2007 OCTOBER 1 #274
Harold Flake - The Snowmobile Driver Tells His Story in Song
MP3:
1 The Snowmoile Driver Tells His Story In Song (4:43)
2 Tour Of The Athabasca Glaciar (6:49)
Here's another unusual souvenir record, this time from the Athabasca Glacier on the Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rockies. How it found its way to cloudy England is anyone's guess. It was made in the early 1970s and features gleeful snowmobile driver Harold Flake. He not only drove the snowmobiles that took tourists around the glacier but he also wrote and performs the theme song, narrates the b-side and even appears to have drawn the illustration on the bag.
The song sees him as a glacial cowboy doing a Rawhide-style country anthem about his job as a snowmobile driver. 'I am the driver of a snowmobile, I am hellion behind the wheel'. He just stops short of calling out 'yee-hah' but he's almost there. Not sure if I'd want o be in a snowmobile with him at the wheel though.
But the flipside is even better. Witness Harold's breathless audio tour of the glacier over a superb backing including some Moogy Beatles covers and a lovely Frank Zappa-esque, sax-driven instrumental. These clips of music were presumably used without permission. Can anyone identify any of them?
- Contributed by: David Noades
Image: Record
Media: Single
Catalogue: T-57204
Year: 1970s
