Space Mice by Walter Brennan

Second up in our survey of UFO-inspired music is a track by the ubiquitous Walter Brennan (that is if you prowl used record stores and thrift shops.) From the 365 Days Project site: Walter Brennan albums are like weeds. When you think you’ve got them all, another one pops up. Three-time Academy Award winner Walter Brennan is best remembered as good ole Grandpa Amos McCoy on TV’s “The Real McCoys” and for his hit about the good ole dead farmer and his mule “Old Rivers”. After his hit with “Old Rivers” Brennan was escorted back into the studio to record several more albums like “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”, “The Country Heart of Walter Brennan”, “A World of Miracles”, and several others.

There is a reference in the recording to comedian Bill Dana’s character “Jose Jimenez” from his “The Astronaut” album of 1961. He first performed the character on the Steve Allen Show in 1959, so this places Brennan’s record somewhere during that timeframe. Dana stopped performing as Jose in the early 1960s when he was informed that it was offensive to Hispanics.

I cannot find any information on this song, but like the last post, I’m sure Brennan’s agent or someone decided to get at least one entry in the mania that was the flying saucer craze of the 1950s and early ’60s. The space mice sound exactly like the Chipmunks, as almost all aliens did in recordings of the time. Comapre with Take Me To Your Leader Cha Cha Cha for my Chipmunk conspiracy theory.

The thing that strikes me when I hear music like this is “Who decided that this was a good idea?” I’m glad that someone did.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Breaking News, Music, Pop Culture, Wake Up Down There. You can follow responses via RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is not allowed.
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One Comment to “Flying Saucer Music #2”

1. Bill Hancock Says:
   January 11th, 2007 at 9:08 pm

   Sounded like chipmunks? Yep. And so did Sheb Wooley’s “One Eyed, One Horned Flying Purple People Eater” (AND Bagdasarian’s pre-chipmunks hit, “The Witch Doctor”). Gotta tell ya, though,I do not ever remember hearing “Space Mice” before.

   As for Brennan, I loved him as the grubby, evil “Old Man Clanton” in John Ford’s 1946 Wyatt Earp fantasy “My Darling Clementine”, and again as the irascible old deputy, “Stumpy”,in Howard Hawk’s wonderful “Rio Bravo”, with The Duke, Dino, Ricky Nelson & Angie Dickinson.

   Old Walter Brennan. Talk about icons. That old rascal surely WAS one!

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