Martin Denny's breakthrough album, Exotica, Denny described the music his combo plays as "window dressing, a background". It is the perfect complement to the exotic setting of Hawaii. "A lot of what I'm doing", he stated in Incredibly Strange Music Volume 1, "is just window dressing familiar tunes. I can take a tune like "Flamingo" and give it a tropical feel, in my style. In my arrangement of a Japanese farewell song, "Sayonara", I include a Japanese three stringed instrument, the shamisen. We distinguished each song by a different ethnic instrument, usually on top of a semi-jazz or Latin beat. Even though it remained familiar, each song would take on a strange, exotic character." Denny built a collection of strange and exotic instruments with the help of several airline friends. They would bring Denny back these instruments and he would build arrangements around them. His music was a combination of ethnic styles: South Pacific, the Orient and Latin rhythms. It is the music a lot of people believed came from the islands: a musical fantasy created by Denny.
During an engagement at the Shell Bar, Denny discovered what would become his trademark and the birth of "Exotica". The bar had a very exotic setting: a little pool of water right outside the bandstand, rocks and palm trees growing around, very quiet and relaxed. As the group played at night, Denny became aware of bullfrogs croaking. The croaking blended with the music and when the band stopped, so did the frogs. Denny thought this to be a coincidence, but when he tried the tune again later, the same thing happened. This time, his bandmates began doing all sorts of tropical bird calls as a gag. The band thought it quite amusing, but nothing more than a joke. The next day, though, someone approached Denny and asked if he would do the arrangement with the birds and frogs. While at first he thought it was ridiculous, the more Denny thought about it, the more it made sense. At rehearsal, he had the band do "Quiet Village" with each doing a birdcall spaced apart.. Denny did the frog part on a grooved cylinder and the whole thing became incorporated into the arrangement. It caught on like wildfire and everyone wanted to hear "Quiet Village".
The seminal Exotica album was recorded in December of 1956, and released in 1957. In 1958, Dick Clark hosted Denny on American Bandstand. "Quiet Village" reached #2 on Billboard's charts in 1959 with the Exotica album reaching #1. He rode the charts of Cashbox and Variety also. Denny had as many as three or four albums on the charts simultaneously during his career. He also had national hits with "A Taste of Honey", "The Enchanted Sea", and "Ebb Tide".
He died in his home in Hawai'i Kai, Honolulu, on March 2nd, 2005, at the age of 93.
(2) Martin Denny was born April 10, 1911 in New York City. A child prodigy, at age ten he studied piano under Lester Spitz and Isadore Gorn. For four years he toured South America with the Don Dean Orchestra, followed by a 43-month stint in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. Following his December 1945 discharge, Denny settled in Los Angeles, studying piano, composition, and orchestration at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. In early 1954 he relocated to Hawaii, contracting to appear at the Honolulu club Don the Beachcomber's. The following year Denny formed his own group, originally consisting of vibist Arthur Lyman, bassist John Kramer, and percussionist Augie Colón. In 1956, while appearing at steel and shipping magnate Henry Kaiser's Shell Bar -- a club inside the open-air Oahu resort Hawaiian Village, complete with a small pond adjacent to the stage -- the combo realized that the croaking of nearby bullfrogs blended perfectly with their tropical musical approach. On a lark, Colón also began imitating bird calls on-stage, much to the delight of the audience. Denny soon began incorporating South Pacific and Far East instruments into his arrangements as well, and by the time he recorded his Liberty Records debut, 1957's Exotica, his singular sound was firmly in place.
The release of Exotica proved perfectly timed -- as the '50s drew to a close, tiki culture was all the rage in mainland America, with Hawaiian shirts a fashion trend and tiki torches a staple of backyard parties. Moreover, the evolution from mono to stereo recording and playback had taken root, and with its bird whistles, jungle calls, and far-flung instruments, the many distinctive components of Denny's sound were ideal for channel separation. Originally composed by Les Baxter, the instrumental "Quiet Village" was a massive success, earning Denny and his group an appearance on TV's American Bandstand, and the accompanying Exotica LP topped the Billboard charts. But ironically, even as his music came to embody Hawaiian culture and its mythical allure, Denny himself was no longer a fixture of the island musical culture -- after a bitter contract dispute with Kaiser, he brought his group stateside, and they made their first mainland appearance at the 1957 Pebble Beach Crosby Open golf tournament party. Soon after, Kaiser lured Lyman back to Hawaii to assume Denny's vacated spot headlining the Shell Bar; Denny replaced him with Julius Wechter. Likewise, Kramer was later replaced by Harvey Ragsdale, and a second percussionist, Harold Chang, was also added the lineup.
For many listeners, the exotica craze proved short-lived, and Denny never again matched the success of "Quiet Village," although subsequent singles including "A Taste of Honey," "The Enchanted Sea" and "Ebb Tide" did find some favor on the pop charts. For connoisseurs, however, the story certainly does not end there. Denny continued making records in his trademark style throughout the '60s, many of them housed in eye-popping sleeves featuring model Sandy Warner, who was such a ubiquitous presence that she was even dubbed "The Exotica Girl." (Warner eventually recorded her own LP, Fair and Warmer, with Denny himself authoring the liner notes.) While his interests in African and Pacific Rim musical traditions yielded concept records like Afro-Desia and Sayonara, other efforts turned towards more conventional easy listening, which Liberty dubbed his "honey" sound. For the most part, however, Denny remained a restless innovator. For Primitiva, he recorded using a number of gongs, drums, and odd brass instruments acquired from a Buddhist mountaintop temple in Burma by friend and filmmaker John Sturges, on location to shoot the Frank Sinatra vehicle None But the Brave. (According to legend, the instruments were then carried down the mountain by a procession of Buddhist monks.) For 1969's Exotic Moog, his Liberty swan song, Denny even embraced electronics, much to the chagrin of his dwindling fan base.
With his recording career largely behind him, Denny maintained a busy touring schedule throughout the '70s and into the following decade. In 1985 he announced his retirement, settling in Hawaii with his longtime wife June, but three years later he grew restless, reuniting with Lyman, Colón, Chang, and adding bassist Archie Grant to return for a series of sold-out club dates. A Japanese tour yielded the live recording Exotica: The Best of Martin Denny. As the new decade began, he was the recipient of the Hawaiian Association of Music's Hoku Award for lifetime achievement; the honor coincided with the beginnings of an exotica/space age pop revival, and virtually overnight Denny's vintage LPs began disappearing from used record stores. He was also the subject a major CD reissue campaign on the Scamp label. Now a music icon for a new generation, Denny again returned to the road, making live appearances even into the 2000s. His last concert was held in Hawaii on February 13, 2005 at a benefit to aid tsunami victims. Just three weeks later on March 3, 2005 Martin Denny, icon and innovator, passed away at the age of 93. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Voodoo Dreams
Martin Denny Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why'd you want to go and make me feel this way?
I don′t understand what's happened
I keep saying things I never say
I can feel you watching even when you're nowhere to be seen
I can feel you touching even when you′re far away from me.
Tell me where you′re hiding your voodoo doll 'cause I can′t control myself
I don't wanna stay, wanna run away but I′m trapped under your spell.
And I'm having trouble catching my breath
Ooh
Ooh
Won′t you please stop loving me to death?
I don't even see my friends no more
'Cause I keep hanging out with you
I don′t know how you kept me up all night
Or how I got this tattoo.
I can feel you watching even when you′re nowhere to be seen
I can feel you touching even when you're far away from me
Tell me where you′re hiding your voodoo doll 'cause I can′t control myself
I don't wanna stay, wanna run away but I′m trapped under your spell
And it hurts in my head and my heart and my chest
And I'm having trouble catching my breath
Ooh
Ooh
Won't you please stop loving me to death?
Every time you′re near me, suddenly my heart begins to race
Every time I leave, I don′t know why my heart begins to break
Tell me where you're hiding your voodoo doll ′cause I can't control myself
I don′t wanna stay, wanna run away but I'm trapped under your spell
And it hurts in my head and my heart and my chest
And I′m having trouble catching my breath
Ooh
Ooh
Won't you please stop loving me to death?
The lyrics to Martin Denny's "Voodoo Dreams" explore the feelings of being under the spell of someone, feeling like they are controlling you even when they are not around. It portrays the pain and confusion of being in a toxic relationship that is hard to let go of. The lyrics suggest that the singer does not even like the person they are with, and cannot understand why they feel the way they do. The repetition of the line, "Tell me where you're hiding your voodoo doll 'cause I can't control myself" emphasizes the feeling of being powerless, feeling like they are being manipulated and controlled by the other person.
The lyrics also touch upon the idea of losing oneself in a relationship, leaving behind friends and the things that used to bring joy. The line, "I don't know how you kept me up all night or how I got this tattoo" suggests that the singer is allowing themselves to be swept away by the other person, even if it means doing things they wouldn't normally do. The chorus, "And it hurts in my head and my heart and my chest, and I'm having trouble catching my breath" captures the physical and emotional toll of being in this kind of relationship. Despite feeling trapped, the singer is still pleading for the other person to stop loving them to death, indicating that they are still conflicted and unable to fully let go.
Line by Line Meaning
I don′t even like you
I do not have any feeling towards you or interest in you.
Why'd you want to go and make me feel this way?
What did you do that caused me to develop these confusing emotions?
I don′t understand what's happened
I am struggling to comprehend the situation and my own feelings.
I keep saying things I never say
I find myself expressing thoughts and feelings that are unlike my usual self.
I can feel you watching even when you're nowhere to be seen
I sense your presence and influence even without physical contact.
I can feel you touching even when you′re far away from me.
Your impact on me is strong and I can perceive it from a distance.
Tell me where you′re hiding your voodoo doll 'cause I can′t control myself
I am struggling to resist your power over me and I suspect you may be using a charm or spell to make me feel this way.
I don't wanna stay, wanna run away but I′m trapped under your spell.
I want to escape from your hold over me but I find myself unable to do so.
And it hurts in my head and my heart and my chest
I am experiencing a great deal of emotional and physical pain.
And I'm having trouble catching my breath
I am having difficulty breathing due to the intensity of my emotions.
Won′t you please stop loving me to death?
I am urging you to release me from your love which is causing me so much harm and distress.
I don't even see my friends no more
I have let my relationships with friends suffer due to my preoccupation with you.
'Cause I keep hanging out with you
I am drawn to spend time with you despite the negative impact it is having on me.
I don′t know how you kept me up all night
I am perplexed as to how you had such a strong influence on my ability to rest.
Or how I got this tattoo.
I am shocked and confused as to how I ended up with a permanent reminder of you on my body.
Every time you′re near me, suddenly my heart begins to race
Your presence causes a physical reaction in me, making my heart beat fast.
Every time I leave, I don′t know why my heart begins to break
I feel a sense of sadness and pain when I am not in your presence, but I do not fully understand why.
Writer(s): Les Baxter
Contributed by Violet Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.