1929 HOT & BANNED BY BBC ELSIE CARLISLE 78 MY MAN O' WAR UK DOMINION C 307 V-

	£		25
	$		33

ELSIE CARLISE - MY MAN O' WAR

A risque1929 recording of some controversy....
 Elsie Carlisle was a Lancashire girl. She was singing and dancing at concerts in Manchester when she was six, and at twelve was a box office draw in her first revue. Four years later she was a top-liner in advertisements. Her first appearance on the air was in a variety programme in 1927. It was said that a BBC official heard her speak at a luncheon and asked her to sing before the microphone, and she was booked straight away.
Elsie Carlisle was beyond a doubt the most popular radio performer in England in the '30s. Proof is even available in the form of her nickname, "Radio Sweetheart Number One." She was a slightly small, unassuming performer who in some ways crystalized the idea of the blonde flapper, an image also utilized by American big band vocalists such as Annette Hanshaw and Ruth Etting. Comparisons to other singers can be made only on the basis of appearance, however. In terms of singing, Carlisle had her own way with material such as romantic songs and light comedy. Her reputation was complex as well, as she also developed a part of her style devoted to material bordering on the obscene, and also felt hounded by innuendo and gossip concerning her personal life during some stages of her career.
She was associated with the top bandleaders in the UK, and with some of the classiest song material as well. Carlisle was one of the vocalists with the Ambrose Orchestra, which for more than two decades was considered one of the finest dance bands in the nation. Bandleader Bert Ambrose regarded Carlisle as one of his best singers, and found her one of the most difficult to replace as well. Decca chose the group as one of its first signings after setting up a British branch, and Carlisle was practically chained to the microphone stand for the prolific recording activity that ensued. She was also associated with bandleaders such as Paul Whiteman and Jack Harris. Harris was a partner of Ambrose, and their orchestras would switch off at the fashionable London club Ciro's during the late '30s. In the early '50s, Carlisle's association with bandleader Jack Hylton seemed to be about more than charts and arrangements; they reportedly had an affair, and for years there was speculation that Carlisle had fathered Hylton's child. Gossip mongers later reversed themselves on this hot topic. 
A singer who worked with a broad repertoire, Carlisle was nonetheless associated with certain songs such as the Cole Porter classic "What Is This Thing Called Love?", which she introduced to the public in the first London production of the the musical Wake Up and Dream. She also had a way with comic material, especially in tandem with fellow vocalist Sam Browne; the pair worked together in the Ambrose group, popularizing the ditty "Home James And Don't Spare The Horses", which originated with a country and western publishing house, and also went on tour on their own.
My Man O War was banned by the BBC, which normally worshipped the ground Carlisle walked on.
The lyrics of “My Man o’ War” involve an extended metaphor in which a woman compares her lover to a soldier and her bedroom to a battlefield.  The rhetoric ratchets up quickly from simple comparison “My flat looks more like an armoury” to sexually suggestive expression “Takes out his bugle when he sees me” to raunchy double-entendre “At night he’s drilling me constantly”. 
In “My Man o’ War,” she does not merely sing naughty lyrics beautifully,  she projects a persona that suggests innocence but delivers filth, and the incongruity makes the song uproariously funny. Two GREAT sides here!

RECORD DETAILS:
ELSIE CARLISLE  (Orch directed by Jay Wilbur)
MY MAN O WAR 
BODY AND SOUL
UK DOMINION WHITE LABEL C 307    10" 78 rpm SHELLAC
CONDITION - RECORD =  V-/V
scratches, scuffs and scrapes but still plays OK - there is some damage at the start of the track which produces clicks for 20 seconds but plays well after that, but there is a some loss of clarity on loud passages. I found a narrow stylus gave a better sound on this one. The B side plays Great.