Friday Morning Diversion: The Blues Brothers Sing "Sink The Bismarck"

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 6, 2012 4:20PM

Jerry Garcia famously said of the Blues Brothers: "Too good to be a parody, and not good enough to be good for what it was." That about summarizes the band for many. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's love for blues and soul music was genuine, and Aykroyd's knowledge of the blues rivals many noted musicologists.

But the Blues Brothers were also good at taking left-field song choices and playing theem for full comedic value. Case in point: the Bob's Country Bunker scene in The Blues Brothers movie where they win over a skeptical crowd of Wisconsin rednecks with covers of "Stand by Your Man" and "Theme from Rawhide."

There was another song the band performed in the Bob's Country Bunker scene that was cut from the film: a cover of Johnny Horton's "Sink the Bismarck." Horton was a country singer who helped start and popularize the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He had hits with "The Battle of New Orleans" and "North to Alaska." "Sink the Bismarck" reached number 6 on the Billboard charts in 1960, and number 3 on the country charts.