Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: Everyone from Florida your stupid.
Speaker 3: Everyone from Florida is dumb.
Speaker 4: I might not be the brightest cat, but next to them,
my IQ's high.
Speaker 5: If they had guitars, here's.
Speaker 6: How they'd strung.
Speaker 7: This is John fulbrud Hi. This is jar Williams Hi.
Speaker 3: This is Mitch Margle of the Tokens Hi.
Speaker 6: This is Gary Us bonds Man here on the Rock
and Roll History Show. Well, hello, everybody, Welcome back to
the Rock and Roll History Show and Hudson River Radio.
I'm Brian Horowitz. Tonight we're going to talk about the
state of Florida. But before we hop into that, allow
me to introduce all the crambones who are joining us
here tonight. First and foremost, from the Richter Observatory. He
just bought a sweet car online. Turns out at belong
to Neil Diamond. Neil Richter is here.
Speaker 7: I get it, I get it, I got it.
Speaker 6: I needed that moment of silence.
Speaker 8: Yeah, no, I got it. I was trying to think
of a funny come back. Wah wah wah.
Speaker 6: Sometimes we have to so good, so good.
Speaker 8: That drives me crazy.
Speaker 9: Hello.
Speaker 7: We were singing that last night over it up front.
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, that's it. If you're in a crowd
and everybody's doing it, all right, that's fine. It's not
something that you need to listen to on your own anymore.
Speaker 7: Or do you carry it.
Speaker 6: Because yeah, there's lots of really good stuff out there. Yeah,
all right, Well, welcome back man from paranormally yours. She says.
If you ever need to stop a bull from charging,
just cancel its credit card. Dale, Mum, is here.
Speaker 10: Brian, that one's older than I am. No, maybe not,
because they didn't have credit cards until like nineteen seventy.
Speaker 6: Well, you're a woman. You weren't allowed to have your
own until what seventy four?
Speaker 10: I know, but I swear, I swear my mother, God
rest her soul was the first person I knew to
have a credit card. She had a Bank America.
Speaker 6: Card, the old one where you had to chunk a
chunk across with that reader. Yeah, oh my god. It
must have been so much easier to just steal back then,
because if your card was bad, they wouldn't know until
that night. Right now it's.
Speaker 7: In, and then anybody can go by and take the
other half of it and have all your extributions.
Speaker 6: Yep, yep, there you go. Things are so much better now,
aren't they. From the silver screen, she saw a pirate
walk into a bar and the bartender says, I hope
you don't mind me asking, but how did you get
that hook hand? And the pirate says, oh, it was
a swashbuckling accident. And how about that eye patch? How
did you get that? And the pirate says, oh, seagull
pooped in my eye. And the bartender says, you lost
your eye because of seagull poop, and the pirate says,
are it was the first day with me hook Oh
for saying this.
Speaker 7: Kenta here Mercedes, Hey, that was good.
Speaker 11: That was good, all right?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 7: Bad for the guy though, you should really ow get.
Speaker 2: The whole.
Speaker 6: Our official medical person is here. She had a patient
who couldn't stop telling jokes about airports. She thinks it's terminal.
Jessica Deane is back.
Speaker 10: Hey, everybody, that was a good one.
Speaker 6: Brian, and last but not least, the host of shaving cream.
She learned that the guy who invented the ferris wheel
never met the guy who invented the Merry Go Round.
Turns out they ran in different circles.
Speaker 7: Very good.
Speaker 6: Right, So tonight we're talking about the state of Florida,
and it was Mercedes Idea and Mercedes is in Florida,
and I understand voluntarily is that correct?
Speaker 7: It's true. I gotta tell you. The weather's good. God, yeah,
it's Florida. So Florida is weird.
Speaker 6: We're recording a few weeks ahead of time. But you
said it's a nice seventy five. While it is, it
is not that in New York. Yeah, I've heard enjoy it.
Speaker 7: I've heard horror story. I keep apologizing to people. I mean, no, no, you.
Speaker 6: Could rub it in their faces. So enjoy it while
you're there. Yeah, why don't we just hop right in
and start, Neil, you're going to lead us off, So
what do you have for us?
Speaker 8: I'm trying to think when I have been to flood
what that noise was. Yes, that burning would smell right
up there. I'm trying to remember the last time I
was in Florida. I've been there a few times. It
was probably sometime in the mid eighties, which is probably
why I don't remember. But and here's the story to
the point.
Speaker 7: For the last decade, I think it's still there.
Speaker 8: There was like a tourist theme park thing called Push Yes,
Bush being you know the Bush you know beer company
that sponsored it. So we went there and there was
a little kiosk or something like that, and they were
giving out free samples of Bush beer. Oh man, that's
like waving a you know, red flag in front of
a bowl, you know. So of course I think, oh,
I got it. I went there, I finished it. You know,
they give you a pretty decent cup, you know, glass
of beer. Although by the sixth or seventh time that
I went up there, the guy started to get mad
at me. He said, no, no, no, no, no, you
cut off. I was okay, but yeah, so that's probably
why I don't remember what much about it at the time.
Although it was warm, it was nice, and it was
in the winter, so it worked.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, there's a lot to freak out about Florida.
Speaker 8: Well I had help.
Speaker 7: Bluckier than a lot of people. Well that's not true.
Everybody drinks Danny.
Speaker 8: They had like, yeah, the convenience stores. I had like
drive through where you could get beer through the drive
through window, like a beer in your car, in your
car driving, you know, thank you drive off with the
six pack.
Speaker 6: Yeah, a lot of states have that. New Hampshire has
that you can pull right up the window. Texas has
that pull right up.
Speaker 12: Oh.
Speaker 8: For a brief moment, I considered, you know, relocating, but
you know, common sense took over. But anyway, enough of that,
because on March third, eighteen forty five, Florida became the
twenty seventh state in the US. Florida's nickname is the
Sunshine State.
Speaker 6: It has a lot of nicknames, to be fair, the
same Florida.
Speaker 8: Also, Florida also leads the US in tornadoes and hurricanes
and experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country.
Oh my, okay, that's the Sunshine State.
Speaker 6: You know what. The Simpsons call it, the America's wang.
Speaker 13: Oh oh boy.
Speaker 8: It's also known for its large retirement population. Yep so,
Florida is sometimes referred to as God's waiting room butt
that sink in. Tallahassee is Florida's state capitol, and it's
located in the state's Panhandle region, which has an area
of about ninety eight square miles. Tallahassee is also known
as a big college town, home to several large universities,
with a student population of over seventy thousand. Tallahassee Lassie
is the name of a song and it was co
written by Bob Crue and Frank Slay. Bob Crue was
also known for helping write many top ten hits for
the Four Seasons, and Frank's Slay would also go on
to produce the hit Incense and Peppermints by the Strawberry
al Arm Clock. Now, there was also another person involved
who helped write the song. His name was Frederick Piccoriello,
but he's probably better known as his stage name Freddie
Boom Boom Cannon, and that's whose recording of Tallahassee Lassie
we're going to hear in just a few minutes now.
Cannon's Tallahassee Lassie reached number six on the US Pop Chart,
number thirteen on the US R and B Chart, and
number seventeen on the UK Singles chart. All in nineteen
fifty nine. It sold over one million copies, which awarded
it a gold record by the RIAA. And Tallahassee lass
Who was ranked number forty on Billboard's year end Hot
one hundred Singles chart also in nineteen fifty nine. Same year,
British pop star Tommy Steele also reached the charts with
a version of Tallahassee Lassie, and that went to number
sixteen on the UK Singles Chart. And it's kind of
interesting how this song about Florida became so popular over
there in the UK, although I do remember hearing that
for those who could afford it, Florida was like a
preferred holiday destination, vacation place for people, you know, in England,
in Great Britain. And if you've ever been to any
of the beaches in England, you know why Florida.
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, rocks, yeah exactly, not sand rocks.
Speaker 8: Rocks, yeah, they you know, future sand but they used
rocks right anyway. The song was also featured on the
album The Explosive Freddy Cannon in nineteen sixty Now. Freddy Cannon,
an American rock and roll singer, was born in nineteen
forty in Massachusetts, and besides Tallahassee Lassie, he's also known
for his other hits Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
and Palisades Park, the latter actually being written by a
man named Chuck Barris. And for those of you old
enough to remember The Gun Show, yes, hell yeah, that
Chuck Barris. Freddy grew up listening to rhythm and blues
music on the radio, and he was later influenced by
the rock and roll pioneers like Chuck Barry and Little
Richard and Cannon began his musical career in nineteen fifty eight,
recording a single with a group called the spin Drifts,
which became a local hit. His growing popularity in the
Boston area led him to a management contract with a
Boston DJ who teamed him up with the writing and
production team of Bob Crue and Frank Sligh, and they
began working on a new song, which Freddy called rock
and Roll Baby. They rearranged the song, rewrote the lyrics,
and renamed it Tallahassee Lassie, and as it turned out,
the initial demo was rejected by several record companies until
until it was heard by a man named Dick Clark.
Yes that Dick Clark from TV's American Bandstand, who also
happened to be part owner of a record label called
Swan Records in Philadelphia. Now it was Clark who suggested
that the song be re edited and overdubbed by emphasizing
a pounding bass drum and adding handclaps, and it was
also Clark's idea to add Freddy's cries of whoo to
the song, which we'll hear I don't think I do
it justice, and that would become later one of Freddy
Cannon's trademarks, the Whooow. Freddy stayed with the Swan label
along with producer Frank Sligh for the next five years.
He become known as Freddy Boom Boom Cannon, and he
gained national exposure courtesy of Dick Clark with numerous appearances
on American Bandstand, a record one one hundred and ten
appearances in all.
Speaker 3: Where does she.
Speaker 14: Come from tallahassee, Well, she got a high pot.
Speaker 4: Chassy Well, maybe he looks a little sassy Hello box
of Macy's reel classy Well came a glassy lassy down an.
Speaker 3: Air belly.
Speaker 15: Well he dropping through the drag, the Chuto rag box
top and the shag who rocks the body hot.
Speaker 7: Whell's. He dances to the bop, She dances to the
stroll ADSs to the walk.
Speaker 2: Woot she can lock con rolls in.
Speaker 14: Mantella has lassy oo Yeah, Mattella lassy lassy whoo geez.
Mattella has lassy down in there belly.
Speaker 15: Well, rob it through the drag, the chat of rags,
box TK, the shad.
Speaker 2: Who rocks the bunny hotoo whoo whoo.
Speaker 15: Where he dances to the bop, She dances to the stroll,
She dances to the walk whoop.
Speaker 2: She can lock co rolls in. Mandela has lassy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, come on, come on.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 8: How many times did he say? I don't know, I
didn't count it.
Speaker 6: I make that noise when I slip on the ice.
Speaker 8: There's a yeah, followed by other sounds that compete on
I can't say on the radio. Yeah. There's a drinking game,
you know, have a have a, have a shot? Every
time you.
Speaker 7: Say it's a lot of woo's and a lot of
shots in a lot of two and a half minutes.
Speaker 8: It's a lot of bush a lot of bush beer.
Let me tell you something. Anyway. His follow up single
was called Okie Fink, which is another Florida reference, but
that did do quite as well. It only reached number
forty three on the charts, but after that, with big
hits like Way Down Yonder in New Orleans and Palisades Park,
it solidified his place in rock and roll history. He's
continued to record and perform ever since, most recently releasing
an ode to the legendary MeTV Horror show host Svengoli. Yeah,
I know a few of us here on the panel
are fans of Hems. It was called the Svengouli Stomp
in twenty sixteen. As of this taping, Freddy Cannon currently
resides in Tarzana, California, and in closing, I refer to
the words of the late great rock writer and singer
from the band Brownsville Station, who's nineteen seventies hit Smoking
in the Boys Room. No, No, not the Motley Crue
cover in the eighties. I'm talking about Brownsville Station cub Coda,
who said, quote, Freddy Cannon was a true believer, a
rocker to the bone. Freddy Cannon made rock and roll records,
great noisy rock and roll records, and all of them
were infused with a gigantic drum beat that was an
automatic invitation to shake it on down.
Speaker 6: Whoo excellent, excellent, all right, thank you, Neil, Gail, Gail,
You're up well.
Speaker 10: Neil and his song are very difficult to act to
follow because I was kind of desperate when I was
trying to find a song for this topic that actually
said stuff about Florida. So I went digging deep into
the Google universe and found someone called boy Pierce pi
E RCEE. He's a Wilmington, Delaware native. He grew up
near Wilmington. He's a Silesian school graduate, and he went
on to the University of Delaware where he earned a
degree in bioscience in two thousand and seven. Now his
musical pursuits. Pursuits began during his living in the University
of Delaware dorms around that time because the song while
all of his work really is like hip hop slash
rap style. So when he was living in the dorms
at University of Delaware, he began freestyling for fun with
his friends and that's where he ended up taking off
doing beats and rhymes ever since. After college, he moved
to Philadelphia, where he lived for about five years and
was performing at venues across Philadelphia in twenty eleven. A
couple of years later, he moved to New York after
successful performance at a showcase at the East Village's Webster Hall,
which I've never been to, but that doesn't mean anything.
I have a lot and I figured I figured you
and Neil probably have been there quite I used to
live across.
Speaker 8: The street, so yeah, okay, Webster Hall was it was
called the Ritz back in the Okay, in that lost
decade of the eighties.
Speaker 7: So it free passes because they gave match to other
people that lived on the block, Becau. They didn't want
any trouble. Oh nice, it's the only one that cashed it.
Speaker 10: Nice.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 10: So sometime after that. He has since performed at Brooklyn's
Knitting Factory. No idea, what that is?
Speaker 7: It used to be in New York. Now it's great.
Helped me out here.
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, there's one originated. I think there's two of them.
There's one in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan at the Okay,
I forget which came first that you know, I think.
Speaker 7: Not one in Brooklyn anymore.
Speaker 8: It closed, it did, okay, So there's yeah, there's one
in down in Lower Manhattan. We've been there. We've been there, yeah, okay.
Speaker 10: And in Philadelphia. He has performed in places like King
Fu Necktie all right, and Milk Boy. He's been on
stage three times at Wilmington's nineteen eighty four, which is
a concert venue slash arcade and those shows are usually
held during the winter holidays when he's back home visiting
family and friends. He's a rapper and producer, and he's
found some success online, which I've only found his stuff
online in music videos. I had never heard of him before,
but apparently in a certain genre he's very, very popular.
He's got a ton of music videos, and I would
have thought they'd be kind of parodying whatever place he's
talking about, but no, he just says stuff about different
places or people or whatever. Some of his videos have
featured pop culture themed songs, focusing on everything from the
Philadelphia Eagles players. He's got a lot of songs about
the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 10: Yeah, And there's one purely about the cult comedy film
Office Space. I've really got to find that one. Anyone
who has watched Office Space?
Speaker 6: Barberous one of my favorites. Absolutely, Oh yeah, PC load Letter.
Speaker 10: So both former Eagles quarterback Nick Foles and Eagles wide
receiver DeShawn Jackson have been song subjects, with the Folds
song garnering seventy four thousand views on YouTube since its release.
Jackson shared the video about him on his own Instagram stories.
He's also released themed songs tied to musical acts, television shows,
and movies, such as Ultimate Phish, Phish Tribute, Ultimate Seinfeld Tribute,
Ultimate Home Alone Tribute, and also a pair of albums,
twenty Eighteen's Homemade and twenty Sixteens Moments. There's one called
a Park Tour, series of video that feature him with
headphones in public barks in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago,
and Nashville. In each video, Pierce listens to the beat
through headphones and performs live into a microphone. From memorization,
you can tell he's younger than me because memorization and
passerbys can't hear the music, so they kind of think
he's nuts as he's going along doing this. And sometimes
it's just him with a tripod shooting the video early
in the morning because his day job and I couldn't
find his real name anywhere. His day job is at
a New York advertising agency. Now, he says, it's just
utter confusion, he said, adding that some people try to
take a surreptitious video or photo of him on their
phones as they go by. They think this guy's really
lost it, So let's have a listen.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I'm going back to Florida like my man Thomas
Edison packed. I'm a pack and not jettison, going back
to Florida, catching waves in the Upper Glades, sunshine and
a getaway. Going back to Florida. Rest stop at the
cock AIRBMB in the best spot going back to Florida.
I'm going going back back to Florida and I'm working remotely.
I'm gonna get real into fishing and boating. Yeah, I'm
living that salt life. Crocs at the outlet Copper the
small price. You can catch me on a paddle board
on an air boat, flying like the mandalor only ride
with Geezers, rock and Matami, Bahama two shirt. Let's Imma
gated community h O A cleaning.
Speaker 16: Fee eighty two degree eight.
Speaker 12: There's amenatees and ses. The key to the publics a
rush for necessities you have for the Florida state. A
post off at the Edison in Florida state.
Speaker 2: What's for the state.
Speaker 12: Because I'm stressed on the northeast, so it's not a
short least because I'm going back to Florida like my
man Thomas Attis, pack come pack in a jettison, going
back to Florida. Catching waves in the Upper Gleads, Sunshine
in a getaway, going back to Florida. Rest stop at
the Epcot Airbnb in the best spot, going back to Florida.
I'm going going back back to Florida. Getting down with
the snowbirds. They've been out in a bounce its October.
King of the Big Box Retail, clear Water Cape, Coral
sand and l Seashells, Mini golf on the Highway, feasting
a flood Ruckers frides on a Friday climb for Kaloosa,
Hatchie and pool signed eating some grouper, Laughing for a nurse,
eating your dervs, wink news reporters, New Yorkers works with
the big wheels, rushed for a quick meal, brunch at
the First Watch Colvers for kids meals, and don't you
dare call the porch when you sit on.
Speaker 15: My latti at a flawless resort.
Speaker 12: Teeing off of a Force eighty key lion pod driving
Interstate seventy five because I'm going back to Florida, Like
my man Thomas had to say, pack up a pack
and that you had to sit Going back to Florida.
Catching waves in the Upper Glades, sunshine in a getaway
going back to Florida rest stop at the cock Air
b a B in the best Spox going back to Florida.
I'm going going back back to Florida, Florida.
Speaker 10: I think it's cute.
Speaker 6: That was funny, that was good.
Speaker 16: That was good.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Now about this particular song going back to Florida, he says,
I spent the month of April twenty twenty one in
a rented condo in Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, working
remotely and seeing family in the area. That month turns
into a time of creativity. We're writing and recording one
Florida song, turned into shooting a music video and creating
a full EP of Florida songs.
Speaker 13: Love it.
Speaker 6: That's great, all right? Sometimes do you find your calling
and there it is.
Speaker 8: I like that he walks around, you know, rapping with
the headphones on and nobody can he says, Oh, people
look at him like he's no around here. That's normal,
you know, Yeah, yeah, pretty much. People do that all
the time.
Speaker 6: Actually, that's a little more courteous than most people. Most
people just put it on speaker and blast it on
their phone without headphones. Yeah, those are the people that
should be tariffed anyway. Thank you, Gail. That was a
good one.
Speaker 10: Thanks.
Speaker 6: We're going to take a real quick break and we're
going to be back with more Florida right after this.
Speaker 1: This is Hudson River Radio dot Com.
Speaker 17: Ah Y, this concludes the first part of this cassette.
Please turn the cassette over and begin again on side.
Speaker 6: To what's in River Radio dot Com. Your mom likes us,
and welcome back. We're talking about Florida today and we're
up to the one person who's actually in Florida today,
and that would be Mercedes.
Speaker 7: I have so much to say about Florida. I thought
I want, oh no, go on. I have two Instagram
feats that I that I follow and one of them
is only in Florida and the other one is Florida Man,
and they're hilarious and they're all true. I mean, Florida
is different from New York. So let me tell you
about my song. The name of the band is Chumbo Wamba.
They were a British I knew I was going to
mess up this word and nacro punk band that'd sound right,
who formed in nineteen eighty two and disbanded in twenty twelve.
So anacro punk is described in Wikipedia like this also
known as an at nac Why can't we say this?
I like really can't say this.
Speaker 10: Sounds it out A N A R C H I
s T.
Speaker 7: Come mind, you all know this word.
Speaker 10: Anarchist Thank you.
Speaker 7: Rebel, also known as anarchist punk or peace punk. It's
an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Their
biggest hit was tub Thumper, which I had to go
listen to and I have that CT of course. It's
one of those songs that you already know but never
knew the name. I get down, get knocked.
Speaker 6: Down, I get up again. You're never going to bring
me down?
Speaker 8: OK?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 6: You drink a whiskey drink.
Speaker 8: I do.
Speaker 6: You drink a voga drink, which I think is gail.
You drink a logger drink which is definitely test. Drink
a cider drink.
Speaker 7: I was right along with you with all of them.
Speaker 6: Oh, it's all like a flight. You could do it
like a flight. You drink a whiskey drink, you drink.
Speaker 3: It wasn't.
Speaker 7: It's an Elliott said that the name of the band
came from a dream that one of the members had
in which public bathrooms where were there were men and
women signed, but they were replaced with chumba and wamba.
But that's not necessarily true and not the stories. The
band used to busk in Paris, and North American drummers
would come and bust near them and totally blow them
off the corner. They would sing chump chumball whalen, and
they like the sound of it, so they came up
with their own version of it. It supposedly means nothing
from an article in Jacobin dot com. According to Steve Albini,
a record producer who worked on the Pixies and Nirvana
and more, his version of the Chumberwoman narrative is by
now familiar. They were an awesome underground what's the word again,
gal anarchist, anarchist squatterbuk band who sold out and became
a one hit wonder. They were then quickly tossed away
by the record company to make rown for the next
big thing. Another band came down the conveyor belt thinking
they were going to it differently, And we're exploited and
used as well, and so on like this. Bands and
careers are made and broken, destined for the landfill, and
that's pretty much how it goes.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 8: Where can I get online for that? That would be
fine with me. One hit?
Speaker 7: Yeah right, I'm good. We're still talking about all those
people that have one hit. They're still in our playlist,
you know. Anyway, Let's play this song. It's called Celebration Laura.
Speaker 3: The good folks pull together.
Speaker 5: It's July on forever.
Speaker 18: Down inside Ebration, Florida. The neighbors bring you coffee and
everyone's always happy. Down inside Ebration, Florida.
Speaker 5: The laser bakes.
Speaker 2: At the schoolhouse and.
Speaker 5: The selling in ourserts by keeping out the Devians to
protect the residence.
Speaker 3: Of Side Libration.
Speaker 2: Sidlebration Clarida.
Speaker 16: The buying up nostalgia for a time, May God remember
down inside Ebration Florida.
Speaker 3: The sharing homemade conscience.
Speaker 16: Even the dogs get facelifts.
Speaker 18: Down inside Ebration Glorida.
Speaker 5: Who laser bakes set at the schoolhouse and they're selling
in ours.
Speaker 2: By keeping out.
Speaker 5: The Debiens to protect the residence of.
Speaker 2: Side Libration sid Libration Florida.
Speaker 16: Rest Nation, fighting Nation ras kids with mild nutrition.
Speaker 5: But not inside Ebration Florida. Social engineering.
Speaker 16: It gives you that fuzzy feeling down inside Elbration Florida.
Speaker 5: The Lesa Bay said at the schoolhouse, and they're selling.
Speaker 7: In ours.
Speaker 5: Becky ding out the devias to protect Abrationlebration, Solebration, Solebration,
Silebration Fvlida.
Speaker 7: Oh I do hope you caught the line about even
the dog dogs baseline.
Speaker 1: That was hilarious.
Speaker 7: So about let's talk about Celebration Florida. It's a real
town and it's called Disney's Town of Celebration in its
early days in an It is an MPC or Master
Planned Community. It's in Acola County, Florida, and it's a
suburb of Orlando near Walt Disney World. This I'm fascinated
with this place. In the beginning, Walt Disney acquired over
twenty seven thousand thousand acres through dummy Corporations on the
DL to expand on his Disneyland dreams. EPCOT was originally
conceived as a utopian city of the future by Walt
Disney in the nineteen sixties. The concept was an acronym
for Experimental Prototype com Community of Tomorrow, incorporating new ideas
and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative
centers of American history industry. I'm like not doing well
with my words tonight. It will be a community of
tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be
introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and new systems,
and EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world
of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise. According
to Walt, the original vision, sometimes called Progress City, would
have been home to twenty thousand residents and would be
a living laboratory showcase showcasing cutting edge technology and urban planning.
It was built in the shape of a circle, with
an urban city center with community buildings, schools, and recreational complexes.
It would be surrounded by rings of residential areas and
industrial areas, all connected by monorail and people movers. I
had to look up. That's elevated monorails.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's like the open four seater one right.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above ground.
Whalt Disney was not able to obtain funding and permission
to start work on this Florida property until he agreed
to first build the Magic Kingdom theme park. He died
in nineteen ninety six No No. Nearly five years before
Magic Kingdom opened. After Walt Disney's death, the company decided
did not want to be in the business of running
a city without Walt's guidance. But the town was constructed
in three years. Builders were brought in that worked cheap
and fast, and because of that, there were problems with
many of the homes, and there are lawsuits concerning outlets
that didn't work, moldy walls, shoddy roofs, and balconies separating
from the buildings.
Speaker 6: Ooh, that's just a ride utopia. It's called the balcony.
Speaker 7: Walt Disney was an advocate of diversity, although many people
still dispute that, and.
Speaker 6: Yes, he loved ten dollar bills and twenty dollars bills.
He loved those diversities.
Speaker 7: He wanted to ensure that people of all income levels
could live there. There were beautiful There are beautiful Southern
style houses built as well as apartments, all in very
close proximity to each other. To encourage people getting along
and chatting with their neighbors, the Disney Corporation advertised in
magazines and newspapers that targeted Hispanic and people of color.
Brochures were printed that shows showed racial minorities, and African
American workers were hired for the sales office. In nineteen
ninety four, a lottery was used to choose the owners
of the first three hundred and fifty houses and one
hundred and twenty three apartments to prevent racial discrimination. However,
the community's racial makeup in twenty twenty was eighty eight
percent white. The median age is thirty seven, which is
younger than I expected. Celebration was designed to be walkable, compact,
and vibrant. The town was designed to recapture the idea
of a traditional American town. The town was described I
designed to be esthetically nostalgic but innovative. The town was
planned to be picture perfect but not exclusionary. As of
twenty twenty, population was eleven thousand and one seventy eight.
The town is still going strong, although it does not
have underground parking.
Speaker 6: Or trams or good balconies.
Speaker 7: Apparently, the Style committee is very strict and very strong.
They come around and tell you when to paint your mailbox,
or that you cannot paint your door a certain color,
and they bring paint chips, or that you can't remove
the wooden picket fence around your yard because it fits
in with the original style, even though the upkeep is
very time consuming. I watched the documentary The Bubble on
the subject and many YouTube videos, and I find this fascinating.
It is so Truman show and people go there as tourists,
which is wild to me. It's like they're going to
look at the people in their quote unquote natural environment.
One woman said a group knocked on her door and
stared when she opened it, as if she wasn't a
real person. Many people love the community, many people don't.
People who grew up there tend to leave. Another name
for the area is the Villages, which I was failure with.
Speaker 12: Ye.
Speaker 10: I have a friend that I've known since kindergarten that
lives in the Villages, and I goof on him about
it all the time because of the reputation for shall
we say, promiscuous seniors.
Speaker 7: Yes, well there's that too, at least there's rumors of
that not documented. So, by the way, do you think
it's a conservative or liberal town.
Speaker 6: Well, as soon as you said the Villages, that's ultra red,
isn't it.
Speaker 10: Oh that's the case. If that's the case, then my
friend does not fit in there at all.
Speaker 8: I'm still stuck on the promiscuous seniors work for Where
do I send my.
Speaker 7: At I think it's called the seven oh four club
or something like that.
Speaker 6: That was Archie Bunker's house number. Oh perfect, I wonder
if that has something to do with it.
Speaker 7: Maybe. So no one for red, one for blue. It
is extremely conservative.
Speaker 10: Really, that surprises me.
Speaker 6: Do I get a prize?
Speaker 7: Yes, I'm working on it all right, thank you.
Speaker 8: Yeah. Do they sell tickets to these people that I
mean and stare at them as they walk around?
Speaker 7: It's a town. It's like it's like if people came
into Nayaka's as well. I guess they do right now.
They kind of a bad example.
Speaker 6: Yeah. But do they knock on doors and stare at people?
Speaker 12: No.
Speaker 7: This woman said that that people came up and had
her there a wedding on her porch. She like, what
the heck? Didn't know that.
Speaker 6: I hope it wasn't under a balcony.
Speaker 7: Oh, I love it. I think it's so weird. I
love that they sang a song about it.
Speaker 6: Yes, that is funny. I didn't know celebration in the
villages were the same. I've heard I've heard about like
a big thing, like everybody has a golf cart, Right,
isn't that a thing? Everybody has a golf cart to
get around?
Speaker 7: Everybody walks? Really, it seems like, at least in the
documentary and other YouTube videos. Yeah, I'm not one hundred
percent sure on that, but it's so libration is one.
Speaker 6: Part of it, and then there's other, and then there's
the village, like the villages you've here went with all
the politics going on. Yeah, I'm not picking a side
for the during the show. I'll do that before and after.
But you hear about the villages and the rallies going
on at the villages and on. But I didn't realize
it was the same.
Speaker 10: Oh my god.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 7: I mean there's a lot more, but there'll be another
time to talk about that, okay.
Speaker 6: And and did they cover how Walt used to have
the cigarettes retouched out of his hands for all the
publicity photos.
Speaker 10: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 6: He was a constant smoker. So if you look at
old pictures of Walt Disney, he's got his fingers held
like he was holding a cigarette, but there's no cigarette
because he had it retouched out.
Speaker 8: No photoshop, well pre photo than Disney to you know,
do the photo shopping.
Speaker 7: Right, yeah, come on with that all illusion right.
Speaker 6: The whole thing. And if you want to park your
car underground, just wait. There'll be a sinkhole coming along
any minute.
Speaker 7: So when the balconies start to fall, that could.
Speaker 1: Be another song.
Speaker 6: Pretty soon that balcony is going to be the first floor,
so then write a song about that. Yeah, all right,
that was a good one. I learned a lot which
is kind of disturbing. So that was and I did
not expect that style from Chumbawamba.
Speaker 8: That was.
Speaker 6: That was like Peter Paul and Mary Ish kind of
you know. So that was good. That was a good surprise. Awesome,
all right, thank you, and I cannot wait to hear
what Barbara has.
Speaker 13: For us, most assuredly will tell you that you can.
All right, don't hate me, okay. I was looking all
over for a Florida song. I decided to maybe focus
on cities, and I came across this Florida theme song.
It's called Tallahassee tremendous song. It's by a guy called
Matt Farley. He was born June third, nineteen seventy eight.
He's an American musician. Podcaster, author and filmmaker. He has
released over twenty five thousand songs, but you probably have
never heard of him. For his recordings, he uses many pseudonyms,
including I'm only gonna name some because some of them
were just like two bad taste for me to even mention,
including the Toilet bowl Cleaners, Papa Papa Rozzi and the Photogs,
and the Hungry Food Band, which I have featured on
Shaving Cream. For Tonight's Florida theme show, I have chosen
a song called Tallahassee tremendous song and it can be
found on the twenty twenty one album The Florida City
town Songs. Indeed, and the pseudonym he used this album
is the guy who sings songs about cities and towns.
Speaker 10: Okay.
Speaker 13: While at college, Farley joined the band mose Haven with
his friend Tom Salzo and attempted to record one album
per day every day for a year.
Speaker 7: One album yes yes, yes, yes, yeah so such high quality?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah, probably some drugs to.
Speaker 13: He left CDs in public places and gave rids to
the airport so he could get people to listen to
the band's music. Talk about active audience.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 13: He also had a full time day job at a
group home. In two thousand and four, he began to
upload his music to the site CD baby, an online
distributor of independent music, and later discovered that his comical
music was getting way more downloads than the rest of
his music.
Speaker 7: He later, so we had I'm sorry, so he had
straight music, Like, I.
Speaker 13: Didn't even touch upon his straight music because this stuff
was just so out there. It was a big old
rabbit hole, and there was just album after album after album,
and there was just so much stuff. He later uploaded
mose Haven's entire catalog to Spotify and iTunes, and by
twenty fifteen, he was recording over two hundred songs a month,
totaling over sixteen thousand songs, including a ninety two song
album about office supplies.
Speaker 8: Who has the spare time to?
Speaker 7: Apparently he did.
Speaker 1: Wait did you say it had ninety two songs?
Speaker 6: I did?
Speaker 7: Who is time to listen to that?
Speaker 1: Never mind write it?
Speaker 8: And it.
Speaker 6: Driver? That's about it.
Speaker 13: Yeah, in well, like I did read something that he
worked full time, but he didn't work every day of
the week, so he would work like maybe three days
a week and cram all his hours. His full time
hours and then on his days off is when he
did all this, And actually, in twenty seventeen he did
quit his day job. And his music is characteristic of
vocals accompanied by piano, and many of his albums often
include up to one hundred songs. Uh so, Now to
illustrate that quality is better than quantity, here is Matt Farley,
the guy who sings songs about cities and towns.
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, it is the capital city of Flower US.
Oh yeah, Tella has Seen. What a wonderfuck community home
to Florida State University. Tell I has is a wonderfu community.
I love to go downtown and look at all the
big buildings. I just love everything.
Speaker 7: About tallahass To, Florida.
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, Talla has They got all the government representatives working.
Speaker 2: Hard for all the people.
Speaker 6: Love flow.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 11: Tallahassee is a wonderful community.
Speaker 2: I love to go.
Speaker 11: Downtown and look at the building. Oh yeah, they got
lots of creating neighborhoods. Let's go to French Town, Let's
have a good time. Let's go to Myers Park. Also,
let's go to Southwood, Let's go to Woodland Drives. Those
are ound neighborhoods in Tellahassee, Florida, a wonderful all American community. Yeah, Tallahassee,
what a nice, wonderful place.
Speaker 7: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 9: Wow.
Speaker 6: And now we know how he's able to churn out
so much material.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 8: I can't believe he hasn't won a Grammy or something
like that.
Speaker 12: I know.
Speaker 7: So I want to hear all his other songs about
Oh yeah, the other town.
Speaker 13: He's on Apple Music. Yeah, yeah, I got my uh,
I got my ten ninety nine months worth this month,
I'll tell you.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 13: Fortunately for us, most of farley songs are only about
a minute and a half. Unsurprisingly, Farley has not visited
most of the places about which he sings, which is
evident in the generalized lyrics about facts he finds on Wikipedia.
And I wanted to mention, just in case you guys
want to just dive down this rabbit hole that Farley
also has an album about New York State called New
York State, Nice Place, New York Song Yes, which was
released in twenty thirteen, which includes a few songs about
Rockland County, the home of Hudson.
Speaker 7: River Radio dots, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 13: And these include the Ramapos song what a good town
that rama po look at all the buildings, quite possibly
the best song ever written about Clarkstown, New York. Then
there's one simply called Orangetown, New York. There's another one
called time for a Song about Harristaw, New York, Oh
my gosh, and another one called Spring Valley is a
nice New York village.
Speaker 1: Indeed, yes, Point, Stony Point and Tonguin's Cove got left
out way.
Speaker 13: As usual, Like I guess I'll have to send him
a little message on Facebook and no.
Speaker 7: No, we're good, tell him we need a new theme
song for this show.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 13: So, so this was me picking a song, like listening
to every single song that I could find about every
city in Florida and trying to decide which one was
the least objection.
Speaker 8: You deserve an award just for that, you know.
Speaker 13: Yeah, and yes, I think I was quite feverish when
I actually did pick this.
Speaker 8: Well, if you weren't, you were afterwards.
Speaker 6: I think you were going to pick this no matter what.
Speaker 7: It sounds like.
Speaker 13: Barbara, Yeah, all right, yeah, but there you have it,
Tallahassee tremendous song.
Speaker 7: All right, good pick.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think we've earned a break after that.
Speaker 13: Do you guys hate me?
Speaker 12: No?
Speaker 7: I thought that was there was a lot of giggles.
Speaker 6: I have to say he made just the right length
because those kinds of songs can tend to repeat. And
we come six minute. You know that was on say
your message and get off. That would have been a
good short song too.
Speaker 7: So far we've kind of trashed Florida pretty well. No,
I mean, as if there were any other thing.
Speaker 8: You could do with mm hmm, I've got visions of
palm trees dancing in my head.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm going to point out that we're not trashing Florida.
We have picked songs that have trashed Florida. Yes, if
you go to look up songs about Florida, that seems
to be the common thread, not our faults.
Speaker 8: Right, So we don't have to trash Florida.
Speaker 6: John exactly exactly. So we're gonna take a break and
give you a chance to go around and check out
all the buildings, and we're going to be back with
two more right after this.
Speaker 2: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 6: Letgendriverradio dot com and two more Florida songs to go.
So we're up to Jess.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I can promise you that no one, including
the artists or any of us or any of our listeners,
have ever been to this place that my song is about,
because it's actually a fictional place. So this is a
song that does not trash Florida. In fact, it kind
of idealizes it and makes it seem like very romantic
and peaceful and relaxing. But there is so much to
unpack about this song. So I had a ton of
fun doing this. So this is where everyone gets to
make fun of me. Sorry, Neil uh. The song is
Kokomo by the American rock band the Beach Boys.
Speaker 10: That song used to follow me. That song used to
follow me all over the place when it was when
it came out.
Speaker 1: Well, it was an extremely popular song. And I'll get there, Neil,
did you have something.
Speaker 8: Well, you know, as if on a previous episode of
Rock and Roll History Show, I told you about my
experiences with the Beach Boys and they were all very good,
So I have no problem with this.
Speaker 7: It's not the Beach Boys. It's the song well okay, okay,
and the era.
Speaker 1: And the era because most of the Beach Boys stuff
was much earlier. This song was released as a single
in July of nineteen eighty eight on Electra Records. It
hit number one in the US and Australia. It was
later released in nineteen eighty nine on their album Still Cruising.
The song was written by John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike
Love and Terry Melker. Am I saying that right, Guyscher.
The band members who were on the song were Al Jardine,
Bruce Johnston, Mike Love and Carl Wilson. Well, we'll get
to the missing member later on. The verse was basically
written by John Phillips and John McKenzie on a demo
and then Mike Love later added the chorus. The song
was produced by Terry Melcher, created by overdubbing parts onto
the demo, so Brian Wilson was not on the recording.
The reason for that really depends on who you ask.
I read a whole bunch of different things as far
as to what that was. What Brian wrote in his
memoirs differs from what his manager said was actually the
case at the time, and then the other band members
said that it was because of his manager, who was
his therapist turned manager, and then that person was kind
of controlling what he was doing at the time, so
again all depends on which which version of the story
you read. They did later record a Spanish language version
of the song that did include Brian Wilson, so of course, Oh,
let's let's talk about the relation to Florida. So this
island is entirely fictional. It is a fictional, utopian island
that exists off the Florida Keys. The song does also
reference several real Caribbean islands, including Aruba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Martinique,
and Monster Rat. So those are all real islands. But
Kocomo is not actually an island off the Florida Keys.
It is a city in like three different states, one
of which is Indiana. So but but not a place
off the Florida Keys. So let's go ahead and listen
to it, and then then we'll get into all the
fun stuff.
Speaker 9: Jamaica, Jaja that Bama, come bad, Mamago, pantego, Babe, WeGo
of the blood.
Speaker 19: There's a place called Coo Como, so that's where.
Speaker 2: You wanna go to get away from the bodies. In
the same drama coats, nothing in your head will be bothering.
Tomba steel room.
Speaker 9: Done Cocon Jamaica, Foo, Amma, Jangama.
Speaker 2: Dranma, Brandy, Mama, you are.
Speaker 9: Montego while we go down the Coco.
Speaker 2: We'll get away fast and make it so that's where you.
Speaker 9: Way out go aboard to make the Montserrat Steve.
Speaker 7: You have to see.
Speaker 2: Will perfect dark Chema street by and bye, will defy
the little gravity, afternoon.
Speaker 19: Cocktails, that dream of gad give me a drunk bical contact.
Speaker 2: Way down cool art, Jamaica food.
Speaker 5: I want to take Aimia Bahama, Comma bread and Mama, you.
Speaker 2: Are going contigo media, have a go go get very
fast and then will take a song. That's wh world
wa got to go go.
Speaker 19: Hold friends, I want to catch a glimpse. Everybody knows
a little place like go go.
Speaker 2: Now if you wanna go in a weaken go down
the coat and to make up. I want to take
up from I'm gone. I'm ready in my back Matigo pay.
Speaker 1: So, of course you can't talk about this song without
talking about the fact that it was included on the
soundtrack for the movie Cocktail. Both the song and the
movie had terrible, terrible critical reception, and we were kind of,
you know, talking about the movie a little bit amongst
ourselves now I saw it, not in nineteen eighty eight,
because it would not have been appropriate for me to
see it at the time, but I did see it
a little bit later on, and of course, you know,
when you're in the teenage phase and it's Tom Cruise, like,
you know, you get all soony. But in preparation for
this episode, I read the description of the plot, which
is I think like eight paragraphs, and the more you read,
the more you're like, oh my god, this is ridiculous
when you, you know, try try to follow.
Speaker 10: This plot.
Speaker 6: Never passed the commercials when it came out, just the
commercials were so stupid that I'm like, I don't want
to watch a guy flip bottles in a movie.
Speaker 1: No, Well, that that was added later that I liked,
So I guess the movie was actually based on a
sort of like semi auto biographical screenplay that was written.
I believe the author's name was Gould, and he kind
of like made the characters by rolling a whole bunch
of people into one sort of. So he was a
bartender and met all of these different people and all
of these different bartenders and and wrote this this screenplay
kind of combining these characters and I think the you know,
the a lot of revisions made to the script to
be audience pleasing over time. So what we have is
the final product in the movie was not you know
how the original screenplay was written, which Gould was criticized for.
But he's like, hey, it was you know, it was
a hit movie. So he doesn't feel that bad about,
you know, kind of allowing it to change and edit
over time. But I have to read some of these
comments because it was it was too much to take notes.
Speaker 7: But I like one of these.
Speaker 1: I mean, there were so many negative comments about the
critical receptions of this song. Jimmy Gutterman of Rolling Stone
wrote that the song sets the pattern for the new
passion free songs on Still Cruising. It was called a
joyless ditty. The one I wanted to read, let's see
here we Go was okay. Tom Breehand of Stereogum wrote,
people hate Kokomo. The Beach Boys improbable late career hit
has a reputation as a monument to mediocrity.
Speaker 7: To this day.
Speaker 1: It serves as a textbook cautionary tale of a once
beloved group poisoning its own legacy and goodwill by making
smarmy eighties yuppie pablem. I don't even know what that means.
Speaker 7: It's baby boy, but it's like it's like the Pinata.
Speaker 1: Song, but people love it.
Speaker 8: It's boys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so despite the uh, the negative reception. So
this is talking more specifically about the movie right now.
It it was nominated for Oh I'm sorry no that.
The song was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. It
did lose both, but it was nominated for both Best
Original Song and Best Song Written Specifically for a Movie
or TV. And I couldn't find out more about like
the genesis of you know that it being written specifically
for the movie.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 1: The movie was on Buenavista Pictures or their adult label
Touchstone Pictures. It was released on July twenty ninth, nineteen
eighty eight. The top stars were Tom Cruise and Elizabeth Shoe.
The movie won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture
and Worst Screenplay.
Speaker 10: All right nice.
Speaker 1: However, however, it was the eighth highest grossing movie of
the It made one hundred and seventy million dollars and
had a budget of only twenty million.
Speaker 6: Wow, it just goes to show you so and it
goes to show you this is what happened before Netflix
and Hulu and Internet and options.
Speaker 1: The Tom Cruise was nominated for Worst Actor and the
director was nominated for Worst Director.
Speaker 7: But I love the Razzies. I'm a voting Razzie member, voting.
Speaker 6: Can you retroactively add one to this?
Speaker 1: But what's funny is that in that year, in nineteen
eighty eight, rain Man won Best Picture, Oscar and Cocktail
won the Worst Picture, and Tom Cruise is the only
actor to have both of those in the same year.
So it's just I thought it was hilarious. The song
was also performed on episode six, season two of Full
House John Stamos, the band had a relationship with He
actually starred in their music video, which was also highly criticized,
and the song was on The Muppets Beach Party in
nineteen ninety three. For that particular show, they changed the
lyrics from Tropical Contact High to Tropical Island Sky to
make it more family.
Speaker 7: Friend I did. I didn't even know it said Contact High.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you listen to the lyrics, it's it's in ye.
Speaker 10: But yeah, just so so int sting.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: There are even articles like why is this song so
controversial and reading about it, it really wasn't that it
was controversial. It's just that some people really didn't like it.
And you know, one of the one of the I
believe was the drummer just attributed that to how syrapy
it was. And it also, you know, there were a
lot of references to this whole like Mike Love versus
Brian Wilson kind of thing, so that a lot of
fans didn't like it or were against it because you know,
Mike Love was on it and Brian Wilson wasn't. So whatever,
syrapey eighties romantic, I think very Florida vibes makes you
think about you know, get there fast and then take
it slow. I can see those palm trees you were
talking about before in the ocean waves. These are the
things I like about Florida. We're not talking about the
things I don't like about it right now, and I
do think that this song brings those things to mind,
even if it is syrupy and kind of eighties cheese.
Speaker 6: All right, I would like to make a motion that
we have a cocomo jar, and anytime anybody brings a
cocomo you got to put a dollar in.
Speaker 18: From now on.
Speaker 7: That if anybody brings in a cocomo levels song, they
have to put a dollar in five.
Speaker 6: Okay, I'm good. We'll have to vote as a collective
body and see, all right, so we'll call that. We'll
call that the the cocomo. I move for a cocomo.
What's the word? I'm looking for, some political something. I'm
bringing the motion to cocomo to the floor, and then
we'll have to I.
Speaker 8: Was going to say, we could we've found that like
the yardstick by which all other bad songs are measured. Yeah, well,
at least it's not as bad as cocomo.
Speaker 6: Okay, not like you know what I mean?
Speaker 10: Right, So we'll just that's not even a political reference, Brian,
it's just Robert's rules.
Speaker 6: Of That's what I'm saying. That's what I was trying
to get at that, you know, make a motion to
call for a cocomo vote.
Speaker 7: So I'm going to do the pinacle out of song.
Speaker 6: Next.
Speaker 7: Next, bring your.
Speaker 8: Fiver the cocoa meter from one to ten, you know,
ten being that it's you know, the worse and.
Speaker 6: Okay, yeah, we'll have to discuss this after the show.
Speaker 8: How we're co com all.
Speaker 7: Right, you're the logistics.
Speaker 6: I'm liking it. I'm liking it, all right, You're done, right, Jess?
Please Yeah, my choice, like Jess's, does not bash Florida.
This is one of the two that does not bash Florida.
It's a band that I don't think we've talked about
at all in all these years. Molly Hatchett. I don't
think we've ever talked about Mally Hatchett. All right, so
here we go. Molly Hatchett a prime example of Southern rock.
The band was put together in nineteen seventy one by
David lou Bec hl U B E K and I
hope I'm saying that right, who was born in Jacksonville, Florida,
in nineteen fifty one. He wrote most of their songs
and was the lead singer and lead guitarist. The roster
of the band has changed a lot over the years,
early on, mostly because of what we would politely call
rock and roll excess, which may or may not have
included free samples at bush Gardens.
Speaker 8: The guy behind me was an ex member.
Speaker 6: Would not surprise me. David himself admitted he had to
leave the band in nineteen eighty seven due to a
massive cocaine problem, his words massive. He continued to actually
work with other groups. He continued playing. He was able
to get clean, and he rejoined the band in two
thousand and five. He died in twenty seventeen from a
heart attack, which is what happens after a massive cocaine problem.
The two can very well be tied together. Now is
still touring with longtime members, but none of them are
from the original lineup, but they've all been around a
long time. They used to do two hundred and fifty
dates per year, which is a full time job with
no vacation days. They're doing fewer dates now as everybody
gets older, but they're still out there and they're still active.
They're still touring. David told the story of how they
got the name of the band. They started playing out
in the early seventies and in the Jacksonville area they
had about a dozen rock clubs where bands could find
steady work. You could actually make a living doing this.
You would play the circuit and then start all over again.
Crabby bands who bombed at these at the venues would
just change their names and then try to get rebooked
and hope that the manager did not realize that it
was the same band coming back around again. These guys
were doing the same thing, but they were actually doing
really well and started to get a following, But they
kept changing the name, so people did no it was
them necessarily the right so they realized that they needed
to come up with a steady name. So the story
supposedly goes that everybody in the band, six guys all
put in three names into a hat and it's Florida,
so it was a John Deere hat, and they started
picking the names out of the hat, and he said
that Molly Hatchett was the last one left in the hat,
which to me makes no sense. You would think it
would be the first one, right, So unless they were voting,
or unless they said it was going to be the
last one, I don't know. But for some reason, supposedly
Molly Hatchett was the last name left in the John
Deere hat, so they started using that name, and as
you can imagine, for a while people showed up expecting
a female singer named Molly Hatchett and were surprised when
there was no female at all. There's not a lot
of reliable information on the real Molly Hatchett. If there
was one. The story goes that her real name was
Abigail and that she was a prostitute either during the
seventeen hundreds or in the mid eighteen hundreds during the
Civil War, which right there makes the story kind of
fall apart. She got the name the nickname of Hatchet
Molly because she would behead her clients, presumably after the
transaction was complete or else that would be the worst
business model that you could completely come up with.
Speaker 10: I think.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So supposedly the nickname was Hatchet Molly and then
it went into the hat as Molly Hatchet. Southern rock
is a loose term for a category of rock music
that falls under Americana. It's a combination of heavy rock beats,
some country style licks, blues chord changes. There's a focus
on those guitar riffs and strong vocals with lyrics that
focus on the Southern United States. So the a one
example would the Almond Brothers, you have Leonard Skinner, Janis
Choplin falls under the umbrella. Creeden's Clearwater Revival kind of
falls under that Southern rock as well, even though they're
from California. They have a lot of songs about the South.
Later on Zzy Top Ceezy Top falls under a Southern
rock style. The lyrics for the song We're Gonna Listen
to Gator Country they were written by the original bassist
Banner Thomas. It's a tongue in cheek, jab and all
the other Southern rock bands who were singing about their
own states. So they go down the list. They knock
Leonard skinnerd with Sweet Home Alabama. They knocked Charlie Daniels
The Devil went down to well, the song is Georgia.
That was not the answer I was expecting. But they
don't even knock Georgia because Charlie Daniels lived in Tennessee.
So they knocked Tennessee because of Charlie Daniels. Dicky Betts
of the Allman Brothers was from Macon, Georgia, the Marshall
Tucker Band from South Carolina, and a few others. So
they just went down the list. They were all friends.
It was all tony cheek. There were no hard feelings
or anything along those lines. So let's check out Gator
Country by Molly hatch It.
Speaker 20: Scanner Sands a faschange the Man the Man, when I'm
going Man to the Gators Factry.
Speaker 2: And give me some albo. Start the mo.
Speaker 20: No searching for my snot they can't take a niggas
moves the Outlaws down and champs tails. Amount of fact
less mean the guy mean rest guys trying to be
show looks good to me.
Speaker 2: And that was she So name you better make a bullets.
Speaker 6: Coach, John, I would say, a good example of selling.
And I think it's funny poking fun at everybody else.
So yeah, I had a gator experience. We were talking
about gators while it was playing too, and I had
my own gator experience. It was in Mississippi, but it
was I was out for a bike ride and through
a Causeway International Park and there were signs that said
do not feed the alligators. And I'm like, yeah, that's
pretty funny. And then I was like, wait a minute,
I don't think it was meant to be funny. And
then you look on either side of you and yeah,
there's gators all the way down, just sitting on the side. Yeah,
them on a bike and they were probably four foot long,
but when there's no barrier, they're eighteen feet long and
ready to grab you.
Speaker 7: I had a dream the other night that one crawled
into bed with me and put his head on my
shoulder and fell asleep.
Speaker 1: Oh I was okay, I bet dream analysts.
Speaker 10: Yeah, so scared.
Speaker 8: Wow, you know I just read a thing too that
I mean, this was the old you know, the old
urban legend about you know, people in New York City
and they had like pet alligators and they would like
flush him down the down the toilet and then they
you know, grow And I read it and there you
know that they're maybe it was like the onion or something,
so I don't know, but you know, and so they're
using them. They're doing it so they can eat all
the rats. So the alligators and that the alligator problem
is a lot less dangerous than the rats.
Speaker 7: So maybe we have one of those alligators at the
city Reliquary where I work, the little museum that I work.
He's stuffed and he's on our ceiling.
Speaker 13: Was the nightmare there you go?
Speaker 7: I know that was.
Speaker 10: That was.
Speaker 7: I haven't seen him in a while, like months.
Speaker 10: I think that's going to give me a nightmare.
Speaker 7: It's Florida. It's giving me nightmares.
Speaker 8: When I was down there, I did see one, but
it was in kind of a kind of enclosed area.
Wasn't It was actually on on on the grounds of
a hospital, like a VA hospital, and they had a
little man made pond for him. This guy was big.
I was at I was at a very safe distance,
and I was like, it was big, like and it's
just kind of sitting near and like, and people are
okay with this.
Speaker 7: No, we are not okay with this. Yeah, you don't
know this. Down that way, there's a pond or a
man made lake or something in the middle of celebration
Florida and they have alligators in them. Just I am
terrified of alligators.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I can understand that because they have the ultimate camouflage.
Speaker 7: Well, and they're fast as hell.
Speaker 10: And they do the death roll.
Speaker 6: Yeah, make you coca yourself.
Speaker 7: I did hold a baby one though.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 6: All right, is that enough Florida for one night? Gosh, yeah,
I think we're good. All right, let's pull the plug
on this. Excellent selections across the board. I love it.
Two thirds trash in Florida, one third not so much,
one of the one third being fake, being fictional. So
that's what it took to not bash Florida. I guess
what can I say? All Right, thank you all for
joining us. Here for the rock and Roll History Show.
Don't forget to subscribe in your favorite podcast app and
check out all the other shows we do here at
Hudson River Radio. There is something for everybody. We're gonna
be back next week with a whole other, brand new
episode that I think is already in the works, so
hopefully you'll join us until then, have a great weekend
and peace out, everybody, come a.
Speaker 3: Rock cop bottomed drum.
Speaker 5: Okay, Bye bye.
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