Huggie's Bunnies
| Huggie's Bunnies | |
|---|---|
| The Romancers | |
| publication | 1963 |
| length | 2:45 |
| Genre (s) | Rock 'n' roll , Chicano rock |
| Author (s) | Andy Tesso |
| Publisher (s) | Maravilla Music |
| Label | Del-Fi Records |
| album | Do the Slauson |
Huggie's Bunnies or Huggy's Bunnies is an instrumental rock 'n' roll piece that the Californian band The Romancers recorded for their first album Do the Slauson in 1963 . The author and lead guitarist Andy Tesso dedicated the piece to the radio presenter and organizer Dick Hugg . The instrumental is based on a 12-bar blues, the lead instruments of the stanzas are - sometimes alternating, sometimes together - saxophone and guitar. The piece was soon covered by the Blendells and the Ambertones . There is an adaptation of the latter by Chris Hood under the title Huggie's Bunnies Backwards . As the B-side of the Blendells' single La La La La La , the title was a sales success, but remained in all known versions without chart placement. Huggie's Bunnies can be found on several Chicano Rock samplers and is considered a classic of the genre.
Creation and publication
In the early 1960s, Dick "Huggyboy" Hugg was a widely heard radio DJ and dance promoter in Los Angeles. Its audience consisted largely of young people of Mexican origin, the Chicanos of the East Side of Los Angeles. For his dance events, Hugg regularly booked the Chicano rock group The Romancers , which had already recorded several singles for smaller record labels. A contract with Del-Fi Records enabled the band in 1963 to record their current song Slauson Shuffle an entire album; With Max Uballez on rhythm guitar, Andy Tesso on lead guitar, Chris Pasqual on bass, Armando Mora on tenor saxophone and Manuel Mosqueda on drums, the band produced the album within a few hours. In addition to the two original compositions Slauson Shuffle and All Aboard , which were the only single released from the album, there were three covered pieces by other bands as well as seven other spontaneously initiated instrumentals, including the Huggie's Bunnies proposed by guitarist Andy Tesso (roughly: " Huggy's Bunny "). The song was dedicated to Dick Hugg in the hope that he would return the favor with increased airplay. Huggie's Bunnies was set as the third track on the second side of the album, which got a title Do the Slauson , which tied in with a current dance style in Los Angeles. The album concept should show that the Chicano band, as a representative of the East Side sound, could also serve the instrumental surf and hot rod genre. Maravilla Music acted as a music publisher, meanwhile the piece has been transferred to Van Winkle and Darian Music. The copyright in the Library of Congress was registered on December 13 1963rd
Musical structure
The instrumental piece is based on the 12-bar blues scheme in E major. As an intro , a riff rising from the root note to the fifth is introduced, which begins with eighth notes and becomes syncopated in the second half of the bar by tying a sixteenth . At the beginning the bass plays, followed by the guitar after two riffs, then the drums and finally the saxophone. After a one-bar break , the saxophone as a solo instrument begins the blues scheme shortened by the first four bars, the tonic , and also plays the second verse. Then the guitar takes over for twelve bars, three more verses play the saxophone and guitar together. In the seventh and last scheme, the guitar again solves. The instrument sequence of the intro is repeated as the outro.
Cover versions
The first cover version was recorded in 1964 by the short-lived Chicano rock band The Blendells , which needed a B-side for their recording of Little Stevie Wonder's La La La La La in the Stereo Masters in Hollywood. Under the musical direction of Billy Cardenas of the Faro Productions record company, the band played with Mike Rincon on bass, Ronnie Chipes on drums, Rudy Valona on lead guitar, Don Cardenas on saxophone and Tommy Esparza on rhythm guitar for the Faro label Rampart Records . The Blendells were strongly based on the original, but swapped saxophone and drums in the instrument sequence of the intro. After the release on Rampart 641 on June 3, 1964, the label boss Eddie Davis gave the pieces to Reprise Records for national distribution . Reprise 0291 was released in July 1964 and reached number 62 on the Billboard charts and number 74 in Cashbox magazine and was also published in Canadian, British and Italian editions, as well as on a French split EP. The shell of the Spanish EP translates the title to Los Conejos de Hugo . At a reunion of the band in 1991 for a concert at a packed Greek Theater in Los Angeles the next Blendells played La La La La La and her second single Dance with Me also Huggie's Bunnies . The version of the Blendells appeared in 1994 on the compilation Pachuco Soul: East-LA Grooves , 1996 on the CD East Side Sound: 1959–1968 and 1999 on the sampler The West Coast East Side Sound, Vol. 1 .
Rampart 641
promo edition
Reprise 0291
American edition
Reprise 0291
Canadian edition
Reprise EP 60054
French edition
Reprise 20291
Italian edition
Also from the East Side of Los Angeles is the band The Ambertones , who covered Huggie's Bunnies in 1965 under the direction of John Marascalco and Manuel Chavez . The band at that time consisted of singer and saxophonist Frank Vasquez (also known as Frankie Olvera), keyboardist Danny Medina, saxophonist Tony Cardenas, guitarists Henry Hernandez and Mike Sandoval, drummer Jimmy Alvarez and bassist Eddie Delgado. The Ambertones count the piece by responding to the first beat of the introductory riffs "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five", "Six", "Seven", "Eight" and " Call Nine. The outro even ends on "Ten". The version of the Ambertones differs more clearly from the original than that of the Blendells due to a preceding drum intro and the basic chord struck several times in triplets on the first four bars of the blues scheme. The recording appeared together with Something Like Mr. C on Marascalco's Lola Records with the number 104. Frankie Olvera is listed as the interpreter of the instrumental piece, the DJ Godfrey Kerr as " supervisor ". The single is also in circulation with a misprinted label, the misspelling of the label "Lolla Records" and the publisher "Marvilla Records" when the version was included in the 1967 compilation East Side Revue by Rampart Records. Another re-release of Lola 104 is the single NRM Records 903, on which Huggie's Bunnies is categorized as a "fast instrumental".
In a studio session on May 24, 1966, Chris Hood revised the recording of the Ambertones. He starts counting the riffs with "Ten" and ends with "One". Consequently, the track Huggie's Bunnies Backwards (roughly: "Huggies Bunny Backwards") was titled when it was released as a single in December 1980 by the Pittsburgh Sounds label of AC & H Enterprises. In addition to the editor Chris Hood, Andy Tesso, the original author, and Frankie Olvera, the artist name of the edited version, are named as the originator. The fast instrumental of the now backward-counting Ambertones is referred to on the record label as a "fast novelty song ".
Lola 104
Lolla 104
label misprint
NRM 903
Huggie's Bunnies Backwards
Importance, Criticism, and Success
Huggie's Bunnies is, along with Corn Bread 'n' Chitlins , Soto City and I Want to Swim, one of only four compositions that are registered with the collecting society BMI for Andy Tesso. Fellow musician Mark Guerrero described the piece as a "classic and favorite of the East Side of Los Angeles", for David Reyes and Tom Waldman it was the most notable number on the album, as it was the most consistent track of the band through its dedication to the influential Dick Hugg should push. Whether the plan worked and DJ Huggyboy actually played the title unusually often is not documented. None of the four known versions of the title was a chart success, only the version of the Blendells sold as the B-side to La La La La La on the west coast of the United States. The East LA Revue All Star Band, initiated by Steven Chavez, President of Rampart Records in 2001, with a changing line-up of old and young Chicano Rock musicians, performs Huggie's Bunnies in their live repertoire.
Individual evidence
- ↑ David Reyes, Tom Waldman: Land of a Thousand Dances. Chicano Rock 'n' Roll from Southern California . 1st edition. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1998, ISBN 0-8263-1883-5 , 5. Radio Waves and DJs: Art and Huggy Rock the Eastside, pp. 45-54 (American English).
- ^ A b Mark Guerrero: The Romancers: The Father of 60s East LA Bands. In: Mark Guerrero. Singer / songwriter. 2002, accessed on May 16, 2013 .
- ^ A b c David Reyes, Tom Waldman: Land of a Thousand Dances. Chicano Rock 'n' Roll from Southern California . 1st edition. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1998, ISBN 0-8263-1883-5 , 6. Let's Make a Deal: The Producers Move In, pp. 55-68 (American English).
- ↑ a b Huggie’s Bunnies. (No longer available online.) In: BMI Repertoire. Formerly in the original ; accessed on May 16, 2013 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Public Catalog. Library of Congress, accessed May 16, 2013 .
- ^ Mark Guerrero: The Blendells: 1960s Chicano Rock Hit Makers. In: Mark Guerrero. Singer / songwriter. 2000, accessed on May 16, 2013 .
- ↑ Chas Kit: The Ambertones. In: Garagehangover. Retrieved May 16, 2013 .
- ↑ Guy: East Side Revue (Rampart Records). In: You Found That Eastside Sound. Retrieved May 16, 2013 .
- ^ Mark Guerrero: East LA Revue All Star Band: The "Eastside Sound" of the 60s Lives. In: Mark Guerrero. Singer / songwriter. Retrieved May 21, 2013 .
