The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Looking at popsike as to past eBay listings, this record, which comprises Eddie Morton's "I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew;" and the Peerless Quartet's "Did He Run," has sold above $300 four times within the past four years.

I collect recordings by the Peerless Quartet from the period when Frank Stanley was a member, until his death in December 1910. Have it, but not selling it to keep my humble little Victor grouping of their recordings complete. I think that I paid $5 for my copy about ten years ago--which is as it should be for a 16000 series Victor.

But--

Quite frankly, what makes this record so desirable? It evidently wasn't simply two collectors who engaged in a bidding war on one occasion. I see nothing terribly noteworthy about either song that would elicit such a rabid response.

If there's some deep secret about it that I'm not supposed to ask about--oh well, I asked.

A few years back ( 8 or so ) it seemed to get covered buy a group popular with students at the time, not sure if this explains this but some old songs do get a new life and the original might then get attention.

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

Interesting! Thank you for that. My original thought was that it was something akin to what happened to Harry James' "It's Been a Long, Long Time," as I can't see anything remarkable about either song, other than being enjoyable.

Hefty prices for that record.

recordmaker wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2024 4:19 pm A few years back ( 8 or so ) it seemed to get covered buy a group popular with students at the time, not sure if this explains this but some old songs do get a new life and the original might then get attention.

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

"I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew" was used in the webcomic Homestuck. At over 8000 pages as of 2023 it's a long one and anyway I had happened to find out when I realized a lot of Homestuck fans were in the comment section of a Dan Melvin collection video. Asked a friend about it and got the answer; there's a group of 4 antagonists in the comic who are called the midnight crew. It's inspired by the Eddie Morton record.

Homestuck fans are pretty intense about their common interest so they're probably the ones buying that record. Or perhaps it's dealers running the price up because they know it is a record that is in a popular piece of media.

The last one sold on e-Bay for $100. I would have bought it at that price if I had seen it. And I don't know anything about the comic.
If you ever want to sell I like Eddie Morton.