Swipes

BARBER SHOP BALLADS--Edited by Sigmund Spaeth--Simon & Schuster ($2.00). That summer nights may be less hideous and rancid discords less frequently pollute the fine free atmosphere of club porches, tonsorial parlors, moonlight bays, locker rooms and shower baths, Singer Sigmund Spaeth 'and the Weber-and-Fields of the publishing-business present the first collection ever wilfully made of those maundering melodies Mandy Lee, Sivect Adeline, I've Been Working on the Railroad, Some Folks Say That a Nigger Won't Steal, et al. There is a foreword by Ring Lardner, alleged basso. There is whimsical but practical explanation of the broad technique essential to impromptu cantatas--"swipes," "seventh heaven," "amen corner," Russian depths and breath control. Most important are the actual scores of a dozen much-mangled tunes and the standard words, disputes over which have rent asunder the closest of harmonizers. Slipped into the covers of the volume are two cheap 5-inch phonograph records.