Les Baxter “Unchained Melody” / “Medic”
/Les Baxter was born in Mexia, Texas, a good place to stop for Asian buffet on a drive between Dallas and Houston. I have only one question. Why, in God’s name, didn’t Mr. and Mrs. Baxter name him Xavier, or Dexter, or ever, Rex? Leslie? Maybe that explains why he went on to release hundreds of records (it’s called overcompensating) —including Yma Sumac’s “Voice of the Xtabay” —and be considered the “Godfather of Exotica” (depending on who you ask). I’m guessing his favorite movies were not the ones (soon to be) rated “PG.” Though that’s no doubt what the rating would have been for the 1955 movie, Unchained, where this first song came from—one of those songs everyone knows even if they don’t realize it, because it was a massive, romantic hit. I don’t care for it, at least the corny version here. Here’s a list of things I like less than prison movies: the flu, Sundays, TV shows about medical procedures. The B-Side, “Medic,” incidentally, is the corny theme song from a 1954 TV show, called Medic, starring Richard Boone as a doctor, that I hope to never see in reruns. The previous owner of this 1955, purple label Capitol disc marked it with a stuck-on, red, printed number “36” —DM me if you want it back.
6.12.26