March 29, 2011

Sailing the Seas with Ray Stevens...

It isn't something I normally keep track of but I was reading some things on the internet the other day stating that the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, The Pirates of Penzance, opened in London for the first time on April 3, 1880 and, doing the math, it's nearing the end of a 130 year anniversary. This comical opera, in addition to pirate culture in general, no doubt inspired Buddy Kalb and his wife, Carlene, to write "The Pirate Song" which is sub-titled "I Want To Sing and Dance". The song was recorded by Ray Stevens in 1985 and was part of his comedy album, I Have Returned. The album is coming off of an anniversary...it was 25 years ago this month, March 1986, that the album was #1 on the country album chart. The album had been released late in 1985 and slowly made it's way up to #1. His previous album titled He Thinks He's Ray Stevens, released late in 1984, was still on the charts around the time his 1985 album made it's debut. Ray made a music video of this song in 2000 and included it in a home video titled Funniest Video Characters. The music video is as funny as you may expect (for those familiar with the song). Toward the end of the song Ray, in gruff pirate vocal, mentions the Gilbert and Sullivan duo. The focal point of the song is the contrasts between a traditional gruff-speaking, bloodthirsty pirate and a not so gruff speaking, bloodthirsty pirate. Each pirate is voiced by Ray and it's the passive pirate who takes center stage with dreams of being in the Pirates of Penzance...singing and dancing his way into world history. A later recording of this song arrived in 1991 and even a third recording emerged in 2000 when the music video was put together. The original is on this 1985 album whereas the 1991 and 2000 re-recordings often show up on compilation releases.

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