#FortnightFridayMusic
Feb 6 2026
This week is all about the color #Purple (really it was although I can't find the post to prove it.)
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins - “Deep Purple” from "At Home With Screamin' Jay Hawkins" (1958)
When I think “Screamin’ Jay Hawkins” I don’t think “ballad,” nor does music of the 40s and 50s spring to mind when I hear the name "Deep Purple.” Nevertheless, here we have our high-strung friend singing a ballad of that name penned by Mitchell Parish and Peter de Rose, first recorded in 1946 by an outfit known as Paul Weston and His Orchestra on their four [shellac 10” 78rpm] disc album “Music For Memories.” (Sets like this were the origin of the term “album” for records, because each release was issued in a bound book with multiple pages of sleeves to store its multiple platters, similar to a photo album.) It appeared on Hawkins’ first release noted above; I have it via his “The Singles Collection” compilation.
