Soundtrack of My Misspent Youth - V

This is the fifth and final part of a chronicle of my old high school band.

Big Town Small Time Rock 'n' Roll Band

Originals

We actually did create a few original songs, and even have some recordings!

The Ma Schlep Stomp - was the band’s magnum opus. It started as a groove and reached its full fruition with this sensitive and poignant lyric:

Well do the MA SCHLEP STOMP, now everybody wail
It’s like doing the Jerk with your foot in a pail,
The kids all do it when the cavemen romp,
Remember the name it’s THE MA SCHLEP STOMP!

Take My Heart - was a folk-rock song I wrote:



Tom’s Instrumental - was a blues-based tune. If you are playing along at home, it’s in E:



We even played it at the Minnesota State Fair!

Howard Tusi - Was a song we discovered on a tape recording that a few of our fellow junior-high students (George Jackson, Steve Lasley, ?) had made of an ad-libbed chant about one of our classmates: Howard “Tusi” McQuitter II. Howard is a wonderful person and we still see him at class reunions. Here are the lyrics, as many as I can remember (sung to a shuffle beat):

I went down to the store,
To buy myself some meat,
I saw Howard Tusi I said:
‘Howard wash your feet!’

I said Howard, Oh! Howard!
Howard Tusi, Howard Tusi
I said Howard, Oh! Howard!
Howard Tusi, Howard Tusi

I went down to the store,
To buy myself some bread,
I saw Howard Tusi I said:
‘Howard wash your head!’

I said Howard, Oh! Howard!
Howard Tusi, Howard Tusi
I said Howard, Oh! Howard!
Howard Tusi, Howard Tusi

Further verses suggested that Howard wash various other parts of his anatomy but, alas, I am afraid they are lost in the sands of time. These recordings are pretty crude but a year later we actually were a pretty good band, even going “on the road” to Ladysmith, Wisconsin, a trip that ended in disaster, an event that effectively ended the band.