The Avid Listener: "Cutting It Up with Dickie Goodman: Communism, Castro and the Wall"

 Joanna: Tim hits us up with another entry on Cold War novelty songs for The Avid Listener. I'm sure all of our Smolkoly readers are wondering why on this green earth is there a vintage picture of Beef Stroganoff in this post? Does it look delectable? Does it perhaps make you want to get up and dance?

If it does, you might just be ready for "The Stroganoff Cha-Cha" and Tim's essay on this and other songs of Dickie Goodman.  To stretch out a metaphor, the song's mashup of Cuban, American, and Russian elements perhaps resembles a modern-day fusion restaurant. 
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The combination of a slow and heavy Russian work song with a light and frisky Cuban dance must have sounded odd in early 1959, since there was little connection at the time between the cultures of the two countries. 

​If this is making you hungry, here's a recipe for Beef Stroganoff from one of my favorite food bloggers. Dinner, music, dance and an enlightening essay.

​Cha-cha-cha!