Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Hey Hey Holy Mackerel

I recently added a second record album (read about #1 here) to my Cubs collection, and it set me back all of five bucks.


Cub Power!

The album was recorded in July of 1969 and released about a month later.  It features all sorts of 1969 classics.  There is a rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame done by almost the entire team.  An eight minute bit features pitcher Dick Selma and the Bleacher Bums doing some cheers.

Two songs are done by the Cubs trio of Gene Oliver, Nate Oliver, and Willie Smith.  They sing Pennant Feeling, which is a baseball version of "That Loving Feeling,"  and an original song, Baseball, Baseball.

 The hit of the album is "Hey Hey, Holy Mackerel" which became the Cubs theme song for 1969 and many years following.  "Hey Hey" was the home run call of TV announcer Jack Brickhouse while radio play-by-play man Vince Lloyd used "Holy Mackerel" when a Cub player went deep.

You can see on the cover that almost all the players on the team were included.  The team did catch some flack when they made the album since there was still almost have a season remaining.  Outside distractions like this are one of the reasons cited for the team's September collapse.


On the back is a picture of the Bleacher Bums.  I don't know if all of them were included.

I'm thinking that the record people weren't into baseball much.


Lou Boudreau is listed as Lou Boubreau,Ted Abernathy became Ken Abernathy, and Paul Popovich got an extra T and became Paul Popovitch.


They got everything correct on the flip side.

The arranger and conductor was a pretty famous jazz artist, John Frigo.  His obit here is an interesting read.

As I did with my other Cubs-related album, I've digitized this one and burned a few CDs.  Let me know if you'd like a copy and I should be able to send one your way.
UPDATE: I have no more CDs to send out, but you can access the MP3s here, download them, and burn your own CD

5 comments:

  1. Finally found a copy of this at a garage sale last summer and couldn't have been more thrilled. It seems to be hard to come by at a decent price. It perfectly encapsulates the fever around the club that summer though, that's for sure

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  2. I just stumbled upon your blog from a chance Google search, and I'm so glad I did! I love reading about Cubs history, so this blog is a great find, for me. So much interesting information and so many topics covered, all based on trading cards. Truly a cool idea.

    I just picked up a 45 of Hey Hey Holy Mackerel, so I would love a CD of this record! I can PayPal you for postage, if you'd like.

    Thanks for putting this great information out there for fans to read and enjoy.

    Cheers.

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  3. Just give me your address and I'll be happy to send the CD your way...one Cub fan to another. My email address is in my complete profile, top right column

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  4. Please give me info for the CD. I have been a fan since 1966. Had the original 45 but my friend has it now. Email: TLH038C@aol.com

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  5. There's a used bookstore in Algonquin that had about 7 or 8 copies, I just picked one up.

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