Song of the Day 6/30: Martin Mull, “Ukelele Blues”

Martin Mull, who died last week at age 80, is mostly remembered for his long career as a comic actor, which began in 1976 when producer Norman Lear tapped him for a role as a comic villain on his spoof of soap operas, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.” But he only landed the gig because Lear caught him performing in his previous endeavor as a satirical singer/songwriter.

Mull released almost an album a year throughout the ’70s spoofing various aspects of American pop culture. He even had a single scrape the bottom of the Hot 100 in 1973: “Dueling Tubas,” which the banjo tune from “Deliverance” is rendered by tuba and sousaphone. Note the label’s attribution of the tune to the motion picture “Belligerence.”

In both his music and his acting, Mull embodied an easy-to-hate middle-American smugness that he played to the hilt. No bit captured its essence better than his “Ukelele Blues,” preceded by his introductory explanation of why he could legitimately sing them. It’s not every day you hear someone play slide ukelele.

Something I never knew until I read his obit: Before turning to music Mull graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and had a flourishing sideline as a painter while pursuing his acting career.