Thursday, July 21, 2005

Bobby Christian with the Allen Sisters: The Spider and the Fly/Cha Cha Hop (Mercury/Wing W-2102x45)


Now if this doesn't make the list of one of the strangest records ever made, I don't know what will. No, I'm not talking about the B-side in which the Allen chicks sing about being tired of rocking and rolling and how the cha-cha is so neat. Well, we all know what happened there, don't we? I mean the out-of-the-ballpark A-side which was no doubt inspired by the then-current sci-fi flick "The Fly" and dishes out the terror in just a little over two minutes. Over a backdrop of jazzy bass fiddle, conga drums and cryptic piano, our narrator intones: "SPIDERS!!......CREEPY!!!....CRAWLY!!!!.....THE FLY!!! (with echo).....THE FLY!!!(with even more echo)....THE FLY IS IN THE SPIDER'S WEB!!!!......" Then, a sped-up voice screams "Help me! Help me!" A few more seconds of this and then a normal woman's voice says "Doctor, you're having a nightmare!....WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM?!?!?" And she joins with the spider in yelling "Help me! Help me! Help me!" as the record fades. The label lists a warning above the title: "Do not listen to this record in the dark or alone!" Taking that advice wouldn't be too bad an idea as this thing's bound to give you a few shakes up the spine. Shall we call it a demented classic? I agree.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the woman's voice came on, the lyrics went:

Darling? Are you having a nightmare? Your arm... your arm is hurting me... GASP! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOUR HEAD??!!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! ... It was really scary, and the bongos were great.

Anonymous said...

I have always remembered Darling? Are you having a nightmare? Your arm... your arm is hurting me... GASP! WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOUR HEAD??!!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! HELP ME!!! I herd this record when i was 8 yrs old i am now 37, i cant believe i found it on the web! i have been looking for years, finally.