A little Latin obscurity that followed me home from the flea market this past summer. The sleeve looks like it lost a bar fight, got run over by a shopping cart, and then spent a decade in someone's attic, but there were two copies of the 45 sitting there, daring me to take a chance. Thankfully, years of record collecting have taught me that sometimes the roughest-looking sleeves hide the best surprises. I rolled the dice and I'm glad I did.
And then came the part that really made me do a double take. One of the co-writers is none other than Dickie Goodman, the undisputed king of the break-in record. Now, when I think of Dickie Goodman, I think of hearing Mr. Jaws on the radio as a kid and all those wonderfully goofy records he cranked out over the years. I've picked up more than a few Goodman 45s in my collecting adventures, but finding his name attached to a Latin record? That was definitely not on my bingo card.
Which naturally raises an even bigger question: Who was Jose?
This appears to be a one-off release, with almost no trail to follow. No obvious history, no stack of follow-up records, no easy answers. Just a mysterious Latin 45, a battered sleeve, Dickie Goodman lurking in the songwriting credits, and a guy named Jose who seems to have vanished into the mist of record-collector mythology.
Of course, that's part of the fun. If every record came with a complete biography, detailed liner notes, and a Netflix documentary, there'd be a lot less excitement in digging through flea market boxes on a hot summer morning. Sometimes the best records are the ones that leave you with more questions than answers.
For now, Jose remains a mystery. But somewhere out there, I'm convinced at least three people know exactly who he was, and two of them probably can't find their reading glasses.
Over the last few years I've developed a real appreciation for Latin sounds and Boogaloo records, which has also encouraged me to gamble a little more on the oddball, overlooked, and downright mysterious singles. After all, if every purchase made perfect sense, what fun would crate digging be?
And speaking of mysteries, are you ready for Halloween? I've got some wonderfully obscure seasonal oddities lined up that may have been heard by fewer people than have actually read the record labels they were pressed on.
After that, I'll have to dig through the shelves to see what I can uncover for Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. And as for Election Day... let's just say I have a surprise planned. No matter which way the votes go, I can guarantee the song will be far more obscure than any candidate.
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