Head to Toe

It's night time in the big city

Two high school kids steal a case of beer

Sneakers hang from a phone wire

 

‘What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!

how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable!

in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!

the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! 

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’

 

"William Shakespeare was asking ‘What a piece of work is man’. Here on Theme Time Radio Hour, we’re more concerned with all the pieces. Tonight, or today if you’re listening during the day, I’ll be speaking off the top of my head. I excited down to the tips of my toes cause I have my fingers in a lot of pies but I’m not going to leave you without a leg to stand on. I’m gonna tell you that today we’re gonna be talking about the human body from head to toe.”

Singers and Songs

  • Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
    From Head to Toe

    “It’s important in a show like this to define our parameters"

  • The Delta Rhythm Boys with Lee Gains
    Dry Bones
  • Louis Prima and Keeley Smith
    I’ve Got You Under My Skin

    “We’re discussing the human body here on TTRH, and here’s the largest organ of the body, it grows faster than any other organ; I know you’re way ahead of me.You know it’s the skin.... Louis was an influence on many people. As a matter a fact, back in the 50’s when they asked Elvis Pressley where he got his wiggle, he told them ‘from Louis Prima, of course.’ ”

  • Loretta Lynn
    Fist City

    “That combination of fingers you don’t want to be on the business end of”

  • Johnny Copeland
    Down On Bended Knee
  • Blondie
    Heart of Glass

    (Clip played in background)

  • Sol Hoopii
    Ten Tiny Toes, One Baby Nose
  • Hank Ballard and The Midnighters
    Finger Poppin’ Time

    “Here’s another great finger song”

  • The Monroe Brothers
    Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms

    “Like the speed metal of blue grass”

  • Gene Phillips
    Big Legs

    “He’s in love with a woman who’s got some big legs. I understand his position completely.”

  • The Barbarians
    Moulty
  • Archibald
    She’s Scattered Everywhere
  • Shorty Walters
    If I Only Had A Brain

    (Clip played in background)

  • Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys
    Brain Cloudy Blues
  • Pete Seeger
    Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
  • Rilo Kiley
    With Our Arms Outstretched

    (Feat. Blake Senate, Jenny Lewis, Pierre Dereeder, Dave Rock)

Other People and Players

The Places

  • Helsinki, Finland
  • Cannes, France

    “I wish you could see it. The planes going by, the girls in bikinis. Hard to keep my mind on the show but press on we must.”

  • Butcher Hollow, KY
  • Honolulu, HI
  • Los Angeles
  • Rural China
  • Southern Central LA
  • Houston, TX
  • Penn Station
  • Blarney Stone
  • Turkey, TX

    Where they have the Bob Wills Festival every April... “ I guess you know where you can find me next April.”

Record Labels

Other Songs and Albums

The Guests

  • Tom Waits (x 2)

    “I don’t tell a lot of people this, but Tom Waits and I have been sending cassettes back and forth to each other for quite some time…“

The Movies and TV Shows

7 Primary Odors of the Nose

  • Camphor
  • Musk
  • Floral
  • Peppermint
  • Ether
  • Pungent
  • Putrid

Laxative Makers

“Well, as the sun sets over the harbor here in Cannes, I can see that it’s time for us to go. In closing, I want to leave you with the words of Walt Whitman:

'I sing the body electric, The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them, They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul. Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves? And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead? And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul? And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?’

Good question, Walt. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go get a full body massage. I’ll see you next week right here on Theme Time Radio Hour, with more full-bodied Themes, Dreams and Schemes.”