Comments on: Nervous Norvus

Nervous Norvus

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:14:32 -0800

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"

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:17:57 -0800

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

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:33:17 -0800

Hopefully soon we'll all bid Irene goodnight.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:59:35 -0800

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.

By: rikschell

rikschell — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:00:22 -0800

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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:28:58 -0800

Also, Kattulus, check Johnny Cash's version. Sweet! Nice raggedy version here from Van Morrison, who's gonna GET Irene in his dreams!

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:05:09 -0800

Excellent roundup of "Goodnight, Irene" covers right here.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:10:41 -0800

You're right, Rangeboy. Looks like they pretty much got 'em all.

By: kozad

kozad — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:13:35 -0800

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.

By: Wyatt

Wyatt — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:24:15 -0800

Pretty good Norvus background here.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:26:45 -0800

"Ape Call" is one of my all-time favorite songs. Nervous Norvus Forever!

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:43:16 -0800

Tom Waits~Goodnight Irene/Children's Story

By: JHarris

JHarris — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:50:50 -0800

homunculus, the "Children's Story" part of that is one of my favorite bits of Waitsiana. Good link!

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:08:13 -0800

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.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:00:10 -0800

Pretty good Norvus background here. Yeah! Thanks for that link, Wyatt.

By: Hoopo

Hoopo — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:49:04 -0800

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.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 05:25:12 -0800

(erm, that's Dan Warner, obviously. Al's surname was McInnes, IIRC)

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 06:20:30 -0800

Goodnight, Sardine

By: Polyhymnia

Polyhymnia — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:46:26 -0800

Nervous Norvus showed up on my rockabilly radio station once with Transfusion and I fell in love. So glad to have more material!

By: screamingnotlaughing

screamingnotlaughing — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:40:20 -0800

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.