Today songwriter Buddy Kalb is helping his good buddy, singer Ray Stevens, finalize Stevens's latest album, the mammoth box set entitled The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. To read a recent interview with Stevens, visit this link.
If you don't recognize Mr. Kalb's name, perhaps you recall the song "Mississippi Squirrel Revival." Stevens recorded the song in 1984, and this enduring comedy tale about a kid catching a squirrel and taking it to church continues to delight audiences of all ages.
Usually credited as "C.W. Kalb, Jr." or "Cyrus Kalb" on albums, the songwriter has written approximately 150 songs for Stevens since 1976. This fruitful partnership is still going strong today (as evidenced by Stevens's latest Spirit of '76 album), but you might be surprised to learn that Mr. Kalb was once an artist himself.
As Mr. Kalb rarely does interviews, I thought a perfect opportunity had arisen to remedy the situation.
In Part One of the interview featured below, the songwriter recalls his humble Atlanta origins, his similarities to his good friend Ray Stevens, recording with legendary producer Bill Lowery in the late '50s as "Big Buddy K," how he renewed his friendship with Stevens in the mid '70s, why he quit his job working at Ford Motor Company, and his memories of singer/songwriter/revered guitarist Jerry Reed.
Mr. Kalb also remembers the stories behind "Frog Kissin'" (which both Chet Atkins and comedian George Burns recorded), "Night Games," "The Haircut Song," "I Saw Elvis In a U.F.O.," and his tribute to the iconic John Wayne, entitled "Marion Michael Morrison."
The Buddy Kalb Interview, Part One
How did your association with Ray Stevens begin?
I was born in Atlanta on July 15, 1938, and I’m six months older than Ray. We grew up outside Atlanta in semi-rural settings, so there are a lot of shared experiences between us. We share a similar sense of humor, and we’ve worked really well together over the years.
Ray and I both were in our late teens/early twenties when we met in Atlanta, recording for Bill Lowery in the late’ 50s. Lowery was the publisher in town, and if you were a young guy who wanted to be a songwriter (and you could write a little bit), you sooner or later ended up with him.
What were some of the songs you recorded for Lowery? Did you ever release an album?
Remember the Big Bopper? [Author’s Note: Killed alongside Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in February 1959, J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson’s major hit was “Chantilly Lace.” After his death, two of Richardson’s compositions became definitive songs for other artists: George Jones’s “White Lightnin” (the first number one single of Jones’s career) and Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear” (it reached number one an unprecedented second time in 1969 for Sonny James)].
Well, Mr. Lowery wanted me to be that kind of persona, so he released my singles as “Big Buddy K.” On some later singles it became “Big Buddy Kaye.” I just wanted to have a hit record. I didn’t like going in places with a bunch of people with a name like Big Buddy anything, (laughter) but if that’s what Mr. Lowery wanted, I was willing to do it.
I only released singles. In those days you had to have a hit before you could have an album. Everybody went fishing with singles. You’d go in and generally cut four songs – a recording session lasted three hours, and in those three hours you’d cut four songs.
You would deliver those songs to the record company, and they would pick what they thought were the best two. Consequently, they released a single with an “A” and “B” side. Based on the success of that single, they would release another one.
I wrote all of my singles. On my first record, Joe South played bass, Tommy South (his brother) played drums, Jerry Reed played lead guitar, Ray played piano, and I played rhythm guitar. All great players. I believe I recorded one of Jerry’s songs.
I recorded the bluesy “She Knows How To Rock Me” on the Lowery Label in Atlanta. The song was written by a radio personality of the R&B station there (WAOK) named Piano Red. I recently saw this song on a CD of “Black Blues Artists from the 50's”…I had the lead track [listen to it on YouTube here].
Come to think of it, Ray produced a couple of records on me in Atlanta and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. I don’t think he and I ever played on a session together where I played guitar and he would play piano. On my early sessions, I played on them myself.
I’m mostly a guitar player, but I can fiddle around with keyboards if I have to. I played bass years ago. In those days, one of my records might be country, another might be light rock and roll (Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian – those guys were popular at the time).
Some of my singles that did okay included “First Love,” “Miss Pony Tail,” “Little Black Umbrella,” and “White Sneakers and Bermuda Shorts.” However, these were not contenders at all, only minor regional hits. For instance, one single would be in the Top Ten in Oklahoma City.
I later went to RCA Victor for a single (“Little Black Umbrella,” produced by Joe South; listen to it on YouTube here), then another on ABC Paramount, and finally one for VeeJay (“White Sneakers and Bermuda Shorts,” 1963).
I had several opportunities, but I never had a big national breakout hit. I was done with my recording career by 1964.
You and Ray drifted apart for about ten years, so how did you guys meet again?
My day job worked out a whole lot better than my recording career. I spent a lot of time working at Ford Motor Company. I did a number of things, starting off with unloading boxcars and ending up being a sales manager. Sort of a bottom to the top transition; fortunately, I started writing again in the early ‘70s.
In 1975 I came to Nashville and dropped three songs off [not comedy material] at Ray’s office while he was out on the road working somewhere. When Ray came back into town, he called and said he liked every song. Eventually he recorded or published every one of them, which was pretty unusual for unsolicited material.
The songs were “One and Only You” (Just For The Record, March 1976) and “Set the Children Free” (Feel The Music, January 1977). You can find these two on iTunes. Cristy Lane recorded “Ask Me To Dance,” Ray was the publisher, and it became the title cut of her album [April 1980].
So we renewed our friendship then, and I’ve been working with or for him ever since.
Besides Ray, name some of the artists who recorded your songs.
Hugh Jarrett, best known as the bass singer for The Jordanaires until Ray Walker replaced him in 1958, recorded several. He later became a successful disc jockey in Atlanta (“Big Hugh Baby”).And songwriter Mac Davis cut some of mine early on.
Chet Atkins recorded three or four of my songs, including “Frog Kissin’” [No. 40 C&W, August 1976]. Ray got the song to Chet, played keyboards, and sang background vocals on it, too. They simulated a live concert (à la “Gitarzan”) and added cute frog effects by Ray (ribbit, ribbit). It’s possible this was one of the songs I dropped off at Ray’s office as mentioned earlier.
George Burns also had a well-known version with it. Matter of fact, George loved that little song, and he sent me a picture and a nice letter. He even performed it in 1982 on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and on his NBC special [George Burns and Other Sex Symbols].
Jerry Reed recorded “Concrete Sailor” [Texas Bound and Flyin,’ September 1980, also the B-side for the title song]. Country artist Mel McDaniel also recorded “The Hustler” [appears on Let It Roll, released in October 1984 on Capitol Records; available on iTunes].
What kind of guy was Jerry Reed?
Jerry was one amazing guitar player and a great songwriter. His real name was Jerry Hubbard. Jerry was an outgoing, funny, always laughing, manic kind of guy. He was pretty much what you saw onstage. Just a fun person to be around.
We were all together there in Atlanta with Lowery. Ray and Jerry had a band in those days (I was never in it). They played around Atlanta a lot – on weekends they appeared on disc jockey Ray Kinneman’s WTJH radio show to promote their stage shows held at the East Point City Auditorium.
What was your first hit as a songwriter?
Ray cut a song of mine called “Night Games,” which went to No. 20 on the Country charts [November 1980]. It got a lot of airplay around the country.
Now is a good time to mention that there are two kinds of hits – radio pop fluff (when a song was a hit one year and next year you can’t remember what it was) but then there are enduring hits like “The Squirrel.” “Night Games” fit the former description.
It was a song I wrote while I was trying to write a good country song. As usual, I played it for Ray first and he recorded it. I was playing with the musical intro and wrote that first, and the song just seemed to follow that melodic hook. Some of them almost write themselves.
“Marion Michael Morrison” (Beside Myself, July 1989)
John Wayne is my favorite actor, always has been. When I lived in Kansas City, sometimes I had to drive between there and Des Moines going up Interstate 29. When you do, you drive past an exit that is for Winterset, Iowa, where John Wayne was born.
One day I was driving the car and thinking about John Wayne when I went through there. “Born in the little town of Winterset” was the first line. I was thinking, gee all those motion pictures he made had great titles and the characters that he played were so iconic.
So I got the idea of writing a song that was full of John Wayne movie titles and John Wayne character roles. It fell together pretty quickly. I’ve had a lot of compliments on it from many John Wayne fans down through the years.
“I Saw Elvis In a UFO” (A-side, Beside Myself)
Ray had the idea for it, and he asked me to help on it. I basically made it more of a production, including the opening fishing part. There are a couple of songs I’ve done that on, which is why Ray calls me a “song doctor.” I’d put in my two cents worth or make my suggestions.
For instance, on “The Haircut Song” [No. 45 C&W, I Have Returned, 1985] comedian Mike Neun used to do these routines, so Ray and I helped turn one of his routines into that song.
I wrote the chorus: “When you get a haircut, be sure to go back home; when you get a haircut, get a barber you have known; since you were a little bitty boy sittin' in a booster chair, or you might look like Larry, Moe or Curly if a stranger cuts your hair.”
PART TWO of the Buddy Kalb interview, titled "Having Fun With Buddy Kalb, The Songwriter Behind 'Mississippi Squirrel Revival,' can be accessed here. Mr. Kalb recalls the story behind "Squirrel," another song he wrote which should have been a hit, and whether he's present in the studio when Ray records one of his songs.
He also discusses comedy vs. parody music at length, whether Ray will ever write his autobiography, the "Nashville Breakfast Club," his favorite Ray Stevens songs, the perfect day, and why he owes a debt of gratitude to Ray...
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**Author Jeremy Roberts also writes a column on "The King of Cool," Steve McQueen. Visit it here for further interviews and articles...
© Jeremy L. Roberts, 2012. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without first contacting the author.
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