Where has the time gone? More than a month and no new blahg? 
Awwwk! I know, that’s a strange noise to make, and I’m sure I didn’t spell it correctly, but that’s the best I can do at this point. I have been so busy this past month that I haven’t had time to write a blahg and if I had the time, I was probably too tired. I won’t make any more excuses and I won’t make any more strange noises except caw caw. That’s even stranger but last week when we were in Toronto, I amused my thirteen year old daughter by randomly making that bird like noise in public to see if anyone would notice. No one did. Now on to the blahg.
This blahg is going to be an update to two previous blahgs and a little something extra thrown in. Right about now you’re probably wondering what I mean by “a little crazy in the head.” If you’ll stay with me, I’ll get there. First, let’s jump back to last September and the first blahg that I posted. You may recall that the title of that first blahg was “THE BLAHG AND THE MOST HAPPY SOUND”. If you can’t remember back that far, and believe me that I have those days, then you can just jump back and check out that blahg here: http://falseducks.com/theblahg/?p=5. The ‘Most Happy Sound’ of that blahg referred to the title album by Margaret Ann & The Ja-Da Quartet. I reviewed that album and offered a couple of tracks for your listening pleasure. I also noted two single 45 rpm releases by the same group but that I did not have a copy of one of these which included ‘Secret’ backed with ‘Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home’. I know this is a bit of a cheat because I have actually gone ahead and updated that blahg but if you’re only reading my new blahgs, and boy did you have to wait a while for a new one, then you probably didn’t know that first blahg has been updated.
I won’t dwell too much on this part of the update but I had previously reviewed “Secret” and commented that it sounded like a late 50s/early 60s vocal group. 
The flip side is completely different. “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” harkens back to the LP ‘The Most Happy Sound’. Here we have that roaring 20s jazz and swing coming through. Give it a listen:
Now on to the second update. I’m happy to say that Frank Sinatra is in the house! I guess I should clarify that in case a few of you believe I am a little crazy in the head and believe Sinatra is haunting me or at the very least that I’m hallucinating. This reference goes back to another blahg that I wrote back in January of this year. The title of that blahg was “THIS SPOT RESERVED FOR THE 2011 CARLTON CARDS SINATRA ORNAMENT.” Again, if you haven’t read that blahg, then you can check it out here http://falseducks.com/theblahg/?p=14. 
In that blahg, I detailed my frustration in finding the 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra ornament to complete my collection that I started with the first release in 1999. I also exhibited a picture of my incomplete collection. That picture was in error because it only displayed 10 of the 11 releases (not including the missing 2011 ornament) and also did not include the Hallmark release in 2009 when there was no Carlton Cards Sinatra ornament. The picture at left now shows all of the ornaments; including the 2011 ornament.
The point of my original blahg was to draw attention to the missing ornament in my collection. 
Since that blahg I have now acquired the 2011 ornament and I want to comment a little on it. As I have mentioned (come on, read that blahg already so I don’t have to keep repeating everything), the 2011 ornament was withdrawn shortly after its initial release. The two answers I received from American Greetings, the parent company of Carlton Cards, basically pointed to a production error. If you look at the picture of my 2011 Carlton Cards Sinatra Ornament at left, you will notice that the skin coloring used for Sinatra seems to be quite dark. Maybe this was the production error or maybe Sinatra had a really good tan that year. Well, at least my collection is complete.
Now what about being crazy in the head? I knew you’d get around to asking that again. Well, the fact is it’s not really about being a little crazy in the head, although I will openly admit to that, but rather about ‘poco loco in the coco’ which translates that bit about being crazy in the head. Let me explain a little more. A couple weeks ago I was listening to my favorite AM Radio Station AM 740 out of Toronto. In fact, it’s the only AM station that I do listen to. Every morning from 10am to 11am they run the top ten at ten. This particular week they were running down the top ten hits from that week in 1950. Here’s how the list broke down:
10. / Enjoy Yourself / Guy Lombardo
9. / The Third Man Theme / Anton Karas
8. / Cry of the Wild Goose / Frankie Laine
7. / Rag Mopp / Ames Brothers
6. / I Said My Pajamas (and put on my prayers) / Tony Martin & Fran Warren
5. / It Isn’t Fair / Don Cornell
4. / There’s No Tomorrow / Tony Martin
3. / If I Knew You Were Comin’ (I’d’ve baked a cake) / Eileen Barton
2. / Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy / Red Foley
1. / Music Music Music / Teresa Brewer
You will notice that in the 3rd position was “If I Knew You Were Comin’ (I’d’ve Baked A Cake) by Eileen Barton. I’m familiar with this tune and have heard various artists sing it. It wasn’t extraordinary to me that the song was recorded by Ms. Barton but rather the flip side of that single caught my attention. When the radio personalities of AM 740 began to make fun of the title of the opposite side track, I was a little startled. The title of the flip side was “Poco Loco In The Coco.” I knew this song! I had only recently heard it for the first time a couple weeks before hearing this top ten list…and I have Frank Sinatra to thank for this.
In the mid-1950s, Sinatra had a fifteen minute radio show rightly entitled “To Be Perfectly Frank”. On this show, he sang a song or two with a small combo and played platters by other artists. At the beginning of this year, 2012, I decided to start listening again to material associated with Sinatra for every day of the year. I have so many recordings, radio shows, and concerts that I have enough material to listen to something different for all 366 days (don’t forget the added bonus of February 29th this year). For January 29th of this year, my selection was the To Be Perfectly Frank episode from January 29th, 1954. Besides crooning his own versions of “On The Sunny Side of The Street” & “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry”, Sinatra spun the wax version of Eileen Barton’s version of “Poco Loco In The Coco.” If you ask me, this should have been the hit because it’s a fun little number that jumps. Here it is:
Well that’s it for me. I know that this is a little bit of an abrupt ending to this blahg but given the month I’ve had, I think I’m going to make “Poco Loco In The Coco” my theme song for the next little while.
Tags: Eileen Barton, False Ducks, FRANK SINATRA, Margaret Ann & The Jada Quartet, Scott Henderson