That song I posted yesterday either ripped off the Rolling Stones (without giving Mick Jagger and Keith Richard any composer credits), or the Rolling Stones ripped off that record when they wrote Satisfaction. The two records are far too similar to just be a coincidence. Somebody did something wrong, we just don’t know who did what to whom. Today, I’ve got another Rolling Stones related item that is not anywhere near as mysterious. It’s just fun!

For many years, this record was a complete mystery to me. But, thanks to the Internet, I’ve learned a lot about it now. If you live on the east coast, you may already know Jerry. His real name is Jay Worsham, and he played the spokesman on some very crazy TV commercials for The Bedding Barn.

Jay Worsham was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Before graduating from high school, he moved to Arkansas, California, and then Connecticut. He has a bachelor’s degree from Florida Atlantic University.

Jay got started in broadcasting as a radio announcer. Later, he became a TV weatherman in Hartford, Connecticut. He had three kids with his first wife, and they liked to visit Disney World two or three times every year.

After a divorce, he married again and became a TV weatherman in Florida. Still doing zany commercials, he took a creative writing course at the local college and got hooked on writing. His first novel was a fantasy called The Knotted Sword which he tried to sell to the big publishing houses. His book was being rejected without even being read, and he’s convinced that his “query letter” was the problem. If you’re going to submit your book to a publisher, make sure the letter you send with it is very well written!

Jay gave up on writing novels for ten years. During this time he moved on from television to work as a reporter, editor, and columnist at a south Florida newspaper. After his daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1994 in Loxahatchee Groves, just west of Palm Beach, he wrote a second novel called Florida Freeze: A Rick Fortune Adventure. This time he decided to publish it himself.

Music was always a hobby for Jay. He learned to play the trumpet in high school. Later he took up the saxophone and piano. Jay recorded this song while he was working in a recording studio in New York City. It was in that studio where he had a chance to work on a recording session with Jimi Hendrix about a year before he became famous. The backing instrumental track was laid down by some unnamed musicians from Long Island which, supposedly, never actually met Jay!

Here’s Get Off Of My Roof by Jerry And The Landslides on PPX 441 from 1965:

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m playing Christmas songs once or twice every hour on MusicMaster Oldies, just like they did on the radio back in those days. I think that’s better than playing all Christmas music because it’s a bigger treat when those songs are played. Hope you like it!