Babalu Music

[Bruce the Duck]

It doesn't seem that unlikely to me. Someone at CBS probably saw the "Ricky" video and thought, "this guy seems to know a lot about Lucy..."

Sure, but you wouldn't really have to have extensive knowledge of "I Love Lucy" to write "Ricky." The song doesn't really make many specific jokes or references to the show. And with all of Al's other TV based songs, I think if I were a CBS executive, I wouldn't look at "Ricky" and think - "HEY! This guy must be a HUGE "I Love Lucy" fan! I would think - big deal - he did a song about "I Love Lucy," in addition to his songs about "Jeopardy," "The Brady Bunch," "The Tonight Show," "Beverly Hillbillies," and "Gilligan's Island."

I've always thought that it's more likely that Al initiated the project. But I'd love to hear the real story behind this.

[Bruce the Duck]

I used to have Babalu Music on CD but I believe I sent it in to Dave in return for a live bootleg video or something like that.

I bought the CD when it first came out, and found the video YEARS ago at the "I Love Lucy" store at Universal Studios Florida. I don't think they sell either at that store anymore, especially since the store has been taken over by Betty Boop.

[RyanHippFTW]

I bought the CD when it first came out, and found the video YEARS ago at the "I Love Lucy" store at Universal Studios Florida.

On an unrelated note: Universal Studios Forever! WOO!

Alright, Babalu Music, everyone has seen this, right?

[FredHuggins]

It's a shame Ask Al is DOA because like Jeremy said, I'd love to hear about the genesis of this whole project and how Al got involved.

So ask him in his next Ustream chat.

[TMBJon]

I'd say whenever he does the next Ustream chat (hopefully soon now that he's back in LA), we should all try to ask him this question.

[Bruce the Duck]

Hey, whatever happened with the UStream chats? Didn't he say after the first one that he'd do one for every one of the Internet Leaks?

[weird_el]

Yes, but he didn't know that his isolation in Hawaii would be so problematic for a strong signal.

[TMBJon]

Yeah but then he went to Hawaii and there wasn't a strong enough internet connection for it.

[FredHuggins]

Sure, but you wouldn't really have to have extensive knowledge of "I Love Lucy" to write "Ricky." The song doesn't really make many specific jokes or references to the show. And with all of Al's other TV based songs, I think if I were a CBS executive, I wouldn't look at "Ricky" and think - "HEY! This guy must be a HUGE "I Love Lucy" fan! I would think - big deal - he did a song about "I Love Lucy," in addition to his songs about "Jeopardy," "The Brady Bunch," "The Tonight Show," "Beverly Hillbillies," and "Gilligan's Island."

Well, it wasn't as simple as THAT, obviously. Fact is, "I Love Lucy" was (and still is) such a HUGE Viacom title that an idea for an ancillary tie-in product like a CD of Ricky Ricardo's musical moments would've most likely been developed in-house, especially since Al's career was kinda on the rocks at the time. No matter how famous a watchmaker you are, you can't just march into Warner Bros. and suggest a new design for a Superman watch - they have to come to YOU, that's just how it works in big business.

All I'm saying is, the "Ricky" video might have been what attracted them to consider Al in the first place. Keep in mind, at the time, "Ricky" was (unless I'm very much mistaken) the only song ever written about "I Love Lucy" to hit the Billboard charts. Same with "Jeopardy," which received considerable attention from Merv Griffin, but no soundtrack CD could come out of THAT because Jeopardy doesn't have many musical numbers. (Shame, too - not many people know it, but Ken Jennings can dance like a mofo). And upon its release (before "Eat It" even, so he wasn't even a household name), "Ricky" received a nationally-televised compliment from a certain very famous redhead.

That's not to say Al didn't go through extensive interviews with the executives and the Arnaz/Ball estate, during which I'm sure he proved how well he knew his "Lucy" and musical expertise, both of which would obviously be crucial for such a job (by this time Al had started recording the "Deep End" originals, so his skill as a producer was provable). And only after THAT, they would have determined that he was the man for the job.

[TMBJon]

a nationally-televised compliment from a certain very famous redhead.

Hey that was a pretty good find. Never saw that before. Another interesting note - I'm sure that was the widest audience "It's Still Billy Joel To Me" and "Spameater" ever saw.