Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician, bandleader and conductor specializing in spoof arrangements and satire of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with various sound effects, including gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, sneezes, animal sounds and outlandish and comedic vocals. Jones and his band recorded for RCA Victor under the title Spike Jones and His City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and they toured the United States and Canada as "The Musical Depreciation Revue".

Early years

Lindley Armstrong Jones was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, the son of Ada (Armstrong) and Lindley Murray Jones, a

Southern Pacific railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

agent. Young Lindley Jones was given the nickname 'Spike' for being so thin that he was compared to a railroad spike. At the age of 11 he got his first set of

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. As a teenager he played in bands that he formed himself; Jones' first band was called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as musical instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he joined the Victor Young orchestra and got many offers to appear on radio shows, including

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...

's ''Lifebuoy Program'', ''

Burns and Allen Burns and Allen were an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen. They worked together as a successful comedy team that entertained vaudeville, film, radio, and television audiences for over forty years. The ...

'', and

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

's ''

Kraft Music Hall ''The Kraft Music Hall'' was a popular old-time radio variety show, variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired first on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949. Radio ''The Kraft Program'' debuted June 26, 1933, as a musical- ...

''.

Spike Jones and His City Slickers

Jones became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras. He found other like-minded musicians and they began playing parodies of standard songs for their own entertainment. The musicians wanted their wives to share their enjoyment, so they recorded their weekly performances. One of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians a recording contract. One of the City Slickers' early recordings for the label was a Del Porter arrangement of " Der Fuehrer's Face". The record's success inspired Jones to become the band's leader. He initially thought the popularity the record brought them would fade. However, audiences kept asking for more, so Jones started working on more comic arrangements. From 1937 to 1942, Jones was the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, which played on Bing Crosby's first recording of " White Christmas". He was part of a backing band for songwriter Cindy Walker during her early recording career with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

and Standard Transcriptions. Her song "We're Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down" provided the inspiration for the name of Jones's future band. The City Slickers developed from the Feather Merchants, a band led by vocalist-clarinetist Del Porter, who took a back seat to Jones during the group's embryonic years. They made experimental records for the Cinematone Corporation and performed publicly in Los Angeles, gaining a small following. Original members included vocalist-violinist Carl Grayson, banjoist Perry Botkin, trombonist King Jackson, and pianist Stan Wrightsman. The band's early records were issued on RCA Victor's budget-priced Bluebird label, but were soon moved to the more-prestigious Victor label. They recorded extensively for the company until 1955. They also starred in various radio programs (1945–1949) and in their own NBC and CBS television shows from 1954 to 1961.

Orchestra members

During the 1940s, prominent band members included: * George Rock (trumpet, and vocals from 1944 to 1960) *

Mickey Katz Meyer Myron "Mickey" Katz (June 15, 1909 – April 30, 1985) was an American musician and comedian. He was the father of actor Joel Grey and paternal grandfather of actress Jennifer Grey. Early life Meyer Myron Katz was born on Sawtell Court i ...

(clarinet, vocals) * Doodles Weaver (vocals – specialized in playing sports commentators and absentminded singers who persistently scrambled their lyrics into

malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...

s and digressed into

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

) * Red Ingle (sax, vocals) * Frank Rehak (trombone) * Del Porter (clarinet, vocals) *Carl Grayson (violin, vocals) * Perry Botkin (banjo) *Country Washburne (tuba) *Luther "Red" Roundtree (banjo) *Earl Bennett, a.k.a. Sir Frederick Gas (vocals) *Joe Siracusa (drums) *Joe Colvin (trombone) *Roger Donley (tuba) *Dick Gardner (baritone sax, clarinet, violin) *Paul Leu (piano) *Jack Golly (alto sax, clarinet) *John Stanley (trombone) *Don Anderson (trumpet) *Charlotte Tinsley (harp) *Eddie Metcalfe (saxophone) *Dick Morgan (banjo), a.k.a. I. W. Harper *Freddy Morgan (banjo, vocals) *George Lescher (piano) * A. Purvis Pullen, a.k.a. Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (bird calls, dog barks) * Russ "Candy" Hall (bass, tuba) The band's 1950s personnel included: * Helen Grayco (vocals) *Earl Bennett, as Sir Frederick Gas *

Billy Barty Billy Barty (born William John Bertanzetti; October 25, 1924 – December 23, 2000) was an American actor and activist. In adult life, he stood tall, due to cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism. Because of his short stature, he was often cast i ...

(standing 3' 9", vocals and comedy routines, including impersonations of Liberace) * Lock Martin (standing 7', comedy routines) *Freddy Morgan (banjo) *Peter James (vocals; sometimes billed as Bobby Pinkus) * Jad Paul (banjo) * Gil Bernal (sax, vocals) * Paul "Mousie" Garner (vocals) *Bernie Jones (sax, vocals) *Phil Gray (trombone) *Marilyn Olsen Oliveri (vocals, harp) The liner notes for at least two RCA compilation albums claimed that the two Morgans were brothers (the 1949 radio shows actually billed them as "Dick and Freddy Morgan"), but this was not true; Freddy's real name was Morgenstern. Peter James (born Peter James Accardy, sometimes billed as Bobby Pinkus) and Paul "Mousie" Garner were former members of Ted Healy's stage act on Broadway. James joined Healy for a two-year run in the Shubert revue ''A Night in Spain'' (1927–1928) where he worked alongside Shemp Howard and

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

. Mousie joined Healy as a replacement stooge in the 1930s, after the original Three Stooges left Healy for movie work. Spike Jones's second wife, singer Helen Grayco, performed in his stage and television shows.

Record hits

"Der Fuehrer's Face"

A strike by the American Federation of Musicians in 1942 prevented Jones from making commercial recordings for over two years. He could, however, make records for radio broadcasts. These were released on the Standard Transcriptions label (1941–1946) and have been reissued on a CD compilation called ''(Not) Your Standard Spike Jones Collection''. Recorded just days before the recording ban, Jones scored a huge broadcast hit late in 1942 with " Der Fuehrer's Face", a song ridiculing

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, which followed every use of the word " Heil" with a derisive

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...

sound, as in the repeated phrase " Heil, (raspberry), Heil (raspberry), right in Der Fuehrer's face!".

More spoof songs

The romantic ballad " Cocktails for Two", originally written to evoke an intimate romantic rendezvous, was re-recorded by Spike Jones in 1944 as a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. The Jones version was a huge hit. Other Jones spoofs followed: " Hawaiian War Chant", " Chloe", " Holiday for Strings", " You Always Hurt the One You Love", " My Old Flame" and " Laura"

"Ghost Riders"

Spike's 1949 parody of

Vaughn Monroe Vaughn Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another f ...

's rendition of " Ghost Riders in the Sky" was performed as if sung by a drunkard and ridiculed Monroe by name in its final stanza:

CHORUS: ...'cause all we hear is "Ghost Riders" sung by Vaughn Monroe.
I.W. HARPER: I can do without his singing.
SIR FREDERICK GAS: But I wish I had his dough!

The official American release edited out the dig at Monroe, because Monroe, a popular RCA Victor recording artist and also a major RCA stockholder, demanded it. The original version was released in the European market. (A limited number of original 78-rpm pressings containing the first ending were mistakenly released on the West Coast and are a prized rarity today.) The original recording with the unedited ending was later issued on a German RCA LP collection and on some CD and audio tape releases containing the song.

"Trailer Annie"

In the 1940s, Spike also recorded a comedic song titled "Trailer Annie", about a woman who tries to find a job in the United States military.

"All I Want for Christmas"

Jones's recording, " All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth", with a piping vocal by George Rock, was recorded in 1947, too late for that year's shopping season; the record was withheld and was finally released in the fall of 1948, becoming a number-one hit. (

Dora Bryan Dora May Broadbent (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was an English actress of stage, film and television.Beatle".)

Murdering the Classics

Among the recordings Spike Jones and his City Slickers made in the 1940s were many humorous takes on

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

such as the adaptation of

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

's '' Liebestraum No. 3'', played at a breakneck pace on unusual instruments. Others followed: Rossini's ''William Tell Overture'' was rendered on kitchen implements using a horse race as a backdrop, with one of the "horses" in the "race" likely to have inspired the nickname of the lone chrome yellow-painted SNJ aircraft flown by the U.S. Navy's

Blue Angels The Blue Angels, formally named the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, are a Aerobatics, flight demonstration squadron of the United States Navy.. Blue Angels official site. Formed in 1946, the unit is the second oldest formal aerobatics ...

aerobatic team's shows in the late 1940s, "Beetle Bomb". In live shows Spike would acknowledge the applause with complete solemnity, saying "Thank you, music lovers." In 1971, RCA issued an LP (on the prestigious Red Seal label) compilation of twelve of these "homicides", titled ''Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics.'' The album includes such ''tours de force'' as ''Pal-Yat-Chee'' (featuring the hillbilly satirists Homer and Jethro), Ponchielli's '' Dance of the Hours'', Tchaikovsky's '' None but the Lonely Heart'', Strauss's '' Blue Danube'' waltz, and Bizet's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...

''. In 1944, RCA Victor released "Spike Jones presents for the Kiddies" version of Tchaikovsky's ''Nutcracker Suite'', in three 10-inch, 78- rpm records, P-143, arrangement credited to Joe "Country" Washburne with lyrics by Foster Carling. The set was also issued by RCA Victor on three 7-inch vinyl 45-rpm records in 1949 as WP-143 and on one 45rpm "extended play" record, EPA-143 in 1952. An abridged and re-sequenced version of the recording is also included in the aforementioned RCA Red Seal 'classics' album, with the complete original version available on the CD collection ''Spiked: The Music of Spike Jones''.

Radio

After appearing as the house band on '' The Bob Burns Show,'' Spike got his own radio show on NBC, '' The Chase and Sanborn Program'', as Edgar Bergen's summer replacement in 1945. Frances Langford was co-host and

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

was among the guests. The guest list for Jones's 1947–49 CBS program for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

(originally ''The Spotlight Revue'', retitled ''The Spike Jones Show'' for its final season) included

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

, Mel Torme, Peter Lorre,

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, repertory theatre, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 19 ...

and

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American Folk music, folk singer and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his o ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

appeared on the show twice (October 1, 1948 and December 3, 1948) and Lassie in May 1949. Jones's resident "girl singer" during this period was Dorothy Shay, "The Park Avenue Hillbillie." One of the announcers on Jones's CBS show was the young

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade car ...

. Writers included Eddie Maxwell, Eddie Brandt, and Jay Sommers. The final program in the series was broadcast in June 25, 1949.

Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra

While Jones enjoyed the fame and prosperity, he was annoyed that nobody seemed to see beyond the craziness. Determined to show the world that he was capable of producing legitimate "pretty" music, he formed a second group in 1946. Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra played lush arrangements of dance hits. This alternate group played nightclub engagements and was an artistic success, but the paying public preferred the City Slickers and stayed away. Jones wound up paying some of the band's expenses out of his own pocket. Some of the City Slickers band members appeared and recorded with the Other Orchestra, but most of the Other Orchestra personnel consisted of "serious," accomplished studio musicians from the Los Angeles area. The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura", which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played for laughs by the City Slickers). Jones's son, Spike Jones Jr., called attention to the precision of his father's most outlandish musical arrangements: "One of the things that people don't realize about Dad's kind of music is, when you replace a C-sharp with a gunshot, it has to be a C-sharp gunshot or it sounds awful."

Movies

In 1940, Jones had an uncredited bandleading part in the Dead End Kids film ''Give Us Wings'', appearing on camera for about four seconds. As the band's fame grew, Hollywood producers hired the Slickers as a specialty act for feature films, including '' Thank Your Lucky Stars'' (1943), '' Meet the People'' (1944), '' Bring on the Girls'' (1945), '' Breakfast in Hollywood'' (1946) and '' Variety Girl'' (1947). Jones was set to team with Abbott and Costello for a

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

comedy, but when Lou Costello withdrew for medical reasons, Universal replaced the comedy team with look-alikes

Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Western (genre), Western television series ' ...

and Buddy Hackett, and promoted Jones to the leading role. The finished film, '' Fireman Save My Child'', turned out to be Spike Jones's only top-billed theatrical movie.

Soundies

In 1942, the Jones gang worked on numerous soundies, musical shorts similar to later

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s which were shown on coin-operated projectors in small nightclubs, arcades, malt shops, and taverns. The band appeared on camera under their own name in four of the Soundies ("Clink! Clink! Another Drink", "Pass the Biscuits, Mirandy", "The Sheik of Araby", and "Blacksmith Song"), and, according to musicologist Mark Cantor, provided background music for at least thirteen others. Mel Blanc, the voice of

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink" (reissued in 1949 as "The Clink! Clink! Polka").

Television

Spike Jones Bill Dana Helen Grayco Spike Jones Show 1960

Jones saw the potential of television and filmed two half-hour pilot films, ''Foreign Legion'' and ''Wild Bill Hiccup'', in the summer of 1950. Veteran comedy director Eddie Cline worked on both, but neither was successful. The band fared much better on live television, where their spontaneous antics and crazy visual gags guaranteed the viewers a good time. Spike usually dressed in a suit with an enormous check pattern and was seen dashing around playing a washboard, cowbells, a suite of klaxons and foghorns, then xylophone, then shooting a pistol. The band starred in variety shows, such as '' The Colgate Comedy Hour'' (1951, 1955) and their '' All Star Revue'' (1952) before being given his own slot by NBC, '' The Spike Jones Show'', which aired early in 1954, and Club Oasis on NBC, in the summer of 1958; and by CBS, as ''The Spike Jones Show,'' in the summers of 1957, 1960, and 1961. Jones and his City Slickers also appeared on NBC's '' The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford'' in the episode which aired on November 15, 1956. In 1990,

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

screened six compilation shows from these broadcasts; they were subsequently aired on PBS stations.

Later years

The virtual disappearance of big bands immediately following the end of World War II and the rise of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

in the early 1950s had a marked effect on Spike Jones's repertoire. Early rock songs were ''already'' novelties, and Jones could not spoof them the same way he had lampooned "Cocktails for Two", "Laura" or "Chloe". He played rock music for laughs when he presented "for the first time on television, the bottom half of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

!" This was the cue for a pair of pants—inhabited by dwarf actor

—to scamper across the stage. Jones was always prepared to adapt to changing tastes. In 1950, when America was nostalgically looking back at the 1920s, Jones recorded a tongue-in-cheek album of Charleston arrangements. In 1953, he responded to the growing market for children's records, with tunes aimed directly at kids (like "Socko, the Smallest Snowball"). Over the years, Jones had become increasingly unhappy at RCA Victor due to management censoring his recordings and other matters, and he left the label in 1955. His later recordings were issued by Verve,

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

and Warner Bros. In 1956, Jones supervised an album of Christmas songs, many of which were performed seriously. In 1957, noting the television success of

Lawrence Welk Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' from 1951 to 1982. The program was known for its light and family-friendly style, and the ...

and his dance band, he revamped his own act for television. Gone was the old City Slickers mayhem, replaced by a more straightforward big-band sound, with tongue-in-cheek comic moments. The new band was known as Spike Jones and the Band that Plays for Fun. The last record credited to the City Slickers was the LP '' Dinner Music for People Who Aren't Very Hungry''. By the late 1950s spoken-word comedy (

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (September 5, 1929 – July 18, 2024) was an American comedian and actor. Newhart was known for his deadpan and stammering delivery style. Beginning his career as a stand-up comedian, he transitioned his career to acting in ...

, Mort Sahl, Stan Freberg, Shelley Berman) was the current trend in comedy records. Spike Jones adapted to this, too; most of his later albums are spoken-word comedy, including the horror-genre sendup '' Spike Jones in Stereo'' (1959) and the send-up of television programs of the period in ''Omnibust'' (1960). Jones remained topical to the last: his final group, Spike Jones's New Band, recorded four LPs of brassy renditions of pop-folk tunes of the 1960s (including "Washington Square" and "The Ballad of Jed Clampett"). A notable New Band track from 1964 was a

quodlibet A quodlibet (; Latin for "whatever you wish" from '' quod'', "what" and '' libet'', "pleases") is a musical composition that combines several different melodies—usually popular tunes—in counterpoint, and often in a light-hearted, humorous ma ...

arrangement, combining " Dominique", a recent hit by

The Singing Nun Jeanne-Paule Marie "Jeannine" Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), better known as and often called The Singing Nun in English-speaking countries, was a Catholic Church in Belgium, Belgian Catholic singer-songwriter and former member ...

, with " When the Saints Go Marching In".

Personal life

Jones had four children: Linda (by his first wife, Patricia), Spike Jr., Leslie Ann, and Gina, with Helen Grayco. Spike Jr. is a producer of live events and television broadcasts. Leslie Ann is the Director of Music and Film Scoring at

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

' Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. Jones was a lifelong heavy smoker, reportedly 4-5 packs a day, and eventually he developed breathing problems, including

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

. Never the picture of health, his emphysema advanced to the point where he used an oxygen tank both on and offstage, and he was confined to a seat behind his drum set while performing. In spite of his illness, he continued smoking until his death on May 1, 1965, at the age of 53. He is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery,

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

. His second wife, Helen Grayco, died as a result of cancer in Los Angeles on August 20, 2022, at the age of 97.

Influence and legacy

There is a clear line of influence from Harry Reser's 1920s hot-comic "Six Jumping Jacks" band (whose drummer and vocalist was the distinctive Tom Stacks, "The Voice With a Smile"), the Hoosier Hot Shots, Freddie Fisher and his Schnickelfritzers, and the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

to Spike Jones—and to Stan Freberg, Gerard Hoffnung, Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach, The Goons, Joe Raposo, Mr. Bungle,

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; ; November 8, 1931 Kaunas – May 9, 1978 Boston, Massachusetts) was a Lithuanian American artist, art historian, and art organizer who was the founding member and central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of ...

, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

. According to David Wild's review in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine,

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

's 1989 album '' Spike'' was named partly in tribute to Jones. Syndicated radio personality Dr. Demento regularly features Jones' records on his program of comedy and novelty tracks. Jones is mentioned in The Band's song, " Up on Cripple Creek". (The song's protagonist's paramour states of Jones: "I can't take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk.") Novelist

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), th ...

is an admirer and wrote the liner notes for a 1994 CD reissue, ''Spiked!'' (BMG Catalyst). A scene in the romantic comedy '' I.Q.'' shows a man demonstrating the sound of his new stereo to Meg Ryan's character by playing a Jones recording. In the 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated short '' Back Alley Oproar'', a caterwauling Sylvester the Cat does a Spike Jones-inspired solo finale cover of " Angel in Disguise" by opening with a brief, serious-sounding introduction before immediately breaking into a jazzy rendition featuring a collection of crazy sound effects produced by firing guns, breaking bottles and exploding firecrackers among other sounds, much to

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

's annoyance. Spike Jones is referenced several times in the American TV series '' M*A*S*H''. In season 2, episode 5, "Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde", an exhausted Hawkeye sings a line of "Der Fuehrer's Face" in reference to the great songs that came out of World War II; in the season 8 episode " "Good-Bye, Radar: Part 1", when

Radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

returns from leave in Tokyo to a generator-less 4077th, he calls up Sparky to unsuccessfully bargain for a new one with a variety of items, which included some Spike Jones records; and in the season 11 episode "Foreign Affairs," visiting French Red Cross nurse Martine LeClerc ( Melinda Mullins), who develops a warm if brief affair with Charles Emerson Winchester III, tells him that she's a huge fan of Spike Jones, which inspires him to admit, in a rare confession, secretly loving ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...

'' cartoons. In 1974, Tony Levin (future bass player for

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

), recording under the name, The Clams, released a Spike Jones tribute of him giving the songs " Close to You" by

The Carpenters The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinctive soft musical style, combining ...

and " The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

, the Jones treatment. In 1986, the Belgian

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

group

Telex Telex is a telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communica ...

paid homage to Spike Jones in their album ''Looney Tunes'', with a song named after him. The intro of that song is a part of the intro from "

Camptown Races "De Camptown Races" or "Gwine to Run All Night" (nowadays popularly known as "Camptown Races") is a folk song by American Romantic composer Stephen Foster. It was published in February 1850 by F. D. Benteen and was introduced to the American mai ...

". In 1997, singers Artie Schroeck and Linda November directed a production in Atlantic City titled "The New City Slickers Present a Tribute to Spike Jones", with a band that attempted to re-create the style and humor of Jones's music. Both

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

and

Spike Jonze Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze ...

were nick-named in reference to Jones.

Discography

* ''Spike Jones Plays the Charleston'' (1950) * ''Bottoms Up, Polka'' (1952) * ''Spike Jones Murders Carmen and Kids the Classics'' (1953) * '' Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry'' (1956) * ''Spike Jones Presents a Xmas Spectacular'' (1956) (reissued as ''It's a Spike Jones Christmas'' and ''Let's Sing a Song of Christmas'') * ''Hi Fi Polka Party'' (1957) * '' Spike Jones in Stereo'' (1959) (reissued as ''Spike Jones in Hi Fi'') * ''Omnibust'' (1960) * ''60 Years of "Music America Hates Best"'' (1960) * ''Thank You Music Lovers!'' (1960) (reissued as ''The Best of Spike Jones'' in 1967 and 1975) * ''Rides, Rapes and Rescues'' (1960) * ''Washington Square'' (1963) * ''Spike Jones New Band'' (1964) * ''My Man'' (1964) * ''The New Band of Spike Jones Plays Hank Williams Hits'' (1965) * ''Spike Jones Is Murdering the Classics'' (1971) * ''The Best of Spike Jones Volume 2'' (1977) * ''Spike Jones and His Other Orchestra, 1946'' (Hindsight Records HUK185 1982) * ''Never Trust a city Slicker: Standard Transcription Discs 1942–1944'' (Harlequin HQ2042 1986)

Select singles

References

Other sources

External links

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Red Hot Jazz
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Spike 1911 births 1965 deaths American jazz bandleaders American comedy musicians American novelty song performers American parodists American big band bandleaders Parody musicians RCA Victor artists Liberty Records artists Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Deaths from emphysema Musicians from Long Beach, California 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American comedians American music arrangers Comedians from Los Angeles County, California Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni