Question about "It's A Gas" by Alfred E. Newman

Does anybody know what this recording is sourced from?

I was a record show last year, and one of the traders had an RCA 45 (which he said was an import) with the original music, sans belching. Idiot that I am, I didn't bother making note of the artist or title. I do remember the 45 was black label, with Nipper on it.

 

That's a new one on me. I've only ever known of the MAD DISCO soundsheet recording (which, unusual for Eva-Tone products, was mastered by Masterdisk!)....which I still have. (And the magazine.)

 

If that's the RCA single I've heard of, it was credited to the "Sweet Sick-teens" and written/produced by Norm Blagman and Sam Bobrick(later a writer for The Andy Griffith Show!). I think RCA balked at releasing the album and it came out on Big Top as Fink Along With MAD, with a flexi-disc single release in the magazine. Rhino's MAD Grooves CD identifies King Curtis as playing the sax solo but offers no other info on the musicians.

 

I don't know whether the following info will help, but here goes...

I have "It's A Gas" on a 1996 CD called "Mad Grooves" (KID RHINO # R2 72435)

The booklet says "it's A Gas" by Mike Russo, Jeanne Hayes, The Dellwoods
Written by Norman Blagman/Sam Bobrick
Courtesy of BIG TOP RECORDS, under license from Sony Music Special Products.

The booklet also says that the album with the song "It's A Gas" was originally recorded for release on RCA, who issued two songs from it on a single as the "Sweet Sick-teens" RCA later backed away from the project, believeing the material compromised the label's reputation for "good taste". It was then brought to MAD, who loved it arranged for it to be released on Big Top Records.

Sam Bobrick co-writer of "It's A Gas" adds to the booklet that, the musicians themselves provided the burps. The band loved going up to the mike, we would just have them belch, and then we cut the belches in later. The saxophone solo is performed by legendary King Curtis!

Chris C

 

What a great song. It really is a gas!!

 

My copy mysteriously disappeared after having played it within earshot of my mother. Now I have the CD.

 

that song's funny. i have it on a sampler CD that came with a copy of Mad in the '90s. i think it's called "Mad Bytes."

 

Truly an undigested classic.

 

The Fink Along with Mad vinyl LP on Bigtop has some silly tunes, but along with "It's a Gas," the Dellwoods' "When the Braces on Our Teeth Lock" is a standout.

 

............just don't bring it up again!

 

Didn't you just know someone would send a picture? Avatar ideas?...

 

Hey Wilkie! Remember the rules about no politics on the board?

Look at the 2nd guy from the bottom-left - he was all over CNN last night!

 

The guy who looks like Nicholas Cage? Who is he supposed to be?
On the left I can identify Frankie Avalon, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte and Frank Sinatra. One guy at the top looks somewhat like Richard Burton, but I think it's supposed to be all singers.
On the right I see the Beatles, Johnny Mathis, Elvis and Bob Dylan. Can't figure the rest.

 

I can't confirm that it's Richard Burton on the cover, but he's sure on the last page of that issue...the Mad Fold In Page.

 

Wow... what a long trip down memory lane...
Thanks for creating this thread!

I just realized that somewhere I still have the original MAD magazine issue with the flexi-single of "It's A Gas".

I had long forgotten about this, and when I first starting reading this thread, I vaguely recall this *song* complete with burps, after 35+ years.
This might reveal just how often I played this single when I was a runt.

_______________
Steve

 

I have it on Rhino's Dr. Demento 30th Anniversary Collection: Dementia 2000, credited to Alfred E. Neuman.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004R7LG/002-2047555-2713602

 

Hawthorne - it was Harry Belafonte. He did an extended segment with Wolf Blitzer the other night, in which Blitzer acted dumfounded at every comment Belafonte was making (as if he didn't know the guy's views before he had him on?)