Spike Jones

Spike Jones was born Lindley Armstrong Jones on December 14, 1911, in Long Beach, California. At the age of 11 he got his first set of drums, and he formed his own band as a teenager. A railroad restaurant chef taught him how to use pots and pans, forks, knives and spoons as percussion instruments. Jones frequently played in theater pit orchestras. In the 1930s, he was percussionist with the Victor Young and John Scott Trotter orchestras and appeared on radio shows, including Al Jolson’s Lifebuoy Program, Burns and Allen, and Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall. With his fellow musicians, Jones found relief from studio monotony by playing parodies of standard songs, which they privately recorded. One of these recordings was heard by an RCA Victor executive, who offered the musicians (as the City Slickers) a recording contract. One of the City Slickers’ early recordings for the label was a zany arrangement of “Der Fuehrer’s Face.” The record was a hit, and the public clamored for more in the same vein. Another major hit was Jones’ 1944 destruction of “Cocktails for Two,” a raucous, horn-honking, voice-gurgling, hiccuping hymn to the cocktail hour. Other Jones spoofs followed, including “Hawaiian War Chant,” “Chloe,” “Holiday for Strings,” and “My Old Flame