Every once in a while Dialophiles, I discover a classic song that I’ve
never heard before. A tune with a great melody that lodges in my brain and
won’t let go, making me wonder where that song has been my whole life. Tonight
the Dial brings you a signal containing one of those very tracks… fine-tune
your receiver for the best signal clarity as the Radio Dial brings you Hoyt
Axton and his 1979 ode to “Della and the Dealer”.
“It was Della and a dealer and a dog named Jake, and a cat named Kalamazoo… Left the city in a pick-up truck, gonna make some dreams come true.”
I recently heard Axton’s musical tale on an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, one of the greatest ensemble sit-coms ever, and that’s a fact! In the episode, station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe (played by Loni Anderson) receives an unexpected visit from a suitor from her distant past, “T.J. Watson”, played by Mr. Axton. Seems she made a childhood promise to marry him if neither one of them were hitched by that year. Watson, a guitar strumming songwriter from Texas, has come to collect his “prize”, the beautiful Ms. Marlowe. In her haste, Jennifer ropes DJ Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) into masquerading as her husband to get out of hurting Axton’s feelings, and as they say… wackiness ensues.
At one point, Axton sings a few bars of his song “Jealous Man” to Johnny, containing the threatening, yet comedic lyric…
“You got the knife… I got the gun… c’mon boy, let’s have a little fun…”
“It was Della and a dealer and a dog named Jake, and a cat named Kalamazoo… Left the city in a pick-up truck, gonna make some dreams come true.”
I recently heard Axton’s musical tale on an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, one of the greatest ensemble sit-coms ever, and that’s a fact! In the episode, station receptionist Jennifer Marlowe (played by Loni Anderson) receives an unexpected visit from a suitor from her distant past, “T.J. Watson”, played by Mr. Axton. Seems she made a childhood promise to marry him if neither one of them were hitched by that year. Watson, a guitar strumming songwriter from Texas, has come to collect his “prize”, the beautiful Ms. Marlowe. In her haste, Jennifer ropes DJ Dr. Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman) into masquerading as her husband to get out of hurting Axton’s feelings, and as they say… wackiness ensues.
At one point, Axton sings a few bars of his song “Jealous Man” to Johnny, containing the threatening, yet comedic lyric…
“You got the knife… I got the gun… c’mon boy, let’s have a little fun…”
which earned a big laugh from the studio audience and the Radio Dial
home office, alike.
However it was Axton’s performance of “Della and the Dealer” which I’ve been humming ever since I caught that episode.
“Yeah, they rolled out west where the wild sun sets, and the coyote bays at the moon.
However it was Axton’s performance of “Della and the Dealer” which I’ve been humming ever since I caught that episode.
“Yeah, they rolled out west where the wild sun sets, and the coyote bays at the moon.
Della and a dealer and a dog named Jake, and a cat
named Kalamazoo.”
Featured also on his 1979 LP "A Rusty Old Halo", "Della..." resembles a nursery rhyme, especially as Jake and Kalamazoo are given human characteristics… (at one point, Jake has a gun, and Kalamazoo enjoys a shot of rye), but it’s not a track I necessarily recommend serenading junior to sleep with, given it’s plot of shady characters, and murder, and a not so subtle cocaine reference.
While “Della” is firmly entrenched in the Jim Croce school of musical storytelling, I actually first heard a lyrical similarity to Barry Manilow’s 1978 disco smash “Copacabana (At the Copa)”… both Hoyt and Barry’s tunes deal with a love triangle and a murder in a public place, and both end ambiguously, leaving it up to the listener who survived the deadly assault.
“And the stage was set when the lights went out, there was death in Tucson town. Two shadows ran for the bar back door, but one stayed on the ground.”
Despite the high profile appearance on WKRP, Della only peaked at US Country #17, and did not cross over to the Hot 100. Given that 1979’s pop charts were largely dominated by disco acts like The Bee Gees and Donna Summer, I suppose it’s not too surprising that Axton’s traditional country-folk storytelling didn’t make inroads on the chart. Though Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” was a top 5 pop smash that year, so who knows what exactly held Hoyt’s tune back from realizing it’s deserved potential?
Axton charted fourteen singles on the country chart from 1973 through 1981, wrote the rock classics “Joy To The World” and “Never Been To Spain” for Three Dog Night, and “No No Song” for Ringo Starr, and is best known to children of the 1980s as Randall Peltzer, the well meaning inventor who brings a unique gift home to his son in Gremlins.
Hoyt left us on October 26, 1999 after a fatal heart attack, but his folksie stories live on, whether he’s singing about Jeremiah the Bullfrog (who was a good friend of his…), or Della and a Dealer, and a dog named Jake, and that cat named Kalamazoo. Thank you, Mr. Axton, we raise a glass of our finest whiskey to you.
“If that cat could talk, what tales he’d tell, about Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
But
the cat was cool, and he never said a mumblin’ word.”Featured also on his 1979 LP "A Rusty Old Halo", "Della..." resembles a nursery rhyme, especially as Jake and Kalamazoo are given human characteristics… (at one point, Jake has a gun, and Kalamazoo enjoys a shot of rye), but it’s not a track I necessarily recommend serenading junior to sleep with, given it’s plot of shady characters, and murder, and a not so subtle cocaine reference.
While “Della” is firmly entrenched in the Jim Croce school of musical storytelling, I actually first heard a lyrical similarity to Barry Manilow’s 1978 disco smash “Copacabana (At the Copa)”… both Hoyt and Barry’s tunes deal with a love triangle and a murder in a public place, and both end ambiguously, leaving it up to the listener who survived the deadly assault.
“And the stage was set when the lights went out, there was death in Tucson town. Two shadows ran for the bar back door, but one stayed on the ground.”
Despite the high profile appearance on WKRP, Della only peaked at US Country #17, and did not cross over to the Hot 100. Given that 1979’s pop charts were largely dominated by disco acts like The Bee Gees and Donna Summer, I suppose it’s not too surprising that Axton’s traditional country-folk storytelling didn’t make inroads on the chart. Though Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” was a top 5 pop smash that year, so who knows what exactly held Hoyt’s tune back from realizing it’s deserved potential?
Axton charted fourteen singles on the country chart from 1973 through 1981, wrote the rock classics “Joy To The World” and “Never Been To Spain” for Three Dog Night, and “No No Song” for Ringo Starr, and is best known to children of the 1980s as Randall Peltzer, the well meaning inventor who brings a unique gift home to his son in Gremlins.
Hoyt left us on October 26, 1999 after a fatal heart attack, but his folksie stories live on, whether he’s singing about Jeremiah the Bullfrog (who was a good friend of his…), or Della and a Dealer, and a dog named Jake, and that cat named Kalamazoo. Thank you, Mr. Axton, we raise a glass of our finest whiskey to you.
“If that cat could talk, what tales he’d tell, about Della and the Dealer and the dog as well.
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