This song is so super I'll bet if you left the radio with the cows, they'd probably gleefully self milk. Especially in a farm near Pottstown. And yet, on the udder hand ✋...
I was at the kitchen table with my mother and her boyfriend when I was a teenager and completely randomly, my mom's boyfriend said: "Red scarf matches your eyes, close cover before striking...loving you has made me bananas". I legitimately thought he had lost his mind. It wasn't until years later that I discovered he was quoting a song, not having a stroke.
@@clairduffy60 The onscreen title is wrong. The song was a hit from *1968*, not "1978". Considering its retro weirdness, I'm surprised Guy Marks was never invited to perform it on "Laugh In".
Absolutely brilliant, an absolute gem & camper than a row of shiffon tents!!! I've used the line "your red scarf matches your eyes" many of times at music festivals on Sunday mornings.................
Some things in life are truly inexplicable. Such as why did I wake up this morning thinking of this song after all these years? Delighted to have found it on UA-cam. Living proof that the 1970's was the greatest era for such diverse music. Fun songs, such as this, just don't happen in today's boring, mundane World. :-(
I was absolutely flabbergasted to find this gem of a take-off of the big-band era on UA-cam! It has got to be one of the most original, hilarious tunes ever recorded, and the video is simply priceless! Thanks for bringing back such great memories of a long-forgotten classic!
When I worked at Motorchef, (Gordano Services, M5 motorway)1977-1978, one of my mates there, Ron Bosley, used to sing it. It cracks me up. Such a good parody.
Me and Les White, a carpenter from Burnt Oak, Edgware, used to belt this out in Villiers Road, Willesden when we were working for a German company, MAC. I joined the British Army and still sing this song when I’m half cut. Great days, great mates and great memories. Les White, get in touch!
My late, Big Band era mother explained to me in 1968, when this song was released: This is a send-up of the many such "From high atop the..." radio shows of the past; and yes, it's hilarious how the lady back-up singers at the left couldn't carry on without laughing! Notice how, in the middle of the song, singer Guy Marks sits down and then gets back up for absolutely no reason -- another apparent reference to the past!
I love this song & play it to cheer myself up - it's even more special now because it has the witty commentary of dear Steve Wright at the end. A DJ legend. Fly high Steve 🙏💙 x
My Dad has sung this crazy song to my sister and I for YEARS and we always thought it was some goofy song he made up! He always insisted it was a real song, and sure enough it is on youtube!
This suddenly started rattling around in my brain a day or two, goodness knows why. But here it is, courtesy of You Tube. just as camp as ever. Love it.
Guy Marks WOW !!! I remember him on TV during the 70s and he sang this crazy song and I never forgot it. Its has to be one of the greatest parody songs of all time. I think it gets in your DNA or something !! Singing this song all the time has made me "bananas"....................
I ran a record shop in the late seventies - in the middle of the Punk era and often played this record. It always got a response from the kids and a favourite moment was when a black bin-bag sidled up to the shop counter and asked to order a copy on the QT. Wonderful memories. Wonder what my young Punks are doing now?
Kimberly Patton Check out another great favorite of Mine on here Geronamos Caddilac By Michele Martin Murphy. Used to play it 10 times in a row on the Jute box at the old Buckboard Inn in Phoenixville Pa! Another One was oh Babe what would you say! By Hurricane Smith.
I wonder why it took SO long to become a hit in the UK...and, yet, it was only a minor hit here in the U.S. in '68! And what a great opening line..."From the Hotel Sheets in downtown...."
It's amazing how many old time jazz/vaudeville/music hall song parodies showed up in the mid-to-late 60s, mainly from British invasion groups (Beatles, Stones, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Kinks, Chad & Jeremy, Peter & Gordon, New Vaudeville Band, Herman's Hermits and many more). But a few American artists also adapted the genre, sometimes called Mod Vaudeville, most notably Tiny Tim and even Moby Grape. On the latter's WOW album, they ask listeners to change the speed on their turntables to 78 for "Just Like Gene Autry/Foxtrot," introduced by Arthur Godfrey speaking "from the Seacaucus, Lounge in the Fabulous Fandango Hotel in Weehawken, New Jersey" where he proudly presents "the celestial melodies of Lou Waxman and His Orchestra." But the Guy Marks performance is by far one of the best of them all, with just the right amount of humor and authenticity. I plan to put together a mix playlist of others done in this style on my UA-cam channel.
This song was enough of a hit for QRS to issue it on a player-piano roll. I just found one on eBay, and I have a player-piano, so I'll soon be playing it.
Re released in 1978. Reached number 25 here in UK. I thought it was higher as I remember hearing it a lot. I looked up the lyrics as I’d always wondered what blues father had. Turned out “father had the ship fitter blues” 😅. “I asked the waiter for iodine, but l dined all alone” 😅😅. I love how one of the backing singers can’t help but laugh at 1:50 when he is acting so camp
Note Looking at downtown Pottstown home of the Sunny brook Ballroom where He sang many times! It still exsist's and is still bringing this kind of music there!
This was one of my faves on the Air Force Radio station that played in the late 60's...I was 9 and we were stationed at Iraklion Crete AFB then..what a great summer if '69!
Thanks for posting this one. I remember it well. I first heard Guy do this on a Dean Martin Show, and it actually became a novelty hit tune. Marks was a very talented comedian and mimic.
I bet this goes back before well 1978. I have a recording of it that my uncle gave me in 1970, It's a marvelous send-up of the grandness of the big band radio era.
And the heart of downtown Plunkettville is just 2 1/2 blocks from the Mile-High City of New Orleans, which is right next to the uptown section of downtown Pottstown in Pennsylvaina... . Johnny Pearson and his Plunkettvillevanians is a spoof of another 1930's Mickey Mouse band called Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. .
I remember this when I was at school and I really loved it. Dont know why but just did - and its still as good now as then. Thank you Wiggy this a joy to hear again!
Always Loved this one. He Put downtown Pottstown in the begining because Of The Famous Sunny Brook Ballroom in Pottstown Pa. He most likely did many shows there.
The Stranglers "Nice n' Sleazy" was in the U.K charts at the very same time! The stark difference of attitudes and production values of two totally different songs seem to compliment each other in a way by standing testimony to the diversity, talent, uniqueness, and charm of bygone era music/charts! The 1970's sure did bring some magic to a world lacking hi-tech gadgetry seen with modern times!
Fantastic!!........................"Your father had the ship fitter blues!!"....."And loving you had made me Bananas"............They just don't write them like that anymore. And the worlds a sadder place for it. Ha ha.
I was thinking those singers (especially the middle one from what little you could see of her) were cute and then I realized this was done in 1978. That means they are all senior citizens now, just like I am!
When I first heard this song on the main Top 40 Radio station based in Newport News, Virginia, I thought that the station had switched to Big Band music! Then the next song played confirmed that they were still a top 40 radio station. Whew! Great song, however. I used to have a copy of the original record and almost wore it out playing it!
Anyone notice at 1:50, one of the girls sings "SHOPfitter blues" which makes the other singers laugh- a nice moment from a great (and rarely heard) song from the seventies... the decade of FUN!
@kenfig Couldn't agree more - a brilliant time for such diverse music. The trash today is forgotten after a month. Stuff like this will live on FOREVER.
Guy Marks, funny as fuck. Look up his impressions of Mitchum, Bogart and more on the Dean Martin Roast. Outstanding! Even one of the backing singers here corpses.
How indeed are things in cutiepop California? Sorry I'm an inveterate floit say I in bugs bunny like tones. Laughter is grief in solution for sure, says the lad to the lassie.
I am just now listening to this song again since I first heard it on the Tony Blackburn Show on Radio One back in the late 70's in my mid teens. He played it on his show on more than one occasion as he thought it was hilarious. The only funny part about it was the red scarf matches your eyes didn't really get the rest of it. I thought I'd search for it on :UA-cam, and low and behold! Funny how this silly song has stayed with me all these years.
The only Plunkettville I could find in the USA is in eastern Oklahoma near the Arkansas state line. It's a small crossroads with about 100 people. From what little information I could find, it's not big enough to have a hotel of any description, much the less one with a grand ballroom...
I remember this from the Summer of 1978 along with ... 10cc 'Dreadlock Holiday', Kate Bush 'Wuthering Heights' & 'Wow', Blondie, "Grease"/Travolta, Dire Straits ... they don't make music like this anymore! The '70s really had talented groups/singers ...
This was originally released 10 yrs earlier in 1968, but missed the charts. Great fun, notice how the backing singers sing "Shopfitter Blues" instead of "Shipfitter", I wonder if they couldn't do it for laughing ?
A comparison with the original 45 is interesting. It was done at a slower tempo and the spoken introduction was longer. you can find it on abmp3 dot com.
I agree..don't write them like that anymore. But, the lyric is, "Your father had the ship RIVETER blues."..not "Ship Fitter Blues". In WW2, with the war effort, ship riveters were very big!
I remember this song from the AM radio playing while milking cows. I can't believe anyone else even likes it like I do. Thanks for the memories.
This song is so super I'll bet if you left the radio with the cows, they'd probably gleefully self milk. Especially in a farm near Pottstown. And yet, on the udder hand ✋...
I was at the kitchen table with my mother and her boyfriend when I was a teenager and completely randomly, my mom's boyfriend said: "Red scarf matches your eyes, close cover before striking...loving you has made me bananas". I legitimately thought he had lost his mind. It wasn't until years later that I discovered he was quoting a song, not having a stroke.
Punk and this sort of thing.
Sums up the 70s.
Laugh of the day. LOL. This was the king of novelty, spoof songs. This guy is lampooning the crooners of the 40s, give or take a decade.
@@clairduffy60 The onscreen title is wrong. The song was a hit from *1968*, not "1978". Considering its retro weirdness, I'm surprised Guy Marks was never invited to perform it on "Laugh In".
@@OofusTwillip it was re-released in 1978
"Father had the shop fitter blues" Brilliant..no wonder the singers got a fit of the giggles...
Absolutely brilliant, an absolute gem & camper than a row of shiffon tents!!! I've used the line "your red scarf matches your eyes" many of times at music festivals on Sunday mornings.................
Fantastic ❤❤ lovin you has made me bananas 🍌🍌🍌
Some things in life are truly inexplicable. Such as why did I wake up this morning thinking of this song after all these years? Delighted to have found it on UA-cam. Living proof that the 1970's was the greatest era for such diverse music. Fun songs, such as this, just don't happen in today's boring, mundane World. :-(
Hahaha, remember this from when I was at school. My mum used to sing it to me being silly. Life was easier then. Miss you mum. 😓
I was absolutely flabbergasted to find this gem of a take-off of the big-band era on UA-cam! It has got to be one of the most original, hilarious tunes ever recorded, and the video is simply priceless! Thanks for bringing back such great memories of a long-forgotten classic!
ROTFLMAO!!!
How could he keep a straight face while singing this? It's the funniest song ever!
When I worked at Motorchef, (Gordano Services, M5 motorway)1977-1978, one of my mates there, Ron Bosley, used to sing it. It cracks me up. Such a good parody.
Me and Les White, a carpenter from Burnt Oak, Edgware, used to belt this out in Villiers Road, Willesden when we were working for a German company, MAC. I joined the British Army and still sing this song when I’m half cut. Great days, great mates and great memories. Les White, get in touch!
Great,original song that i have to admit to buying!
RIP Guy,the world is a sadder place without people like you.
Sheer Genius ❤❤ It's actually so old now that it is older than the originals were then. Loving It Has Made Me Bananas 🍌🍌
My great mate Paddy used to sing " Your father had the shitkickers blues ". Thats stuck with me.
I’m happy to have found this live version of one of my favorite songs. I’ve read the comments and now finally know what a shipfitter is.
My late, Big Band era mother explained to me in 1968, when this song was released: This is a send-up of the many such "From high atop the..." radio shows of the past; and yes, it's hilarious how the lady back-up singers at the left couldn't carry on without laughing! Notice how, in the middle of the song, singer Guy Marks sits down and then gets back up for absolutely no reason -- another apparent reference to the past!
I remember this as if it were yesterday! It was a huge hit.
I love this song & play it to cheer myself up - it's even more special now because it has the witty commentary of dear Steve Wright at the end. A DJ legend. Fly high Steve 🙏💙 x
I had forgotten about this little gem until it popped into my brain this morning. TF for UA-cam.
My mom used to sing this around the house when I was little, lol.
My Dad has sung this crazy song to my sister and I for YEARS and we always thought it was some goofy song he made up! He always insisted it was a real song, and sure enough it is on youtube!
This suddenly started rattling around in my brain a day or two, goodness knows why. But here it is, courtesy of You Tube. just as camp as ever. Love it.
love it . used to put this on the jukebox and sing along while my mates were cringing .....happy days
Guy Marks WOW !!! I remember him on TV during the 70s and he sang this crazy song and I never forgot it. Its has to be one of the greatest parody songs of all time. I think it gets in your DNA or something !! Singing this song all the time has made me "bananas"....................
Hello from October 11th 2023. We have this song on 7” vinyl!!! Wonderful!
I love this. Makes me feel good.
I love this track, its been done soo well, it makes me smile every time I hear it. great stuff.
I ran a record shop in the late seventies - in the middle of the Punk era and often played this record. It always got a response from the kids and a favourite moment was when a black bin-bag sidled up to the shop counter and asked to order a copy on the QT. Wonderful memories. Wonder what my young Punks are doing now?
Thanks Kimberly - Will do. Nice to know it stirred fond memories for you.
Kimberly Patton Check out another great favorite of Mine on here Geronamos Caddilac By Michele Martin Murphy. Used to play it 10 times in a row on the Jute box at the old Buckboard Inn in Phoenixville Pa! Another One was oh Babe what would you say! By Hurricane Smith.
Thank you Kimberly - very kind of you. Take care.
Lol 😂😂 great story. 👍👍
I wonder why it took SO long to become a hit in the UK...and, yet, it was only a minor hit here in the U.S. in '68!
And what a great opening line..."From the Hotel Sheets in downtown...."
First heard this on Wogan in late 70's. Ah, the memories.
Guy Marks was a master impressionist, check him out on the Dean Martin roasts, amazing.
Affectionate parody. "Your red scarf matches your eyes" - great lyric! I love the mistake made by the backing singers which causes a bit of giggling.
Yeah...the shopfitter blues...funny as fu*k
Happy memories from 1978. A classic.
This is totally amazing 😅😅😅
It's amazing how many old time jazz/vaudeville/music hall song parodies showed up in the mid-to-late 60s, mainly from British invasion groups (Beatles, Stones, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Kinks, Chad & Jeremy, Peter & Gordon, New Vaudeville Band, Herman's Hermits and many more). But a few American artists also adapted the genre, sometimes called Mod Vaudeville, most notably Tiny Tim and even Moby Grape. On the latter's WOW album, they ask listeners to change the speed on their turntables to 78 for "Just Like Gene Autry/Foxtrot," introduced by Arthur Godfrey speaking "from the Seacaucus, Lounge in the Fabulous Fandango Hotel in Weehawken, New Jersey" where he proudly presents "the celestial melodies of Lou Waxman and His Orchestra." But the Guy Marks performance is by far one of the best of them all, with just the right amount of humor and authenticity. I plan to put together a mix playlist of others done in this style on my UA-cam channel.
This is pure class at its best. Good fun and great music.
This song was enough of a hit for QRS to issue it on a player-piano roll. I just found one on eBay, and I have a player-piano, so I'll soon be playing it.
Re released in 1978. Reached number 25 here in UK. I thought it was higher as I remember hearing it a lot. I looked up the lyrics as I’d always wondered what blues father had. Turned out “father had the ship fitter blues” 😅. “I asked the waiter for iodine, but l dined all alone” 😅😅. I love how one of the backing singers can’t help but laugh at 1:50 when he is acting so camp
Note Looking at downtown Pottstown home of the Sunny brook Ballroom where He sang many times! It still exsist's and is still bringing this kind of music there!
Great novelty record! :)
I first heard Tony Randall sing this on .I think, the Tonight Show, and I've been singing it ever since!
A wacky but very catchy song. Also performed by a strange character in the film "Yanks". Thanks for posting.
This was one of my faves on the Air Force Radio station that played in the late 60's...I was 9 and we were stationed at Iraklion Crete AFB then..what a great summer if '69!
First girlfriend for me, a boy of 16; Cherie amour, precious memory.
In 69...
A great track, I remember from junior school days - not heard it for so long. Very witty and charming. Thanks a lot for this!
Camp.. as a row of pink tents!! Great Stuff.
total class!! love it !!!
Love this 😅
Thanks for posting this one. I remember it well. I first heard Guy do this on a Dean Martin Show, and it actually became a novelty hit tune. Marks was a very talented comedian and mimic.
At last! Thanks so much for reviving this classic piece of cabaret
Nuts! Love it!
Just heard steve wright at the beginning sadlly missed.R.I.P ..PAL
I bet this goes back before well 1978. I have a recording of it that my uncle gave me in 1970, It's a marvelous send-up of the grandness of the big band radio era.
I've long thought I knew this song from before 1978
@@davidphelan8951- It came out in 1968 in the States. Guy Marks was Joey Bishop's sidekick when he had a late night talk show opposite Johnny Carson.
And the heart of downtown Plunkettville is just 2 1/2 blocks from the Mile-High City of New Orleans, which is right next to the uptown section of downtown Pottstown in Pennsylvaina...
.
Johnny Pearson and his Plunkettvillevanians is a spoof of another 1930's Mickey Mouse band called Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians.
.
I remember this when I was at school and I really loved it. Dont know why but just did - and its still as good now as then. Thank you Wiggy this a joy to hear again!
Always Loved this one. He Put downtown Pottstown in the begining because Of The Famous Sunny Brook Ballroom in Pottstown Pa. He most likely did many shows there.
The Stranglers "Nice n' Sleazy" was in the U.K charts at the very same time! The stark difference of attitudes and production values of two totally different songs seem to compliment each other in a way by standing testimony to the diversity, talent, uniqueness, and charm of bygone era music/charts! The 1970's sure did bring some magic to a world lacking hi-tech gadgetry seen with modern times!
THIS is what makes Britain GREAT . Guy Marks, i salute you !
Er, he was Australian, if I recall correctly
Apparently we're both wrong cobber, just checked, he was born in Philadelphia !
@@steaminboot I'd rather be dead than be in Philadelphia, or something to that effect, said W.C. Fields.
Brilliant
And listen to the backing singer collapse into a fit of giggles at 1:50... Great stuff
Wonderfully 1930s 😄👏🏼
PERFECT SONG TO DANCE WITH A LOVE ONE ON VALENTINE DAY.
I cant remember what year this was a hit but in 2020 i remember every word of the lyrics ...Love it
Fantastic!!........................"Your father had the ship fitter blues!!"....."And loving you had made me Bananas"............They just don't write them like that anymore. And the worlds a sadder place for it. Ha ha.
this was originally released in 1968
A top song. hAPPY DAYS- 1976! lOVED IT!
A Shipfitter is a plumber, that's a pipefitter aboard ship. So you might imagine that is a good reason to have the blues.
Colace, colace, colace; prune juice.
I was thinking those singers (especially the middle one from what little you could see of her) were cute and then I realized this was done in 1978. That means they are all senior citizens now, just like I am!
Alack a day, you don't look a day over Biden/Trumpence/Pelosi- or me. We need younger leaders for Heaven's Sake!
When I first heard this song on the main Top 40 Radio station based in Newport News, Virginia, I thought that the station had switched to Big Band music! Then the next song played confirmed that they were still a top 40 radio station. Whew! Great song, however. I used to have a copy of the original record and almost wore it out playing it!
Anyone notice at 1:50, one of the girls sings "SHOPfitter blues" which makes the other singers laugh- a nice moment from a great (and rarely heard) song from the seventies... the decade of FUN!
@kenfig Couldn't agree more - a brilliant time for such diverse music. The trash today is forgotten after a month. Stuff like this will live on FOREVER.
This is hilarious!
Guy Marks, funny as fuck. Look up his impressions of Mitchum, Bogart and more on the Dean Martin Roast. Outstanding! Even one of the backing singers here corpses.
Brilliant! I've loved this since I first heard it (in the late seventies?)
brilliant
My Gina , was home sick and I sent to her to get her to laugh! It worked
How indeed are things in cutiepop California? Sorry I'm an inveterate floit say I in bugs bunny like tones. Laughter is grief in solution for sure, says the lad to the lassie.
I am just now listening to this song again since I first heard it on the Tony Blackburn Show on Radio One back in the late 70's in my mid teens. He played it on his show on more than one occasion as he thought it was hilarious. The only funny part about it was the red scarf matches your eyes didn't really get the rest of it. I thought I'd search for it on :UA-cam, and low and behold! Funny how this silly song has stayed with me all these years.
Terry Wogan classic, i love the intro, it makes no sense , Milligan would b proud.
@tallpaul521 I believe it is ship fitter. One who positions the metal to be riveted or welded.
ha ha excellent
Is this doesn't explain my relationship, I don't know what does.
Granny has great taste
Brilliant parody of 1940s big band singers. ☺
The only Plunkettville I could find in the USA is in eastern Oklahoma near the Arkansas state line. It's a small crossroads with about 100 people. From what little information I could find, it's not big enough to have a hotel of any description, much the less one with a grand ballroom...
I've finally figured it out!!!
.
She burnt her finger because she didn't close her cover before lighting up...
@tallpaul521 - the guy singing the song also wrote it....I think he knows what the lyrics actually are.
Love to hear the background singer trying not to laugh at 1.50
Who knew your red scarf matched your eyes?
I remember this from the Summer of 1978 along with ... 10cc 'Dreadlock Holiday', Kate Bush 'Wuthering Heights' & 'Wow', Blondie, "Grease"/Travolta, Dire Straits ... they don't make music like this anymore! The '70s really had talented groups/singers ...
How about Hall n Oates??
Wot a performance. Camp as a row of tents.
Joy Division were recording their aborted RCA album down the road at this point. I remember this catchy ditty at the time....
This was originally released 10 yrs earlier in 1968, but missed the charts. Great fun, notice how the backing singers sing "Shopfitter Blues" instead of "Shipfitter", I wonder if they couldn't do it for laughing ?
Poor souls; wound up in the klepto ward.
"Father had the shipfitter blues"......Wouldn't like to say that too quickly..
Colace! Colace! Colace!
@garybrownfie By George, uou are correct. Thanks!
"A *tad* camp." ;)
The TOTP onscreen title has the wrong date. The song was a hit in *1968*, not "1978".
It was a re-release which became a UK hit in 1978.
Camper than Graham Norton in a tent..
A comparison with the original 45 is interesting. It was done at a slower tempo and the spoken introduction was longer. you can find it on abmp3 dot com.
...and "loving you has made me bananas."
I agree..don't write them like that anymore.
But, the lyric is, "Your father had the ship RIVETER blues."..not "Ship Fitter Blues".
In WW2, with the war effort, ship riveters were very big!
That's Ffyfe.
how camp is that!