Rydell and enjoyed the video. I wonder how The Beatles would have covered this one. Herman's Hermits are always a treat. "Wonderful World" is a good one. Even though some of their songs are goofy I like them and enjoy their performances.
My brother was a serious customer of Mad Magazine and Alfred E. Neuman. Haha! I remember some of the songs that would be in the magazine, such as "Leprosy is crawling all over me...there goes my eyeball, down in your highball." Anyway, the songs were funny and we sang along with them!
Well, you guys, I had better scoot. For someone who is retired, I seem to have more work than I did when I was employed. The springtime blooming trees and grasses have knocked me back and I have had to cancel a few appointments-can't breathe! Eddie and Lumpy are old chums from my days of 'The Beav' and I am glad I got to see them in action!
Happy belated April Fool's Day, Shady! I enjoyed this post...take care dear friend!
Hi, Suzanne!
DeleteI'm thrilled to see you, dear friend! Thanks for making time for a visit to Shady's Place, where that rascal Eddie Haskell is up to his old tricks, and this time he brought along his lap dog Lumpy.
Yessum, on many TV series and movies, and in real life, girls seem attracted to bad boys. However, I don't remember Eddie having much luck with the ladies on Leave It To Beaver. Mostly, girls were annoyed by him. To be fair, Eddie was mainly a "wise guy," as Wally used to call him. He wasn't nearly as much of a bad boy as others I've seen over the years. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger... now THOSE are bad boys! :)
"Hot Rod High" is the seldom heard B side of that hit Hondells single. I think teens who bought the 45, as did I, would have played this fab flip just as often as "Little Honda." I certainly did. Yessum, The Beach Boys, Jan And Dean, The Hondells and other artists and groups of the surf rock craze routinely imitated each other, especially if an act scored a major hit with a particular type of song.
You make an excellent point about The Hollies. Their recordings did not become derivative and predictable as did those released by certain other solo artists, groups and bands. They evolved nicely and had an impressive string of catchy, high listenable hit songs.
Yessum, I have always felt badly about what happened to the gifted songwriter and recording artist Jan Berry. We lost his great mind and talent the day of his high speed sports car accident, but he actually lingered for nearly four decades. Jan's crash took place in April of 1966 and he struggled with brain damage and paralysis 38 more years until his death in 2004 just before his 63rd birthday.
"Bad Boy" might be my favorite Beatles cover. It is exceptionally well done, and very faithful to the original, thanks to John's marvelous vocal performance.
I was ecstatic to find that brilliantly restored Bobby Rydell video recently, and decided to plug it into Eddie & Lumpy's "Bored of Education" feature.
Yessum, Herman's Hermits were on the cute, lightweight end of the Brit pop spectrum, and I didn't like some of their quirky songs as well as others. I agree that they did a fine job covering Sam Cooke's song "Wonderful World."
I was also an avid reader of Mad Mag, and I do remember their song parodies. They were consistently imaginative and funny.
I'm sorry that your allergies are acting up. Same here. We are plagued by tree pollen and other airborne allergens at this time of year. I always keep the bottle of Zyretc or the Walmart product "Wal-zyr" handy to make breathing easier, plus I have an inhaler that helps to open the nasal passages.
I'm so glad you liked what Eddie & The Lump presented here this week. Thank you again, very much, for making time for a visit. I'm happy to see you! Take care of yourself and Scootie and come back and see me again soon, dear friend Suzanne!