When I was a kid, I bought this 45 from a thrift store. This record was one of the gateways that led me to buying unusual records. There is no artist on it. the other side has titles such as "30 Second Commercial Beds". At the time, I thought it was a record with mattress commercials or something. I believe the term "Commercial Beds" means that it's a "bed" of background music for a voice-over to create a radio ad. However, side two contains two versions of the full song, one with female backups and one without. I thought the song was a bit lame, but it grew on me. It sounds very much like a song you'd hear on a commercial in the 80s.
My original copy of this record is long gone. I've been keeping an eye out for a replacement for a long time. One popped up on Ebay, and I spent much more than the my original 25 cents to own it again. The copy I received was pretty trashed, but finding another copy of this record is going to be nearly impossible at this point. So I got to work on doing whatever magic that I could use to clean up all the crackles and pops. I employed the help of AI to assist me on my mission (more on AI in a moment). I hereby present to you the result of the complete song with the female backups. It's still pretty crackly at the beginning, but trust me, it's a vast improvement on what it originally sounded like.
The fun part of buying this record was the Ebay ad. About two years ago, Ebay decided to add the ability to have AI write the description of your ad. I avoid using it when selling on Ebay. However, this seller didn't. Given the obscurity of the song, AI had to pull the description straight from it's computerized ass. Now, I've written a lot of bullshit on this blog, but I've got absolutely NOTHING on the complete bullshittery that AI can create...
This song was written for (or by) The Kinsmen Club of Canada (now called "Kin Canada" because yay political correctness). I was only familiar with the Kinsmen Club because they host a local TV Bingo night every week which raises funds for this organization. "Kin Canada" is essentially a group of clubs consisting of volunteers that are available for helping out in the community. There are individual clubs all across Canada.
There's very little information about this song, and the little bit I'm finding isn't very helpful. The song was written by either Brian Holder or Kevin Denbrok. I'm leaning more toward Brian Holder, but I'll happily accept a correction from someone who knows more. I have no clue who sings this, but he has a very smooth, deep voice. I'm sure his wife goes crazy everytime he whispers "I'm a Kinsmen and a Canadian" into her ear. There is a re-recording of this track on Youtube with altered lyrics because yay political correctness. I personally think the original is better.
Listen to To Give With Your Heart!
February has been extremely busy for me, but things are beginning to lighten up a bit. March promises to be busy as well, but I should be free to post more "fun" content starting in April. There's lots I want to cover! We'll see you in the next entry.
