''Gitarzan'' was

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as novelty ...

' fourth studio album, released in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, as well as his second for

Monument Records Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane (a prominent Baltimore disc jockey at WTTG), and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left ...

. Unlike his previous album, ''

Even Stevens ''Even Stevens'' is an American comedy television series that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 17, 2000, to June 2, 2003, airing a total of 65 episodes over three seasons. It follows the life of the Stevens, a family living in subur ...

'', this album is completely in the genres of

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

and

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

. Although this is a true studio album, all of the songs are overdubbed with cheering and applauding of an audience to provide the feeling of a live album. Contents include three of

the Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and " Young Blood" in 1957, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing ...

' hits ("

Yakety Yak "Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on the R&B charts and a week as number one on the Top 100 pop list. This ...

," " Little Egypt" and " Along Came Jones"), "

Mr. Custer "Mr. Custer" is a march novelty song, sung by Larry Verne, and written by Al De Lory, Fred Darian, and Joseph Van Winkle. Background It is a comical song about a soldier's plea to General Custer before the climactic Battle of the Little Bighorn a ...

," and "

Alley Oop ''Alley Oop'' is a syndicated comic strip created December 5, 1932, by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin, who wrote and drew the strip through four decades for Newspaper Enterprise Association. Hamlin introduced a cast of colorful characters an ...

." The album also contains re-recordings of his two novelty hits, " Harry the Hairy Ape" and "

Ahab the Arab "Ahab the Arab" (also written "Ahab, the Arab") is a novelty song written and recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962. Lyrics In the song, Arab is pronounced () to rhyme with Ahab. The hero of the story is Clyde the camel and Stevens has made referen ...

." "Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band)" makes its first appearance on an album but is overdubbed with audience noises for this album. The back of the album cover contains an essay that was written by

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 he hosted his own ta ...

and describes

' musical styles. Included in the essay is an anecdote about Stevens' appearance on ''

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 a ...

'' while promoting his hit "Unwind." Griffin also mentions that he and Arthur Treacher are featured in a performance of the song "Gitarzan" as the voices of Jane and Cheetah "(in the order of your choice)" during a visit from Stevens on Griffin's talk-show. In the official recording, though, Stevens does the vocals for all the characters. Aside from "Freddie Feelgood," two singles were lifted from this album: the title track (which tells a bizarre story about Tarzan and Jane and Cheetah forming a music band) and " Along Came Jones". The album version of the former begins with cheers and applause from an audience while the single version does not. On July 2,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer r ...

rereleased this album on CD and included three bonus tracks, all three of which were singles after the release of this album: "

The Streak Streak or streaking may refer to: *Streaking, running naked in a public place *Streaking or surfactant leaching in acrylic paints * Streaking (microbiology), a method of purifying micro-organisms *Streak (mineralogy), the color left by a mineral ...

," "The Moonlight Special," and "Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues)."

Track listing

CD bonus tracks *"

" - (

) *"The Moonlight Special" - (

) *"Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues)" - (

)

Personnel

*Produced by: Fred Foster, Ray Stevens, Jim Malloy *Arranger: Ray Stevens *

Jerry Carrigan Jerry Kirby Carrigan (September 13, 1943 – June 22, 2019) was an American drummer and record producer. Early in his career he was a member of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and later worked as a session musician in Nashville for over ...

- drums *

Norbert Putnam Norbert Auvin Putnam (born August 10, 1942) is an American musician, studio owner and record producer who was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019.Robert McFarland, Jr"Norbert Putnam."'' Delta Business Journal''. November 2004. Acce ...

- bass *Dick Kent - announcer *Jim Malloy, Charlie Tallent - engineer *Bill Forshee - photography *Ken Kim - art direction

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America) Singles - Billboard (North America) {{Authority control 1969 albums Ray Stevens albums Monument Records albums Albums produced by Fred Foster Albums produced by Ray Stevens Albums arranged by Ray Stevens Varèse Sarabande albums