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.

<-- back to home

My record collection
[114] 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…

The Bartlebees - In My Box (play on YouTube)

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”