Bill Buchanan (songwriter)

Bill Buchanan (April 30, 1930 - August 1, 1996) was a songwriter.

Career

His most famous composition took place in 1956, when he and Dickie Goodman created the sound collage "The Flying Saucer." After Buchanan and Goodman severed their partnership in 1959, Buchanan later wrote the song "Please Don't Ask About Barbara" for Bobby Vee. He also wrote and produced records for other artists, one of which was The 3 Stooges. Some records he even co-produced with Dickie Goodman.

In 1962, with his then partner, Greenfield, he wrote and produced a break-in for a new recording artist, Susan Smith. (A Letter From Susan / Will You Love Me When I'm Old?" -- Dynamic Sound 502) A few years later, she would meet one of Bill's old partners, Dickie Goodman, and record with him, become his wife and the mother of their children, one of which is Jon Goodman, who continues in Dickie's footsteps; making break-in records, and recently wrote the book, "Dickie Goodman: King Of Novelty".

He also was president of a company manufacturing Disk-Go Cases, a plastic cylindrical portable record storage unit.

In his later years, he worked in a jewelry store in Texas until a few years before his death. He died of cancer Aug. 1, 1996

Singles

Bill Buchanan

Gone Records 5032
*The Thing/Oh Happy Day (9/27/1958)"The Thing" was a cover version of Phil Harris' hit of the same name. "Oh Happy Day" was recorded dreadfully by someone else who sounded like they were about to shoot themselves, before Bill did this much nicer sounding version.

United Artist Records 531
*The Night Before Halloween/Beware (10/11/1962)This was a Halloween-based version of "The Night Before Christmas". "Beware" was also a pretty good Halloween rocker.

Buchanan And Ancell

Flying Saucer Records 501
*The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie)/Meet The Creature (From A Science Fiction Movie) (11/30/1957)This actually has one of the funniest jokes I've ever heard on a break-in when one of the characters tells the creature to stop talking to him in records.

Buchanan And Cella

ABC-Paramount Records 45-10033
*String Along With Pal-O-Mine/More And More String Along With Pal-O-Mine/Still More String Along With Pal-O-Mine (8/16/1959)

Buchanan And Goodman

Luniverse Records101
*The Flying Saucer Part 1/The Flying Saucer Part 2 (7/25/1956)101X
*Back To Earth Part 1/Back To Earth Part 2 (7/25/1956)102
*Buchanan And Goodman On Trial/Crazy (11/7/1956)103
*The Banana Boat Story/The Mystery (In Slow Motion) (1957)105
*Flying Saucer The 2nd/Martian Melody (7/13/1957)107
*Santa And The Satellite Part 1/Santa And The Satellite Part 2 (12/14/1957)108
*The Flying Saucer Goes West/Saucer Serenade (1958)

Comic Records 500
*Flying Saucer The Third/The Cha Cha Lesson (1959)

Novelty Records 301
*Frankenstein Of '59/Frankenstein Returns (1959)

Buchanan And Greenfield

Novel Records 711
*The Invasion/What A Lovely Party (8/11/1964)

Other records he was involved with:
Gone Records 5031Eddie Platt & His Orch. / Cha-Hua-Hua / Vodka (9/27/58)It's not known for sure if the Bill Buchanan listed on the label as producer of "Vodka" is the same one this page is about, but, since both records on Gone were released back to back, it's a pretty assumption that they are the same person.

Golden RecordsThe Three Stooges / Party At Your House (1959)This album was written and produced for the Stooges by Bill Buchanan and Bob Ancell. The back-up band, The Music Wreckers, was a band put together by Bill. It's a pretty safe bet that any of these childrens records by the 3 Stooges that mentions the Music Wreckers is produced and written by Bill Buchanan.The tracks on this album are as follows:We're Coming To Your HouseThe ConcertAt The Baseball GameClick Dart's Band StandThe Chipped MonksLet's Cut A RecordSing-Along With MoeAt The Circus Parts 1 & 2The Toy Store Parts 1 & 2Goodbye, Auld Lang Syne!

Golden Records 559The 3 Stooges / All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth / I Gotta Cold For Christmas (12/1959)

Golden Records 623The 3 Stooges / Sing Happy Yuletide SongsThe tracks on this e.p. are as follows:I Want A Hippopotamus For ChristmasI Gotta Cold For ChristmasWreck The Halls With Boughs Of HollyJingle Bells DragDown Through The Housetop

20th Fox Records 45-139The Little Toy Band / The Little Tin Man / Teeny Little Me (1/1960)This was written and produced by Buchanan & Cella

Guaranteed Records 204The Prancers / Short Short `nin' / Rudolph The Red-Nose Reindeer (1/1960)This one was produced by Buchanan & Goodman.

Triodex Records 112James MacArthur / (The Story Of) The In-Between Years - (Parts 1 & 2) (1961)This was also released on Scepter, but I haven't got my copy in front of me for the record number.It was produced and co-written by Bill Buchanan.The singer on this record would turn up in a MUCH more famous Role on the hit t.v. show "Hawaii 5-0". When Steve McGarrett would say, "Book `em Dano!", this is who he was talking to.

Dynamic Sound Records 502Susan Smith / A Letter From Susan / Will You Love Me When I'm Old? (1962)This was written and produced by Greenfield & Buchanan.

Liberty Records F-55419Bobby Vee / I Can't Say Goodbye / Please Don't Ask About Barbara (2/24/1962)Barbara was written by Bill Buchanan.

Rori Records 714Joel Langran / I Really Want To Be A "Singar" / Young And Foolish (1964)Written & produced by Buchanan & Goodman.

Label UnknownSusan Smith / Never Play Poker With A Man Named Doc Or Eat At A Place Called Joe's (1966) (At this time, no other info about this record is known.)Produced by Dickie Goodman and/or Bill Buchanan.

External links

* http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/billbuchanan.txt
* http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/bill_buchanan.htm