Election 1980
(and other Cut & Paste matters)
IThis single was released in late 1980 just in time for the
presidential election between Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter
and independent candidate John Anderson. The recording itself
is a comedic cut and paste piece that was popular on the
nationally syndicated radio program, The Dr. Demento Show.
Goodman asks Carter on how he has handed his first four years in office and the line “Upside Down” from the Diana Ross hit of the same name is heard. Then Goodman asks “…and how are you able to change things?’ and you hear, “You have to believe we are magic” from Magic.
Later in the recording, Goodman is interrupted by a long
distance phone call from John Anderson and asks where
Anderson was calling from. “Xanaduuuu!” “Where?!?!”
“Xanaduuuu-uuuu!”
Dickie Goodman has made a career out of these types of novelty records, going far back to 1956 as part of ‘Buchanan & Goodman’ with their first hit, The Flying Saucer Pt. 1 & 2. This first single had space men invading Earth while Goodman asks then and the authorities questions with small excepts of hits from that same year were used for answers.
Goodman continued to issue similar records that comedicly mirrored the times: Mr. Jaws* (for the popular movie), Energy Crisis 74, Watergrate (Nixon and Watergate), Kong (for the 1977 remake), Superfly Meets Shaft, On Campus (1969), Hey E. T.!, Buchanan & Goodman On Trial (1956 single responding to the lawsuits from the their first single) and so on.
Dickie died in 1989 and his son had written his father’s biography, King Of Novelty for Libris Books in 2002. ‘Election 80’ was out-of-print for years until in 1998 when a second CD collection of Goodman’s works was released, entitled ‘Greatest Fables Vol. 2’, which is believed to be still in print.
This was not the first and only time tracks from Xanadu were used in novelty records. 'The Umpire Strikes Out' was made by disc jockey Marc Bird. Not much else is known of this record and the artist other than it was released in 1980 and in unofficial conjunction with the Star Wars sequel 'The Empire Strikes Back'. As with Election 1980, then-current songs of the day are used for answers. When asked about surviving his fight with Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker responds with a couple of lines from 'I'm Alive'. It crops up at the three minute mark.
There's a YouTube video if it HERE.
*For you more anal-retentive Olivia Newton-John fans out there, Goodman used a part of the chorus from ‘Please Mr. Please’ in the original 1974 Mr. Jaws single. However, in subsequent re-issues, he had to replace Olivia sample with a clip from a cover version from another singer.