Herbie Kay - Rhythm Steps w/Shirley Lloyd & Three Kays (1935)

[12_Years_Late]

This is one of my favorite snappy mid-30s tunes - totally forgotten now and maybe even then, but you can't stop listening.

What kind of rhythm dance would have been done to this?

 

[12_Years_Late]

Anyone else like it?

 

[12_Years_Late]

OK, world countries, which one of you wants to adopt "Rhythm Steps" as your national anthem?

 

[rationaltake]

I love it.

The UK should adopt it right now! God Save the King is the dreariest national anthem ever.

The king and queen could tap dance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace while horses wearing feathered head dresses perform a synchronised dance number along the Mall.

 

[12_Years_Late]

No Offense, Parody Song Lyrics of Herbie Kay & His Orchestra, "Rhythm Steps" - AmIRight

 

[12_Years_Late]

I love it.

The UK should adopt it right now! God Save the King is the dreariest national anthem ever.

The king and queen could tap dance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace while horses wearing feathered head dresses perform a synchronised dance number along the Mall.

GREAT reply!!

 

[12_Years_Late]

Recorded November 8, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois. Written by Roswell Metzger and Lou Holzer. Elvan "Fuzzy" Combs is the lead vocalist of the "Three Kays" vocal trio.

This otherwise obscure song from late '35 was notable for being featured in the Warner Brothers cartoon, 'Coo-Coo Nut Grove' the following year - it's the instrumental swing number that's played after the Ben Bernie caricature says 'Now we'll indulge in a bit of the light fantastic, etcetera, etcetera...'

This is the only commercial recording of it known to exist.

 

[12_Years_Late]

Recorded November 8, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois. Written by Roswell Metzger and Lou Holzer. Elvan "Fuzzy" Combs is the lead vocalist of the "Three Kays" vocal trio.

This otherwise obscure song from late '35 was notable for being featured in the Warner Brothers cartoon, 'Coo-Coo Nut Grove' the following year - it's the instrumental swing number that's played after the Ben Bernie caricature says 'Now we'll indulge in a bit of the light fantastic, etcetera, etcetera...'

This is the only commercial recording of it known to exist.

Bandleader Kay and Roswell "Ros" Metzger had written songs together previously, including "This Is A Night Made For Love" (1930) and "I've An Evening For Sale" (1933). Metzger also contributed to the 1941 song, "Fooled".

This track (along with Herbie Kay's other recordings at this time) were originally intended to be released on the Vocalion label, but at the last minute was moved to the Columbia label, which was making very few releases at this time. For many years, this track was assumed to have been rejected and never released. (Source: Brian Rust's "The American Dance Band Discography", 1975.)

As an aside, the very last words sung in the recording, "Simple as the day is long," is a clever metaphor. When they sing that I always think of this stock image of a barbershop quartet: (even though it is sung by a vocal trio.)

 

[12_Years_Late]

Great song, audiences must have been in paroxysms of joy when this was originally performed live. Can only imagine how it must have been in live performance.

 

[12_Years_Late]

As of today, "Rhythm Steps" has been parodied 78 times on AmIRight, (www.amiright.com) a song parody website. Forty-two of the parody submissions of this song are original, and the remaining thirty-six entries are repeats or "reprises" of the others.

In alphabetical order, here is a list of the titles of all 42 original parodies of this song on AmIRight, followed by the date first submitted, not counting repeats.

(Includes explanations behind the odd titles.)

1. A.I. Steps (The ChatGPT Song) — 3/31/23
2. AmIRight — 5/12/23
3. Arby's Steps (Based off 2023 Arby's ads "Cannonball"/"Whee") — 8/30/23
4. Backpack Steps (Based off an "Inside Edition" story.) — 9/14/23
5. Back to School — 8/7/23
6. Bluey Steps (Disney Junior series) — 7/28/23
7. Bob Barker's Dead — 8/29/23
8. Camper Scouts (2022 FedEx advertisement) — 8/17/22
9. Choice Hotels — 9/11/23
10. Copycats — 4/19/23
11. Domino's (TV ad parody) — 9/6/23
12. Forman Steps (Inspired from Danny Masterson's recent arrest) — 9/11/23
13. FTX (Inspired from 2022 FTX controversy) — 4/13/23
14. Google Steps (Celebrating the search engine's 25th birthday) — 9/29/23
15. Harry's Steps (Razor brand) — 5/19/23
16. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — 7/5/23
17. KFC — 8/28/23
18. Labor Day — 9/4/23
19. LearningQuest — 5/30/23
20. Libya Steps (Inspired from 2023 Libya flooding) — 9/13/23
21. Mattress Steps (Inspired from Mattress Firm/Tempur Sealy merger) — 5/11/23
22. Meet the Press — 7/31/23
23. Mucinex — 8/16/23
24. Nature's Blend (A dog food company) — 12/1/22
25. Nembutal (yes, really) — 7/4/23
26. No Offense (Inspired from 2023 Straight Talk Wireless advertisement) — 6/28/23
27. Office Steps (Inspired from "Bring a Kid to Work Day") — 4/27/23
28. Pickleball — 7/4/23
29. Powerball (Inspired from Powerball world record) — 11/8/22
30. Raisin Bran — 9/6/23
31. Red Eye Steps — 5/4/23
32. Retail Theft — 6/21/23
33. Richard Quest (CNN reporter) — 6/5/23
34. Rich Valdés (Westwood One radio host) — 7/4/23
35. Royal Match (Mobile game) — 5/1/23
36. State [of the Union] Address — 2/8/23
37. Toilet Steps — 9/22/23
38. U.S. Debt — 5/23/23
39. Wagner Steps — 8/28/23
40. WeatherTech (Earliest one submitted. Inspired from the 2021 WeatherTech advertisement, "Happy Feet") — 7/21/22
41. Wedding Steps — 8/3/23
42. When You Really Need TV (Also called, "Dish Switch Steps". Inspired from the 2022 Dish Network advertisement of the same name.) — 9/26/22