Such a Strange Song: Saturday Saoundtrack

In the years before cable television spread to every corner of the suburbs, KBHK Channel 44, broadcating from Sutro Tower high above Twin Peaks, was every San Francisco Bay area kid's best friend. Every weekday afternoon they broadcast several hours of cartoons followed by reruns of Leave it to Beaver, the Brady Bunch, and Batman. On Saturday mornings KBHK broadcast a local professional wrestling show called BigTime Wrestling. It was alwways broacast "live from the Cow Palace", and followed by "The Monster Mash", which was what they called their weekly horror movie. But this was in the days before the slasher movies of the 1980s, so they weren't very horrifying. The Blob, Santa Calus Conquers the Martians, and Creature from the Black Lagoon were about as frightening as the movies got. And following that was usually an Abbot & Costello, Shirley Temple, or Bowery Boys movie. As I am sure you have figured out, if you have a compilation alum of forty of the strangest songs ever to appear on the pop charts, you are going to want to get Wolfman Jack to pitch it for you on KBHK.

In 1977 I begged my mother to buy me that 3 LP set called "40 Funky Hits",and, believe it or not, she did. Now, every once in a while I have this song by the Trashmen pop into my head. And once, at a nightclub in San Francico at least 30 years after this song was a hit, the band on stage, all to young to have been alive when it was on the radio, started playing the song. Astoundingly, and I kid you not, every single person in the place started dancing the pony, the twist, the swim AND SINGING ALONG!!! They all must have begged their moms for the album, too!

The song has ben covered by the Ramones and the Cramps, and even appeard in Stanley Kubrik's Full Metal Jacket. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, may I present the most perfect high energy dance song ever recorded: "The Bird is the Word" by the Trashmen!