Mickey Katz - Borscht Riders in the Sky
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CD Details
Artist: Mickey KatzEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2006-06-05
Music Label: Pulse
Soundtracks:
- Schleppin' My Baby Back Home (Walkin' My Baby Back Home)
- Patcha-Me (Botch-A-Me)
- Feet Up Pat Him On The Pipick (Ft. Up Pat Him On The Popo)
- Borscht Riders In The Sky (Ghost Riders In The Sky)
- Gahakta, Mambo
- You Belong To Me
- Mona Liza
- She Walks Past His Window Everyday
- Scheherazde (With Bertha Katz)
- She'll Be Coming Round The Katzkills (She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain)
- Come On -A My House
- A Schmo Is A Schmo (A Guy Is A Guy)
- Yiddish Mule Train (Mule Train)
- Sound Off
- The Wedding Samba (With Jack Hillard)
- Turkish Lullaby (With Annette Warren)
- Geshray Of De Vida Kotchke (Cry Of The Wild Goose)
- The Baby The Bubbe & You
- (Put Another Nickel In) Music, Music, Music
- There's A Hole In The Iron Curtain (With Mel Blanc)
Music reviews of Borscht Riders in the Sky
Music Review: Long overdue...
Rating: 5 Stars
This CD is a special treat, because even years ago, Mickey Katz albums were impossible to come by... Basically you'd get the singles, or hear them on Jewish radio programs... maybe you might find a rare re-issue at a Jewish gift shop, but in general, unless you were lucky enough to grow up in a house that had the old 45s, forget it... Now finally, they're out... but... maybe too late...
The truth about this album is that despite the fact that Mickey Katz was a great comedian, musician and entertainer, and the tracks (originally released on Capital) gush with the vibe of his inspired genius, very few people today will be capable of understanding Katz's true comic/linguistic (spoken and written) genius - - of course, I'm not just talking about the cultural references, but the language... Fact is: Yiddish today is not a commonly spoken language outside of religious circles (up until the time I was born it was more of a secular language.) - - and the fact is, these tracks were recorded in an era where most comedians had two acts: one they performed for their own people, then the act they performed when they got "big" and changed their names to something less offensive. As for these tracks: they were recorded for a primarily Jewish audience at a time when a place called the Borscht Belt existed and there was a REAL audience for this... There was also a common experience - - an older generation baffled by the new world, and a younger one embarrassed by the old world... as a result, Mickey Katz's formula worked perfectly...to hear a pop tune parodied with Yiddish words was REALLY funny - - It allowed the old generation to laugh at the secular culture and the young people to laugh at the old generations funny way of talking and thinking.
And so, here it is, Mickey Katz, the famous "glugmeister" from Spike Jones's group, who went on to become a godfather of American song parody in his own right... and at the same time was a master musician in hiw own right - - While the utter genius and energy will be lost on few who here it, I consider myself lucky to still be able to understand it and get the jokes... I also think its interesting that if you can understand atleast 50-60% of what's going on, the material actually seems fresher than some of Spike Jones as well as Allen Sherman's stuff (and I'm a fan of both.) <-- I'll confess that I've forgotten most my Yiddish, but when I first heard these albums I could understand almost everything, so when I hear the tunes, I remember what's going on.
I wish I could recommend this album to everyone... but I will be honest, the language will be lost on many (though not as badly as in the case with the Barton Brother albums that were even funnier, but had even MORE Yiddish.)
In the meantime, check out the YIDDISH RADIO PRODUCT series as well as
Mickey Katz's brilliant bio PAPPA PLAY FOR ME...
note: regarding the language, a typical Katz'sm is to start one line in English, and finish it in Yiddish... the English part will be funny, but it'll usually be the part in Yiddish that's really the most outrageous...
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