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Crimes against rock ‘n’ roll: Lena Horne guts ‘Rocky Raccoon’
06.12.2012
03:44 pm
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R. Raccoon, down but not out.
 
As far as crimes against rock go (and specifically the Beatles), this one’s just a misdemeanor. While the arrangement of “Rocky Raccoon” sounds like it belongs in Tobe Hooper’s The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Lena Horne’s campy theatrics saves the tune from utter disaster.

This performance is from an episode of the Flip Wilson Show aired in 1973.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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06.12.2012
03:44 pm
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Lena Horne R.I.P.
05.10.2010
01:34 pm
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In our supposedly post-racial world (not counting you, tea-baggers) it’s difficult to conceive of the indignities thrust upon Lena Horne for the crime of being of undetermined race, but her luminous beauty and mellifluous voice made her the “negro” who was safe for white America. She used this inroad to criticize the treatment of black soldiers during her many USO tours which led to her being “blacklisted” by Hollywood for many years. Of course civilization eventually evolved enough to begin celebrating her for her actual talents and not for her potential to pass as a white woman. Goodbye, gorgeous.
 

 
Nobody’s maid: Lena Horne, legendary singer, dies at 92
 
previously on DM : THE GREAT FLIP WILSON, LENA HORNE’S ROCKY RACCOON

 

Posted by Brad Laner
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05.10.2010
01:34 pm
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The Great Flip Wilson, Lena Horne’s Rocky Raccoon

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My childhood television-watching memories were pretty much informed by three people: Maxwell Smart, Julia Child and the late, great Flip Wilson.  Comedian Clerow “Flip” Wilson was a Laugh-In regular and a frequent guest on Johnny Carson, but I remember him best, and most vividly, from his variety show that ran on NBC in the early 70s.

Whether he was dressed in drag as Geraldine (watch him flirt here with Muhammad Ali), or posing as the con-artist minister, “Reverend Leroy” (before he goes off to “fight sin” in Vegas, watch here as he puts in charge of his flock Redd Foxx‘s “Pussyfoot Johnson”), Flip and his show were definitely groundbreaking, and not just to my childhood mind—although I was probably the only kid in my neighborhood who went around shouting, The Devil Made Me Do It!

Anyway, The Flip Wilson Show was a regular stop for mainstream acts like Aretha Franklin and The Jackson 5, but, for his five years on primetime network TV, Flip was also a tireless champion of ripening greats like Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor and Albert Brooks.   And while I don’t remember their appearances, some of them, fortunately, are now showing up on YouTube.  As “reissue fever” sweeps the land—or just Pitchfork—witness below the great Lena Horne doing her rendition of “Rocky Raccoon.”  Amazing!

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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09.09.2009
01:24 pm
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