Live at the Purple Onion
Encyclopedia
The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion, released May 1, 1961 on Mercury Records
, was the first album released by the Smothers Brothers
and established their reputation as folk music satirists. The Purple Onion
is a celebrated comedy and music club in the North Beach area of San Francisco that launched the careers of the Kingston Trio and Phyllis Diller
in addition to the Smothers Brothers. The album's full cover text is: The Songs and Comedy of the Smothers Brothers! Recorded at the Purple Onion, San Francisco, and is Mercury catalog number MG 20611 (monaural), and SR 60611 (stereo). It is sometimes referred to as Live at the Purple Onion.
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, was the first album released by the Smothers Brothers
Smothers Brothers
The Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard , American singers, musicians, comedians and folk heroes. The brothers' trademark act was performing folk songs , which usually led to arguments between the siblings...
and established their reputation as folk music satirists. The Purple Onion
The Purple Onion
The Purple Onion is a celebrated cellar club in the North Beach area of San Francisco, California located at 140 Columbus Avenue...
is a celebrated comedy and music club in the North Beach area of San Francisco that launched the careers of the Kingston Trio and Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
in addition to the Smothers Brothers. The album's full cover text is: The Songs and Comedy of the Smothers Brothers! Recorded at the Purple Onion, San Francisco, and is Mercury catalog number MG 20611 (monaural), and SR 60611 (stereo). It is sometimes referred to as Live at the Purple Onion.
Track listing
All well known songs were rewritten for satiric purposes unless otherwise indicated.- "Pretoria" (4:26) (Original song credit: Josef MaraisJosef MaraisJosef Marais was a popular singer from South Africa.In 1945 he met Rosa de Miranda and they teamed up, performing for more than 30 years as "Marais and Miranda", recording many South African traditional folk ballads and original songs such as Zulu Warrior.-Marais & Miranda:#Josef Marais and his...
) - Made famous by The WeaversThe WeaversThe Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
as "Marching to Pretoria," new lyrics by Tom (e.g., "You sleep with me, I'll sleep with you"). Also includes a discussion by Tom of marching songs, including "The March from The Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
" (to the tune of the "Colonel Bogey MarchColonel Bogey MarchThe "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...
"), whistled in the film due to the lyrics. - "Dance, Boatman, Dance" (5:55) (Tom & Dick Smothers)
- "Down in the Valley" (4:21) (Tom & Dick Smothers)- a duet based on the Smothers' own arrangement.
- "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, TzenaTzena, Tzena, Tzena"Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" is a song, originally written in Hebrew by Issachar Miron , a Polish emigrant to what was then The British Mandate of Palestine but is now Israel, and Jehiel Hagges .-History and development:...
" (2:11) (Original song credit: M. ParishMitchell ParishMitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
(original lyric), I. Miron (Michrovsky) (music), & Julius Grossman) - Another song made popular by The WeaversThe WeaversThe Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
. - "I Wish I Wuz in Peoria" (1:50) (Original song credit: H. Wood, B. Rose & M. Dixon)
- "They Call the Wind MariaThey Call the Wind Maria"They Call the Wind Maria" is an American popular song with lyrics written by Alan J. Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe for their 1951 Broadway musical, Paint Your Wagon, which is set in the California Gold Rush. Rufus Smith originally sang the song on Broadway, and Joseph Leader was the...
" (4:23) (Original song credit: Lerner & Loewe) - showtune from Paint Your Wagon. - "JezebelJezebel (song)"Jezebel" is a 1951 popular song written by Wayne Shanklin. It was recorded by Frankie Laine with the Norman Luboff Choir and Mitch Miller and his orchestra on April 4, 1951 and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39367...
" (5:42) (Original song credit: Wayne ShanklinWayne ShanklinWayne Shanklin was an American music performer, composer, arranger, and producer....
) - The Frankie LaineFrankie LaineFrankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...
hit with the woman renamed "Mary Ann Johnson" - "I Never Will Marry" (2:48) (Fred Brooks) - Performed as a traditional folk song, no satiric rewrite. Recorded again with a comic ending on Think Ethnic!.
- "Tom DooleyTom Dooley (song)"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the...
" (4:47) (Tom & Dick Smothers) - based on the song made famous by the Kingston Trio.