''1,837 Seconds of Humor'' is the debut album of

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings " Everything Is Beautiful" and " Misty", as well as novel ...

, released in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

. The front of the album shows a sheik that rides a camel, which is a reference to Stevens' song "

Ahab the Arab "Ahab the Arab" (also written "Ahab, the Arab") is a novelty song written and recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962. Lyrics In the song, Arab is pronounced () to rhyme with Ahab. The hero of the story is Clyde the camel and Stevens has made referen ...

." All of the material on the album was written by

and published by Lowery Music Co., Inc. (BMI). The back of the album cover contains an essay of biographical information of Stevens from his youth in his hometown of

Clarkdale, Georgia Clarkdale is an unincorporated community west-northwest of Atlanta, Georgia in southwestern Cobb County, between Powder Springs and Austell. It has a post office with ZIP Code 30111 and is the hometown of Novelty and Country singer Ray Stevens. ...

to the time of this album's release and gives brief descriptions of all the songs on the album. Four singles were lifted from the album: " Jeremiah Peabody's Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green and Purple Pills" (his first Top 40 hit), "Scratch My Back (I Love It)" (which failed to chart), "

" (his major breakthrough hit and his biggest until his 1970 hit "

Everything Is Beautiful "Everything Is Beautiful" is a song written, composed, and performed by Ray Stevens. It has appeared on many of Stevens's albums, including one named after the song, and has become a pop standard and common in religious performances. The childre ...

"), and "Further More." The album was re-released by

Pickwick Records Pickwick Records was an American record label and British record distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo (later changing its name to Intern ...

in 1971 under the title ''Rock & Roll Show''. This version of the album has a rearrangement of the track listing and does not include the songs "The Rockin' Boppin' Waltz" and "Further More." The front of this album cover contains two faces of Stevens making a huge smile, one on the top left and the other on the top right; the center of the front album shows a sketch of Stevens making the exact smile along with references to a few of the songs on the album. The back of the album cover for the re-released version also contains exactly the same essay as the original album.

Track listing

All songs written by Ray Stevens.

Track listing for ''Rock & Roll Show''

Personnel

*Background vocals: the Merry Melody Singers *Orchestra conducted by: Jerry Kennedy MG 20732 (

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanes ...

LP) MG 60732 (

Stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

LP)

Charts

Album – ''Billboard'' (North America) Singles – ''Billboard'' (North America)

References

{{Authority control 1962 debut albums Mercury Records albums Ray Stevens albums Albums conducted by Jerry Kennedy Albums produced by Shelby Singleton Comedy albums by American artists