A Head Full of Wishes

A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.

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My record collection
#109: The Bartlebees in Arlo Bumfluffs' So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish

I guess it’s inevitable that there are going to be entries in this series about which I know very little, and this single by The Bartlebees is one. Dean Wareham guests on the second track on the b-side, In My Box.

The Bartlebees in Arlo Bumfluffs' So Long and Thanks For All The Fish
The Bartlebees in Arlo Bumfluffs' So Long and Thanks For All The Fish

So here’s a few things I do know:

  • The picture on the front is a fab photo of Twiggy† riding a scooter, taken in 1967 by Ronald Traeger.
  • Armin of The Bartelbees gets some background filled out in Dean’s Black Postcards so we know more about him than the other members, namely:
    • He is a postman
    • He is a Donaldist - a member of DONALD (Deutsche Organisation Nichtkommerzieller Anhänger des Lauteren Donaldismus / German organisation for the non-commercial devotees of true Donaldism)
    • That Donald is the duck!
    • He had “a huge collection of seven inch singles”
  • The single is described on the sleeve as Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - The Bartlebees in Arlo Bumfluffs’ So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish!
  • “So long, and thanks for all the fish” is the last message the dolphins leave before departing the earth shortly before it gets demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass‡.
  • Dean’s credit on the sleeve is “Dean Wareham as Fuzzy on leadguitar & backing vocals B2”

The single was recorded in April 1998 and released on Magic Marker Records from Portland, Oregon.

Here’s the track Dean guests on…

This was rather late coming into my collection. I was made aware of it in early 2000, added it to the website in January 2001, and bought myself a copy on Discogs in December 2017!

  • Catalogue Number: AHFOW 11/061
  • Artist: The Bartlebees
  • Title: in Arlo Bumfluffs’ So Long and Thanks For All The Fish
  • Notes: Dean Wareham on guitar and backing vocaks on In My Box
  • Packaging: The fake poster sleeve art is nicely done
  • Format: 7”
  • Bought for £4.99 on Discogs in December 2017

† - I’m not sure how well Twiggy is known beyond the UK but she was a skinny model in the 60s and the face of M&S now

‡ - From Douglas Adams’s masterpiece “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy” - whenever Twitter has one of those mash up hashtag games you can guarantee the appearance of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxie 500”