Saturday, May 15, 2010

Bing Day - I Can't Help It



Hello out there in blog land! What's this, something other than a list? Yes, what I'm going to do today is something very different. I'm going to post an actual record for your consideration. I know it seems like a novel idea but I'm going to do it anyway.

Not much info to give you on Mr. Bing Day. What I'll say is that "I Can't Help It" is an outstanding rocker and one of the best records I've found this year. I'll also add that the Mercury label is an entirely underrated source for 1950's era rockers and r&b. There are all sorts of winners that turn up on the imprint. Here is but one example.

6 comments:

michael vee said...

Hi Brian & Todd
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve put some of the tracks kindly posted by you on my latest installment of my '60s (mostly) uncomped'-series (with info, pics & links to the Bloggers in the booklet attached); you’ll find it at http://michaelvee.livejournal.com. Thanks a lot for posting and I hope you’ll enjoy my selection.

Cheers from Milano!

WESTEX said...

Good to see you back... and with a long time favorite of mine. Love this Bing Day track.

Another sleeper on Mercury is Ben Hewitt's "My Search"... get it... you will NOT be disappointed.

Jory said...

I'd be happy to fill in some info for you about Bing Day, as he was a friend of mine.

Bing's real name was Charles "Chuck" Day and he lived in Fairfax, CA, until his death in 2008. "Bing" was his childhood nickname.

Chuck, at the age of 15, told his mother that he wanted to make a record, so she opened the telephone book and called all the local recording studios in their hometown of Chicago. She eventually found one that invited Bing in to record two sides with the band they had in studio at the moment. That recording was called "Ponytail Partner" and was released in 1957 on Federal Records.

"I Can't Help It" was released 2 years later, but I don't know much about its success and never thought to ask Chuck about it.

Chuck had a great career following, where he played bass on tour with The Mamas and the Papas, wrote the main riff for "Secret Agent Man" for Johnny Rivers, and even recorded with Shel Silverstein.

You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

Jory said...

I meant to give you that Wikipedia link!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wayne_%22Chuck%22_Day

Todd Lucas said...

Jory, thanks for all of the great info!

Greenockian said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcpQa3o3U28&feature=related