Songs For Saturday Special: Norma Tanega

Hi there! For the 2nd time today, it's Songs For Saturday.

For this post, we're going to look at the music of Norma Tanega.  

In today's earlier post for Songs For Saturday, we looked at themes songs for TV shows, including one for the comedy series on FX/Hulu called What We Do In the Shadows. 

The song used for the theme is "You're Dead"  by Norma Tanega. And here it is again. 

When I first heard this song, I thought this was a modern song capturing the spirit of folk songs from the 1960s. Instead, it is an actual folk song from the 1960s.

Norma Tanega had a full and prodigious background in a wide range of music and art.  

Norma was born near San Francisco in 1939.  At age 9, Tanega was taking classical piano lessons. In her high school senior year directed the art gallery at Long Beach Polytechnic High School . Her paintings were on exhibit at the  Long Beach Public Library and its Municipal Art Center when she was 16 yeras old.  She was playing Beethoven and Bartók at piano recitals and writing poetry.  

In 1966, Norma Tanega released a folk music album called "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog".  Below is the title track of that album. 

"Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" was an international hit in 1966, peaking at number 22 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Charts, and #3 in Canada.

Norma Tanega worked as a camp counselor in upstate New York in the Catskill Mountains where she would perform some her songs.  Brooklyn-based record producer Herb Bernstein caught her Catskills summer camp act and was impressed. Impressed enough to get Tanega into a recording studio and release her first album. 

Here's another track from that album, "A Street That Rhymes At 6 A.M."

Tanega traveled to England in 1966 to promote her music where she met British pop singer Dusty Springfield. On a visit to New York, Springfield entered a romantic relationship with Tanega; the two moved to England and lived together for five years.

After their relationship ended, Norma recorded a new album in 1971 called I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile which reported includes references to her relationship with Dusty on this album. One would assume Dusty would be the object of affection in that album's love songs. 

In addition to her wide ranging passion for art in so many forms, Norma's daring in 1971 to write about one woman's love for another is one more thing to admire about this unique and boundary breaking artist.  

Here's another track from 1966, "Jubilation"  by Norma Tanega.  

Norma Tanega moved back to California in 1972 where she continued to produce art in her music and her paintings. 

As recently as 2011, Norma was still making music, working with her band Baboonz on their album 8 Songs Ate Brains.

 And Norma Tanega teamed up with Steve Rushingwind Ruiz for the 2012 release, Twin Journeys.  

"Walkin' My Cat Named Dog"  was covered by They Might Be Giants for release on their 2015 children's album Why?.

In 2014, Tanega's song "You're Dead" was used in the opening credits of the New Zealand vampire comedy film What We Do In The Shadows. It would also be used in the TV series that began in 2019.  It was through this show that I discovered her music and began to research her legacy.  

Sadly, Norma Tanega is no longer with us; she died on December 29, 2019, at her home in Claremont, California at the age of 80. 

While it is sad she is gone, Norma Tanega lived a remarkable life. Her passion was art, expressed through music, painting and poetry.  And she got to live that passion over the course of her life. 

We should all be so fortunate.  

Remember to be good to one another and always keep the music alive.  

Norma Tanega (age 80) with one of her paintings at an April 2019 exhibit