Post by Rob Durkee on Jun 18, 2011 14:39:35 GMT -5
BY ROCKIN' ROBIN (a/k/a ROB DURKEE)
Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, one of the most weirdly unique cult singers of all time who's "My Name Is Larry" is never argued by anyone as the world's worst song ever, died Thursday (June 16, 2011) of heart failure at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. According to writer Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times, he was 66.
To put it mildly, Wild Man Fischer (WMF) was one of a kind. There never was any kind of performer before him and they'll never be anyone like him again. Ever. He was a one-in-a-trillion performer.
And perhaps the ultimate irony of his life is that every songwriter whose material is used in a movie's re-release (e.g. DVD) has the singer of "My Name Is Larry" to thank. On April 28, 1988, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Paramount Pictures' license to use WMF's song "Merry-Go-Round" in the 1969 movie "Medium Cool" didn't apply to the movie's videocassette release. Thus, Fischer was due to be paid a tidy sum of money. At the time in 1988, his attorney didn't know his whereabouts.
Wild Man Fischer rose to fame as a cult performer in the Los Angeles metroplex. He actually got his start in music in the 1960's by coming up to people on the Los Angeles streets and asking, "You wanna buy a song for a dime?" That's right, for a mere dime, you'd hear WMF sing a song for you. Usually a very short song. While frequenting the club scene, Fischer crossed paths with Solomon Burke, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who'd give him his nickname of "Wild Man." WMF was featured on one "Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In" TV show on NBC.
Larry Wayne Fischer was born November 7, 1944 and attended Fairfax High School. Sadly, he was plagued by mental problems most of his life. In recent years, it's believed that he lived in various downtown Los Angeles low-rent hotels or motels. In more recent months, he'd been living in an assisted living facility in Van Nuys before being hospitalized with heart problems. Earlier in his life, he was once reportedly institutionalized for attacking his mother with a knife. Fittingly, after being freed from a mental institution, he entitled his next LP release, "Pronounced Normal." This writer nearly got the chance to meet WMF along with radio talk show personality Melrose Larry Green about the year 2000. However, Green cancelled the lunch date because Fischer "is too mentally unstable."
WMF's unique novelty-like music style caught the ears of the late Frank Zappa of the Mothers Of Invention in the late 60's. Zappa would produce the 1968 double-vinyl LP "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer" on his Bizarre Records label. That rare LP is still not available on CD. In a 1970 interview, Zappa pointed out, "One thing you must remember about Wild Man Fischer is that he actually is a wild person. And Larry is dangerous."
Rhino Records, which become famous for its reissue of the early 1987 #1 hit "At This Moment" by Billy Vera And The Beaters, would make WMF the label's first artist ever. Rhino released three WMF LP's, including "Go To Rhino Records." Two of those Rhino LP's were produced by the comedy duo Barnes and Barnes of "Fish Heads" fame. A two-CD set of much of WMF's Rhino material is available, including the infamous recordings of "I Light The Pilot," "Josephine," "I'm Selling Peanuts For The Dodgers" and the nine-seconds-long "My Mother Was Right". How did he introduce and end each of the two CD's? With a taped voice via a microphone? Nope. Instead, a quick greeting with his voice being recorded via a phone call.
WMF actually recorded the most-recorded song in history, the Beatles' "Yesterday." Before singing it, Fischer mentioned, "And I hope that I will someday be bigger than the Beatles."
Fischer's antics came to a head when he was in the Rhino Records' store in Westwood one day trying to bully people into buying his records. Word of the incident got to Rhino Records higher-ups, who promply dropped WMF from the label.
The stories behind the song "My Name Is Larry" are as ridiculously funny as the song was. The song's actual lyrics start with "My name is Larry, my name is Larry, I have a mother, her name is Mother. Hi mother! Hi! I love you, Mother! I'll always love you, mother!"
I kid you not.
In a little over three minutes, he mentions what his name is 21 times, goes down a list of seemingly every relative he had, including Aunt Becky, and then said hello to each of them. When he yelled out "Hi Aunt Becky!", he then mimicked his aunt by replying 'Hi Larry!"
Here's a few "Larry" stories:
* -- In 1978, during a dinner at this writer's mom's house that included his sister, Diane, and her husband Steve, "Larry" was played for all to hear. Diane and Steve couldn't stop laughing over the record while my mom muttered, "That's TERRIBLE!"
* -- An old flame, Judy Rehm-Norbo, had "Larry" on a cassette...and HER mom accidently wound up hearing the song "Larry" after pressing the play button on the cassette player. Trouble is, she wanted to turn off the cassette and the stop button malfunctioned. Judy's mom had to pull the plug out the electrical outlet and would later ask, "Judy, what is that awful song Rob put onto that cassette for you?"
* -- When this writer was working at The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in the late 70's and early 80's, co-worker Steve Herrick made sure he wouldn't have a story killed out of the newspaper's computer. He put this note at the top of the story..."Please do not kill this story out of our computer. If you do, you will be sent to Rob Durkee for punishment...and we all know what that means."
* -- When "Larry" was played in part in the Elyria Catholic press box prior to a football game, the school announcer told Rob's boss, Jerry Rombach, that EC officials were taking up money to form a reward to pay to whomever could destroy the tape of "Larry." Similarly, prior to an Elyria High School football game, an EHS fan inside the school's football press box told Rombach, "That God-d--m Durkee plays that God-d--m 'My Name Is Larry' every God-d--n Friday night here."
Barry Hanson, a/k/a Dr. Demento, dueted with MMF on the 68-second-long "I'm A Christmas Tree." It easily ranks as the worst Christmas song of all time.
Dr. Demento reflected on Fischer recalling, "He made up songs that were beautiful and interesting. He didn't always finish them because a lot of his work is fragments. But they're GREAT fragments. One of the tragedies of his life was that Larry immediately assumed that because somebody who was famous had discovered him and recorded this elaborate double album (in 1968), that Larry was going to be a superstar. And when that didn't happen, he found that very, very hard to handle."
Larry "Wild Man" Fischer, one of the most weirdly unique cult singers of all time who's "My Name Is Larry" is never argued by anyone as the world's worst song ever, died Thursday (June 16, 2011) of heart failure at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. According to writer Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times, he was 66.
To put it mildly, Wild Man Fischer (WMF) was one of a kind. There never was any kind of performer before him and they'll never be anyone like him again. Ever. He was a one-in-a-trillion performer.
And perhaps the ultimate irony of his life is that every songwriter whose material is used in a movie's re-release (e.g. DVD) has the singer of "My Name Is Larry" to thank. On April 28, 1988, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Paramount Pictures' license to use WMF's song "Merry-Go-Round" in the 1969 movie "Medium Cool" didn't apply to the movie's videocassette release. Thus, Fischer was due to be paid a tidy sum of money. At the time in 1988, his attorney didn't know his whereabouts.
Wild Man Fischer rose to fame as a cult performer in the Los Angeles metroplex. He actually got his start in music in the 1960's by coming up to people on the Los Angeles streets and asking, "You wanna buy a song for a dime?" That's right, for a mere dime, you'd hear WMF sing a song for you. Usually a very short song. While frequenting the club scene, Fischer crossed paths with Solomon Burke, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who'd give him his nickname of "Wild Man." WMF was featured on one "Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In" TV show on NBC.
Larry Wayne Fischer was born November 7, 1944 and attended Fairfax High School. Sadly, he was plagued by mental problems most of his life. In recent years, it's believed that he lived in various downtown Los Angeles low-rent hotels or motels. In more recent months, he'd been living in an assisted living facility in Van Nuys before being hospitalized with heart problems. Earlier in his life, he was once reportedly institutionalized for attacking his mother with a knife. Fittingly, after being freed from a mental institution, he entitled his next LP release, "Pronounced Normal." This writer nearly got the chance to meet WMF along with radio talk show personality Melrose Larry Green about the year 2000. However, Green cancelled the lunch date because Fischer "is too mentally unstable."
WMF's unique novelty-like music style caught the ears of the late Frank Zappa of the Mothers Of Invention in the late 60's. Zappa would produce the 1968 double-vinyl LP "An Evening With Wild Man Fischer" on his Bizarre Records label. That rare LP is still not available on CD. In a 1970 interview, Zappa pointed out, "One thing you must remember about Wild Man Fischer is that he actually is a wild person. And Larry is dangerous."
Rhino Records, which become famous for its reissue of the early 1987 #1 hit "At This Moment" by Billy Vera And The Beaters, would make WMF the label's first artist ever. Rhino released three WMF LP's, including "Go To Rhino Records." Two of those Rhino LP's were produced by the comedy duo Barnes and Barnes of "Fish Heads" fame. A two-CD set of much of WMF's Rhino material is available, including the infamous recordings of "I Light The Pilot," "Josephine," "I'm Selling Peanuts For The Dodgers" and the nine-seconds-long "My Mother Was Right". How did he introduce and end each of the two CD's? With a taped voice via a microphone? Nope. Instead, a quick greeting with his voice being recorded via a phone call.
WMF actually recorded the most-recorded song in history, the Beatles' "Yesterday." Before singing it, Fischer mentioned, "And I hope that I will someday be bigger than the Beatles."
Fischer's antics came to a head when he was in the Rhino Records' store in Westwood one day trying to bully people into buying his records. Word of the incident got to Rhino Records higher-ups, who promply dropped WMF from the label.
The stories behind the song "My Name Is Larry" are as ridiculously funny as the song was. The song's actual lyrics start with "My name is Larry, my name is Larry, I have a mother, her name is Mother. Hi mother! Hi! I love you, Mother! I'll always love you, mother!"
I kid you not.
In a little over three minutes, he mentions what his name is 21 times, goes down a list of seemingly every relative he had, including Aunt Becky, and then said hello to each of them. When he yelled out "Hi Aunt Becky!", he then mimicked his aunt by replying 'Hi Larry!"
Here's a few "Larry" stories:
* -- In 1978, during a dinner at this writer's mom's house that included his sister, Diane, and her husband Steve, "Larry" was played for all to hear. Diane and Steve couldn't stop laughing over the record while my mom muttered, "That's TERRIBLE!"
* -- An old flame, Judy Rehm-Norbo, had "Larry" on a cassette...and HER mom accidently wound up hearing the song "Larry" after pressing the play button on the cassette player. Trouble is, she wanted to turn off the cassette and the stop button malfunctioned. Judy's mom had to pull the plug out the electrical outlet and would later ask, "Judy, what is that awful song Rob put onto that cassette for you?"
* -- When this writer was working at The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram in the late 70's and early 80's, co-worker Steve Herrick made sure he wouldn't have a story killed out of the newspaper's computer. He put this note at the top of the story..."Please do not kill this story out of our computer. If you do, you will be sent to Rob Durkee for punishment...and we all know what that means."
* -- When "Larry" was played in part in the Elyria Catholic press box prior to a football game, the school announcer told Rob's boss, Jerry Rombach, that EC officials were taking up money to form a reward to pay to whomever could destroy the tape of "Larry." Similarly, prior to an Elyria High School football game, an EHS fan inside the school's football press box told Rombach, "That God-d--m Durkee plays that God-d--m 'My Name Is Larry' every God-d--n Friday night here."
Barry Hanson, a/k/a Dr. Demento, dueted with MMF on the 68-second-long "I'm A Christmas Tree." It easily ranks as the worst Christmas song of all time.
Dr. Demento reflected on Fischer recalling, "He made up songs that were beautiful and interesting. He didn't always finish them because a lot of his work is fragments. But they're GREAT fragments. One of the tragedies of his life was that Larry immediately assumed that because somebody who was famous had discovered him and recorded this elaborate double album (in 1968), that Larry was going to be a superstar. And when that didn't happen, he found that very, very hard to handle."
