D. J. David B. Spins Comics-Tunes
I’m excited to announce a new weekly feature called “D. J. David B. Spins Comics-Tunes” (we were going to call it Dave’s Car-Tunes but that seems sooo tired) in which Arf Lover Dave B. shares his comics-related recordings. Dave takes it from here:
All anybody talks about anymore is Google. “I’ll Google that.†“Let me Google you.†“I Googled myself last night.†With all this Googling going on, you’d think Google was something new. Nah! Google dates back all the way to 1919, when Billy DeBeck’s seminal comic strip “Barney Google†first appeared. (At least that’s what I found out from a search on Google.) The Barney Google newspaper strip kicked into high gear when his horse Spark Plug was introduced, and it got another boost as hillbilly Snuffy Smith was added to the cast. Snuffy continues to appear in comic strips to this day, but Barney retired and is living on the millions he made from licensing his name to the popular search engine (www.google.com).
Somewhere along the way (in 1923, if you can believe what you read on Google) no less a talent than Billy Rose wrote a song about Barney Google in which he coined the word “googly.†A rather googly version of the tune was recorded in the late 1940’s by Spike Jones (who had that name decades before movie directors Spike Lee or Spike Jonze, don’t get me started!) and it appears here for your listening and dancing enjoyment. (just press the play button on the bar below).
-D. J. David B.
If no Bar appears, please click here.
Below is the popular Barney Google sheet music with the stunning art by Debeck…
Below is a charming, previously unpublished, 1936 drawing of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith going nose to nose from Craig’s collection…,
— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
Geez, the Arf Lovers Blog gets sound! This feels like when the movies went talkies! I look forward to hearing more about comics and songs as this seems an area that hasn’t really been explored-go Arf!
How many different recordings of Barney Google were there? It’s be fun to hear more, D. J. David B. Looking forward to your bit on the Arf blog, but how are you going to deal with being sandwiched between Doll Man and Wacky Wonder Woman each week?
I’m sure there are plenty of different recordings of “Barney Google,” but that’s nothing compared to the number of versions of “The Batman Theme” — probably the most recorded tune in comics history! We’ll get to that and many more in the Tuesdays ahead.
I sure don’t mind being up close with Wonder Woman, but I admit Doll Man creeps me out. I think it’s those little elf shoes of his.
Was there a Doll Man song? Inquiring minds want to know.
I haven’t found The Doll Man Waltz yet, but I’m still digging through my collection of oddball records. There will be some gems, for sure. And plenty of clunkers, too.
I like a columist that promises plenty of clunkers!
Hmm, I can’t “Google” their 2nd verse - looks like Spike made it up! I wonder if it’s based on an actual character in the strip.
“Call me friend (call Miss French?) and get a squeeze,
That girl has no enemies!”
(BTW, it’s oddly comfortable here under the porn postings… I should drop in less often!)
[...] your mind draft back to those halcyon days of 2007. August 14, 2025 to be exact. That was the very first post by yours truly, D.J. David B., and the subject was Barney [...]