The Legends of the Rocking Dutchman - episode 79

Double-siders

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 my playlist will be half as long as usual - simply because the music will be twice the length. A whole play list of double-siders for today - songs and instumentals that were split up in two on both sides of the 78. And I'm starting with the king of the double-sider - he did many of them, Sonny Thompson, with Real real fine from 1952 on the King label.

01 - Sonny Thompson - Real Real Fine
02 - Jo Jo Adams - Jo-Jo Blues

Jo-Jo Adams was that backed up by Freddie Williams and his orchestra - you heard the Jo Jo Blues, recorded for the label of the Chicago-based Melody Lane Record Shop - really , the label says Melody Lane Record Shop presents Jo-Jo Blues. We're talking March of 1946 when a small ad in Billboard announced the birth of the label - just two weeks later to be renamed to Hy-Tone.

The label was owned by band leader Freddie Williams and later Nathan Rothner, a man born in Russia, who'd been in the jukebox business since 1942 joined in as a partner. Jo Jo Adams had teamed up with Williams as the band's singer, so that made for an easy opportunity to record. Doctor Jo-Jo as his stage name was, well, from the late thirties he had become famous on Chicago's South Side clubs with his appearance in long-tailed flashy tuxedo's in Cab Calloway's style.

And we'll stay in 1946 with the band of Jimmy Mundy. Originally also from the Chicago scene but he moved to Los Angeles when he was hired by Benny Goodman in 1935 as a songwriter and arranger. He earned a reputation for arranging for big bands rather than leading his own one or playing the saxophone - what he also did. Still in '46 he led a considerable outfit when he recorded for the Aladdin label, and it's this band that the next double-sider comes from. It remains unclear whether vocals on this are Jimmy Young or Jim Mundy himself. But anyhow here is I'm Gonna Put You Down.

03 - Jimmy Mundy - I Gotta Put You Down
04 - Willie Bryant & Tab Smith Septet - Blues Around The Clock

From 1945 straight from a 78 of the Apollo label Blues around the clock with Tab Smith's septet and on vocals you heard Willie Bryant. Bryant had been a big band leader in the thirties and he would lead another one from 1946, but by the time he recorded this he had no outfit to lead and recorded as a solo singer with Tab Smith.

The theme of this song of course is inspired by Trixie Smith's My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll from 1922 where she describes twelve hours of love-making where at regular points, she looks at the clock and makes a remark on daddy's lovemaking skills. Now in '22 there was no electrical recording and that acoustical recording is really hard to listen to. In 1938 she did a re-recording of the song for Decca in two parts that make up for twice around the clock of lovemaking. My Daddy Rocks Me was released as a number one and number two on two different Decca 78s but part two was so much, let's say, the other half of part one, that I'll play them as if they were a true double-sider. Commercially the records went nowhere but nowadays they're highly valued for the fine orchestration with Sydney Bechet on the clarinet. Here is Trixie Smith.

05 - Trixie Smith - My Daddy Rocks Me
06 - Velma Nelson - If I Were A Itty Bitty Girl

On the Aladdin label from 1946 Velma Nelson with If I Were A Itty Bitty Girl backed up by Will Rowland and his band. Now this lady remained somewhat obscure I'm afraid, she had another single with Aladdin titled Operation Blues but she never really made it in Rhythm & Blues - despite some ads in Billboard magazine and this record being re-released in 1951 on a 10 inch LP titled Party after hours. This was taken straight from the 78 though.

Next from the very first release of Roy Milton's own label Miltone, from 1946, the Rainy day Confession blues - a wonderful blues but unfortunately they cut it in two in a very clumsy way. In most double-siders the song is in fact done as two takes but here someone just ended the sound on the A-side and started on the flip where they had left.

Listen to the Rainy Day Blues.

07 - Roy Milton - Rainy Day Confession Blues
08 - Roy Brown - Butcher Pete

The violent story of Butcher Pete who did nothing but slaughtering the women with his big butcher knife, and his cell mates when he was put in jail, even the electric chair wasn't safe for him. That was Roy Brown on the Deluxe label from 1950. And there's still time for one more. From 1957 on the Argo label here is Paul Gayten with an instrumental double-sider titled Driving Home.

09 - Paul Gayten - Driving Home

And Paul Gayten ends this week's show - today double-siders only, songs and instrumentals that for their length, had to be split up in two. Of course there was a technical reason for that, these 78s could not hold more than a good three minutes of music. Most artists were much more focused on live performances where the songs could be much longer. So splitting them up was the alternative for trimming them down to only three minutes.

This three-minute limit became a convenient length for the juke box and so much a standard for popular music, that songs grew shorter and by the late fifties, a mere two or two-and-a-half minute was the average, despite that technological advance had made much longer stretches of music possible.

Well today only nine fit in my show and there was little time for my talk. I guess you don't mind because I know you came here for the music. Well let me know what you thought of it and send me an e-mail at rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And if you want to review the play list or see what's on next week, then go to my web site. Do a google search for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman and my site will show up first.

For now my time's up. Have a rocking day, and I hope to see you next time, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!