Ray Stevens: 45 at 55...

1964

Although this novelty single from Ray Stevens was released in July of 1964 we're still in it's 55th year...it'll reach 56 in July 2020. As mentioned the novelty single was released in the summer of 1964. Now, if you know your pop music history, this is the year that the British Invasion took place. It had begun in February 1964 when British band, The Beatles, arrived in New York City. Afterward their presence in America's music scene was immediately felt and it led to dozens of British acts making their way to America to appear on television programs and tour the country...some British acts preferred to just release music to the American market rather than travel overseas. The term 'invasion' was accurate because almost overnight America's Hot 100 pop chart seen a dramatic increase of single releases from British singers and bands in the wake of The Beatles hitting America. This isn't to say that American pop music artists and bands were pushed out of the spotlight and weren't selling records...but the ratio of British acts to American acts on the Billboard Hot 100 shown the British acts dominating the radio-driven Top-40 portion of the Hot 100. Ray Stevens continued on his distinctive music path before, during, and after the British Invasion. So, in the early months of the invasion, in July 1964, Mercury Records issued a new novelty single on Ray Stevens titled "Bubble Gum the Bubble Dancer". The song takes place in what you'd consider to be a strip club...the lyrics say that it's tucked away in an alley...an establishment known as the Blue Rendezvous. There happens to be an exotic bubble dancer named Bubble Gum who's described as the star attraction inside this club. The song, in my opinion, isn't necessarily a novelty/comedy recording...it has a bluesy rhythm musically but because it didn't adhere to the 'norms' of what disc jockeys and music critics of the era considered mainstream it was classified as a novelty record.



In January 1965 Mercury Records issued "The Rockin' Teenage Mummies" and it turned 55 last month. The month of January seemed to fly by and I didn't make note of the single's anniversary and so I'm going to embed a video clip of that novelty song, too. It was the next to last single release on Ray by Mercury Records. He had been working for Monument Records since the latter half of 1963 as a session musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer for other artists but his vocal recordings were handled by Mercury Records through 1965. It was one of the most unusual contracts, perhaps, in all music history. "The Rockin' Teenage Mummies" was followed by "Mr. Baker the Undertaker" in May 1965...a little more on that single in a couple of months...but I'm closing this blog entry with the uptempo, rousing "Rockin' Teenage Mummies"...