Post 353: 'CRAZY 'BOUT YOU' - FROM MCKINLEY TO TUBA SKINNY

'Jazz Gillum'

'Crazy 'Bout You' is a great little 16-bar number that seems simple enough to play, with a straightforward chord progression.

It appears to have been written in about 1935 by blues harmonica player William 'Jazz Gillum' McKinley, who recorded it in Chicago that year with The State Street Boys.

You can hear his recording on YouTube:

CLICK HERE.
I first heard the tune in its more recent performances by Tuba Skinny, with a great vocal from Erika Lewis. You can see Tuba Skinny perform it on YouTube:
CLICK HERE.

And you can see and hear them performing this song at the Umbria Jazz Festival at the start of 2016: CLICK HERE.

Tuba Skinny have also recorded it and you can hear their spirited performance on their CD, Owl Call Blues (released in August 2014).

The lyrics? On these lines:
Baby I'm crazy 'bout you
Don't like the way you do
Always mistreatin' me
Say that you love me too
Some day you'll want me
And I'll be far from you
Then you will be sorry babe
You do me like you do

A sad detail with which to end:

Poor William McKinley, the composer, was murdered at the age of 62, three years after he had retired from his career in music.

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FOOTNOTE
The book Enjoying Traditional Jazz, by Pops Coffee, is available from Amazon.

So is the book Tuba Skinny and Shaye Cohn.