August 30, 2010

Now circle right, the other way back,
make yer feet go wickity-whack.

Before he was corrupted by the American right wing, former Saturday Night Live cast member Dennis Miller could a pretty funny guy. Known for his cynicism, and for routines filled with plenty of pop culture references, he once talked about his contempt for square dancing - "when I go to dance, I go to express myself. These people are into being ordered around the floor by some neo-fascist Sam Drucker ... some sort of bizarre B.F. Skinner hoedown ..."

He makes a good point; indeed, square dancing probably isn't the thing to do if you really want to cut loose on the dance floor, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy. Square dancing is almost always thought of in an American context, but is actually from the UK originally, and bears a resemblance to Scottish country dancing. This is an album of square dance calls from Carson Robison and his Pleasant Valley Boys, recorded some time in the 1950s. Although he passed away over 50 years ago, Robison was very well regarded as an important influence on early American country music.

If you're not sure what to expect of this, and you're familiar with old Bugs Bunny cartoons, I can tell you that listening to this album will almost certainly remind you of these guys:



No comments: