Friday, January 22, 2010

Forgotten Music -- Nervous Norvus

Back in the ancient days when I was a youth, we all wore gray flannel suits to school, spent most of the day learning to duck and cover, and then went home afterwards to our little houses made of ticky-tacky. It was a drag, man. But now and then something would break through the universal gloom. Mad Magazine. The Catcher in the Rye. And Nervous Norvus.

It may be that hardly anyone remembers him now, but in 1956, every kid in my school could quote the tags from his classic "Transfusion": "Shoot me the juice, Bruce." "Shoot the claret to me, Barrett." And so on. If you're just a little bit older, you may remember the sound of the car crash in Jan and Dean's "Dead Man's Curve." It was lifted from "Transfusion." Have a listen.

And then came "Ape Call." Sort of the era in a song. Things are sliding by in pure pop mode, and then . . . "Ape call!" Check it out.

Life was good.

12 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Wow. Never heard these before. I wonder if it was a southern thing.

George said...

I have a vague recollection of Nervous Norvus (of course, I was seven at the time). You're right, Life Was Good back then.

Richard Robinson said...

This is a new one to me. I can see how "slip me the juice, Bruce" could be a lot of fun in certain circumstances, though. Bill, you picked something more than forgotten, man, this is positively pre-historic. Solid.

Unknown said...

Rick, you're a dirty old man.

George, I was a lot more than seven, but I was just the right age to appreciate Nervous Norvus.

Patti, I think both of those were national Top Ten songs, but you were probably even younger than George.

Evan Lewis said...

Wonderfully sick. Now we know why you turned out the way you did, Bill.

Unknown said...

Hey, I blame the Eisenhower administration for that!

Anonymous said...

Classic!

Solid is right.

Jef

Unknown said...

Too bad old Nervous had only two hits.

Anonymous said...

"Hey Daddy-O, make that type O."

Brilliant.

Jeff

"Transfusion" was a top 10 song in 1956.

Todd Mason said...

I'm almost sorry none of us chose "I Want My Baby Back."

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

That car crash effect must have been part of a standard sound effects library. I've heard the same crash on various OTR programs whenever there's a fender-bender.

James Reasoner said...

I have no memory of these songs at all. They must not have played them on KXOL, the only station I listened to back in those days.