The Belled Buzzard: Where do song ideas come from?
by Bryce Martin

John Hartford composed "Gentle on My Mind" after watching the movie Dr. Zhivago.

For old-timers, though, often the most simple of songs came from long, wrought-out tales handed down involving fact and maybe a little fiction.

As in this recount of the origin of the old-time breakdown fiddle tune "The Belled Buzzard" and the little, tinkling bell-sound made by the fiddler that provides a signature for the tune:

The melody has similarities to "Billy in the Lowlands." Ford (1940) relates an Ozark tale regarding the origins of the tune, concerning a settlement along a river bottom. "One bank of the river was bordered for miles by high unscalable bluffs crowned with scrub timber, the home and breeding place of thousands of buzzards. Hog raising was the main source of income of the community. Mast from the acorn-bearing trees furnished food for the droves of hogs ear-marked and turned into the woods each year, to by rounded up in the fall ready for market. One summer hog cholera broke out among the porkers. The buzzards, feasting on the dead carcasses, carried the disease from one section of the country to another. There was an unwritten law that these birds should no be killed, but the farmers were aware that, unless some action was taken to check the spread of the disease, their hogs, together with their incomes, would be wiped out entirely. A meeting was called. It was decided to capture one of the birds and fasten a small sheep bell to it, in the hope that it would cause them to leave. One of the birds was accordingly trapped and belled. His arrival among the others created a great commotion and in a few days the flock of buzzards disappeared, only the belled buzzard remaining. Finally he, too, took flight. At the end of the summer there was an epidemic of typhoid fever in the community, many dying. About the same time the belled buzzard reappeared, the tinkle of his bell being plainly heard as he soared above the houses. He came and went time after time and always following his reappearence some sort of calamity happened. The return of the belled bird aroused apprehension in the minds of the more superstitious and his presence became associated with their misfortunes. They believed the repulsive fowl was posessed of an evil spirit. Many believe he still roams the skies, as he has for more than a hundred years, so that even today any report of the belled buzzard casts a spell of gloom over them. The tune, 'The Belled Buzzard', has been handed down through the years with this tradition, the plucking of the fiddle string in certain places in the music representing the tinkle of his bell."

Source for notated version: fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld (Seattle) [Phillips]. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 60. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 22.

-30-

Happy Helling, you more than deserve it
by Bryce Martin


Today's News flash:

9:29 AM ET

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber struck the police headquarters in Basra on Tuesday, killing at least three officers and wounding 20 people amid fears over the southern city's deteriorating security situation.

I see another suicide bomber has changed his address. It's amazing that Hell is still taking on such willing new residents after all these years. Amazing. Some people will do anything to get there. Well, happy gnashing. Just don't expect a vase of flowers. Uh, can I get you a water? Just kidding. I imagine you'll hear a bunch of those type jokes from now on, forever, actually.

-30-

Former Bakersfield record store owner launched Janet Jackson
by Bryce Martin

In 1986, Janet Jackson released an album titled Control on A&M Records. "What Have You Done For Me Lately" was the first single from the LP. It was her third album and the first two fared poorly. This one, though, was about to launch her like a moonshot.

The single was brought to Olen Harrison, a record promoter who owned Advance Music in San Francisco, a one stop shop with distribution. From there, the disc, promoted by Harrison, climbed near the top of the local music charts and went on to become a nationwide hit credited with launching the bigtime career Jackson was seeking.

Harrison, a southerner by birth, was living in Palo Alto, Calif., when, in the early 1950s, he made a move to Bakersfield, Calif., where he worked as a disc jockey at radio stations KBIS and KAFY while owning a retail record store called The Record Shop. In 1955 he went to San Francisco and continued in the music business until the 1989 earthquake. He died in 2000.

-30-

Meeting Satchel Paige
by Bryce Martin

It was just one of those things in life that lasts a moment, but in afterthought is revered in the mind forever.

The Kansas American Legion State Baseball Tournament, held Aug. 4-8, 1960, at Blue Jay Park in Salina, featured the eight district playoff winners.

Chet Roark managed our Columbus team. I was the team's centerfielder. We stayed at a hotel in downtown Salina. The afternoon of our first full day there the temperature sign on a nearby bank read 103 degrees. At the Topper Jr. on 9th Street, you could get a hamburger for 15 cents and a malt for 19 cents.

Roark caught me walking through the lobby and said, "Do you know who this is?" He was talking to a tall, long armed black man. "Sure, I said. "It's Satchel Paige. 'Hello, Mr. Paige.'" I knew it must be him since I had read the local sports page and it had a box score and story of a recent game. Paige was pitching for a Salina team. I shook his hand and went on my way.

We won our first game, defeating the Wichita Derby Rockets, 8-3. We were undefeated when we eventually played Salina, which had one loss. They beat us to force a final game, a game we lost, thanks mostly to my only error of the season in center field.

I remembered that for a long time, until it became more convenient and a whole lot less painful to recall the image of Satchel Paige looking me in the eye in the cool of a hotel lobby on that hot Kansas day.

-30-

Recordings about Merle Haggard
Compiled by Bryce Martin

"Feelin More Haggard Than Merle"
Cody Austin
Foxfire 888

"Hello Hag"
Lonnie Deerman
Driftwood 102

"Hello Hag"
Tommy Collins
New Patches (CD)
Password A-0001
1986

"If Merle Only Knew" b/w "All My Love Songs"
The Phillips East Family
EMC Records 912
(Dale, Texas)
1985

"The Mighty Hag"
Mel Lawrence
Memory 102
1982

"Hag and I"
Bob Teague
Angela Celeste XX1
1983

"Tribute to Hag"
Danny Wood
Avion 102

*Mr. Hag Told My Story (LP)
Johnny Paycheck
Epic FE 36761
1981
*LP title

"I'll Change Your Tire, Merle"
Be a Brother (LP)
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Columbia C-30222
1970

"If Merle Would Sing My Song"
In My High School (LP)
Blaine Larsen
Giantslayer
2004

"Hag and Jones"
Which Way Do We Go (CD)
Al White
Bellaire/Glad
1999

"Thank You Merle"
Bill Woods -- Mike Myers
Turquoise 202

"Buck and Merle"
Don Walser
From Valley Entertainment album
I'll Hold You in My Heart
September 2000

"Ain't No One Can Sing a Song Like Merle"
Don Malena
Comstock COM 1762
1984

-30-
...

> My Aunt Helen wrote a poem concerning an event that happened regarding her mother, and my grandmother, Iva. Helen caught a glimpse of a rich girl whose folks owned a grocery store, a glimpse of her silk panties while she as a school kid played on the swing sets at recess.

"This is a poem I wrote about a true happening. I was in the third
grade. It was Mom's one and only slip, silk or otherwise." -- Helen Hudson


My Silk Panties
By Helen Hudson

When I was in grade school, a long time ago
There's things I remember and they are so
One day at recess, while sliding down the slide
I noticed a rich girl showing off her pride

She wore silk panties, with lace and all pink
Looking at my flour sack ones, hers were unique
So when I got home and no one seemed to be around
I started making me silk panties, not making a sound

The silk I used was Mom's one and only slip
All I could think of was "rip, rip, rip"
I wore the silk panties to school, so proud while sliding
But, when Mom found out, I had to go in hiding

She was so mad when she found her slip scraps
I knew I was in trouble, my world about to collapse
She hollered, "Helen! Helen! You better come here right now!"
Pretending not to hear her I kept quiet somehow

After a while I showed up thinkin' she had forgiven
To my surprise a switch appeared; I can't go on livin'

A lesson was learned to my dismay
The sting of the switch went away
I was so happy, what can I say?
I had silk panties... for one whole day

-30-