365 DAYS PROJECT

2007   MARCH 18   #077

Happy All the Time

MP3:
1 Happy All the Time (1:45)
2 The Numbering Song (1:42)

Can you say "indoctrination," children?

I knew you could!

This is the fourth of a group of 7" singles I found at a yard sale (the others being Caprice Capers, Sigma 7 and The Triumph of Man). This one wasn't in a sleeve--I haven't tested its unbreakability, but it is evidently highly scratchable. And it's on red, see-through vinyl, which, frankly, doesn't seem very Christian to me.

Anyway, I haven't been able to find much info on Barth and Smith, Happy-Time Records or Singspiration, but what I have found indicates the label operated from the mid '40s through the early '60s. I've found multiple references to "Happy All the Time," some with different lyrics or title (a division of the Hong Kong Girl Guide Association has a version of the lyrics called "Inside Outside" that replaces Jesus with Guiding, which "took away all pain"), so I doubt this is the origin of the song. And I've found no references to "The Numbering Song," but hell, it's only the B-side.

- Contributed by: Andrew Lander

Image: Record

Media: 78rpm 7" Single
Album: Happy All the Time
Label: Happy-Time Records
Catalog: H-2501
Credits: Helen McAlerney Barth and Al Smith, Vocal Duo. Herman Voss, Organist. J. Harry Johnson, Pianist.

 

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