The world, we may be glad to appreciate, is full of obscure holidays that hail from some of the weirdest cultural origins you could possibly imagine. Some holidays find their origins in a vague and virally spread cultural agreement; Star Wars Day (May the 4th), for instance, has never been officially declared a holiday by any sort of religious or civic body. It’s just generally accepted as “a thing.” Same for National Steak and Blowjob Day (March 14th). Other holidays – and these are the most fun – are indeed civically declared somewhere, usualyl by an ambitious politician eager to pander to their base. That means even the smallest of townships can claim the most trifling thing to be the origin of a holiday. Were I a mayor, I’d try to make sure that the year saw over 400 annaul celebrations a year.
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Most holidays, of course, find their origin in religious rites (“holiday” is, after all, short for “holy day”), and, given the number of active religions in operation on Earth (and elsewhere), there are plenty to choose from. And no other Church in this galaxy has weirder and more obscure holidays than that of The Church of the SubGenius, a venerable body of kooks who worship a deity named “Bob,” and who patiently await the day when the flying saucers from Planet X will arrive to take them away. Every day on the SubGenius calendar is devoted to an obscure saint, usually culled from outsider cultures and weird popular oddities.
And, yes, it took that much of an introduction to finally get to today, May 29th on the SubGenius calendar, which is the Feast of St. Spike Jones.
Spike Jones (1911 – 1965), for those who may be unlucky enough to not know his name, was a talented percussionist and performer who, through a great deal of Vaudeville knowhow and unending creativity, made some of the silliest, wackiest, most rambunctious comedy music you may have ever heard. He took popular songs of the day (standards like Stephen Foster’s “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” or “My Old Flame,” or “April Showers“) and added breathlessly fast cartoon sound effects, funny voices (sometimes provided by legend Mel Blanc) and a wonderful disregard for any of the old-world stuffiness usually associated with popular music at the time.
Spike Jones’ had already been a comedy musician for many years, having come from the Vaudeville circuit where he honed his amazing visual act, wild percussion performances, and enormous musical ensembles. However, his “big break,” as it were, happened during a 1942 musicians’ strike which forced Jones out of commercial recording into the realm of radio performance. Mere days before the strike went into effect, a Jones single called “Der Führer’s Face,” lampooning Hitler and his regime, started working its way into the consciousness. It soon took the world by storm – at least as much as a novelty song can – and, to this day, it remains one of the most daring satires of Nazi Germany ever made.
Jones’ career is long and deep, and his catalogue of songs is extensive and wide, so it’s not possible to list and to appreciate every single of of his more notable songs here. We can, however, revel in the glorious silliness of “Cocktails for Two,” perhaps Jones’ biggest hit, a spoofy cover of a romantic drinking song. Or perhaps his tendency to deliberately murder the classics, as heard on his classic record “Spike Jones Murders the Classics.” On it, he took well-known light Classical music, perhaps the type that your parents were listening to, and added a comedic jazz edge, complete with gunshots, dropping bottles, and rude commentary.
Like all the best comedians, Spike Jones embraced irreverence as his life ethos; No musical form was to be spared of spoofery, and nothing was too sacred to be milked for comedy. At the same time, however – and also like the best comedians – his work was rarely if ever tempered by bitterness or cynicism. Spike Jones didn’t hate music. Spike Jones loved music in all its forms. But he realized that you can deeply love and respect something while still not taking it very seriously.
Spike Jones did eventually move away from comedy, rather by necessity. As the 1950s rolled around, and rock ‘n’ roll records began to take over, Jones found himself living through, oddly enough, a wave of 1920s nostalgia. As such, he started to work on Charleston-inspired jazz, percussion projects, lounge, and other more “legitimate” musical forms. There are some tracks from Spike Jones that feature no gunshots at all, and show that he was indeed a musical polymath.
Spike Jones died on May 1st 1965 at the age of 53. To this day, you can still buy extensive Spike Jones collections, and every single cartoon-brained youth, comedy collector, and aspiring goofball likely has at least one record or two. On this fine, fine day, as the SubGenii command us, let us celebrate the glorious glories of Spike Jones, clink a drink, and seig heil (razz) right in Der Führer’s face.
Top Image: NBC
Witney Seibold is a contributor to the CraveOnline Film Channel, and the co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon. He also contributes to Legion of Leia and to Blumhouse. You can follow him on “The Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
