Maybe I’ll construct a “Praise the (Jack) Lord” tribute compilation to Hawaii Five-O someday. If I do, this one by Aussie legends Radio Birdman’s a shoo in because I’ve experienced the “night is dark and empty when you’re not on TV” bit. I also appreciate how this record came out while the show was still running, albeit during its crappy last few seasons.

Radio Birdman – “Aloha Steve and Danno”

McGarrett’s on the line to Danno
We gotta pick up this guy
Put out an APB
Not much time to tell you why

Governor says it’s top priority
Washington says so too
Tell Chin to get here fast
5-0 is on the move

Steve I want to say thank you
For all you’ve done for me
My night is dark and empty
When you’re not on TV

There’s an agent in the field
I want to have him tailed
He’s been staying at the Hilton
Yeah should be staying in jail

He’s working for the KGB
And here’s his dossier
Those Reds won’t be happy
Till this guy gets his way

Steve I want to say thank you
For all you’ve done for me
My night is dark and empty
When you’re not on TV

Dark spectre of espionage
Hangs over fair Hawaii
McGarrett’s one cool guy
The guilty will not go free

Steve and Danno they made the scene
The agent had done his deed
Caught with a stiff and a silenced gun
Said Book him Danno Murder One

Steve I want to say thank you
For all you’ve done for me
My night is dark and empty
When you’re not on TV

posted by Kim Simpson

Dickey Lee made out well during the early ’60s death rock craze. In the ’62 hit single “Patches,” one girlfriend ends up dead in the ditch, while in the following year’s “Laurie,” another one’s passed on long before Dickey even meets her (it’s a musical version of the sweater-on-a-gravestone urban legend). By 1968 he was still dabbling in tragedy. “Red, Green, Yellow and Blue,” which just missed Billboard‘s Hot 100, captures a presumably Brylcreemed and becardiganed Dickey leaping frantically around town over the news that his girlfriend’s gone to San Francisco, aka Drugs. “You’re halfway up your rainbow, girl, by now,” he yelps, while Charles Chalmers’ orchestration gives it all the moody atmosphere those earlier records only yearned for.

Dickey Lee – “Red, Green, Yellow and Blue”