[Vintage-Audio] Re Bob's Danny Davis Thoughts

[Robert Nickels]

Duane Fischer, W8DBF wrote:
>
> Either my ears deceive me, or it is Floyd Cramer on keyboard! No 
> mistaking Floyd or the incomparable Nashville sound!
Sorry Duane, I misread this as a statement rather than a question.  But 
yes, Floyd Cramer was the "stock" piano player for the Nashville Brass.  
Of the two LPs I have, he's credited on one and not on the other, but I 
suspect he played on all of them.   As your expert ear would be best 
able to detect!
>
> I got asked last night about Ray Stevens song about the "Titantic". 
> Something about a Black boxer Jack Johnson and being denied passage 
> because he was black. In this particular case, discrimination worked 
> in Mr. Johnson's favor! I have never heard this song, have any of you? 
> When did it chart?
Well now you're going to have me digging through my Vinyl Archives, also 
known as the big shelf of records under the basement stairs before 
long!   First, it wasn't Ray Stevens, this was the handiwork of a folk 
singer named Jaime Brockett.  He rose to cult status in the 1969-early 
1970s era with his debut album, "Remember the Wind and the Rain", which 
featured the 13 minute long talking blues number "The Legend of the USS 
Titanic".    I've read that this was a take-off on an old Leadbelly 
tune, but I haven't heard the original if this is the case.  Back in 
that era, the main source of pop music in my Nebraska hometown was KOMA, 
Oklahoma City that blanketed the midwest with its 50,000 watt signal.   
We also listened to WLS, but it was not as strong, and played more 
commercials.   But in 1969, tuning around the AM band late at night 
would produce yet another rock station, one hailing out of Little Rock 
Arkansas and truly something "far out".  This was Beaker Street, an 
underground radio show hosted by one Clyde Clifford (who I learned 
later, as a ham who actually got in to the DJ business from being a 
transmitter engineer).   His trademark sound was a continuous background 
of weird spacey noises and sound effects - there would never be any dead 
air, only the spacey sounds with Clydes low-key commentary, and the 
music.  It was so cool - the first "underground music" program on a 
commercial AM radio station, and a 50,000 watt blowtorch at that.  I 
still have many albums and CDs today that I first heard and developed a 
taste for as a result of hearing them on Beaker Street, and Jaime 
Brockett was one of them.

And what is really wild is Clyde Clifford (who actually had a day job as 
a healthcare worker) still does the Beaker Street program on Sunday 
nights on an Little Rock FM station and streams it on the internet.  
I've listened, and it is exactly like it was back then.  As he puts it 
it, "KAAY was sold into religious servitude and I thought,  this is the 
last time I will ever do this" on the night of the final program.  
Fortunately, it hasn't quite turned out that way!   Thanks to zillions 
of people like me who grew up listening to this unique sound.   If I can 
get an electronic version of the Titanic song,  I will burn it to CD for 
you.  It's quite entertaining, especially in the context of 1969 culture.

73, Bob W9RAN