Spike Jones was a famous American musician and bandleader who specialized in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. He was known for adding sound effects such as gunshots, whistles, cowbells, hiccups, burps, and outlandish vocals to his musical parodies. He led the group Spike Jones and his City Slickers from the early 1940s to the mid-1950s, and toured the United States and Canada as “The Musical Depreciation Revue”. He also appeared on radio shows and television programs, and made several comedy records and films.
Early Life and Career
Spike Jones was born Lindley Armstrong Jones on December 14, 1911, in Long Beach, California. His father was a Southern Pacific railroad agent, and his mother was a piano teacher. He got his nickname “Spike” for being so thin that he was compared to a railroad spike. He learned to play drums at the age of 11, and formed his first band called Spike Jones and his Five Tacks as a teenager. He also learned to use pots and pans, forks, knives, and spoons as musical instruments from a railroad restaurant chef.
Jones played in theater pit orchestras in the 1930s, and joined the Victor Young orchestra in 1937. He got many offers to appear on radio shows, such as Al Jolson’s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall. He was also the percussionist for the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, which played on Bing Crosby’s first recording of “White Christmas”. He became bored playing the same music each night with the orchestras, and started to experiment with comic arrangements of songs with other like-minded musicians. They recorded their weekly performances for their own entertainment, and one of the recordings made its way into the hands of an RCA Victor executive, who offered them a recording contract.
Rise to Fame and Success
One of the first records that Jones and his band made for RCA Victor was a Del Porter arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, a song that mocked Nazi Germany and its leader Adolf Hitler. The record was released in 1942, and became a huge hit during World War II. It also inspired Jones to become the leader of the band, which he renamed Spike Jones and his City Slickers. The name was derived from a song by Cindy Walker called “We’re Gonna Stomp Them City Slickers Down”, which Jones had played with her earlier.
Jones and his City Slickers became famous for their musical spoofs of popular songs and classical music. They used various sound effects and humorous vocals to create hilarious parodies that poked fun at the original artists, composers, lyrics, and styles. Some of their most famous songs include “Cocktails for Two”, “Chloe”, “You Always Hurt the One You Love”, “My Old Flame”, “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”, “Hawaiian War Chant”, “The William Tell Overture”, “The Blue Danube”, and “The Flight of the Bumblebee”. They also made fun of celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Carmen Miranda, Elvis Presley, Liberace, Marilyn Monroe, and many others.
Jones and his City Slickers were not only popular on records, but also on radio and television. They had their own radio show called The Spike Jones Show from 1945 to 1949, which featured guest stars such as Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Jimmy Durante, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, and others. They also appeared on other radio shows such as The Jack Benny Program, The Fred Allen Show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, The Kraft Music Hall, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Texaco Star Theater, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Steve Allen Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ,and others. They also made several comedy films such as Fireman Save My Child (1954), Rock Around the Clock (1956), The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), and others.
Personal Life and Death
Jones married Patricia Middleton on September 7, 1935. They had two children: Spike Jones Jr., who became a television producer and director; and Leslie Ann Jones , who became a Grammy-winning sound engineer and producer. They divorced in 1946. Jones then married Helen Grayco , a singer who often performed with him on stage and on records. They had one child: Linda Helen Jones , who became an actress. They remained married until Jones’ death.
Jones died on May 1, 1965 , at the age of 53 . The cause of his death was emphysema , a lung condition that causes shortness of breath . In people with emphysema , the air sacs in the lungs are damaged. Jones had suffered from asthma since childhood, and his condition worsened due to his heavy smoking and exposure to smoke machines on stage. He was hospitalized in March 1965 with complications following an asthmatic attack, and died at his home in Beverly Hills, California. His wife Helen was with him when he died.
Jones was cremated, and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. He left behind a legacy of musical comedy that influenced many artists such as Weird Al Yankovic, Monty Python, The Goons, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Frank Zappa, Dr. Demento, and others. He was also inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Comedy Music Hall of Fame.
Conclusion
Spike Jones was a zany musician who made millions laugh with his musical parodies and sound effects. He was a pioneer of musical comedy who spoofed popular songs and classical music with his band Spike Jones and his City Slickers. He also appeared on radio, television, and films, and entertained audiences with his humor and talent. He died of emphysema at the age of 53, but his music lives on as a source of joy and inspiration for many generations.
