---

:: Com On-A My House ::

:: Tennessee Waltz ::

I accidentally picked these up on Ebay. Now, anyone who knows me knows that me picking up Japanese music is never an accident, but in this case I carelessly didn't realize that these were 78's before I bid, and so of course I won. I have nothing against 78's, even though they often smell like a basement full of old magazines. I just can't play them on my turntable because it don't go that fast, and I don't have the special cartridge. So I have to thank Mike for doing that dirty work for me.

Chances are you've heard Come On-A My House and Tennessee Waltz many times, but you probably haven't heard either of them delivered by an adorable young Japanese girl backed by a jazz band. If IMDB is to be believed, Chiemi Eri was born in 1937 and would have been a teenager when she recorded this 10". She evidently was a big star in post-war Japan, and her recordings of American pop standards were often the first versions people there heard of them. One of her movie titles translates to "Youthful Jazz Daughter," a grouping of words many an indie rock band would kill to have as one of their song titles.



I love this stuff to death. She sings confidently, but still with tons of girlish charm, and the King Orchestra swings magically behind her. As mistake purchases go, this was a pretty damn good one. Sure beats buying American Beauty on CD twice in a year.


Tony

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 5:31 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.