The Thing (song)

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The Thing (song)

"The Thing" is a hit novelty song

Novelty song

A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its Comedy. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs....
by Charles Randolph Grean

Charles Randolph Grean

Charles Randolph Grean was a producer and composer. His first work was as a copyist in several big bands, including Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Charlie Spivak....
which received much airplay in 1950

1950 in music

Events*January 3 - Sam Phillips launches Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.*August - Herbert Howells' Hymnus Paradisi is premiered at the Three Choirs Festival....
.

The most popular version of the song was recorded by Phil Harris

Phil Harris

Phil Harris was an United States singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian. Though successful as an orchestra leader, Harris is remembered today for his recordings as a vocalist, his Voice acting in animation and the radio situation comedy in which he co-starred with his second wife, singer-Actor Alice Faye, for eight years....
on October 13, 1950 and released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number

Catalog numbering systems for single records

This article presents the numbering systems used by various record companies for single gramophone records....
20-3968. The record first reached the Billboard charts on November 17, 1950. It lasted 14 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1.

Other versions were recorded by Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was an American award-winning actor, singer and comedian....
, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an United States pianist, singer, and songwriter who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues....
, Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer was an United States pop and jazz singer who was one of the most popular female singers of the 1950s. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular disease at her home in New Rochelle at the age of 76....
and Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
n orchestra leader Les Welch.

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Encyclopedia

"The Thing" is a hit novelty song

Novelty song

Charles Randolph Grean

1950 in music

Phil Harris

Catalog numbering systems for single records

Danny Kaye

Danny Kaye was an American award-winning actor, singer and comedian....
, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an United States pianist, singer, and songwriter who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues....
, Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer

Australia

Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
as catalog number 27350. The Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an United States pianist, singer, and songwriter who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues....
recording was made on July 13, 1963 and released by ABC-Paramount Records

ABC Records

ABC Records started in 1955 in music as ABC-Paramount Records, the record label of Am-Par Record Corporation , formed in New York City in 1955. In addition to producing records directly, ABC licensed finished masters from independent record producer and purchased regionally- released records for national distribution....
in the album "Have A Smile With Me", as catalog number ABC 495 (mono) / ABCS 495 (stereo). The Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer

London Records

London Records is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 in music through 1979 in music, then becoming a semi-independent label....
as catalog number 873. The Les Welch recording was made in January 1951

1951 in music

Events*July 11 - Disc jockey and music promoter Alan Freed broadcasts his first Rhythm and blues radio programme from station WJW in Cleveland, Ohio....
and released by Pacific Records, an Australia

Australia

Story

The lyrics take the form of a first-person narration, describing the discovery on a beach of a box with an unknown contents. Whatever is in the box is never revealed, nor is it called "The Thing" in the lyrics. When the lyrics call for The Thing to be named, the vocals simply pause for three percussive beats. For example, the first verse ends, "I discovered a [three-beat pause], right before my eyes!" (The listener could "substitute" any three-syllable phrase his imagination might invent, such as "dog-gone thing".)

Initially, the narrator is overjoyed by his discovery and immediately goes to sell it. He is thrown out by a shopkeeper, who threatens to call the police. The narrator takes The Thing home but is thrown out by his wife as well. He attempts to give The Thing to a hobo, who runs away from it. As the years pass, the narrator fails to get rid of The Thing. He dies and arrives in Heaven

Heaven

Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the atmosphere or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English, however since at least AD 1000, it is typically also used to refer to an afterlife plane of existence in various religions and spirituality philosophy, often descri...
with The Thing, but Saint Peter

Saint Peter

Saint Peter was a leader of the early Christianity church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles....
tells him to take it "down below" to Hell

Hell

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear Divinity history often depict Hell as endless ....
. In the final verse, the narrator warns the listener not to open boxes on the beach like he did.

Film

The song aired on radio concurrently with a series of teaser ads which ran weekly in Collier's
Collier's Weekly

Collier's Weekly was an United States magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
promoting Howard Hawks

Howard Hawks

Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, Film producer and writer of the Classical Hollywood cinema. He died in Palm Springs, California, California, after a fall....
' science fiction movie, The Thing from Another World
The Thing from Another World

The Thing from Another World , is a science fiction film that tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being....
. The Hawks film was released April 6, 1951. While the song had no connection with the movie, some suspect it was a clever marketing tool to increase interest in seeing the film.

In Science Fiction

Edward G. Robles, Jr. wrote a short science fiction story partially based around the song. It involved several hobos who find an object like the one described in the song. In the story, the object is discovered to be an alien disguised as something nobody wants. It was originally copyrighted by Galaxy Publishing Corp. in 1954.