Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Bumble Boogie

First recorded by Freddy Martin & His Orchestra (US #7 1946).
Other hit version by B. Bumble & the Stingers (US #21 1961).

https://youtu.be/7lhy-1qZQAI

From the wiki: “Earl Palmer, René Hall and Plas Johnson were the house band at Rendezvous Records. According to Palmer, the three friends ‘always talked about how we could make some money and not leave the studio. One day I said, ‘Let’s do a rock version of ‘In the Mood”.’ The single, credited to the Ernie Fields Orchestra, became a hit, peaking in the US Top 5 in early 1960. Hall then came up with the idea for B. Bumble and the Stingers, taking the same approach to a piece of classical music. Pianist Jack Fina was approached. His 1946 swing arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ for Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, titled ‘Bumble Boogie’, had reached #7 on the Pop charts and was later used in the 1948 Walt Disney animated film Melody Time.

“Using Fina’s arrangement, producer Kim Fowley recorded pianist Ernie Freeman on two tracks, one using a grand piano for the rhythm part, while the other track featured a ‘tack piano’ – a modified upright piano with tacks attached to the hammers that created a tinny ‘honky tonk’ sound. The other musicians on the session, at Gold Star Studios, included Wrecking Crew regulars: Palmer on drums, Red Callender on bass, and Tommy Tedesco on guitar.”

B. Bumble & the Stingers, “Bumble Boogie” (1961):

https://youtu.be/VlHo2STjEoI

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