Nervous Norvus

August 26, 2011 6:14 PM

A unique (to say the least) musical voice from the past emerges, with a timely tune to those along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Yes, friends, it's Nervous Norvus, with Evil Hurricane.

And there are many more mellifluous musical messages from the one and only Nervous Norvus for your listening, um, pleasure:

Transfusion
"I'm a real gone paleface and that's no illusion"

The Fang
"Man I'm feelin' just like a newborn colt,
I'm gonna hit these chicks with a Martian jolt
Cause I'm a red hot daddy with a thousand volts"

Ape Call
"Ape call, doodly-ah-bah,
Ape call, doodly-ah-bah,
Ape call, doodly-ah-bah"

Bullfrog Hop
"Bee-beeee, bah-baaaah,
Dum, a-dahbba-doo,
Down in Louisiana in the land of romance
All the Zorch people got a brand new dance"

The Clock Shop
"Tick tock, click click
Ring ring, bong bong"

posted by flapjax at midnite (19 comments total)

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't include this brilliant (...) work from ol' Nervous:

The Wild Dogs of Kentucky.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:17 PM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Hopefully soon we'll all bid Irene goodnight.
posted by Kattullus at 6:33 PM on August 26, 2011

Hopefully soon we'll all bid Irene goodnight.

Hear hear.

And speaking of that song, ever notice how Seeger (and subsequently, many others) changed Leadbelly's "I'll kiss you in my dreams" to "I'll see you in my dreams"?

Here's Leadbelly's.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:59 PM on August 26, 2011

My uncle always used to sing this song:

I hate bugs, any kind of bugs
Every kind of bugs, crazy little bugs.
And I hate worms, any kind of worms
Every kind of worms, crazy little worms.
I like hash, and I like stew, and I like mashed potatoes too.
But I hate bugs, any kind of bugs
Every kind of bugs, crazy little bugs!

We thought he made it up, but he claimed it was by some Nervous Norvus character. I guess he was right.

If you stop by the sheriff's office in Porter County, Indiana, I'm sure he'd still sing it for you (he is the sheriff). Tell him I sent you.
posted by rikschell at 7:00 PM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, Kattulus, check Johnny Cash's version. Sweet! Nice raggedy version here from Van Morrison, who's gonna GET Irene in his dreams!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:28 PM on August 26, 2011

Excellent roundup of "Goodnight, Irene" covers right here.
posted by Rangeboy at 8:05 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

You're right, Rangeboy. Looks like they pretty much got 'em all.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:10 PM on August 26, 2011

Hey, thanks for a shout-out to a musician I've never heard of. Cool stuff. Also, it's nice to be reminded of a standard that comes up sometimes when I'm doing stream-of-consciousness solo piano: Goodnight, Irene. Tonight, over dinner, my wife and I were arguing about whether or not blues and folk music had anything in common. (It so happened that my mother's record collection was mostly classical and folk, the folk part reflecting her political upbringing, and hence mine: liberal.) But there were just a few black artists in her shelf of LP's: Leadbelly and Josh White, especially. When I taught myself piano, blues is what I extracted from across the ocean (Beatles and Stones etc....and maybe a little bit of my mum's record collection). I was too stupid to listen to the black stations in the Midwest, so it was a while before I flipped over James Brown!

My daughter's trip across the pond (not yours, flapjax, the little one) on Sunday was delayed a day, thanks to Irene.
posted by kozad at 9:13 PM on August 26, 2011

Pretty good Norvus background here.
posted by Wyatt at 9:24 PM on August 26, 2011 [2 favorites]

"Ape Call" is one of my all-time favorite songs. Nervous Norvus Forever!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 9:26 PM on August 26, 2011

Tom Waits~Goodnight Irene/Children's Story
posted by homunculus at 9:43 PM on August 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

homunculus, the "Children's Story" part of that is one of my favorite bits of Waitsiana. Good link!
posted by JHarris at 9:50 PM on August 26, 2011

Dan and Al used to do The Fang as a standard (even have a CD called "The Fang"), but I'm buggered if I can find any version of it online. Accordingly, that link goes to 'Stuck Back in Melbourne', for no particularly good reason. It's listed in a Rage tracklisting, so I suppose they even made an actual video for it.

This post is the first time I've heard of Nervous Norvus in any context other than Al Warner giving him a hat tip for that song.
posted by pompomtom at 10:08 PM on August 26, 2011

Pretty good Norvus background here.

Yeah! Thanks for that link, Wyatt.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:00 PM on August 26, 2011

I first learned of this guy through a local cable TV show, Rockinitis. The show mostly consists of 2 guys listening to records. It's weird.
posted by Hoopo at 11:49 PM on August 26, 2011

(erm, that's Dan Warner, obviously. Al's surname was McInnes, IIRC)
posted by pompomtom at 5:25 AM on August 27, 2011

Goodnight, Sardine
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:20 AM on August 27, 2011

Nervous Norvus showed up on my rockabilly radio station once with Transfusion and I fell in love. So glad to have more material!
posted by Polyhymnia at 7:46 AM on August 27, 2011

My folks bought me an LP collection of "weird" songs called Looney Tunes (no WB tie-in) and Transfusion was one of my favorites on there. I still find myself singing bits of it on occasion when driving (sober...always sober)..."Slip the crimson to me, Jimson!"

Thanks for the post.
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 3:40 PM on August 30, 2011