Recommended Albums #104

Del Close & John Brent: How to Speak Hip (1959)

How to Speak Hip, a 1959 comedy album by Del Close and John Brent, was a satire of foreign language-learning records, with the “foreign language” being the parlance of “hip”.

Its lesson was intended, the introduction explains, “for English-speaking people who want to talk to, and be understood by, jazz musicians, hipsters, beatniks, juvenile delinquents and the criminal fringe”.

And if the record’s primary mission was comedy, it did a fair job of elucidating hip terms and culture.

Comedian Del Close was an early member of the St. Louis comedy troupe that, upon moving to Chicago, changed its name to Second City. Close was cited as a mentor and inspiration by the likes of John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray and John Candy.

Close plays the “straight”–read “square”–role of host/interviewer while actor John Brent–known for roles in films such as Catch-22 and American Graffiti–plays hipster Geets Romo, who chafes at the rigid, formal structure of Close’s lesson.

Geets’ reluctant participation and general disdain for the lesson (“let’s send out for some pizza”) makes for a hilarious listen, even while the objective of teaching the language of hip is actually achieved rather effectively despite.

The cult status of How to Speak Hip was enhanced by Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who was fond of quoting Geet’s “…and then we’ll get, you know, world peace”, from the record’s introduction.

Wilson can be heard referencing it in the Pet Sounds recording sessions:

In fact, the working title of the Pet Sounds track “Let’s Go Away For Awhile” was actually “Let’s Go Away For Awhile (And Then We’ll Have World Peace)”.

How to Speak Hip has been sampled and excerpted by DJ’s, rappers, jazz and electronic music artists over multiple decades.

It’s considered pretty hip.

Listen to: “Introduction”