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Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones  (December 14,
1911 - May 1, 1965) was a popular musician and
comedian. He was born in Long Beach, California. 

His father was a Southern Pacific railroad agent.
He got his nickname by being so thin that he was
compared to a railroad spike. At the age of eleven
he got his first set of drums. As a teenager he
played in bands that he formed himself. A chef in
a railroad restaurant taught him how to use
adapted pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as
musical instruments. He frequently played in
theater pit orchestras. In the 1930's he joined
the Victor Young Band and thereby got many offers
to appear to radio shows including the Al Jolson
Lifebuoy Show, Burns and Allen (with George Burns)
and Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall. In 1940, he
had an uncredited part in the film Give Us Wings,
and in 1942 as a hillbilly in Pass the Biscuits,
Mirandy. He joined up with vocalist Del Porter and
performed in Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles,
gaining a cult following. By 1941 the band
included violinist Carl Grayson. Other band
members were George Rock (voice and trumpet),
Doodles Weaver (voice) and Red Ingle (voice). They
became his backing band The City Slickers.Jones's
wife was the singer Helen Grayco, who performed on
some of his radio shows. They recorded five
records for RCA|Victor's label "Bluebird" before
receiving their big break.

== Der Fuehrer's Face ==

In 1942 Walt Disney made a propaganda cartoon
called "Donald Duck in Nutzi Land". It contained
the song "Der Fuehrer's Face" which was released
as a single. It reached number 2. It is said that
even Hitler heard it. Spike had seven top ten hits
from 1942 to 1949, even though no new recordings
were made for a year during a strike by the
American Federation of Musicians. His signature
tune, Cocktails for Two, was recorded in about
1943. In 1945 he got his own show. In more than 60
shows his guests included Groucho Marx, Hank
Williams, Frankie Laine and Burl Ives. Spike's
parody of Vaughn Monroe's "Ghost Riders In the
Sky" was quickly withdrawn and is a prized rarity.
Sinatra appeared in October 1948, Lassie in May
1949. Through the late 40s and early 50's the band
toured the USA and Canada under the name "The
Musical Depreciation Revue". The band grew from 7
to 16 players. He appeared in a dozen films in the
late forties and fifties, always playing himself.

== Murdering The Classics ==

One of his earliest recordings was an adaption of
Liszt's "Liebesträume|Liebestraum". It was played
at a jaunty pace on inappropriate instruments.
Rossini's "William Tell Overture" was rendered on
kitchen implements. In live shows Spike would
acknowledge the applause with complete solemnity,
saying "Thank you music lovers". A collection of
12 of these homicides was released in 1971 as
"Spike Jones is Murdering The Classics". Mel
Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner
Brothers cartoon characters, provided the hiccups
on "Clink Clink Another Drink". It used drinking
glasses as musical instruments. In 1948 Spike
recorded "(All I want for Christmas is) my two
Front Teeth". It was a number one hit. Dora Bryan
had a hit in 1963 with a variation called "All I
want For Christmas is a The Beatles|Beatle".

== Soundies ==

A series of short musical films were made by the
band. These so-called soundies were put onto juke
boxes. In them we see Jones dressed in a suit with
an enormous check pattern, leaping around playing
cowbells, a suite of klaxons, foghorns, then
xylophone then shooting a pistol into the air. One
of their instruments was a "latrinophone", a
toilet seat with strings. The band got their own
variety shows on NBC then CBS from 1954 to 1961.
In 1990 BBC2 screened six compilation shows from
these broadcasts. Songs from the soundies were
released on a compilation called Not Your Standard
Spike Jones Collection.

== The Fifties ==

The war years were lean times for Frank Sinatra
and he was glad to get work doing a guest spot
with Jones.  Once his fame grew, Sinatra repaid
his debt to Spike by inviting him onto his show in
1958. "The Perry Como Show" had him as a guest in
1956, and Jack Benny in the same year.  Also in
1956, Jones released his first Vinyl record|LP,
Dinner Music For People Who Aren't Very Hungry. 
By 1959 his act seemed old-fashioned and work
dried up.  Spike Jones died in Beverly Hills on
1st May 1965. He is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery
in Culver City, California.

== Radioland Murders ==

In 1994 Mel Smith directed a film based on a
script by George Lucas. Set in 1939, it contains
fictionalized versions of Spike Jones and Frank
Sinatra. "Radioland Murders" was poorly reviewed
and compared unfavorable with Woody Allen's "Radio
Days". It contains the last appearance of George
Burns. Two members of Spike Jones's band appear in
the film - Billy Barty (1924 - 2000) and
Paul "Mousie" Garner (1909 - 2004), playing
themselves.

== Misleading biographies ==

Many compilations from the seventies and eighties
contained spurious dates of birth and death for
Spike in the liner notes. Unfortunately they have
been widely reproduced on the web and in books. He
was not born on 14th May 1916, nor did he die on
March 29th 1966. His real name was not Harry
Joseph Chick Daugherty.

== Influence ==

There is a clear line of influence from the Marx
Brothers to Spike Jones and to Stan Freberg, The
Goons, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and to "Weird
Al" Yankovic. Billy Barty even appeared in a video
by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Some other well-known tracks included:
*"Cocktails for Two"
*"I Went to Your Wedding"
*"That Old Black Magic"
*"The Blue Danube"
*"The Sheik of Araby"
*"You Always Hurt the One You Love"
*"William Tell Overture (Spike Jones
version)|William Tell Overture"

==External links==
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJchloe.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJcocktailsfortwo.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJdanceofthehours.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJderfuehrersface.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJflyingtrapeze.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJglowworm.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJhawaiianwarchant.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJlaura.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJlonelyheart.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJmyoldflame.mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJwilliamtelloverture.
mp3
*http://clubalibi.com/media/SJyoualwayshurt.mp3
*http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/waller/TheShiek.r
am

== Sources ==
Notes by Peter Gamble from Clink Clink Another
Drink CD by Audio Book & Music Company, ABMMCD
1158.