Songs for the Matthew Comp: Buh-beep-buh-beep-buh-beep-That's all Folks!

Michael Maltese meets Franz Liszt. Back when listening to FM radio was a musical adventure, WBCN in Boston was to eclectic what Mt. Everest was to mountains--the one everybody looked up to. Not least because they would follow a song from Pearls Before Swine with something so completely off the wall that you had to stop what you were doing and ask yourself "What the hell are they playing now?" The song below being a prime example. Sung by Mel Blanc and written by (among others) Michael Maltese, I first heard this coming out of the radio one weekend afternoon in 1970 right after "Rocket Man." For the next two weeks I combed local record stores, not even knowing what I was looking for, until I finally found the song on an LP of Warner Brothers cartoon songs in the children's record section of the Harvard Coop. I dare you to listen to it and not smile.

Daffy Duck's Rhapsody

Set the Way-Back for 1986. This song I heard on WNEW, and while I can't remember the exact circumstances, I do remember finding it on a two-disc collection of club hits at J&R Music titled The House Sound of Chicago. I used to play this a lot, because it was silly, and because it would drive everybody else crazy. I also used to walk around repeating "I've got my uke-a-looloo and my hare stickum." What can I say, except that the 80's were a weird time to be in your 30's.

Hey Rocky

Good evening and welcome to Slaggers. Ah, but 1970 was an even weirder time to be 18. Especially if you were me. Cocky, stubborn, and with more unjustified ego than a second-year financial analyst. 1970 was also the first time I tried to ascend Mount College and (like the other two times) got no further than the foothills, hurriedly shouting "I quit!" before anyone could fire me. Fondest memory of that time: sitting in the McElroy cafeteria at BC (or was it the Lyons cafeteria?) listening for the umpteenth time to some yahoo playing Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" on the jukebox, and finally getting so pissed off that I plugged two dollars worth of quarters into the box to play the song below (the B side to the single of "Let It Be") 24 times in a row. By the fifth time the song played, the jocks three tables over were approaching the 1970 version of roid rage. When it started a sixth time, one of them went over to the juke box, picked up the thing like it was a toy, and banged it three times on the ground. Dead silence for ten seconds. And then, out of the wreckage, and to the cheering and applause of everyone but the jock at the juke box, the song began playing again. At which point the jock ripped the cord out of the wall, breaking the jukebox completely. It was out of commission for a week. When it was fixed, neither Led Zeppelin nor the song below were on the play list. I call that a fair trade.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)