Gitarzan

Stevens' fourth album, released in May of 1969, and his first full album of comedy/novelty songs since his debut album in 1962. Unlike Stevens' previous albums, half of the songs on the album are covers of older novelty songs: Gitarzan also introduces Stevens' method of overdubbing audience noise on studio recordings to provide the atmosphere of a live performance.
"Ahab The Arab" and "Harry the Hairy Ape" are re-recordings of the tracks included on 1,837 Seconds Of Humor and This Is Ray Stevens, respectively. "Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band)" had been released as a standalone single in 1966 and charted: it makes its first album appearance here, although it differs from the single version in that audience noises have been added. The album generated a Top 10 hit ("Gitarzan") as well as a further Top 40 hit ("Along Came Jones / Yakety Yak"). The album itself was Stevens first album to show a significant chart showing, reaching #57.
The 1996 CD release contains three bonus tracks: "The Streak", "Moonlight Special" and "Bridget The Midget (The Queen Of The Blues)", all of which were inlcuded on 1974's Boogity Boogity, although "Bridget The Midget" was originally released as a standalone single in 1970, closer to the period of Gitarzan.
Singles from this Release:
Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band) (Originally Released in 1966 as a Non-Album Single but Included on this Release)
Gitarzan
Along Came Jones / Yakety Yak