Living Color

Here is some pretty colored vinyl for your Tuesday enjoyment. I found these two 45's last week over in Holly Hill, which is the next little town north of Daytona Beach. As I mentioned in this earlier post, RCA first introduced the 45 in 1949, and they were color-coded. In the case of these two records, green was for country, and yellow was for kiddie records. The green single on top is one of the very first 45s ever released, Eddy Arnold-Then I Turned And Walked Slowly Away (RCA Victor 7" 45 RPM 48-0025, 1949). That '0025' in the catalog number marks this as the 25th record put out in this format. Prior to this, singles came out on 78. Look close and you'll see the printing on this record is gold. They changed that to silver pretty quickly as the gold tended to fade quickly. The yellow record is part of the Little Nipper series, designed to appeal to children. This particular one is Roy Rogers and The Sons Of The Pioneers-Pecos Bill (RCA Victor 7" 45 RPM 47-0201). I'm not sure if this one came out in '49 or '50, but it's pretty early. People think that colored vinyl came after the black stuff, but that's not true. The black became popular because it could hide a multitude of sins, like recycled records. Well, I suppose there were other reasons, but that sounds good...