SATURDAY'S SINGLES JUMPIN' GENE SIMMONS and THE YOUNGBLOODS

[maggot]

Good morning my lovelies and welcome to the return of Saturday's Singles. First up under our needle is the 1964 novelty single "Haunted House" by rockabilly singer, Jumpin' Gene Simmons, not to be confused with bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons of KISS,  Jumpin' Gene passed away on this day in 2006, age 73 according to Wikipedia, while other sources say he was 69 and died after a long illness.  "Haunted House", Simmons' first and only Top 40, was a cover of  a 1958 recording by Johnny Fuller and has been covered by many artists. Jumpin' Gene's version, released on Hi Records,  peaked at #11 on the pop charts and features  "Hey, Hey Little Girl" on the flip side.

Simmons was from Tupelo, home of Elvis Presley, who arranged an audition  at Sun Records for him. Gene worked with Same Phillips, Bill Black and Ace Cannon. Later in his career he co-write Tim McGraw's "Indian Outlaw". 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Our second selection is "Get Together" by The Youngbloods, which was recorded on this day in 1966. It was released to the masses a year later on the RCA Victor label and reached #80 on the Cash Box, #62 on the Billboard 100, and #40 in Canada. It was written by Chet Powers and produced by Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi. The lyrics to "Get Together" encourage peace and brotherhood and love versus fear. (Quite a relevant song for the times.) Our copy is the 1969 reissue with has "Beautiful" as it's B-side instead of  "All My Dreams Blue", which is on the 1967 version. On Nirvana's major label debut, Nevermind, at the beginning of the track "Territorial Pissings" bassist  Krist Novoselic can be heard screeching the line,

"Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now"

Jesse Colin Young – bass, lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Jerry Corbitt – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Lowell "Banana" Levinger – lead guitar, electric piano
Joe Bauer – drums, percussion

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++