Radio XLV, side A, track 4: “Little Blue Riding Hood” by Stan Freberg

Oh, Stan Freberg, here’s just another reason why I loved my old radio station so much.  How many other radio stations would randomly play a comedy bit from the 1950s as part of their broadcast day?  It’s been awhile since I’ve heard this particular track, but I actually appreciate it even more now than I did when I first recorded it.  The rapid-fire “Dragnet”-style patter, the sly sexual innuendo (“What a big subpoena you have in your pocket.”), and the overall general silliness, these are all the kind of things I absolutely love, Stan Freberg.  It reminds me that before I became obsessed with recording music off the radio, I was just as obsessed with listening to records.  You may have noticed that I’m in the process of converting all my old 45s and uploading them on here, but besides the awesome music, I listened to a ton of comedy albums, as well.  Well, maybe not a ton, but I listened to the ones that my parents had, and I listened to those over and over.  Shelley Berman and Rodney Dangerfield were the ones I remember the best, mostly because I don’t think I was supposed to listen to them, which made it that much more appealing.  We also grew up on a steady diet of W.C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, and Laurel and Hardy.  So for me, hearing a comedy bit from several decades before I was born wasn’t actually that jarring to me.  Just as I was really fortunate to have a great radio station that exposed me to all kinds of music, I was also really fortunate to develop an appreciation of all kinds of humor, from vaudeville to Sam Kinison.  Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Stan Freberg.  And for the laughs.