We finish the 1920s with tuberculosis, racist lyrics, Al Capone, and slave instruments. Give me a beer. And a pigfoot.
1928. Cliff Edwards, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.” This pauper’s plea for romantic acceptance was featured in the Broadway hit Blackbirds of 1928, the first show on Broadway to feature only African-American performers. A timeless lyric, the tune has been covered by a broad range of artists to include Doris Day, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Louis Jordan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dean Martin, Rufus Wainwright, and Diana Krall.
1928. Jimmy Rodgers, “Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas).” The first, and best, of Rodgers’ thirteen Blue Yodel songs, all of which display the singing brakeman’s spine shaking and somewhat eccentric yodeling. Rodgers had been suffering from tuberculosis for over three years by the time this number was recorded, but this record, which sold almost a half a million copies in the late 1920s, made him a star. This number received some new legs in the 1970s, when Lynyrd Skynyrd included it on their live One More From the Road album.
1928. Louis Armstrong, “West End Blues.” Joe Oliver, a mentor of Armstrong that Louis referred to as “Papa Joe,” penned this number. Armstrong shows his uncanny ability to combine both technical precision and a comedic persona on “West End Blues.” The man simply had no peers.
1928. Henry Thomas, “Fishing Blues.” A black bluesman from Big Sandy, Texas, Thomas rode the rails as a young man and was in his mid-50s when he recorded 23 songs for Vocalion Records in the late 1920s.. For the instrumental breaks, Thomas played the quills, a set of cane pipes, that were first noted in the early 1800s as an instrument played by slaves. “Fishing Blues” has been notably covered by the Lovin’ Spoonful, Taj Mahal, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
1928. Al Bowlly, “If I Had You.” This number was composed by Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, using the pseudonym Irving King. The duo also wrote “Show Me the Way to Go Home,” famously used in the film Jaws, as well as “Goodnight, Sweetheart,” and a song most commonly associated with Otis Redding, “Try a Little Tenderness.” Al Bowlly was one of pop music’s original crooners and handles the vocals on this song with winning aplomb.
1928. Paul Whiteman & The Rhythm Boys,” Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love).” Whiteman was a creepy looking guy with a large pasty face and a close cropped mustache, but he was also the leader of one of the preeminent big bands of the era. Cole Porter’s original lyrics may not work in a modern context – “Chinks do it, Japs do it,
up in Lapland little Laps do it.” The Rhythm Boys were comprised of Harry Barris, Al Rinker, and a guy that would later duet with David Bowie, Bing Crosby.
1929. Mississippi John Hurt, “Frankie.” John Hurt played guitar in rural Mississippi in the early 1900s and did some recording for Okeh in the late 1920s after winning a fiddling contest. After his records failed in the marketplace, Hurt went back to sharecropping and playing local dances. During the folk/blues movement in the 1960s, Hurt was rediscovered, even doing a gig on The Tonight Show. “Frankie,” more commonly known as “Frankie and Johnny,” was written by Bill Dooley about a lover’s quarrel that resulted in murder in St. Louis in 1899. And people thought “Earl Had to Die” was a new concept.
1929. The Carter Family, “Keep on the Sunny Side.” Ada Blenkhorn wrote this spiritual number at the turn of the 20th century, receiving inspiration from his wheel-chair bound nephew who requested to always be pushed down the sunny side of the street. Mother Maybelle’s guitar technique, which involved playing melody on the bass and middle strings while using her index finger for rhythm (also known as “flatpicking”), was highly influential in the bluegrass community. Johnny Cash would later become Maybelle’s son-in-law and the Carter Family performed regularly on The Johnny Cash Show from 1969 to 1971.
1929. Jimmy Rodgers, “In the Jailhouse Now.” A blues comedy number that may date back to the 1860s vaudeville era, the narrator scoffs at the poor decision making of Ramblin’ Rob, then makes some equally bad decisions to impress a young lady and finds himself with Rob in the slammer. Two versions of this song were recorded throughout the years, one inspired by the African-American jug band tradition (including covers by the Memphis Sheiks and Johnny Cash) and the other from the Rodgers version (to include Webb Pierce’s 1952 #1 country hit).
1929. Emmett Miller and His Georgia Crackers, “Lovesick Blues.” Now generally known as a country song due to the Hank Williams 1949 version, “Lovesick Blues” was written as a show tune by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills. Blackface performer Emmett Miller recorded the song on two occasions, making full use of what Nick Tosches refers to as his “trick voice.” Miller inspired Where Dead Voices Gather, a book by Tosches about both his fascination with Miller and the minstrel tradition.
1929. Bessie Smith, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.” A riches to rag tale popularized just before the Great Depression. Bessie’s inexhaustable grit always elevated her material. Additionally, if “Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer” is not on your iPod, your iPod isn’t as happy as it wants to be.
1929. Joe Venuti’s Blue Four, “The Blue Room.” The next time someone stops you on the street and says, “Hey, pal, do you know who was the FATHER OF JAZZ VIOLIN?,” confidently reply ”Joe Venuti!” and ask for a five dollar bill. Also, vocalist Harold Arlen was also no slouch. In 1939 he wrote all of the melodies for The Wizard of Oz, and later wrote a string of hits with lyricist Johnny Mercer including “That Old Black Magic” and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.”
1929. Fats Waller, “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” Expert ivory tickler Fats Waller help pen and recorded the first version of this song in 1929. Six cover versions were released during that year, including one by the irrepressible Louis Armstrong. Waller, who was reportedly once kidnapped and forced to play a three day birthday party for Al Capone, enjoyed champagne and chow (and infidelity – he misbehaved) a bit too much. He passed away at the age of 39.
1929. Eddie Cantor, “Makin’ Whoopee!” Cantor worked the entertainment circuit from vaudeville to blackface to Broadway. He was also known as one of the first “illustrated song” performers, a singer that would perform while still images from glass slides were projected onto a screen. “Whoopee!” follows a relationship from intimacy to marriage to disillusionment to divorce court, with knowing whimsy. Cantor had a lengthy career in radio, movies, and television; behind the scenes he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and is credited with coining the phrase and helping establish The March of Dimes.
1929. Leo Reisman & His Orchestra, “You Do Something to Me.” Reisman recorded this number in 1929 with vocalist Frank Luther and would hit the charts with Porter’s “Night and Day” in 1932. Instead of touring the country, Reisman’s Orchestra (which featured Fred Astaire, Eddy Duchin, Harold Arlen, and Dinah Shore at various times) simply worked at different hotels and casinos in New York for years at a time. Mobsters loved their big bands.