"In the Good Old Summertime" -- A "Theme Thursday" Musical History Lesson, Boys'n'Girls!

Summertime!

Oh, so many ways to go here, musically! (And I'm in a musical mood, don'tcha know!)

I could embed a video of Mungo Jerry performing "In the Summertime" (Quick! Name two songs by Mungo Jerry!).

I could show one or more versions of "Summertime Blues," performed first by Eddie Cochran, and later by the Beach Boys, the Who, Blue Cheer (a group that put the "acid" in "acid rock"), and many others.

I could include the ever-so-catchy "Summertime, Summertime" by the Jamies. (That's the one that begins, "It's summertime summertime sum sum summertime...")

And... oh, hell... if I weren't the Master of Misdirection, I might consider actually using the ballad whose title I swiped for my post's title!

Gee, did I leave anything out?

Heh.

Of course I did, silly! One of my all-time favorite songs is the George Gershwin "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess." That song's been covered by everyone from Billie Holiday to Sam Cooke to Janis Joplin to [fill in the blank]! Great tune!

Having said all of that... I hereby embed "We Ain't Got Nothing Yet" by the Blues Magoos!

"What?!?" you may be saying. Well, bear with me, fellow babies. And as you watch this clip, notice the young Jon Stewart on lead vocals, and Ben Stiller on bass guitar. (Okay, I'm lying, but if you look at this video, and the one here, you'll see what I mean!)



And now, I want you to pay close attention to this rendition of the aforementioned Gershwin classic, courtesy of Ozzie & Harriet Nelson's little boy Ricky!



You did catch that, right?

It gets better. Or worse. Or something.

Listen to the opening riff -- which continues throughout the song -- of this Joe Walsh classic.



Now pay attention to the guitar lead in the following song's instrumental break!



Amazing that more people don't list Ricky Nelson as an influence, innit?

* * * * *

Now, as a final piece of insanity -- for today, that is -- here's a Ricky Nelson-related post from my old "David'Z RantZ" blog, originally presented on March 3, 2008:

Some Great Childhood Memories

You know, folks, when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, things seemed so much simpler than they are today. Television programs expressed values which were just as "black and white" as the flickering images on the TV screen.

One of my favorite programs was "The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet." And what adventures they were! Harriet Nelson and her second husband, Ozzy Osbourne -- along with their two sons, David and Ricky -- sure got into all sorts of mischief! And Ozzy, of course, was instrumental (no pun intended) in coaxing young Ricky to enter the ranks of the early rock'n'rollers. (By the way, trivia fans, did you know that the real first name of "Ricky" -- later "Rick" -- Nelson was actually Eric? But since Ricky was a product of Harriet's first marriage -- hence the "Nelson" surname -- there's obviously no truth to the oft-repeated rumor that Ozzy named the younger Nelson son after his good friend, Eric Clapton!)

Yep, a ton of giggles, chuckles, and some outright guffaws were prompted by that sitcom, I'll tell ya!

I think my very favorite episode was the Thanksgiving show where Harriet was in the hospital, so poor Ozzy was stuck cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. Ohhh, boy, lots of mayhem ensued, by golly, when Big Daddy Oz brought the cooked turkey to the table and it still had its head... which, of course, Ozzy bit off right before the actual carving. Loads o'laughs, yessiree-Bob!

(Man, I can't wait to see if any of this crap winds up on Wikipedia!)

Thanks for your time.