Marty Cooper(I)

Marty Cooper, aka "El Clod" first hit the music biz in 1961, when he and fellow novelty musician, H.B. Barnum, wrote "Peanut Butter", a big hit by The Marathons. A year later, when Claude King's 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain" climbed the charts, Cooper went under the name, "El Clod" (Spanish for "The Dolt"), and created a parody of the song entitled "Tijuana Border" with Wolverton Mountain in parenthesis. Sadly, the song didn't chart due to the Hispanic stereotypes from Cooper. Two years later, when Lorne Greene's western ballad, "Ringo" became number one, Cooper reemerged with yet another parody, "Gringo" in which spicy tacos do in the title character than a blazing six-gun. But, like "Tijuana Border", it also flopped. Marty Cooper became one of music's long list of casualties in the novelty category. They were very popular, but today, his songs are rarely heard on radio.