His songs were whimsical but with an edge. Years later, I reread the liner notes of one his late 70's albums and they were full of messages along the lines of Don't Trust the Man. With song titles like Shut Up in the Library, I'm a 3-Toed, Triple-Eyed, Double-Jointed Dinosaur, I Don't Believe You Are Going to the Bathroom, and my personal favorite, Don't Put Your Finger In Your Nose, the man was a genius! A genius!
I've always cherished my late 70's Barry Louis Polisar memories. I seem to recall that I spoke to him on the phone once when I was booking shows in college but even that memory seems quite hazy and too bizarre to have really happened. I recall that he called me to try to play a show in Harrisonburg. Maybe it was a dream? Regardless, I never did book him whether it was in my dream or in reality.
He went on to write children's books, record many more albums, and even won a couple of Emmys for a mid 90s television show. But other than my possible conversation with him in 1993, I hadn't really kept track of him.
So I was shocked to find out that one of his songs from the mid 70s was played over the title credits in Juno. What? How completely random. Over night, his career took off unexpectedly.
I wish there was some footage of his freewheeling late 70's shows but I guess these clips will have to do.
Juno
From Capital Edition, 1985
For an interesting Baltimore Sun article after Juno was released, check here.
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4 comments:
I had a bunch of his records too and remember seeing him at the JCC a few times as a kid. Between BLP, the Orioles and Casey Kasem, we would have been good friends growing up (assuming you also liked "The Price Is Right").
Well if you had my albums growing up and thought JUNO was a cool thing, just wait til you hear this:
A fan from California who is now a musician has organized musicians from around the world to record sixty (60!) of my songs for a new 2-CD set called: "We're Not Kidding! A Tribute to Barry Louis Polisar."
Many of these musicians had my records growing up and I am honored and humbled by their creative and inspired covers.
I've posted many of them on my website so people can listen to the songs for free: http://www.barrylou.com/tributeAlbum.html
The bands covered my songs in many new and creative genres; everything from a Klezmer version of "Don't Put Your Finger Up Your Nose" sung in entirely in Yiddish--to three totally different versions of my song "All I Want is You" from JUNO--including one sung in French by a singer from Brittany.
I hope you can listen--and enjoy ! Thanks for the posting about my music.
Barry Louis Polisar
How cool is that? You post about an artist and the artist cares enough to post a response!
I'm off to write about Billy Bragg.
Amazing memories of BLP performing live in the Westover Elementary AP Room circa 1983. Boss show...hugely influential.
dn
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