Flying Saucer Music #15
I rarely do requests, but I’ve had a few for this 1963 song, Martian Hop. Dr. Demento once called it “neo-doo-wop.”
From an online bio:
The Ran-Dells were a one-shot group out of New Jersey who came up with one memorable song before going on to other careers.
The group consisted of three first cousins: Steven Rappaport, Robert Rappaport and John Spirt. Steven was from Villas, New Jersey and the others were from nearby Cape May, New Jersey. In the early 60’s certain things became fashionable, such as space exploration and dance songs. The three cousins were in college when they began discussing writing a song that included these themes. Within minutes they came up with a song they called Martian Hop.
Here’s an account from one of the original group members, Steven Rappaport:
It was the summer of ‘62 and I was 19. It was the time of dances like The Twist. That year John Glenn had been the first American to orbit the earth, and those of us who had grown up reading books like The Rocket’s Shadow, wanting to go to the moon, to Mars, having heard President Kennedy commit the United States to landing a man on the moon before the decade was out, were more than excited; we were stoked.
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May 03 2007 
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Greg, are you go’n’o be covering less obvious examples of more ’serious’ material from more ’serious’ artists?
For instance, many people are familiar with David Bowie’s ‘Starman’, an artist and a song which I presume’d fit very easily under your present terms of reference, (whereas his ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Life On Mars’, which initially sound as if they would, on closer inspection probably wouldn’t, or so I suspect).
I was thinking though of a less obvious example of his material which most people’d assume had nothing to do with your banner ‘Flying Saucer Music’ but which very definitely has.
Namely, ‘Drive In Saturday’ which, even though it doesn’t sound like it, was apparently inspired by David’s observation of a silvery dome shaped UFO whilst being driven through the Californian desert, hence the line:
“Perhaps the strange ones in the dome/can lend us a book we can read up alone”
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Alan,
The main reason I won’t post tracks by more well-known artists is primarily due to copyright issues. Also, I don’t usually want to put up serious stuff because I like humorous music that doesn’t sound like most pop songs. I can almost guarantee that most people who visit the site haven’t heard at least some of these songs ever before.
Also, if the material is more esoteric in referencing the UFO subject, I feel like I would have to explain the lyrics, which is sort of like describing why a joke is funny. For instance, I think that the Talking Heads track “And She Was” is about an abduction, or at least an out-of-body experience.
If you or anyone have any other suggestions, I will of course welcome them.