Novelty songs have been a part of popular music for many years. "The Purple People Eater" by Sheb Wooley, "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvus (an especially sick song, by the way), and "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" by Jerry Samuels (recorded under the name Napoleon XIV) are just a few of many odd little numbers that have charted over the years, songs that most of us have heard time and again.
But perhaps none were quite as odd or disturbing as the song "Timothy" by a group called The Buoys. It's a simple song about three guys and a mine cave-in.
 |
| The Buoys |
And cannibalism.
"Timothy" was penned by Rupert Holmes, the songwriter responsible for "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)," which I consider a far more horrifying song. Holmes, who would go on to become an Emmy and five-time Tony award winning writer and composer, was a 20-year-old songwriter who had been in the business for about a year around 1971. Struggling and looking for a way to land his big break in the music world, he hit upon a novel idea. We'll go to SongFacts for the details:
His friend, Michael Wright, was a junior engineer at Scepter Records recording studio, which was at 254 W. 54th, in the same building that Studio 54 was later in. Michael had the keys to a recording studio on the weekend when it wasn't in use and would go in and record songs with Rupert. He found a group out of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania named The Buoys, and somehow Scepter Records, which was the label of Dionne Warwick and BJ Thomas, agreed to release one single that they would record. Michael knew the label would not promote the song, but wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Rupert suggested they record a song that would get banned. That way, there would at least be some controversy about the group and another label might sign them and promote them. So Rupert tried to write a song that would get banned.That's right. "Timothy" was a song designed to get banned. Here's a bit more:
Holmes: "At the time, I was working on an arrangement of '16 Tons,' the Tennessee Ernie Ford hit from the '50s, for an artist named Andy Kim. While I was working on the arrangement, there was a cooking show on the TV in the kitchen. It was called The Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr. It's on in the background and I'm singing the lyrics to '16 Tons,' playing it to a kind of vamp sort of like 'Proud Mary,' and I sing 'Some people say a man is made out of mud, a coal man's made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood and skin and bones, a mind that's weak and a back that's...' and I think, you know, that almost sounds like a recipe - muscle and blood and skin and bones, bake in a moderate oven for 2 hours, top with Miracle Whip."A recipe for being booted from the airwaves, one would think. Well, one would be wrong. The story continues:
"...I thought, Cannibalism during a mining disaster, that'll get banned. It's not like I'm really telling people to go out and eat someone, this is just this dark, horrible thing that happened in this story. So I write this lyric: 'Timothy, Timothy, where on Earth did you go?' It's about three boys who are trapped in a mine with water but no food for maybe a week. When they're pulled free, they don't remember what happened, but they know they're not hungry. One of them is missing, and that's Timothy. We record this on the weekend and I don't think about it again."So a group hand-picked by Holmes called The Buoys recorded the song. The Buoys, a band based out of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA area (Scrantonicity, anyone?), actually was his second choice. Holmes' first pick was a group called The Glass Prism, but since they were under contract with RCA, number two got their shot at musical immortality. The Buoys were signed to a one-shot, one single deal, the song recorded and released, and Holmes waited for the banning to begin and the buzz to follow.
But the song didn't go away. While its rise up the charts was very slow by the most traditional of standards, it was steady as the song gained notoriety among young listeners who began cueing in to what the song was really about. When small radio stations began realizing what the song was addressing, they did indeed start banning it, but the kids, the regular listeners, began calling the stations to request "Timothy."
Back to to SongFacts once more:
Says Holmes: "They played the song originally because it had a nice rhythm, kind of like a Creedence Clearwater Revival feel. It was catchy enough, but then they'd hear what the song was about and say 'We can't be playing this, it's about cannibalism!' and they'd pull the song off the air. The kids would call in and say 'Why'd you pull the song off the air,' and they'd say, 'Because it's disgusting, you shouldn't be listening to stuff like that.' Well, all you have to do is tell a teenage kid that he shouldn't be listening to something because it's disgusting and vile and loathsome, and he'll demand it. So the record, unlike "Pina Colada," which vaulted up the charts, went up like one or two digits every week. It was on the charts forever. Stations were playing it, kids were clamoring for it, it would move up the charts, then the station would pull it, the kids would clamor more and some other station would go on it to satisfy that demand. It just kept going up the charts.""Timothy" eventually made it to the Billboard Top 40 chart on April 17, 1971, remaining on the chart for eight weeks, peaking at at number 17. Not too bad for a song designed to crash and burn for a bit of publicity. I doubt that Rupert Holmes is too disappointed.
But what an odd song to crack the Billboard Top 40. Yeah, I like that something like this could happen with American music.
I must have blacked out just around then
'Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again
My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around
To finding Timothy
'Cause the very next thing that I could see
Was the light of the day again
My stomach was full as it could be
And nobody ever got around
To finding Timothy
Written by Rupert Holmes, recorded by The Buoys
No comments:
Post a Comment