Customer Reviews

Mairzy Doats - 24 Great Comic Songs

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... but not to enjoy them. Considering that some date back to the 1920's (thereby putting the lie to the sub-title "24 Great Comic Songs Of The '40s!") the sound quality is excellent, and in the insert you get a page of background notes written in London in 1995 by Mike Collier.

And "written in London" is the key phrase because this places its focus heavily on great London Music Hall performers such as Ambrose & His Orchestra, Noel Coward, Bobbie Comber, Gracie Fields. George Formby, Debroy Summers, Jack Buchanan, Billy Cotton, Sam Browne, Joe Loss, Henry Hall (and the BBC Orchestra), Max Miller, Two-Ton Tessie O'Shea, Frank Crumit, and Arthur Askey. Names that will not ring a bell for many North Americans old enough to recall those days - but as comical and enjoyable today as they were when recorded.

And there are a number of names that WILL be familiar on this side of the pond, who also just happened to be very popular in Great Britain as well. In 1944 The Merry Macs had the best of five charted versions of the title tune, Mairzy Doats, taking it to # 1 early that year. And from the zany Spike Jones & His City Slickers come two huge hits, Der Fuehrer's Face which reached # 3 late in 1942 with vocals by Carl Grayson and Willie Spicer, and Cocktails For Two, a # 4 in February 1945 from the film Murder AT Yhe Vanities, and again featuring Carl Grayson.

In early 1928 Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians had a # 3 with I Scream-You Scream-We All Scream-For Ice Cream, with vocals by Fred, Poley McClintock & the group. A year later, Eddie Cantor, with the backing of the Nat Shilkret orchestra, would take Makin' Whoopee, from the musical Whoopee, to # 2, while in 1931 Cab Calloway & His Orchestra adapted the old folk tune Willie The Weeper and turned it into the # 1 Minnie The Moocher. And, of course, there's the great Fats Waller and his classic Your Feet's Too Big, a # 15 in late 1930/early 1940.

A wonderful entry from the folks at Prism Leisure and not to be missed.

There are actually only about 12 great songs on this CD, but among them are two or three that would easily have made the best 100 songs from the last millenium if the 30-ish Time and Newsweek editors given the assignment hadn't suddenly gotten the notion that they had been elected to make history and clogged those lists up with dreck like the theme from Titanic. Among those on this disk that should have made it: top 10 -- Spike Jones' "Der Fuerher's Face," top 100 -- Spike Jones Cocktails For Two and top 1000 -- Mad Dogs & Englishmen. If your brother is over 40 he will love this as a birthday present and the price is right.