The New Christy Minstrels...buh

http://www.thenewchristyminstrels.com/currentMinstrels/barry.jpg

Meanwhile, nightmare fuel!

http://www.thenewchristyminstrels.com/currentMinstrels/BeckyJo.jpg

"The Invalids" is about a guy who says that he can't enlist in the military because of his dandruff, thinning hair, bad teeth, etc. and therefore should stay at home and make all the girls happy.

"Fire" is an uptempo sing-along about a burning ship.

Hmm. The "...Animal Husbandry" song is...strange. It starts out being about chickens that don't lay eggs. Then a rooster visits the farm and, uhm, helps them to lay eggs. Then they sing about a cow that doesn't give milk. So then the rooster revisits and now the cow's giving EGG NOG (*pause for big laffs*).

"Temperance And the Gutter Set" is about a drunk guy who lays down in the gutter, and a pig sits beside him. A passerby comments, "You may tell someone who boozes by the company he chooses," and then in response, the pig gets up and walks away (*pause for big laffs*).

"Country and Western Music Has a Message" uses "I Walk the Line" as its music, and the lyrics are about a creepy/horny man who uses a piece of twine to suspend his trousers, and then when he should sing the title line, he sings instead, "Please pull the twine." (*pause for big laffs*)

"Tip Toe Thru the Tulips with Me" starts off normally, then the singer gets progressively insane, and then he's shrieking and singing "STOMMMPING through the tulips!". And then he's all sad and sings in a faux British accent, "No more little tulips." Then, "We'll plant nasturtiums, nasturtiums, won't you STOMP through the NASTIES WITH ME?!" (*pause for big laffs*). (This one kind of reminded me of "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha!")

"Saints' Train" is rowsing gospel number that evolves into "When the Saints Go Marching in." (*no big laffs*, but thunderous applause)

Their "Go Tell It on the Mountain" might be the whitest version of that song ever recorded (side note: they had one Asian member), but it's so no-holds-barred geeky-gotta-dance (and they hit every damn note so fearlessly) that I think it should be form the basis of some new rock genre. "Christycore," maybe?

I wonder if that was the basis of the New Main Street Singers having one conspicuous Asian American member in a sea of white.

Presumably this has something to do with Chano Pozo (now that I've just reminded myself who he was--oh "Manteca," right) and the Seco label, a major Latin music label in, I think, the 50s and 60s. (I've read about who swallowed it up later on, but I can't remember the details at this point.)

What a name for a band. I think maybe I will pass on the possibility that they are lost geniuses.

what happened to let that occur