A Sideswipe at the Beat Generation - I

I knew there must be one somewhere. An anti-Beat song. How very square.

Billy Daniels - The Beat Generation

Now a beatnik is an artist
With a talent he must share
Though artistically his cupboard may be bare


Yes, a beatnik is a poet
Who tells everything he knows
And says nothing, both in poetry and prose.

And there's a sort of truth in that. Try reading On the Road again.

I know nothing about Daniels, except that, according to IMDb, for a short period of time, it would seem he became an item of stationery:

He became a staple on local radio shows, and in 1941 had a small record hit on Bluebird. 

As a career move, this seems unprecedented for any performer attempting to enter the mainstream, and could possibly be put down to his years of toiling in Harlem as a singing waiter, presumably learning the art of adopting various guises, ever smaller, until one day he was barely perceptible, tucked away on the corner of a proforma.

There are a couple of other tunes that struck as me as worth circulating. Can anyone enlighten me as to why the audience are in hysterics during Lady, Be Good?

Lady, Be Good

Daniels' spoken introduction to the next song is, to my pedantic mind, quite funny:

Now, ladies and gentlemen, every singer has a favourite song, and here's one of mine: Tenderly.

Tenderly