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Things People Write on Their Records

DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
edited May 2008 in Strut Central
I've been going through a large batch of 45s lately, and as you folks who aren't prejudiced against the little records know, you see a lot of this:So, I don't normally pay attention to writing on 45 labels because I assume it's someone's name, but I happen to be cleaning one the other day and notice:Is this some sort of warning to others? Like, "Don't be fooled???this is NOT a countrified sequel to Harper Valley PTA! IT'S ACTUALLY ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE!!" Or a reassurance? Like, "Don't worry???I know this looks like it might be a countrified sequel to Harper Valley PTA, but rest assured, it's actually about Black people." Weird.
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  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    some of my records have little descriptions next to the tracks "slow" "funky" "fast" "romantic" "good" "great"

    there are dedications "To Yvonne, love Ray, 1976"

    one of my Temptations Cloud Nine LPs has attractive ratings next to each member on the cover - Eddie gets a "dreamy" he's my favourite, too!
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    many brasilian people used to send out records as presents. with writing all over the cover. love letters and greetings. seen a 45 that had a very personal note in portugese


    many names and full addresses. funniest thing was a totally wrong description of style and bars/measures. must have been a guy that had tried his best, but couldn't quite do it

    many phone numbers too.

    and some kids writing. how could a 12-year-old have bought Noir - We Let to Have You Have It on Dawn when it came out??? he wrote down his address, the date he bought it and his birth date. and there's the word love all over the cover too. he used it as a pad. must have been a cool fella!!!
  • behemothbehemoth 2,189 Posts
    i have a Hamilton Face Band LP at home with a whole story written on the inner sleeve. it is barely legible script but it says stuff like

    "what was this band thinking?" etc
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    my Slits Typical Girls/Heard it Through the Grapevine 45 has all these little pencil drawings that look like they were done by a kid. little butterflies and squiggles which I actually thought were part of the cover at first - you can see how they would fit in


  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    I once saw a Pentangle album in a used store where somebody wrote: "DON'T PLAY THIS RECORD - THIS IS HONKY MUSIC."

    An athiest friend of mine who worked in another store used to deface the backs of these gospel albums (well, they were in the cheap bin anyway). So you'd be looking at the song titles, and they'd read something like this:

    "I Stood On The Banks Of Jordan" (AND PEED)
    "None But The Righteous" (COULD RESIST THAT SWEET PUSSY)
    "If I Had A Hammer" (THE WIFEBEATING SONG)
    "If I Could Hear My Mother Pray" (THAT I HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR MY ABORTION)
    "Open Our Eyes" (SEE THAT HOOKER ON THE CORNER?)
    "Going Home" (TO JACK OFF TO PORN)

    you get the drift
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    I have a bunch of my grandfather's old records, he was really into stuff like Jimmy Smith and Johnny Hodges in the 50's. Most of them have little asterisks next to the songs he liked to play at parties to dance to. Makes me love those records even more, I feel connected to him when I play them even though he's been gone for 30+ years.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    My copy of Mandrake Sombossa has a long note in Italian on the inner sleeve, signed by the Mandrake man himself. My plastic Italian friend Luc tried to decipher but gave up.

    And I've had a number of albums over the years from Jazzman Radio's Hugh Albert, who had the habit of making his mark next to the best tracks - like a cross in a circle for hot latin, a cross for funky fusion and so on. I believe he did this because, in his grip and flip world, he'd be able to recognise his flippers when he came across them again in the second-hand stores. And avoid re-buying them.

    Hi Hugh. You sure sold me a lot of turds bitd.
    Let's get together and discuss.
  • bobbydeebobbydee 849 Posts
    I have a few records that a friend of my grandfathers gave to me. Mostly big band or swing stuff, and they have different dances written next to them. I asked him about it, and he used to DJ dancing competitions, and apparently completely independent of Dj/hip hop culture, he used to do primitive "mixes" by queuing up the first beat of the next record (without back spinning or beat matching obviously since he was on belt driven turntables) and drop the track on the last beat of the record preceding.

    I find that cute.
  • soulcitizensoulcitizen 304 Posts
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Here's some next-level shit: ever meet the person face to face whose name is on those records?

    Back in my record-store days, there used to be this dance-music DJ who paid for his records via credit card, and I used to think, "damn, this name sounds familiar." Then it hit me - my used copy of Charles Wright & the Watts Band's You're So Beautiful had his name stamped on it. I told him about it and it was a running joke between us for a few years...
  • troublemantroubleman 1,928 Posts
    somebody posted this a while back...
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    me personally, I love it, it's kinda like learning the lineage of the record and I'll sit around wondering where in the hell the record has been. Here's a recent one:

  • djkingottodjkingotto 1,704 Posts
    i have a record by richard peterson who is best known to be a street musician in seattle. his schtick on this album was to play trumpet and piano at the same time. he eventually made it onto radio as some gag thing on some morning show and last i heard, he gave up performing on the street. anyway, on this record, his second album, someone wrote on the cover in big black letters:

    "this may not be the worst record ever made, but its damn close!!!"
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    me personally, I love it, it's kinda like learning the lineage of the record and I'll sit around wondering where in the hell the record has been.

    In the early nineties, I remember there was a copy of the Flamin' Groovies' Supersnzzz going around where somebody wrote right across the cover: "THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT MEET THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL" (an apt description of this LP). It made its' way across two record stores and my friend saw it in a third before somebody presumably gave it a home for good.
  • dreskieboogiedreskieboogie 951 Posts
    The only records I have with writing on is a few lp's I got from my mom - everything else is mint or better.

    Peace,

    Dress
  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts
    I have many albums with writing on them, mostly just names, sometimes a symbol or two (i keep coming across butterflies) and every now and then a note, a letter, a dedication.

    I love it, it personalizes the record, reminds me that this music has a story, a life before it fell into my hands.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Eddie gets a "dreamy"

    This is an adjective that needs to come back, I think. That Jennifer Connolly is pretty dreamy, no?
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    Eddie gets a "dreamy"

    This is an adjective that needs to come back, I think. That Jennifer Connolly is pretty dreamy, no?

    last time I checked it was a girl word...but you go 'head and man that up for the new millenium.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Eddie gets a "dreamy"

    This is an adjective that needs to come back, I think. That Jennifer Connolly is pretty dreamy, no?

    last time I checked it was a girl word...but you go 'head and man that up for the new millenium.

    Oh, uh, I meant, "Yo, that Jennifer Connolly is slammin', son! I'd blap the shiznit outta that!"

    [i]quickly erases "DREAMY" from the margin of his diary next to Jennifer Connolly's picture[i]
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts

    I love it, it personalizes the record, reminds me that this music has a story, a life before it fell into my hands.

    Yep.

    Eddie gets a "dreamy"

    This is an adjective that needs to come back, I think. That Jennifer Connolly is pretty dreamy, no?

    Yep. I use it, but in small doses; dreamy is specific. I wouldn't call Connolly dreamy though I do think she is superhot. Anyway, it's a personal definition.

    Dreamy:



  • DongerDonger 854 Posts
    me personally, I love it, it's kinda like learning the lineage of the record and I'll sit around wondering where in the hell the record has been. Here's a recent one:




    Let's dial a conference call, put our phones on mute, and listen to what happens...
  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    Eddie gets a "dreamy"

    This is an adjective that needs to come back, I think. That Jennifer Connolly is pretty dreamy, no?

    last time I checked it was a girl word...but you go 'head and man that up for the new millenium.

    Oh, uh, I meant, "Yo, that Jennifer Connolly is slammin', son! I'd blap the shiznit outta that!"

    [i]quickly erases "DREAMY" from the margin of his diary next to Jennifer Connolly's picture[i]

    hahahaha
  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    Evidently "McDreamy" is the new "dreamy," if the TV is to be believed.


    I'm in support of bringing back "slammin'" for the new millenium. Did that one ever go away though? My wife actually uses it occasionally, with only a slight hint of irony.
  • nzshadownzshadow 5,518 Posts


    last time I checked it was a girl word...but you go 'head and man that up for the new millenium.

  • DJ_NevilleCDJ_NevilleC 1,922 Posts
    My personel faves are -

    a Fela LP which I found here in DC that some guy gave to his girlfriend for her birthday. He writes a syrupy little dedication on it to her although I bet he played it more than she did.

    A Fiebre Amarilla record that I found in Amoeba's (SF) dollar bin with "Lawyer - Alameda County" and a phone number written on the back.

    Any salsa LP with "YACCO" written on it. Yacco was a Latin DJ in DC for at least 15 years. On every record he wrote his name, the exact date he bought the record, his home address, ratings (one to four or five stars) and the type of rhythm the song was. I have records of his from the early 70's through the mid-80's and the thing is, they are always good. Thought about trying to track him down.
  • UnconSciUnconSci 824 Posts
    The YACCO thing sounds like something my friend rick was telling me about. I guess a lot of really dope disco records came from the same collector or DJ or whatever. Hes got a couple records tho that have Rico on em and I guess there is some big back story that he discovered..
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    I'm in support of bringing back "slammin'" for the new millenium. Did that one ever go away though? My wife actually uses it occasionally, with only a slight hint of irony.

  • verb606verb606 2,518 Posts
    Wow. Why was that written? Was there some ironic enjoyment of Lady Marmalade going on somewhere? Or was the record simply a vessel for a message unrelated to music?

    That's very intriguing.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Tell Your Wife That Irony Is For Hipsters was a big-time disco DJ in the Boston area. He wrote his name on all of his records. I run across them from time to time.
  • grandpa_shiggrandpa_shig 5,799 Posts



    with the bevel diecut!
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