Transcription Mystery Disc #58

José Granahan is almost certainly a pseudonym. I knew that when I saw this dusty Capitol Pro-Disc. What was immediately interesting to me is that this is the same brand of blank that the Beatles recorded to. [see here] José Granahan is not a missing Beatle. but I can use that exact match to date this recording to as late as 1965. I also found an identical blank used to record a Gene Autry Program from 1948. It's a big time window, but generally I favor later dates. It's not deterministic, but as a rule the newer discs survive longer. This is not because they are mroe durable but simply because less time has elapsed.

The Disc was recorded at 78 rpm from the outer edge. Sadly it was dented at one corner preventing tracking on the first grooves of each side. Whatever identifying data is in that space is lost forever. It's a recording of someone speaking in very bad spanish, undoubtedly a student either at practice or in a project. José Granahan is Probably a Joe or John Granahan. It's common in Spanish classes to impose Hispanic first names upon the students. The title "Tema diecisiete" is Spanish for "theme seventeen." Tema can also mean Subject or Text which would make even more sense. My Spanish isn't good enough to transcribe it let alone translate it. I tried to make out the words but the parts about old women, Compañeros and bears didn't make any sense to me