Combo Kings... I know pretty much nothing about this band. There was a band known as "The Combo Kings," or "Pervis Herder and The Combo Kings" in the early 1960s that put out a couple of singles. I think this is the same band. Honestly, I don't know. But in 1966, the single we'll be listening to today was released. It's "Do the Slow Fizz" by Combo Kings, with the b-side "Batman A Go Go." Both tracks are danceable, funky slabs of Philly Soul. Slow Fizz is the superior track, but Batman A Go Go has that Batman novelty value that makes the record memorable to this day. Let's check them out...
Bat-Music #26 - Seeds of Euphoria - Let's Send Batman to Viet Nam
"Send Batman to Viet Nam" was a popular meme (or whatever the 1960s version of a meme was) in the Vietnam Era, appearing on pins and buttons alongside other images and phrases like the peace symbol, "make love, not war," "draft beer, not students," and "war is not healthy for children and other living things." It became a song in 1967 when the Seeds of Euphoria recorded "Let's Send Batman to Viet Nam." This is a folk song, but it's hard to tell if it is an anti-war protest folk, or just a novelty song trying to cash-in on two subjects looming large in the culture at the time. The same record label released "Conscientious Objector," a song that condemned conscientious objectors and war protestors, so I'm thinking "Let's Send Batman to Viet Nam" might be more of the same. Give it a listen and tell me what you think, is this song pro or anti the Vietnam War?
Bat-Music #25 - The Musical Stylings of Burgess Meredith
In previous installments of Bat-Music, we've looked at the records that Batman stars Adam West, Frank Gorshin, and Burt Ward made to cash in on their new-found Batman fame. Today, we'll be looking at "The Penguin" actor Burgess Meredith's attempt. While he was primarily an actor, Meredith did have a few records under his belt prior to the 1966 Batman TV series. His records tended to feature a combination of singing and spoken word and included such titles as "Songs and Stories of the Gold Rush," "Burgess Meredith Sings Songs From How The West Was Won," and "Burgess Meredith Reads Ray Bradbury."
A Selection of Burgess Meredith's Vinyl Records
Here's "At the Miners' Ball," a track from Songs and Stories of the Gold Rush:
Burgess Meredith - At the Miners' Ball
For his obligatory musical cash-in on the popularity of Batman, Meredith recorded a two-sided single in his persona as The Penguin: "The Capture," and "The Escape." Both tracks feature the same music, with Meredith sing-speaking over the music William Shatner style, spinning a story of the Penguin's Capture by the Batman, and his subsequent escape.
Rocky and the Riddlers released their single "Flash & Crash" in 1966, with "Batman" on the b-side. "Batman" is a irreverent garage rock novelty song, sort of like a low-budget version of "The Monster Mash."
Sample lyrics: "He wears purple bun-huggers and rides a Batmobile, around Gotham City he's a real big wheel. When he's not out fighting crime he can always be seen down in the Batcave reading wrestling magazines."
Beyond the Batman novelty track, however, Rocky and the Riddlers were a brutish group of garage rock proto-punks that hit you int the head like a velvet covered brick.
Rocky and the Riddlers - Batman
Rocky and the Riddlers - You Weren't Using Your Head
Bat-Music #23 - Nelson Riddle - Batman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
In July of 1966, in between seasons 1 and 2 of the Batman television series, 20th Century Fox released the full length Batman motion picture to movie theaters. The movie featured most of the main cast from the TV series, except for Julie Newmar as Catwoman, who was unavailable during filming and was replaced with Lee Meriwether.
The motion picture soundtrack was composed and conducted by Nelson Riddle, who also did the music for the TV series (except for the memorable main Batman TV theme, which was written by Neal Hefti). Many of the same musical cues from the TV show are repeated here, but expanded upon and drawn out. It's not really as fun to listen to as the TV soundtrack, though. The TV soundtrack album's music is shorter and punchier, and has fun dialogue clips from the show worked in to the tracks. But this is still a must-have album for Bat-Music collectors, and it's excellent for playing in the background as you read through a stack of Batman comic books.
Nelson Riddle - Batman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Main Title
Nelson Riddle - Batman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Torpedoes
Bat-Music #22 - Gate Wesley & Band - (Zap! Pow!) Do the Batman
A solid funk groove plays, over which the singer grunts and wails various Batman-related phrases such as "Batman, baby!," "Zap! Pow!," "C'mon Robin!," "Get the Batmobile rollin'!," and "Batman time!" as well as repeatedly asks for some orange juice (I suppose recording a funk track can be some thirsty business). Then again, Batman himself did order orange juice in the nightclub scene in the first episode of Batman, so I suppose it all comes together nicely! So pour yourself a tall glass of O.J. and enjoy this single from 1966, as Gate Wesley & Band "Do the Batman!"
Trumpet player and bandleader Al Hirt is famous for performing the theme song to Batman's sister show Green Hornet, but he also brought his signature trumpet playing to the Batman theme on his 1966 album "The Horn Meets the Hornet." The Horn Meets the Hornet saw Hirt reacting to the success of his Green Hornet theme as a single by releasing a whole album of TV theme songs. In addition to the Green Hornet and Batman, the album also features the themes from Get Smart, The Monkees, Tarzan, and more.
Note: I couldn't find an upload of Al Hirt's Batman theme on YouTube. However, the entire album, featuring the Green Hornet, Batman and more, is on YouTube. The whole thing is worth a listen, and it's only 26 minutes long, so it won't take up much of your time. The Batman Theme begins at 12:03. If you just want to cut to the chase, here's a link https://youtu.be/hNC-0vr1A2o?t=12m3s that begins with Batman.
"The Ballad of Batman" by The Camps is a rarity in that it's a song inspired by the Batman TV show that was released in 1965... one year before the show aired for the first time in 1966.
The story goes that the band's record producer got wind of the show while it was in production, and had the band record "The Ballad of Batman" and its B-side "Batmobile" to submit to the television producers as possible theme songs for the show.
Thankfully the TV show went with Neal Hefti's classic Batman theme instead. Otherwise we'd all be singing "we're behind the wheel, of the Batmobile, it's fun-fun-fun to drive it everyday," instead of "na-na-na-na na-na-na-na Batman," and that just wouldn't be the same.
The Camps, who also went by The Campers, were Sonny Curtis on vocals and guitar and Jerry Allison on drums, although the duo was perhaps better known as members of "The Crickets," yeah those Crickets, as in "Buddy Holly and...," so even though their Batman theme never made it to TV, they still had a pretty decent day job to fall back on. In fact, Jerry Allison played drums with the band for 60 years, from it's inception in the 1950s until earlier this year, when the Crickets played their final gig on February 6th, 2016. . The Camps - The Ballad of Batman
This is one of many albums of instrumentals that was released to cash in 1960s Batmania. it was easy to take a bunch of generic surf rock instros, slap Batman-themed names on them, and claim they were inspired by the show. The Marketts album is a step above most of them, though. They add things like bat sound effects, the Joker's laughter, vocal choruses with character names, and musical cues inspired by the Batman TV theme, so this album really does sound like it was legitimately inspired by the show.
In 1966, the popularity of the Batman TV show had turned Robin actor Burt Ward in to the nation's latest teen idol. Eager to cash in on his stardom, MGM signed Ward to a record deal. The plan was to released two singles, and then a full length album. Then in one of the weirdest pairings in musical history, they hired Frank Zappa to spearhead the project.
"Holy Odd Couple, Batman!" Burt Ward's image as Robin was squeaky-clean, law-abiding, and all-American. Zappa meanwhile was the king of the long haired freaks, about as far removed from wholesome Robin as you can get. I believe this was before the release of Zappa's first album, so the people at MGM probably didn't know quite who it was they had signed to help guide their newest star to the top of the pop charts.
The biggest obstacle preventing Ward from becoming a music star wasn't Zappa writing music that was too weird, though. It was that Burt Ward flat out could not sing. After a few disastrous recordings with Burt singing, followed by a failed stint with a vocal coach, Zappa just had Ward talk over a musical background, William Shatner style.
One single would eventually be released, the Zappa-penned "Boy Wonder, I Love You," in which "Boy Wonder" reads from a weird letter from a fan (actually based on several pieces of fan mail Ward actually received), and a cover of Nat King Cole's "Orange Colored Sky" (a song that was also performed by Adam West). One other song, "Teenage Bill of Rights," as well as several instrumental tracks that Ward had yet to record vocals for, were completed before MGM pulled the plug on the sessions. These other tracks have never officially been released, but they are widely available as bootlegs.
Adam West tackled plenty of tricky foes back in his days as the caped crusader, but none quite like this, where the Batman theme backs up spoken word poetry pitting Batman against birth control pills, LSD, and the Vietnam War. "Batpoem" is off of the 1968 Liverpool Scene album "The Amazing Adventures of the Liverpool Scene."
This is a track from early in the career of The Flaming Lips (like maybe 1983 or 1984?), when they covered this because supposedly it was one of the few songs that they knew how to play.
The Flaming Lips - Batman Theme
Bonus Flaming Lips! While this song is not Batman 1966 related, it was on the soundtrack to "Batman Forever," so there's still a "Bat" connection...
In 1966, Synthetic Plastics released a quintet of 45 RPM singles featuring Batman, Robin, The Joker, The Penguin, and The Batmobile. Each one featured a die-cut cover with comic book style artwork, and contained two songs about their respective characters. They are visually quite striking, and make a great addition to any 1966 Batman collection. All 10 songs were also released on a full length LP called Children's Treasury Of Batman Musical Stories. The song "Look Out for the Batman" uses elements of the Batman TV show theme in it's music, the rest of the songs feature original music.
Bat-Music #14 - The Gotham City Crime Fighters - Who Stole the Batmobile?
Garage rockers The Gotham City Crime Fighters performed dressed up in Batman and Robin costumes and had a minor novelty hit with the 1966 single "Who Stole the Batmobile." The gimmicky nature of the band probably gained them attention at the height of Batmania, but also limited them to 15 minutes of fame when the novelty wore off. Two of the members of the band did go on to success, however, as founding members of the R&B band Tower of Power.
The Gotham City Crime Fighters - Who Stole the Batmobile?
Bat-Music #13 - Tom Hazleton And Gene Ciszek - Mr. Bach Meets Batman
"Explorer - A Totally New Electronic Instrument in Musical Recording" was a demonstration record designed to show off "The Explorer" a musical instrument from Rocky Mount Instruments that seemed to be a hybrid between a traditional electric organ and a Mellotron. This record first came to my attention thanks to WFMU's 365 Days Project. The record is filled with a none-too-exciting collection of instrumental standards and melodies, with one exception; "Mr. Bach Meets Batman," which mashes up Neil Hefti's "Batman Theme" with Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" to spectacular effect.
Tom Hazleton And Gene Ciszek - Mr. Bach Meets Batman
Bat-Music #12 - The Musical Stylings of Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin had a great career on the stage and screen before and after the Batman TV series. He was most well known as a stand-up comedian and impressionist, but was also an actor who appeared in over 100 different roles on film and television. He also appeared on stage on and off Broadway, and even released a few singles as a singer. He was an all-around performer. So, when everyone else was releasing singles to cash-in on Batman's popularity, there was no reason for Gorshin to be left out. His song, "The Riddler," is one of the catchiest and most fun of all the Batman novelty singles. Below is a clip from his appearance on the Dean Martin Show, where he does some of his famous impressions of actors such as Kirk Douglas and Marlon Brando (this time with a Batman twist) before launching into a singing and dancing performance of his song. Watch the whole thing, it's a lot of fun!
The Scaffold were a comedic rock band from Liverpool who are mostly remembered these days because one of their members was Mike McGear (aka Peter Michael McCartney aka Paul McCartney's brother). They wear pretty successful in England during the '60s and '70s, though, and had several hit singles and released a handful of albums. Their second single, released during the height of Batmania in 1966, was "Goodbat Nightman," a wonderfully weird tribute to the Dynamic Duo.
Bat-Music #9 - The Ventures - The Ventures Play the "Batman" Theme
The Ventures Play the "Batman" Theme contains the Ventures' version of the Batman theme song, plus the theme songs to the TV shows The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Danger Man/Secret Agent, and Get Smart. The rest of the album is full of Ventures originals inspired by superheros and secret agents.
The video below is a must-see, if only to check out their weirdo lead singer as he shoves the guitar player out of his way twice when he gets in between him and the camera, employs a series of bizarro dance moves, and inexplicably lip-syncs to the female vocals on the chorus of "Batman." Fun stuff.
Bat-Music #7 - The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale - Batman and Robin
At first glance, "Batman and Robin," by Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale, might seem like yet another quickie cash-in on the Batman phenomena, featuring a cover version of the Batman theme, and a bunch of generic instrumentals that you would never associate with the TV show if it wasn't for Batman inspired titles. And, honestly, that's pretty much what it is. But what makes this album special is the musicians behind it. Never heard of "The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale?" Well, I don't blame you because they weren't a real band, it was just the name the producers slapped on this and other cheaply produced cash-in records to make them seem more legit. But the actual musicians that recorded this in the studio were no less than Sun Ra and His Arkestra and The Blues Project. Which in theory, should make this a good listen. And it does, to some extent. The band is definitely a step above what you would hear on a record like this, and there are a few creative touches here and there. Overall, though, a cheap cash-in record is still a cheap cash-in record, and it doesn't have a lot to offer after the novelty wears off.
Tracklist:
Batman Theme
Batman's Batmorang
Batman And Robin Over The Roofs
The Penguin Chase
Flight Of The Batman
Joker Is Wild
Robin's Theme
Penguin's Umbrella
Batman And Robin Swing
Batmobile Wheels
The Riddler's Retreat
The Bat Cave
The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale - Robin's Theme
