Monday, June 14, 2021
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
BLOCK ISLAND, RI — On Father’s Day (June 20) — and the Friday-before (hint-hint) — You’re probably thinking “Cat’s In The Cradle” by Harry Chapin, “Color Him Father” by The Winstons, perhaps Dan Fogelberg’s wistful “Leader of The Band,” and other dad tributes.
Regardless of your format, hear-me-now-and-believe-me-later: “The Men in My Little Girl’s Life,” by Mike Douglas. Guaranteed Kleenex material.
And here’s another 60s radio gem that’ll leave listeners sitting in parked cars with the key on Accessories, and have Baby Boomers howling…
On June 21, the first official day of Summer…
…play the novelty hit that made it to #2 on the Billboard chart for three weeks in 1963 — when many of today’s news/talk AMs were Top 40 stations – kept from #1 by “Fingertips” by Stevie Wonder and “My Boyfriend’s Back” by The Angels.
Give up? It’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp),” by comedian Allan Sherman.
- In 2020, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
- The song mentions “Leonard Skinner” — a boy at summer camp who “got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner” – inspiring the name of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd (and classic rock aficionados will be quick to add that a Leonard Skinner had also been a band member’s gym teacher).
- Sherman performed the song on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” and said he based the lyrics on letters of complaint he received from his own son Robert who was attending Camp Champlain in Westport, New York.
Still clinging to a “safe list?” Time to turn, so you won’t burn.
Holland Cooke is the author of the E-book “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books (click the banner on this page). He is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. And HC hosts “The Big Picture” TV show Friday nights at 7ET on RT America. Follow him on Twitter @HollandCooke
Tags: AMs, Fathers Day, Holland Cooke, news/talk, novelty hit, Radio
Category: Advice