Monday, April 18, 2016

"THE BANYAN TREE": Groovy '60s Soundtrack to A Lost Film

Hello, and welcome to another episode of "Mysteries...of the Mysterious." I am your host Mr. E. Train. Today, we shall explore the baffling riddle of a film from the late 1960s entitled the "The Banyan Tree." A film so obscure that it is not mentioned on IMDB, or anywhere else on the internet. Indeed, the only proof of its' existence is three curious 45 rpm records, six songs total. 

Alex Burton of Dallas' KRLD radio
And what swell, swingin' sides they are indeed. Up-beat go-go beats, snappy horn charts, Beach Boys harmonies, sitars...the Now Sound for the "Now Generation." How could anyone not love a band called The Pickle Platter doing "Chant of the Dead Temples." (What the hell was this film about anyway?!). Or the absurd title song: "Hey hey hey, Mr Holy Man!...send me on a trip, around my mind!"  It's safe to say that The Apple Corps, the Puget Sound and The Pickle Platter were not real bands, but studio concoctions.

If YOU have any idea who are the forgotten talents behind this music, let us know. Because the daughter of Dallas, TX radio man Alex Burton inherited these historical oddities from her fur-coat clad father, was suitably impressed, and put them all up on the youtubes in the hopes that maybe someone out there knows something about the film and these records and can fill us in.

 The only clue is in on the record label: "Marty Young Productions." Apparently they were a small Dallas TX film production house formed in 1967 that made religious films, educational shorts, etc. The film probably had something to do with India.

"The Banyan Tree" (6 songs)

Not everything is on the internet. There are still things we do not, perhaps were not meant to know. Is this yet another mystery...of the mysterious?



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11 comments:

  1. Mike O'Donnell4:52 PM, April 18, 2016

    How do we even know these songs are tied to a movie? Why three versions of the title song?

    Anyhow, I grabbed the audio with youtube-mp3. If somebody tells me where you'd like it uploaded, I'll do that.

    Cheerio,

    Mike O'Donnell

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  2. Mike O'Donnell4:57 PM, April 18, 2016

    Oh, and I love misquotes, such as the one on your current wallpaper. "... sooth the savage beast" forsooth.

    In case anyone wants to see what Congreve actually wrote: looky here.

    It's actually a bit kinkier than the misquote.

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  3. Mr Fab6:58 PM, April 18, 2016

    I use http://www.listentoyoutube.com/. Works very well.

    Since the only credit on the records is "Marty Young Productions," a film production company, we can only assume. But one never knows, does one?

    Ah yes, "a savage breast." One of my favorite Russ Meyers films.

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  4. Tim Mayer11:30 AM, April 20, 2016

    Groovy. Trippy "Up With People" music. Reminds me of the soundtrack to "The Yin and Yang of Mr. Go", a spy movie which starred Jeff Bridges, James Mason and was directed by Burgess Meredith.

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  5. Anonymous8:57 AM, April 22, 2016

    Mayor McCheese -
    Many thanks for the posting and the link to the mp3 converter.
    Definitely a strange and trippy soundtrack.
    The mystery behind it makes it a kind of 'wtf?' moment.

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  6. Mr Cole1:59 AM, April 24, 2016

    Recalls Burt Bacharach's appalling 'Lost Horizon' musical. Wonderful, thank you!

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  7. Muff Diver9:54 AM, April 25, 2016


    I like breasts.

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  8. Mr Fab1:13 PM, April 25, 2016

    "a spy movie which starred Jeff Bridges, James Mason and was directed by Burgess Meredith." - wow, how do I NOT know about that one?!

    Fruits of the banyan tree, eh, Diver?

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  9. Lolotehe10:27 PM, April 26, 2016

    It is awful.

    http://animehel.blogspot.com/2011/06/yin-and-yang-of-mr-go.html#0

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  10. Tim Mayer12:43 PM, May 03, 2016

    No it isn't:
    http://www.spysafehouse.com/?p=3142

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  11. Lolotehe8:57 AM, July 15, 2017

    I got to hear more on this!

    "The recordings you posted from the score of "The Banyan Tree" currently belong to Mr. Jonathan Wolfert, a renown Dallas producer. In 1990, Mr. Wolfert acquired all remaining stock of the, then defunct, production company that created the compositions for this film. I believe he is in possession of the master tapes; Mr. Wolfert was part of a group of volunteers who renewed the copyright on the catalog that included these works. These tracks were probably arranged by the late Chris Kershaw."

    I sent them your info, so they may reach out to you.

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