1963 novelty song "The Martian Hop," by the Ran-Dells
Jim Leftwich alerted me to this 1963 song, "The Martian Hop," by the Ran-Dells. He says: "Here's an account from one of the bandmembers (the late Steve Rappaport, R.I.P. July 04, 2007) of having made this weird hit record (#16 on the charts) back in 1963."
The Martian Hop, by the Ran-DellsI was in my cousin John's living room with several of my 11 other first cousins, 8 of whom were very musical. We lived in Wildwood, New Jersey and frequently took our guitars and bongos to the beach and sang current songs. It was not uncommon for a hundred people to gather around and sing with us. In many ways it really was the idyllic life that we tend to romanticize as the late 50s (if you were there, you know in retrospect that the 50s didn't really end until November of '63 , and February of '64.
So my cousins John and Robert and I were sitting in John's living room strumming guitars, talking about flying to Mars, laughing, and I came up with the idea of Martians throwing a dance for the Earth spacemen who visit. We thought this was hilarious, and decided to write a song about it. In a flash of inspiration John created a unique vocal sound that Martians would probably make Again we thought this hilarious, partially due to the nasal quality of John's voice, and again because of the foolishness of the whole thing. Imagine: we finally get to Mars, and there really are Martians and what they want to do is throw a dance for us!
the latest
latest episodes
I suppose I am a Vickie at heart, I loved this song as a kid and think that the 50's and early 60's would have been a great time to raise a kid or a dozen. Even with the antisemitism and all there was more optimism even if the Ruskies had the bomb.
Video for an 80's cover of the song:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vySXwJDCnVU
Wow, that is just... out of this world. I've always love the juxtaposition of rock and space aliens.
Joanie Bartels recorded The Martian Hop on her kids' CD "Dancin Magic" a few years ago. It seems to be out of print now, but may be available used. Published by Discovery Music. ISBN on the case is 1-881225-08-9.
An old favorite, I have it on a Rockin’ ROllin’ Vocal Groups LP, the earlie ones are the best.
sounds surprisingly like Animal Collective.. forty years head of their time!
I used to have an exactly 1 megabyte MP3 of this song I would use to get download credits on mIRC bots back in the day. I hadn't thought about that in years. Man, that takes me back.
This is funny. I have been spending the day ripping some cd's before I put them into storage. One of the cd's I ripped was from this 90's Bay Area band called Schlong (ex-operation ivy) and as I skipped through the tracks, this was one of the songs.
Stop spying on what I'm doing and writing articles on it, BB.
This has been a family favorite since 1963, when it was on the radio. The piano store Dad had his studio in also sold records, and we put it on the turntable more than once there. A friend found this on mp3 a few years back, so it's been on my iPod for as long as I've had one.
In 1963, I thought the Martian Hop was a dance step, not a bash they were throwing. Certainly not the worst misapprehension I've taken away from a popular song in my youth.
...This used to be a Halloween staple on the Dr. Demento show for years, but apparently he burned out his only copy because I haven't heard it for a very long time.
"In many ways it really was the idyllic life that we tend to romanticize as the late 50s (if you were there, you know in retrospect that the 50s didn't really end until November of '63 , and February of '64."
That is ABSOLUTELY right. I remember the moment it happened: I walked out of the North Hollywood theater after seeing "A Hard Day's Night" and knew that nothing was ever going to be the same.
"Gerry Goffin just happened to walk by"
Location, location, location!
I used to have this on an old K-tel album. Thanks!
You can find it on Rhino's Halloween Hits."
http://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Hits-Various-Artists/dp/B0000032GJ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1222648736&sr=8-1
Aha! I remember this from the 1990 film of Frederick Brown's _Martians Go Home_ and I love it.
Fans of Brown's book seem to despise this movie. And looking at the ratings on IMDB, it looks like everyone else despises it as well.
What can I say? I thought it was a hoot.
This is the first time I have heard this song... insta-love! *laughs*
wow, i haven't heard that song in decades, but the moment i read the title my head bopped side to side and i sang that "eee EEE eee la la the martian hop!" line. scary.
Franko - I had a few second lag on the memory,
but as I clicked over, that little chorus came to me, and when the music started the hair on my arms stood up and I could hardly move. I haven't heard this song in probably 25 years. My god.. it's funny what the brain chooses to keep sitting around in the attic.
In spirit, it reminds me of the rockabilly classic Flying Saucer Rock & Roll by Billy Lee Riley later reprised by the Stray Cats.
I tried to include a URL to a youtube video of the song, but the posting mechanism cleverly omitted my URL. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_hgXDQfKso >