Jimmy Rabbit was a prominent DJ at Dallas station KLIF AM 1190 with a show that mixed British Invasion sounds with Texas acts like Mouse and the Traps, Sir Douglas Quintet and the Five Americans. Having tried his hand at singing as a young rockabilly under his real name, Eddy Payne (Dale Payne), he decided to make another attempt in 1965. With help from friends, Rabbit released three good garage 45s from ’65 to ’67.
“Pushover” is distinguished by a popping rhythm and sharp guitar. It was released with three variations in the name. First as Jimmy Rabbit with Ron and Dea on the yellow Knight label, on a blue Knight label as simply Jimmy Rabbit, and then picked up for national release on Southern Sound as Jimmy Rabbit and the Karats (ha ha).
The b-side “Wait and See” is dark and less catchy, but pretty good too. Both of these were written by Lindsey-Kirkland-Rambo, arranged by Bob Rambo and produced by Bob Sanders.
Next came the bluesy “Wishy Washy Woman” from July of 1965, written by Ron Price. “Wishy-Washy Woman” reached #31 on the KLIF charts thanks to Jimmy’s connection with the station. It’s a formulaic blues, but gains momentum a little over halfway through as Jimmy sings just over the drums, with the other instruments coming in at the end of each measure.
The flip side is “My Girl”, credited as a Price original but really more a version of Willie Dixon’s “My Babe” with some different lyrics.
His biggest hit came in 1966, with a buzzy cover of “Psychotic Reaction” under the name Positively Thirteen O’Clock, recorded at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler, Texas with members of Mouse and the Traps: “Bugs” Henderson and Ronnie “Mouse” Weiss on guitars, Ken “Nardo” Murray drums, David Stanley bass, and Jerry Howell organ.
The solo has a frantic, trebly quality that’s a trademark Texas sound. The band ends the song with a final burst of fuzz rather than coming back into the verse as in the Count Five’s original, itself an imitation of the Yardbirds’ raveups. This abbreviated version clocks at a tidy 1:59!
Mr. Rabbit wrote to me:
The Dallas records [“Pushover” & “Wishy Washy Woman”] were a totally different thing than the Tyler recordings [“Psychotic Reaction”]. When Bobby Rambo and I teamed up in late ’64 we were a part of a new kind of music “thing” in Dallas-Ft. Worth.
We all came out of rockabilly music and we all used to hang out at the Sand-Lin Recording Studio (Bob Sanders and Lewis Lindsey) and played at, among other places: LouAnn’s and The Cellar in Dallas. This was right when the change from American to English music was taking place. We really tried to become/sound English! (like my friends in The Sir Douglas Quintet).
I was a teenager with a Beatle haircut who was the number-one d.j. on KLIF Radio. I had brought the Beatles on stage when they played Dallas [fascinating write up was at http://www.radiodailynews.com/rabbittchapter12.htm but can now be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20120329141938/http://www.radiodailynews.com/rabbittchapter12.htm] and played in several bands, so we all got record deals at different times. There were several bands that hung out and listened to and recorded music. At any given time, there could be a band called ‘Jimmy Rabbit and the Karats’, ‘Jimmy Rabbitt with Ron (Boston) and Dea’ (Kirkland), ‘The Rowdies’, ‘The Bobby Rambo Rock-Kings’ and on and on.
The songs “Pushover” and “Wait and See” were recorded in 1965 and were featured in the movie, High Yellow. The band included Bobby Rambo, Lewis Lindsey, Dea Kirkland, Rex Ludwick, Ron Boston, and others who have been long forgotten!
Bobby Rambo, Rex Ludwick and I (and others) became Jimmy Rabbitt and Texas (on Atco Records) and later Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade who recorded an album for Capitol with Waylon Jennings producing in 1977. Of all the records that I have made over the years, the only song that Bobby Rambo didn’t play on was “Psychotic Reaction”.
Check out Jimmy Rabbit’s website at www.jimmyrabbitt.com.(defunct)
Thanks for posting these rare 45’s. Mr Rabbit’s a radio legend here in Texas.
wow! I loved Jimmy Rabbit. I was living in Dallas during his tenure as a dj so I got to hear this stuff straight from the rabbit’s mouth, so to speak. To see the actual 45s, wow! Thanks for posting.
For me that track is just awesome. Cheers.
I was looking at an LP cover I had pulled off the shelf at my brother-in-law’s alpaca ranch in Grand Junction, CO. He said the guy living in his guest room recorded it. The album was Jimmy Rabbit and the Renegade.
yep, greatest dj ever. he plays a show every other Tuesday Afternoon on KAFM Grand Junction
http://kafmradio.org/
is this the jimmy rabbit that david allan coe mentions in the song ‘longhaired redneck ‘?
It is.
Yes, it’s the Jimmy Rabbitt mentioned in the David Allen Coe hit song “Longhaired Redneck” He co-wrote the song with Coe back in 1976. Check out Rabbitt’s version on http://www.youtube.com (Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade “Longhaired Redneck)The website doesn’t mention that Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade recorded several albums, including one produced by Waylon Jennings on Capitol Records in 1977. He still tours with his band, and does a radio show once a week on KOCI-FM in Newport Beach, CA (streaming at http;//www.kociradio.com)
There was a DJ on KRLA AM in the 60’s, by the name of The Rabbit, or maybe Jimmy Rabbit. Is this the person in this web site? He introduced me to Taj Mahal (Corina), Phil Oakes (Tape from California and Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends) and The Incredible String Band (The Hedgehog Song), and maybe Tim Hardin (Someone Like You), among other songs.
Thanks so much for some really great music that still influences my tastes today. No kidding.
I have heard an aircheck of Jimmy Rabbitt on KRLA from Feb 1970. It stands to reason he was there in the late 60s. Jimmy Rabbitt and the rest of the KLIF disc jockeys in Dallas were an inspiration to me in the 60s. I got into radio in 1970 and worked up until recently in the industry. A couple of years ago I emailed Jimmy and thanked him for giving me the inspiration. He even wrote me back. A good guy in my book.
Mad Joe
Wichita Falls, Tx
Jimmy Rabbit & I worked together at the late, lamented KMET in Los Angeles…He was, and hopefully still is, a brilliant jock. He also turned me on to a lot of country rock renegades….I hope he’s well and prospering.
As of mid 2009, Jimmy Rabbit’s doing a weekly two-hour show on a little bitty station in Costa Mesa California. He’s still cool!
Let us never forget the laid back amusing ramblings that The rabbitt would concoct over the airwaves on radio station KROQ/AM&FM, emmiting from Pasdaena, California, for several years, during the 1970’s. This was his days between KBBQ/AM & KMET/FM. He was also went back there after KMET/FM lost him. All the while playing gigs with his band Renegade at legendary nightspots like The Palomino, The Sweetwater, The Golden Bear & The Roxy. His cool, synical muses would entertain the elite as well as the down trodden. I, for one, was enlightened, inspired & grateful to have been able to turn on with The rabbitt. Thanx for this groovy posting, here. A truely award-deserving web-site! Peace ~
My name is David Mitchell. I was the bass player in the mystics. Didn’t We Have a Good Time written by Ron Price. Produced by Bob Sanders. Does anyone know where Ron and Bob are today?
Lot of records coming out of Dallas back then…I was one of the engineers at Sellers Recording Studio which was located in downtown Dallas next door to KLIF…Later my first studio was located over on McKinney Avenue in Dallas was SanLin Recording Studio…Not Sand-Lin as reported numerous times on this site…Later also had Studio Seven, Inc. , which was located on Parkhouse just outside of downtown Dallas…Was a real treat to read …If I can assist in filling in any of the gaps…Please advise.
Many Thanks.
Bob,
What can you tell us about The Lavender Blues?
David Mitchell. I was around 11 or 12 years old when I saw the Mystics as a warm up band for a concert featuring The Beach Boys, Chad and Jeremy, and the Loving Spoonful. I think you were a last minute substitute for the spoonful, who showed up late and played after the BBs. Obviously this all left a big impression on me. I always loved that song Didn’t We Have a Good Time. It was a treat to hear it preformed. If you are interested, you guys sounded really good despite the tech limits of the sound system at Memorial Colleseum.
Oh, what awesome forum posts! I have always wondered myself what became of this marvelous DJ. As a Teenager, I was relocated from Pasadena Texas to LA by good ole Uncle Sam. Imagine finding another Pasadena on the west coast. Anyway, I was blessed to find a real roots rock radio station to help me keep my sanity while in the Navy. I listened faithfully to the weird eminations of KROQ while imagining the babes that he so eloquently described from the groupie pictues mailed in to his “Wall of Flesh”. This was 76-77 time frame and disco was in full pandemic. How refreshing it was to hear real music and to be introduced to other fascinating sounds of a west coast progressive country/rock genre. I was familiar with much of it but learned many new sounds. I did manage to catch him live at The Whisky-a-go-go on Sunset Blvd. His band was playing the first set at a Flying Burrito Brothers show; I believe they were billed as “Jimmy Rabbit and his Cocaine Cowboys”. What an awesome show! I had never heard of his Dallas roots but that does make perfect since now.
On the family farm, 170 miles SW of Dallas, KLIF was my daytime station & KOMA at nite. As I got older & more affluent, I collected the music of my youth. JR’s Pushover was one of the first that I sought. For a long time I just knew there was a 2nd version of Psycotic Reaction but I couldn’t name it, so I couldn’t find it & eventually I gave up- until now & thanks to you I’ve finally found the other version that they played on KLIF in ’66. Thanks a bunch.
I have loved ONLY your rendition of this song and I play it often. I would love a CD. Is it possible to buy one and how can I do that. You should have kept singing. You were great.
Nancy
i will never forget the days of seeing rabbit and renegade at the sweetwater cafe many years ago [70s] it is good to hear he is still around and still kicking ass play on rabbit
As far as PSYCHOTIC REACTION goes, “13” tops “5.”
What week did Pushover reach the highest point in the Top 40 Klif charts, and what was the highest peak.
ARSA shows it reaching #40 on May 1, 1965, but that’s the only survey they have for it. Could well have gone higher either before or after that date.
http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?svid=30024
Yes, I know it did better than #40, as it was a bigger hit than the follow-up, Wishy Washy Woman.
Nice to hear about Jimmy and Renegade from everyone. I used to listen to him here in SoCal on KRLA AM and later on KMET and KROQ. I still have (and play) his LP recorded in 76/77. Also saw him and his band play at the Palomino in North Hollywood around the same time. I always loved his radio show and also listening to him play. He turned me on to a lot of music. I’m trying to find out if he is still on the radio–if you know, let me know. Love to hear his show again. Thanks for the very cool website!
I’m actually listening to Jimmy Rabbit broadcasting out of Costa Mesa/Newport Beach, California.: KOCI
They have other “classic” DJs, too!
http://www.kociradio.com
I believe I have a Positively 13 O’clock song on a Pebbles comp. I have listened to the Rabbit on KOCI FM and that’s the only time I have heard him live.
I have just uploaded an air check of him on KROQ from Nov 1976. Along with air checks of BMR on KMET FM ( 1975) and Cosmos on KPPC FM
( 1971).
I have also uploaded previous air checks of the Rabbit. Click on my name to listen and use the search function on the site to find the previous or older uploads.
I listened to Jimmy when he was at KLIF in Dallas. I still have my signed copy of Pushover.
Rabbitt’s band did THE definitive version of “Psychotic Reaction”. The national hit is like a limp d**k in comparison. KLIF only played the HBR version thankfully. I remember when “Pushover” came out when I was a wee teenager in Richardson and heard it on KLIF. I like how back then they’d support their air talent, unlike now where DJs are expenses and can just voice track a week’s show for $50. The Rabbittt RULES the airwaves!
We need him more than ever these days!
I listened to Jimmy Rabbitt on KLIF religiously. As a young teen at night, I’d listen through an earpiece. One night he said he had a special message for all those kids out there listening in their bedrooms while their parents thought they were sleeping. He said turn up the volume real loud as he slipped into a soft stage whisper … which I did … and a super loud sound literally knocked me out of bed.
I’m pushing 70 now, and that ear has a nice tinnitus whistle going to remind me of all those nights listening to the Rabbitt …