In a Viennese Vein is the second in a series of Bachelors Anonymous releases of music created for the stage (see Made in L.A. issued last year).
Forty years ago, on Halloween 1984, In a Viennese Vein was presented at The Lhasa Club as a one-off performance by John Fleck, the late Lance Loud, and Mary Lou Vozza (substituting for Charlotte McGuinness), with cameo appearances by the Bachelors-to-be Rob Berg and David Hughes. It was included in Donald Krieger and Kristian Hoffman’s first annual Zombie Jamboree, featuring Bruce Schwartz, Weba Garretson and Jerry Frankel, Tom Siegel, Tomata DuPlenty and Fayette Hauser, Donald Krieger, and Hoffman’s band The Swinging Madisons.
Bachelor David recalls:
In September 1979 while visiting New York for the first time, for entertainment I was relegated to seeing The Motels at Hurrah’s, having missed one of my idols, James White, two weeks before. One day I stopped by a record shop, probably on St. Mark’s Place, and asked the clerk for something I might not find in Los Angeles. I was handed the Mumps’ single “Rock & Roll This, Rock & Roll That,” the band’s lineup featuring Lance Loud on vocals and Kristian Hoffman on keys.1 Oddly, although the band was associated with New York, the Mumps’ 45 was recorded in California, where Loud and Hoffman were from, and where the band’s fan club was based. Although I knew of it, I hadn’t watched An American Family, the 1973 television series that profiled the Louds at about the time of Lance and Kristian’s move to NYC.
Five years later, while preparing In a Viennese Vein, Rob and I were writing songs for a prospective January 1985 debut by our duo Bachelors Anonymous. Our collaboration with John Fleck was successful enough that, post Halloween, the three of us had a conversation in Rob’s rented house on Orange Grove about whether John should join the Bachelors and become lead singer. He certainly had the pipes and range, but I demurred. I felt confident enough to front the group; not being an instrumentalist, I had little to do otherwise but hit a drum pad. Neither John nor Rob remembers our chat, but it always bugged me, what might have been had I assented.
Story Synopsis
[The following bracketed timestamps refer to the newly released track “Happy Birthday Leopold” (Track 2), which is a medley of musical numbers and background tunes recorded for the stage production, but are not in their original order.]
A figure (Fleck) walks onstage “painfully, as if rising from the dead.” With fangs and and a concubine’s claws he sings “The Cold Song” (Track 1) in falsetto, based on Klaus Nomi’s version of Henry Purcell’s “What power art thou, who from below,” taken from King Arthur or The British Worthy (1691). Interestingly the aria was written for the bass voice.2
The aria is followed by the sound of a heartbeat [0:00], crickets, a drawn-out inhalation, two lovers (Berg with Fleck as the female) bidding auf wiedersehn, the woman walking away but feeling followed, asking, “Liebchen, is that you?” A click of the woman’s heels as the singer moves into the Lhasa crowd. Then a hissing, a voracious groan, and the woman’s screams, the footsteps departing. A juicy slurp [1:18], and more footsteps.
A harpsichord plays “Happy Birthday” in a minor key [1:27] as a servant (Hughes) enters with champagne coupes on a salver. As guests arrive, Leopold—bearing a strong resemblance to the fanged warbler—struggles to recall his 29th birthday party [1:47]. He introduces his fiancée Helga (Vozza), by all appearances a crone, but also daughter of the wealthiest landowner in Austria [2:54]. Lucky Leo feels a chill nonetheless [3:11] only to snap out of it [3:27]. Helga gives him a gift: a pendant on a ribbon, which adorned the fanged warbler. Leopold, greeting guests, is attacked by a bat.
The Marquis and Marquessa de Brie are announced and ask for Helga but are scared off by her appearance (“Oh, what kind of accident could it have been?”). Next to arrive are the Princess of Provolone and the Viscount of Velveeta (Berg), to whom Leopold asks, “Ah, who is the charming doll you’re with tonight?” She is indeed a blow-up sex doll that Leopold eventually recognizes as “my precious little Snitzel face”—in costume. Insulted at Leopold’s roving eye, Helga stalks off, and Leopold calls for a polka [2:17]. The servant (Hughes), now in shirtsleeves, obliges with a concertina, yodeling. The guests bunny-hop in a conga line as they exit the stage, leaving Leopold with Snitzel.
A man in a black cape (Loud) lights a cigarette in the shadows [3:44]. “I’m Lance. Wanna dance?” Leopold tosses Snitzel aside and the two dance a stylized tango to the strains of “Strangers in the Night” (Track 3). Lance sings while Leopold clacks castanets, Lance shakes a maraca. Leopold, in turn, sings in falsetto. Lance enwraps Leopold in his cape and sinks his teeth into his neck, violently. Helga returns and is shocked by the scene of the two men. She hits Lance with her fists and he flits off. “You’re a disgrace,” she yells to Leopold. Then, upon a closer look: “Oh my God: it’s a hickey! A hickey, you sickie!” She takes directions from off stage: “Could you slap him?” “Yes, I will slap him.” She does. “That’s enough.” Helga: “Where is the Leopold I once knew?”
Leopold sings “It’s My Party (I’ll Die If I Want To”) (Track 4) as the servant and a few guests return. Leopold croons in the spotlight. Helga returns: “It’s his party and I’ll die if he wants me to…” And so Leopold goes in for the kill [3:45]. Savoring the fresh blood, he asks, “But was it safe?”3 Twirling, his coattails become wings: “I’m flying!” as he leaves the stage. A woman screams as she comes upon Helga [4:45], who declares as she’s revived, “Good morning, good morning. It’s good to be alive.” Nonetheless she’s driven offstage by her friends.
The clock strikes twelve [5:23]. Lance is illuminated and sings the first line of “Indian Love Call”: “When I’m calling you….” Howling is heard from the wings. He slaps the stage with his cape. “Will you answer too?” he sings. He summons Helga and Leopold. “This party is ended.” They enter as Lance sings “We’ve Only Just Begun”—”to kill…” (Track 5). Leopold, to his master, warns, “It’s Daylight Saving Time; the sun will be coming up soon.” Helga complains about her many ailments, to which the men yell, “Ah, shuddup!” Leopold spies a rodent and, squeezing out its lifeblood, Helga protests, “It’s mine,” as she wrests it from him.
The three sing “I’ve Got the Hunger” (Track 6) as the party guests return to the stage as zombies, whom Leopold sics on the audience. Leopold then attacks Lance, who succumbs. Leopold leads Helga offstage.
The Recordings
The original tracks, several of which appear here, were recorded in 1984 at the Bachelors’ home studio, The Men’s Dept, in Pasadena. At the time, Rob played the music on a Yamaha DX7 and David programmed drums on a Roland TR-606. In 2024, Rob recorded additional synth lines in Los Angeles and John Lacques laid down drum tracks in South Pasadena, where John Fleck and the Bachelors recorded vocals.
Track List
In a Viennese Vein
- The Cold Song (feat. John Fleck)
- Happy Birthday Leopold (feat. John Fleck) [includes a medley of music and sound from the show]
- It’s My Party (I’ll Die If I Want To) [Parody by John Fleck]
- Strangers in the Night
- We’ve Only Just Begun
- I’ve Got the Hunger (feat. John Fleck)
Credits
Vocals by John Fleck
Background vocals by Rob Berg & David Hughes
All songs written and arranged by
Rob Berg & David Hughes
except:
• “The Cold Song” music by Henry Purcell and lyrics by John Dryden
• “Happy Birthday Leopold” includes a German folk polka
• “It’s My Party (I’ll Die if I Want To)” [Parody by John Fleck]
original song written by Herb Weiner, Seymour Gottlieb, Wally Gold, and John Gluck Jr.
• “Strangers In the Night” music by Bert Kaempfert
• “We’ve Only Just Begun” music by Roger Nichols
Produced by
Bachelors Anonymous
All instruments by Bachelors Anonymous, recorded at
The Men’s Dept (¼” 4-track), Pasadena, 1984
The Men’s Dept (GarageBand), Los Angeles, 2024
except:
Drums on “I’ve Got the Hunger” by John Lacques, Drumtime,
recorded at Studio F, South Pasadena, Jeff Peters, 2024
Vocals recorded at
The Men’s Dept, Pasadena, 1984
(“Happy Birthday Leopold”)
Studio F, South Pasadena, Jeff Peters, 2024
(“The Cold Song,” “Happy Birthday Leopold,” “It’s My Party,” “I’ve Got the Hunger”)
Digital transfers by
Tal Miller
Next Generation Audio, 2020
Mixed by
Bachelors Anonymous
The Men’s Dept, Pasadena, 1984
(“Happy Birthday Leopold”)
Scott Fraser
Architecture, 2024
(all others)
Mastered by
Scott A. Jennings
Listen 2, 2025
Thanks to
Jeff Rolka for vocal exercises
Album cover
Design by Rob Berg
Layout by David Hughes
Video still taken from the performance October 31, 1984, The Lhasa Club
© ℗ 2025 Berg & Hughes, Celibataire Music (ASCAP)
except:
• “It’s My Party” © Wiener, Gottlieb, Gold, and Gluck, Chappell & Co. Inc. (ASCAP) and Magilla Music (ASCAP), parody lyrics © John Fleck, Celibataire Music (ASCAP)
• “Strangers In the Night” © Kaempfert, Singleton, and Snyder, EMI Music (GEMA)
• “We’ve Only Just Begun” © Williams and Nichols, Universal Music (ASCAP)
Lyrics
The Cold Song
What power art thou, who from below
Hast made me rise, unwillingly, and slow,
From beds of everlasting snow?
See’st thou not how stiff and wond’rous old,
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold?
I can scarcely move, or draw my breath;
Let me, let me, freeze again to death.
Lyrics in Public Domain
It’s My Party (I’ll Die If I Want To)
Nobody knows where our Leo has gone
Somebody’s messed with his head
Why do I feel so alive
When I’m supposed to be dead?
Chorus
It’s my party and I’ll die if I want do
Die if I want do, die if I want to
You would die too if it happened to you
Play all your waltzes – keep dancing all night
Just leave us alone for awhile
Til Helga’s dancing with me
I’ve got no reason to smile
Chorus
Lyrics Reprinted by Permission
I’ve Got the Hunger
I’ve got a hunger and it’s not for food.
But if I told you, you would think me crude.
‘Cause when I look at you, I want to taste you too.
I’ve got the Hunger…
I’ve got a hunger and I need a fix.
Why don’t you open up your bag of tricks?
Let me take a sip from your naked lip.
I’ve got the Hunger…
Chorus
Places of darkness.
Victims of chance.
Hunters and hunted.
One deathly dance.
We are the Vampires!
We are Immortal!
We are the Chosen Ones!
I’ve had a hunger for a thousand years.
It’s something bigger than your greatest fears.
What can be more fun than to drink someone?
I’ve got the Hunger…
We’ve got a hunger you can satisfy.
A bite or two will more than gratify.
How about dessert? It won’t really hurt.
We’ve got the Hunger…
Chorus
Lyrics Reprinted by Permission
Notes
- Hoffman played piano on James White’s LP Off White (1979), being pictured on the cover as Tad Among.
- Kristian Hoffman arranged Klaus Nomi’s second album, Simple Man (1982).
- This line, not in the script, is poignant considering that Lance Loud died at age 50 in 2001 of complications from hepatitis and HIV infection.