This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And today's show is where I'll make up for some promises I made you in earlier shows - after all, promises are to be fulfilled. And it was just in last show, where I told you about a version of Lionel Hampton's Red Top that got lyrics by Gene Ammons and with that he created a whole new version of this record.
I told you about another example of vocalese - that's the name for giving lyrics to what originally were instrumentals. And I mentioned the Night Train of Jimmy Forrest and that got lyrics from the executives of United records, pretty obvious lyrics about the night train taking the singer's woman away after he did her wrong. Now that story's been told in a lot of blues, so it wasn't that original but it ensured the record bosses a part of the royalties.
Now I promised to play them in this show, so here they go. First the original of Jimmy Forrest and after that, the vocalese version of the Four Blazes - both went on the United label.
01 - Jimmy Forrest - Night Train
02 - Four Blazes - Night Train
And so you can hear that a vocalese version, even with such bland lyrics, can sound pretty cool. That were the Four Blazes with the Night Train based on the instrumental of Jimmy Forrest that you heard before, with lyrics of Lew Simpkins, the United record executive.
Now Jimmy Forrest hadn't been that original himself, with this composition. It was based on That's The Blues Old Man, a 1940 instrumental written and recorded by saxophonist Johnny Hodges in a solo effort - he was part of the orchestra of Duke Ellington. Now Ellington himself re-used the theme for his Happy-Go-Lucky-Local, and that's where the first connection with a train was made. Now Jimmy Forrest was in the Duke's band and he had played the saxophone solo in that piece. And so when he left the Duke he took the riff with him under his arm and made it to this classic.
But with that the story of this composition ain't done. Maybe most remembered is the 1964 version of James Brown - and here he left all of the lyrics behind, he just shouted the cities where he would perform in his next tour.
There's many versions of this - but for now, first a great vocal group classic.
03 - Deek Watson & The Brown Dots - For Sentimental Reasons
From 1945 on the Manor label, Deek Watson and his Brown Dots with the first version of I Love You For Sentimental Reasons and that was another promise I had made to you, to play this. Now the composition of this doowop classic, it originates from the vocal group of Watson, but it's disputed whether Deek Watson has been part of it. Pat Best, and he also was a member of the Brown Dots, claimed it was entirely his own song, but Deek Watson insisted that he co-wrote it with Best.
Well the best selling version wasn't theirs - it was Nat King Cole who brought it to number one of the charts. From 1946 on the Capitol label - here it is.
04 - Nat King Cole - For Sentimental Reasons
05 - Papa Freddie - Muddy Water blues
On the Okeh label from 1926 that was the Muddy Water Blues of Papa Freddie Spruell, a Chicago bluesman and this was the flip of his debut single Milk Cow Blues. Now the song has evolved into the blues classic I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water and here is a version of Eddie Miller, also recorded in Chicago, and that was on the Melotone label in 1936.
06 - Eddie Miller - I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water
07 - Stovepipe Johnson - I Ain't Got Nobody
Stovepipe Johnson was that with I Ain't Got Nobody on the Vocalion label from 1928, and this is a blues version of what's mostly been recorded with hot jazz combos. Now these are pretty sad lyrics - I ain't got nobody and nobody cares about me - but there's one version that's got a bright uptempo mood that's typical for goodtime 1930s jazz, and it pretty much contrasts with the lyrics. With that, it's a quite different arrangement than most bands did. Here is from 1934 on Decca the band of Tiny Bradshaw with I Ain't Got Nobody.
08 - Tiny Bradshaw - I Ain't Got Nobody
09 - Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Everybody Loves My Baby
From 1924 Everybody Loves My Baby done by Clarence Williams and his Blue Five - including Louis Armstrong on the cornet and Eva Taylor singing. And it may be an acoustical recording, it sounds brilliant enough. And about everyone seems to have recorded it in November of '24 - just on the same day as this was taken, the Gennett label did a recording with Alberta Hunter and her Red Onion Jazz Babies. I found one earlier recoring, from September of that year, on Victor by the white singer Aileen Stanley and I wonder if it really was that version, that's on a funeral pace, that sparked the sudden interest in this composition of Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams.
It's gone very popular since, anyhow, with numerous versions done in the decades afterwards, and for vintage jazz combos it's still a must-have in the repertoire. On Youtube you'll find a lot of clips of this song, either old recordings or from nowadays jazz bands - one with a crowd of lindy hop dancers and that was a clip that did amaze my son - he could never have imagined that people could dance like that ninety years ago.
I got another version of this goodtime jazz classic for you - one of the very many. Here is from 1937 Lionel Hampton with the first band he led. On the Victor label, Everybody Loves My Baby.
10 - Lionel Hampton - Everybody Loves My Baby
11 - Lionel Hampton - Flying Home
More Lionel Hampton - this is from 1942 his most famous version of Flying Home. Hampton was in Benny Goodman's band, a few years before, when he wrote it together with Goodman on a tune he'd been whistling while waiting to catch a flight - the first one in his life. Imagine, in 1939, flying was much more of an adventure than nowadays and still, lots of people get to feel uncomfortable when they're not on solid ground. The '39 Benny Goodman version got a solo of Hamp on the vibes and one of that great pioneer on the electrical guitar, Charlie Christian. This version from '42 got that honking sax solo in it - that was Illinois Jacket. The honking style that he promoted got copied by many Rhythm & Blues saxophonists and for that, this performance in Hamp's Flying Home is often named the first Rhythm & Blues sax solo.
Well one of the most flamboyant of the saxophone honkers is no doubt Big Jay McNeely - in the late forties and early fifties he was known for his outrageous outfits and his antics on stage - and beyond, cause he had the funny habit to walk out of the door of the venue where he performed, still playing his horn, and the patrons following him. Now his style and personality, it electrified a young new audience of teenagers - both black and white. One of the stories that go 'round on his career is when he played in Los Angeles, and the black and white dancing crowd was separated by a rope. Now you can imagine what happened to that rope in a place full of dancing teenagers - soon the whole crowd was mixed and McNeely saw his Union permit to play revoked for causing public order disturbance.
Well here you have him with his version of Flying Home.
12 - Big Jay McNeely - Flying Home
13 - Trixie Smith - He May Be Your Man
Trixie Smith on the Black Swan label with the classic He May Be Your Man But He Comes To See Me Sometimes, a composition of Lemuel Fowler from 1922, and that's also the year Smith recorded it. Now the verses - about Linnie Lee from Tennessee and her female rival Sadie Snow, they didn't last on later versions of this song but the chorus did and it got expanded to a blues of its own that's become very popular with female singers. The next one is a typical - and great example of it. Here is Helen Humes with her version of He May Be Your Man.
14 - Helen Humes - He May Be Your Man
15 - Victoria Spivey - Black Snake Blues
16 - King Oliver's Dixie Syncopaters - Black Snake Blues
And two versions of the Black Snake Blues end this show dedicated to different versions of great tunes. The blues lady you heard first, of course that was Victoria Spivey with her epic Black Snake Blues and then on the Vocalion label the same title for King Oliver's Dixie Syncopaters - and we're talking 1927 then. And for sure I'll do a show like this another time and I hope you liked it. Now of course you can let me know and send feedback to rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com.
And all of today's stories you can find them on my web site, and easiest way to find that is to search the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once you got there it's show 236 in the episode list or just find the second show titled Versions.
Well time's up for today. I'll get to you next week with more great Rhythm & Blues. So see you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!