Thursday, October 21, 2010

Musical Moments from I Love Lucy: LP to MP3

WORLD INTERNET PREMIERE
Musical Moments from I Love Lucy was Desi Arnaz's last project before his death. The album was originally intended for mail order only so had a very limited pressing. It was released in 1982 to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the premiere of I Love Lucy



Desi introduces each cut. The performances are taken directly from the I Love Lucy television series soundtrack and will be most familiar to those who know the series well. Personally, I was pleased to hear Lucy tell us about the friends of the friendless and to imagine Lucy listening to Babalu as the Maharincess of Franistan.



The medley that closes side one is, as Ethel says when introducing another song on the recording, the pièce de résistance of this soundtrack. Desi pulled a performance of There's A Brand New Baby At Our House (a song he wrote when Lucie was born) from a radio broadcast and created a medley with We're Having a Baby, the song he wrote for Little Ricky/Desi, Jr. and sang on I Love Lucy. Seemingly, there is now a song for both of his children on this record. Here is the track listing.

Side One
  1. I Love Lucy Theme
  2. Cuban Pete & Sally Sweet
  3. El Cumbanchero
  4. Straw Hat Song
  5. Guadalajara
  6. Medley: There's A Brand New Baby In Our House/We're Having a Baby


Side Two
  1. I Love Lucy Theme
  2. We'll Build A Bungalow
  3. Granada
  4. Mama Inez
  5. Babalu
  6. I Love Lucy Theme - Vocal

I've ripped these tracks with a turntable and Audacity and compressed them into a ZIP. As a 21st century extra, I've added a ringtone of the I Love Lucy theme so you can love the redhead when you answer your phone. Download the ZIP by right-clicking the album name in the first sentence and saving.

2014 UPDATE
Since I posted the MP3s for download four years ago, the tracks have become available on YouTube in four videos. The LP is recorded using a video camera as the record plays so you'll get the best audio quality by downloading the MP3 files here.


4 comments:

  1. Wow. Very cool. Loved the show, especially the original B&W episodes. did you use audacity and a USB turntable?

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  2. Thanks for the comment, Pokey. I do use Audacity and a USB turntable.

    btw, there are no color episodes of I Love Lucy - only The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy have color episodes. But, I Love Lucy is definitely the best series of the three.

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  3. I just bought this record not to long ago! Awesome!

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