Song Of The Day 3/14/2016: Robert Q. Lewis – “Where’s-a Your House?”

Revenge of the Sequels – This is the theme week that got postponed since it was slated to start the day after David Bowie passed away and I felt it completely necessary to pull a last-minute executive order. Future generations will appreciate that decision, as many as will wonder why I decided to keep on going with this week in March. I'm not saying the songs this week are bad. They're just sequels. You know how there are some entertainment franchises that get sequels when there's clearly no artistic or commercial need for them? Like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, or Leprechaun, or The New Testament? Same with literally every sequel record ever produced. The closest thing to a justified sequel in music was when Harry Chapin followed up "Taxi" with a sequel called, in a victory for literalists, "Sequel." At least "Taxi" had characters that could be updated. I didn't care for either song, but it's nice practice.

But this week we'll delve into five sequel songs that really did little to enhance our understanding of the originals, although one of them is a fairly amusing joke. The rest have value if you consider perplexity entertaining. Like today's offering from original TV personality Robert Q. Lewis. It's a sequel to Rosemary Clooney's "Come On-a My House," a cute novelty track by one of my favorite pre-rock pop singers, that's basically a repetitive bait-and-switch to get Person A to show up at Person B's house. Food is offered, but it's a trap to snare the guy with a casually mentioned wedding ring. Lewis' sequel picks up on the fabricated Italian accent of the original, with the conceptual hook that he doesn't know exactly where he's supposed to go. That's it. End of idea. Studio time ain't cheap, and this ain't prog rock.