Put Some Lotion On Your Hand

Layng Martine - "Rub It In" (1971)

This track was a bigger hit for Billy 'Crash' Craddock, who turned it into a greasy little slice of cajun country pop, but this version by the guy who actually wrote the tune - Layng Martine - is more my style. It's an odd, fairly licentious slice of bubblegum that is (at the very least) about applying lotion to your skin. It also repeats the chorus with some sort of bizarre effect that may be nothing more than a comb and a piece of tissue paper. Bubblegum's most enduring quality is that ability to take the most childlike sing-song melody and make it stick in your brain for days. "Rub It In" does this big time. The track has also been remade into a commercial jingle in the form of "Plug It In" - a tune for those weird Glade plug-in deodorizers.

Barnaby Records, the home to Martine's ode to the application of liquid was put together by Andy Williams. Mr. Williams formed Barnaby to re-release the host of masters he ended up with after buying the label Cadence in order to own his own early records. At the time, Andy Williams was trying to balance out his time hanging with murderous fox Claudine Longet by hanging out with Ray Stevens at every opportunity. So the Barnaby roster is a strange mix of solid records from Cadence by Charles Mingus,,,,, new schlock by WIlliams and Stevens, and the oddly beguiling soft pop of Ms. Longet. The other odd bird on the roster is the self-titled record by Sand - who were an incredibly tuneful band of country rockers with a penchant for weird chord changes and non-offensive jam sessions. I really need a copy of that record. Also, the cover of that Sand record features a big-ass sandwich on the cover. And everyone knows how delicious sandwiches are. But at any rate - "Rub It In" - let's do that.


Rub It In