Saturday, December 31, 2016

Jerry Springer sings: "Save the Terminal" (1973)



In 1973, long before he became a schlocky television talk-show host and shortly before he was arrested for soliciting a prostitute, Jerry Springer recorded a charming little protest record called "Save the Terminal." (The title is often mistakenly listed as "Save the Union Terminal.") 

The song was written and recorded as part of an effort to raise money to save the Cincinnati Union Terminal, an Art Deco railroad terminal that opened in 1933 and was the model for the great hall of the Justice League in the animated series Super Friends. (The effort to save the terminal continues to this day.)

Train service at the terminal ended in 1973, and the train concourse was demolished in 1974, but the fundraising efforts enabled most of the artistic mosaic panels from the structure to be moved to various locations around Cincinnati.

This single wasn't the end of Springer's recording career. In 1995 he recorded an album, Dr. Talk, which contains his renditions of country, pop, and folk songs in addition to the title track, a Springer original.

Here's "Save the Terminal" and its flip side, "Faded Photos Just Won't Do":