Larry Verne

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Mr. Custer
  US 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 08/27/1960 (13 weeks)
Mister Livingston
  US 75 December 17, 1960 (3 weeks)

Larry Verne (born February 8, 1936 in Minneapolis , Minnesota; actually Larry Vern Erickson , † October 8, 2013 in Sylmar , California ) was an American musician and filmmaker. He is best known for his novelty song Mr. Custer .

biography

Larry Erickson learned the piano and guitar at a young age, but started his first career in film. Among other things, he worked as a stuntman in Hollywood under the name Wizzer Red .

There he met the Californian songwriting trio Fred Darian, Al DeLory and Joseph van Winkle. They wrote the song Mr. Custer and needed an interpreter with a southern accent. So Larry Vern Erickson took on the stage name Larry Verne and played the unusual number. In 1960 she appeared on the successful Hollywood label Era Records and was well received by radio stations. The song became a US-wide surprise hit and reached number 1 on the Billboard charts.

With Mister Livingston , the title was also written by Darian, DeLoy and van Winkle, another person in US history followed in a similar style as a follow-up single. It reached the charts again, but did not get beyond the back of the chart quarter. For three years he tried it with similar music, there were about 10 singles and an album. But after no more hits, he gave up the music business, even if he still made music from time to time and stepped in as a background singer.

He then started another successful career as a production designer in the film industry. In the 80s he was the construction coordinator responsible for the sets of films such as Rambo III , The Princes of Darkness and Police Academy 6 - Resistance is futile .

Larry Verne died in California at the age of 77.

Mister Custer

Mr. Custer is one of the most unusual number 1 hits in US chart history. The title refers to General Custer , who was responsible for the legendary defeat of the US Army against the Native Americans in the Battle of Little Bighorn . The song is about the pleading of a simple soldier who sings in a wailing voice "Please Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go", he doesn't want to go into battle. A male choir representing the US cavalry sings a plot and in the background Indian war drums and howls of war as well as whirring noises representing Indian arrows whizzing by can be heard. You can also hear a military shouting "Forward ho" to set off.

In addition to the plaintive chant, the piece becomes a comedy number through two spoken passages. In a southern accent, the soldier describes the battle scenes, the stalking Indians, the flying arrows, and finally searches for the Indian word for "friend". At the end the soldier jokes about the Indians running around before the song ends with another hiss of arrows. In the Battle of Little Bighorn, almost half of the attacking US soldiers died, including "Mister Custer".

Discography

Singles

  • Mr. Custer / Okeefenokee Two Step (1960)
  • Mister Livingston / Roller Coaster (1960)
  • Abdul's Party (1961)

album

  • Mister Larry Verne (Single titles: Mister Livingston, Laundromat, Open The Window, Mister Nero, Mister Saki; Beatnik, Roller Coaster, Miss Priscilla, Mister Custer, Tres Dias, Christopher Columbus)

swell

  1. ↑ Top Pop Singles 1955-2006 by Joel Whitburn , Record Research 2007, ISBN 978-0-89820-172-7
  2. ↑ a b Passings: Larry Verne (1936 - 2013). VVN Music, November 2, 2013, accessed November 9, 2013 .
  3. ^ The big oldie lexicon, Julia Edenhofer, Bastei Lübbe, 1991
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / employees.oxy.edu
  5. ↑ David Edwards and Mike Callahan: Era Album Discographies ( Memento from November 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ More information on the title in: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 76
  7. ↑ US catalog number: Era 3034
  8. ↑ The single reached number 75 on the Billboard charts, compare Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 627

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Verne, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Erickson, Larry Vern (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Minneapolis , Minnesota , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 2013
Place of death Sylmar , California