THE FREEDOM UNDER CERTAIN KONDITIONS MARCHING BAND

THE FREEDOM UNDER CERTAIN KONDITIONS MARCHING BAND by Charlie Whitehead a.k.a. Raw Spitt.

I've been waiting a long time to put this one up on the blog. Charlie Whitehead released this album in 1970 under the name "Raw Spitt," and it's one of those that lots of people say should've been a classic, much like the marginally more well known Swamp Dogg's "Total Destruction to Your Mind" album. (That last sentence would sound so much more pedantic if the names involved weren't "Raw Spitt," "Swamp Dogg," and "Total Destruction to Your Mind," wouldn't it?) The connection isn't incidental: Charlie Whitehead was the protege of Swamp Dogg, who wrote most and produced all of the songs on the album, including this one.

The Freedom Under Certain Konditions Marching Band is a little bit bitter and a little gratuitously dirty. But there are so many other elements that make this such a fun song to listen to. There are fewer lines more strange and more joyful than "Eating onions and tomatoes / And drinkin' suntan lotion." Plus, there's a great fuzz bass stolen from Dance to the Music, a jews harp, and of course the marching band's snare. Playing taps.

LISTEN.

Photo: Panhandle.