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It's always interesting to spot pieces that were not written for Gang Shows but fit very nicely.Stan Frebergs take on Harry Belafonte's 'Day-O' recorded by Freberg in 1957 with interuptions by Peter Lees as the 'Too Hip Bongo Player'.Recorded in nine 'takes' at 'Capitals Hollywood Recording Studios.Freberg's collaborator was Daws Butler who did the voices for Yogi Bear and Huckleberry- Hound.'Capital Records turned down the Harvard 'maths boff' Tom Lehrer saying there was 'no interest in his songs'.Lehrers 'Be Prepared' (the Boy Scouts Marching Song) recorded in one 'take' on his own record label in 1953.The Song lists a number of 'unscoutlike' things a Boy Scout might do.The list is very similar to the Rome list of 2008,although a bit 'old hat' as an almost identical list had appeared in 1943 in 'The American Journal of Psychology'.As Lehrer says"Don't be nervous,don't be flustered,don't be scared" "Be Prepared"!! From a later Collection of 1959 Lehrers 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park' has joined the ranks of Camp Fire favourites.Paddy Roberts the South African Lawyer turned Night Club Entertainer released his Song 'Follow Me' about the mating habits of a 'Wolf Cub and Brownie' as part of a Collection in 1959.A more perverse version was released by Cilla Black in 1965.Likewise Roberts 'Ballad of Bethnal Green'(1959) and 'The Belle of Barking Creek(1960) have joined the ranks of Camp Fire Songs.The cross-over from what was sung outside inside in a Scout Show is somewhat 'skewed' as many folk pieces became 'Performance Material'.Performances of Camp Fire Sing Songs as part of Boy Scout Troop Shows were an easy way to present Songs that both the Scouts and the audience knew.Music Hall and War Time hits;the earlier the Show the higher the expectation.In the 1930's Boy Scouts were expected to have a vast repository of songs and music in their heads.Popular,folk,childrens,school,scout,carol and hymns.There are Scripts for single pieces for 'Troop Shows' and 'Rover Teas' from this period which list over thirty pieces by name alone.The expectation would be that Boy Scouts -as it says in the song "The things that these Boy Scout all know would tickle to death auntie Flo..........Dr.Stu..
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