In the mid-1950s, when I first heard of the popular rock-and-roll singer Ricky Nelson, I assumed that this could not possibly be the same kid I grew up watching on TV, but it was the same person.
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The "Ozzie and Harriet Show" was remarkable by today's standards, because it featured a real life family engaged in daily unremarkable travails. Looking back and comparing it with today's shows, it seems unbelievable that it would be such a big hit. Ozzie and Harriet were milk toast average. Ozzie did not have a mistress. Harriet did not have a lover on the side. David and Ricky never got their girlfriends pregnant, if they ever even had girlfriends at all. Nobody was ever shot or killed or even got sick on the Ozzie and Harriet Show. What ever trivial problem they had was solved by Ozzie's witty remarks.
The show was written, directed and produced by Ozzie Nelson himself, which is almost unbelievable by the standards of today's multi-million dollar budgets. Ozzie was trained as a lawyer, but he decided that he could do better as an entertainer, so he went to Hollywood and started a band. He hired Harriet as a singer and married her two years later. They had two children and stated a radio show, which became a TV show in 1952.
It all changed in 1957, when the world suddenly realized that Ricky Nelson could sing. That made things very different. Soon, Ricky Nelson was at or near the top of the charts. He also starred in a movie, Rio Bravo, which became a great classic among westerns.
Ricky Nelson had many recording hits, too numerous to mention. The one which strikes me as noteworthy is the "Travelin' Man". Were a song like this to become popular today, there would be tremendous outrage from women's liberation groups.
The Travelin' Man was a sexist pig, to put it mildly. He traveled around the world, picking up women, having sex with them, dropping them and then proceeding onward, while they did nothing but pine away, waiting for him to return.
The Travelin' Man had a girl in Mexico, in Berlin, in Hong Kong, in Hawaii, in Alaska. He had a Polynesian Girl, an Eskimo Girl, a Chinese Girl and a German Girl.
He even offered the Eskimo Girl to his listeners, apparently in accordance with the Eskimo custom of offering their wives to visiting guests.
In short, this song was not politically correct. Can you imagine the outrage this song would cause if it were popular today?
Here are the lyrics:
TRAVELIN' MAN
I'm a travelin' man
I've made a lot of stops all over the world
And in every part I own the heart
Of at least one lovely girl
I've a pretty Seniorita waiting for me
Down in old Mexico
If you're ever in Alaska stop and see
My cute little Eskimo
Oh my sweet Fraulien down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
------ instrumental break ------
Oh my sweet Fraulien down in Berlin town
Makes my heart start to yearn
And my China doll down in old Hong Kong
Waits for my return
Pretty Polynesian baby over the sea
I remember the night
When we walked in the sands of the Waikiki
And I held you oh so tight
Oh, I'm a travelin' man
Yes, I'm a travelin' man