This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And legends is what you're gonna get from me but they will be a bit drunk today as the theme of this show is the booze. Bottoms up as today's episode will drenched in whiskey, gin, wine and beer and all the good and bad that comes from it. But music and booze have one thing in common - the real thing is so much better than talking about it. So let's not waste time and start off with the king of the booze songs, Amos Milburn. Here is Vicious Vicious Vodka.
01 - Amos Milburn - Vicious Vicious Vodka
Amos Milburn was that with Vicious Vicious Vodka and that's just one of the many songs he did on the booze after his 1950 hit Bad Bad Whiskey. There is no evidence that Milburn had an alcohol problem, he just successfully played on with the theme. And so did many others, whether or not inspired by Milburns success. We'll hear more from him later in this show, but first let's take a trip to New Orleans where we find Dave Bartholomew singing about the local beer, Jax, from the Jackson breweries. Here's the Good Jax Boogie.
02 - Dave Bartholomew - Good Jax Boogie
03 - Dave Bartholomew - Nickel Wine
Nickel Wine - Dave Bartholomew, one of the most influential persons in New Orleans' music scene of the fifties. He was the producer and songwriter for Fats Domino and countless other musicians and a key figure in the transformation from Rhythm & Blues to Rock 'n Roll. Not so much known as a musician, by the way. He did play the trumpet and he led his own band but he is mostly credited as the important person behind the scenes. It's so typical for the way the Rhythm 'n Blues sunk into obscurity, that nowadays most people will ask "Dave who?" when mentioning him for his importance.
OK - back to the booze now. Corn Whiskey! The songs don't tell whether this was home-made stuff or a jar of Georgia Moon but sure it will get you intoxicated. Here are the Empires and after that Jimmy Whitherspoon, both with a song called Corn Whiskey.
04 - Empires - Corn Whiskey
05 - Jimmy Witherspoon - Corn Whiskey
Now what struck me is that it's nearly only men singing about the booze, and mostly about their own consumption of it - as if women don't drink. Here are two exceptions where the man sings about what the wine does to his woman. First we get a group that goes by the obscure name of the Ray-O-Vacs - indeed named after the battery brand - with Wine-O from 1956, which was the flip of the last single released from this group. After that the Four Blazes from Chicago with drunken blues, complaining that "every time she gets drunk she believes all the women in the world belong to me".
06 - Ray-o-Vacs - Wine-O
07 - Four Blazes - Drunken Blues
Like I said it's a bit hard to find women singing about the booze. But I found no-one less than the great Esther Phillips telling her man to choose between her and the cherry wine. From 1953 off the Federal label is here Little Esther with Cherry Wine.
08 - Esther Phillips - Cherry Wine
09 - Jimmy Liggins - I Ain't Drunk
Now ain't that a way to deny your problem. I ain't drunk, I'm just drinking. One more round won't get me down. That was Jimmy Liggins. You're listening to the legends of the Rocking Dutchman and today we feature songs about drinking.
Next up: Screamin' Jay Hawkins. His song I put a spell on you, was recorded in 1956 with the singer and his band so intoxicated that Hawkins couldn't remember anything of the session. The result of what was intended to be a nice ballad had become a raw mishmash of grunts and screams that sold a million copies over a long time, though never making it to the charts and boycotted by lots of radio stations. The famous disc-jockey Alan Freed brought him to the idea to make this his trademark and that led to a whole bunch of raw songs performed onstage emerging from coffins in outrageous outfits. So of course, this man won't do with just a bottle of wine - Baptize me in wine, he sings.
10 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Baptize me in wine
11 - Floyd Dixon - Wine, Wine, Wine
Floyd Dixon, Wine Wine Wine was the flip of his 1952 hit Call Operator 210 on Alladin records. Up next his song Hey Bartender that he cut in 1954 for the Atlantic subsidiary Cat records. You may know it as it was covered by the Blues Brothers on the successful album Briefcase Full of Blues in 1978. Here the original from 54. After that some more drunk small talk to the bartender, George Zimmerman & The Thrills - Ain't Got No Money To Pay For This Drink. The label misprinted the name as Zimmeran, that is, in most discographies the artist's name is spelled as Zimmerman with the M.
12 - Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender
13 - George Zimmeran & The Thrills - Ain't Got No Money To Pay For This Drink
Wynonie Harris was another blues shouter who was good for a drinking song. Of course he will always be remembered for his cover of Roy Brown's Good Rocking Tonight, which was a smash hit in 1948. He was very succesful, especially on King records, but for only a few years. By the end of the fifties he had to cut down the big spending, having to play at small clubs for low wages until he died of throat cancer in 1969. From him two tributes to the whiskey.
14 - Wynonie Harris - Don't Take My Whiskey Away From Me
15 - Wynonie Harris - Quiet Whiskey
Whiskey Whiskey on the shelf you were so quiet by yourself. That was Wynonie 'Mr. Blues' Harris.
We make a jump to Big Jay McNeeley who is known as a frantic and showy saxophone honker, but he also backed up other groups including his own-formed vocal group Three Dots and a Dash. From them the 1952 song All That Wine Is Gone.
16 - Big Jay McNeely with Three Dots and a Dash - All That Wine Is Gone
17 - Peppermint Harris - I Got Loaded
Peppermint Harris with I got loaded. As we reach the end of this drunken episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman I want to do another song with that same title. It's from Little Bob and the Lollipop and it's from 1964, way later than you're used from me, but with the strong saxophone riffs it's a very good Rhythm 'n Blues song that stood well while most artists were gone further towards soul music. After that you will get Deke Watson with Why Do A Drink Make You Think.
18 - Little Bob & the Lollipops - I Got Loaded
19 - Deke Watson - Why Do A Drink Make You Think
And that marks the end of this drunken episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. I hope you have enjoyed all the booze and if so - or if not - please drop a line to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And for now - stay sober and have a great day. No - have a rocking day. See you again next time, same time same place, when I'll play more of that great music from the fourties and fifties - on the next episode of the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman.