Phonozoic

005—The Wrecked Record: Home and Amateur Disc Recordings, 1939-1957

 

1. Doris Jane -- Fa, Fi, Fi (Children's Nonsense Song), ca. December 1940.

2. Walter is supposed to sing "It Had to Be You" but opts for "Bum on the Stem."

3. Over the Waves Waltz on accordion, with idiosyncratic chord choices.

4. Uncle Joe Donahue Interviews Santa Claus, Christmas 1939, urging him to bring his nephew Woody Carlisle lots of presents.

5. Uncle Joe Donahue Interviews Santa Claus Again, Christmas 1941.  

6.  To My Daughter on Her 2nd Birthday -- 29 Oct. 1954.  A man stationed at Fort Worth won't be able to make it home for the occasion and cuts a record for her instead.

7-10.  A collection of recordings from the era of World War Two, made by a family in Kentucky for "Bud," stationed overseas in Great Britain.  

11.  A young girl performs "Jesus Loves Me" and "Little Miss Muffet" -- with a difference.  Recorded on August 17, 1947.

12-13.  Two recordings made in Arizona in 1957 by visiting relatives from Indiana, including Ted and Warren who are featured performing on ukulele and fiddle.  Track 12 is The Wrecked Record, namesake of the whole compact disc.

14. A Trip to the Moon, as imagined by a group of schoolchildren and their teacher in the mid-1940s (two separate tracks but on one side of the disc).

15-17.  Three recordings made at the D&L Electronics Store in Urbana, Ohio, on the occasion of a visit by Democrat William Rhodes in December 1946.  We hear politics, shop talk, and a "colored fellow down south" joke.

18. New Year's Day 1947 -- two celebrants apply Victor Borge's "phonetic punctuation" to an advertisement for the Kiss Me Necktie.

19.  Christmas greetings for the absent Pete.

20.  The flip-side of the above, a "variety show" put on for Pete's benefit, complete with jokes and singing.

21.  Sigma Chi Song by Bob Rowan.  Desperate efforts to squeeze a second performance onto the disc fail miserably.

22. Pepsi-Cola Record by Howard Miller.  A parody Pepsi-Cola advertisement.

23. New Year's Resolutions for 1941.

24. Walter & Alice put on a "comedy sketch" for their friends, the Millers.

25. A father interviews his ten-year-old son.

26. Personal Property of Patricks.  Flip-side of the above: a man relaxes on the evening of April 15, 1952, by making a record.

  
 

Home —CD catalog ——001—I'm Making You a Record ——002—Under the Double Eagle ——003—Crazy as a Loon ——004—How'd You Like To Spoon With Me? ——005—The Wrecked Record ——201/202—Acoustic Recordings of the Banjo

From homemade interviews with Santa Claus to flubbed nursery rhymes, from New Year's Eve celebrations to schoolchildren speculating about space travel, these are definitely recordings you were never meant to hear!

Home disc recordings from the 1940s and 1950s are fairly common, turning up regularly at antique shops, thrift stores, and library book sales.  Nevertheless, each of these recordings is also unique; taken individually, there are no records rarer than these. 

The discs themselves vary from 6 1/2 to 12 inches in diameter and consist of a core of either stiff paper or metal coated with a thin layer of lacquer or acetate.   

The performances may often seem "amateurish," but labeling them that way misses the point: in most cases who made the recordings -- or even the enjoyment of recording itself -- was considered more important than the technical expertise shown in the finished product.  

Long neglected and often stored under adverse conditions, early home recordings are now beginning to capture attention as a major (if informal) part of America's heritage of recorded sound.  

26 tracks
Total playing time 72:31
$16.00 + shipping

Original content copyright © 2009, Patrick Feaster.