Playboys of Edinburg
Listen/Download – Playboys of Edinburg – Mickey’s Monkey
Greetings all.
Before we get started this week I have some important news.
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In related news, my new weekly radio show for WFMU’s Give the Drummer Radio, Testify! had it’s inaugural episode last week and is archived over there. If you dig Funky16Corners and/or Iron Leg I think you’ll dig it. I’ll be on the air every Wednesday night from 10-12, live, so tune in when you get a chance!
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The record I bring you today is the result of a seed planted in my head way back in the 80s, when their name popped up in a spectacular radio station promo from a mid-60s concert in Texas called the Now Sounds Groove In.
The radio spot appeared on a compilation of Texas garage punk, and it became a staple of my mix tapes back in the day.
Hosted by the Houston Post (the spot was narrated by Scott Holtzman of the Fever Tree, who provided an original psychedelic jingle for the ad), the concert featured a bunch of Texas bands, some of which I knew (the Fever Tree, Moving Sidewalks, Countdown 5, A440, Neal Ford and the Fanatics) and some that were new to me (The Glass Can, Coastliners, Sixpence, Thursday’s Children, Dimensions) including the Playboys of Edinburg.
Though I had never heard the group, the name stuck in my head (along with the rest of the commercial) and when I happened upon the 45 you see before you today, I had to grab it.
When I had only heard the ad, I assumed that the name was yet another grab at the British Invasion, a la the Playboys of Edinburgh (Scotland). The band was in fact the Playboys of Edinburg (Texas), a border down in the Southeast part of the state.
The A-side of their 1967 45, ‘Sanford Ringleton the 3rd of Abernathy’ is a kind of Kinks-y pop thing, but the flip, a cover of the Miracles ‘Mickey’s Monkey’ is a smoker.
They really lay into the tune, with some wailing organ and pounding drums (and handclaps) and I’d put their take right up there with the Rascals version.
The group released a handful of 45s for local and national labels between 1966 and 1970 (including a few later on as POE) and their version of ‘Mickey’s Monkey’ was a regional hit in Texas.
It’s a groovy 45, and I hope you dig it.
See you next week.
Peace
Larry
PS Head over to Funky16Corners for some soul.
