No One Even Close
Michael J McMorrow for *op Shots*
The most unique artist of the Top 40 era was not some difficult-to-appreciate insider’s favorite championed by out-of-touch rock critics. He was only somewhat popular, having a handful of Top 40 hits and near-misses over three decades — all sounding unlike any other charting act, except for the feeble efforts of a few short-lived competitors.
This prolific artist didn’t operate within the confined musical boundaries that others did. For his charting hits, he generally didn’t write chords or melodies or hire someone else to write them. He also failed to provide vocals or even rhyming lyrics. The only music on most of his A-sides came from other artists.
Over four decades, Dickie Goodman made short, ridiculous comedy records about top-of-mind issues like satellites in the late 1950s, television violence in the 1960s, and inflation in the 1970s.
Hear it all on the Pop Shots podcast
Dickie Goodman Breaks Into Radio
Goodman and his early partner in crime Buchanan hit near the top of the charts his first time out in 1955, at the height of the 50s UFO craze. Their original “Break In” record Flying Saucer landed at #3 and then landed them in court.
From Flying Saucer …
This is John Cameron Cameron downtown.
Pardon me, madam, would you tell our audience what would you do if the saucer were to land?
“Duck back in the alley!” (from Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, #6, 1957)
Goodman’s “break-in” hits seldom strayed from the original formula:
1. Spoken word “Reporter” asks a topical question. 2. Answer is provided by … a line from a recent hit song — lifted directly from the original recording. 3. Repeat for a few minutes. 4. Add a punchline at the end.
Yes, Dickie Goodman pioneered sampling with these “break-in” records, an impressive feat in the pre-digital world of the 50s, when there was no digital cut and paste, no control-c and control-v. Instead, audio engineers used razor blades and scotch tape to make physical edits to reel-to-reel tapes.
Did Dickie Goodman Invent Sampling?
He also was an early adopter of getting sued for using other people’s work. Flying Saucer contained edits from hit records by Little Richard, Elvis, and the Platters.
Today, Goodman might be called a disruptor, because he found a way to monetize assets he didn’t own. Instead of using other people’s cars or city streets like Uber, he was grabbing intellectual property. Naturally, lawsuits followed.
The courts said Goodman and friends could use the song samples to create their unique works but suggested they settle with the publishers and record companies over royalties. Of course, Buchanan and Goodman immediately made a break-in called Buchanan and Goodman on Trial (#80, 1956).
Goodman’s legal battles established a model of paying royalties to artists when using their music to create new works. Decades later when hip-hop artists started building new works on the sampled tracks of other artists, there was chaos. But today, following the model established in the Goodman case, agreements to pay royalties for samples are perfunctory.
At the time of Flying Saucer, Goodman was trying to break in as a songwriter. As his career progressed, he was a recording artist, record producer, label executive, jingle writer, even a joke writer.
Finishing the Fifties
Once their legal troubles were resolved, Goodman and Buchanan struck the Top 40 charts again with a Flying Saucer follow-up and a Christmas record that cashed on the hysteria over satellites, Santa and the Satellite.
Going forward, Goodman would be a solo act.
Dickie Goodman in the 1960s: Television Parodies and Social Commentary
In the early 60s, Goodman turned his comedic wrath on American television. His first target was The Untouchables, a classic crime show inspired by the crime-fighting career of 1920s Treasury agent and self-promoter Elliot Ness. Many viewers were shocked by the almost casual depiction of deadly violence in Chicago’s Al Capone era.
In the lowbrow parody The Touchables in Brooklyn, Al Capone became Al Cologne, and fellow gangster Bugs Moran became Bugs Moron.
During the following weeks, 15 members of the Al Cologne mob met violent deaths
Scarmelli Carpelli, Cologne’s top lieutenant was cornered by Bugs Moron’s boys and told
“Your sixteen, you’re beautiful and you’re mine” (from Johnny Burnette’s You’re Sixteen, #8, 1961)
Next, he ridiculed the popular show Ben Casey M.D. with Ben Crazy (#44, 1962). Later, Goodman turned up the heat on another TV crime fighter, Batman, with Batman and His Grandmother (#70, 1966).
Dickie Goodman Top 40 HitsFlying Saucer (w/ Buchanan)#3, 1955Flying Saucer the 2nd (w/ Buchanan)#18, 1957Santa and the Satellite(w/ Buchanan)#32, 1957Mr. Jaws#4, 1975Energy Crisis ‘74#33, 1974
In the late sixties, Goodman turned toward social upheaval with On Campus (#45, 1969), with reporter Walter Funkite (parody of CBS Evening News’ famous anchor Walter Cronkite).
Anchoring these social commentaries to pop song snippets made sense, radio in those days was still mostly music, not talk shows.
The unraveling of the presidency of US Richard Nixon was a boon for Goodman with Watergate (#42, 1973).
Mr. President, what will your position be from now on?
“No more Mr. Nice Guy, No more Mr. Clean.” (from Alice Cooper’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, #25, 1973
This is 1973, what will you be saying at election time in 1976?
“It’s been three long years, do ya still want me?” (from Tony Orlando and Dawn’s Tie A Yellow Ribbon, #1, 1973)
Goodman then turned to the economy, which was in trouble in part because of a politically motivated oil price spike, in Energy Crisis ‘74, (#33, 1974) …
Riding the Jaws Wave
In 1975, Jaws was everywhere. The mega novel became the biggest Hollywood blockbuster of all time — until Star Wars the next year. Goodman surfed the wave of Jaws’ massive theater bookings and extensive media marketing with Mr. Jaws (#4, 1975), his biggest hit since the days of Flying Saucer.
He’s coming right onto the boat
Mr. Jaws; why are you grabbing my hand?
‘Wouldn’t you give your hand to a friend’ (from Melissa Manchester’s Midnight Blue, #6, 1975)
No, wait, Mr. Jaws,
That’s not the way this record is supposed to end
Help, help (glub, glub)
Goodman had a remarkable knack for landing just outside the Top 40 …
*ickie Goodman Just-Outside-The-Top-40 HitsThe Touchables In Brooklyn#42, 1961Ben Crazy#44, 1962On Campus#45, 1969Watergate#42, 1973Kong#48, 1977*## Dickie’s Other Records
When not making break-in records, Goodman made other novelty records, mostly about horror movie monsters, like Frankenstein of ‘59 and the inevitable Frankenstein Returns.
Dickie did have musical talent. The 1966 single Never Play Poker With a Man Named Doc (Or Eat at a Place Called Mom’s) displayed not only his songwriting talent but also his vocal ability and that of his wife, former nightclub singer Susan Goodman. While there was no musical sampling, the title is taken from two of the three rules of life from Nelson Algren’s novel Walk On The Wild Side.
Goodman also produced a Top 40 hit for the vocal group The Glass Bottle, but again, there’s something unusual. Goodman was working with a marketing firm on a special project: promoting glass bottles over their new rival, aluminum cans. So Goodman got a bubble gum band, named them The Glass Bottle, they got paid by the marketing firm, and they hit with I Ain’t Got Time Anymore (#36, 1971).
Goodman also produced a blaxploitation break-in record that made the pop charts: Superfly Meets Shaft (#31, 1973)
The Competition
There were many unsuccessful attempts to copy the Dickie Goodman magic. One, in particular, demonstrates just how much better at these comedy records Goodman was than his competitors. The Patty Hearst break-in, The Capture, simply used musical punchlines from Mr. Jaws and replaced the original interview dialogue with questions about kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst.
More successful break-ins by other artists include The Delegates political Convention ‘72 (#8) and Grand Canyon’s Evil Boll-Weevil (#72, 1974), which riffed about daredevil Evel Knievel’s famous attempt to fly across Snake River Canyon in a small rocket.
The End
Ultimately, Goodman’s break-in records were more fun than funny. They were different and wacky. But answering questions with a line from a song isn’t much of a joke. I think the fun of these tracks was identifying the songs.
Aside from being wacky, Goodman was incredibly persistent, releasing dozens of break-in records over in a span of 33 years, poking fun at pop culture phenoms, and taking on other issues such as ecology, inflation, and safe sex. While most of his records were not hits, his prolific production and multiple successes made him a gold standard in novelty records.
Dickie Goodman, the most unique Top 40 artist, took his own life in 1989 — and to paraphrase Mr. Jaws, that’s not the way this story was supposed to end.
Pop Shots is your quick guide to pop culture and music history.
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Sources:
King of Novelty: Dickie Goodman. Jon Goodman, Kindle eBook
70s Top 40 Novelties:
