Post 605: SEARCHING FOR TAINTED TUNE TITLES

'We're now going to play that good old number from the 1930s - Fats Waller's I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby.'

'One, Two; One, Two Three....'.

'Hold on! Hold on!' shouts the bass player, hunting through his chord book. 'Does it come under I for I'm Crazy? No. I can't find it.'

'Try under C,' calls the piano player. 'You've probably got it as Crazy 'Bout My Baby'.

How often I have heard such conversations delaying the start of tunes and also making the band look incompetent.

A Friend's Chord Book

When you are compiling an extensive alphabetical chordbook or list of repertoire, you have to take so much care. In the case of the I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby example, it might pay to have the chords under both letters.

Another troublesome problem is how to handle tunes beginning with an apostrophe.

For example, do you put 'S Wonderful under I because it means It’s Wonderful, or does it go under S?

If you set out the title correctly with the apostrophe included and then tell your computer to ‘SORT’ your titles into alphabetical order, you are likely to see 'S Wonderful end up neither under 'I' nor under 'S'.

But on a gig, you may need to find a tune quickly. So you need a good system.

There’s a similar problem with all the ’Taint tunes. Think, for example, of ’Tain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do, ’Tain’t No Sin to Take Off Your Skin, ’Tain’t What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do It, ’Tain’t Nothing Else But Jazz. Do you want them pedantically under 'I' [for It Ain't] or under 'T'?

The best solution, when preparing such lists, is to omit the apostrophe, ensuring that you begin the title positively with a letter rather than a punctuation mark. Then, the 'SORT' into alphabetical order on your computer will convert any list into something more useful. So use TAINT rather than ’TAINT.

Then there's the matter of tunes that have an apostrophe very near the beginning, as in I'm Alone Because I Love You. Would you expect this to appear before, or after, If I Had You ? It makes things easier if you establish a rule and stick to it.

In my case, I keep little notebooks containing leadsheets. These are supported by a separate Index. I have found the best solution for this Index is to show letters only. In other words, I get rid of all spaces and punctuation marks. I then let the computer 'sort' the titles in alphabetic order and - by thinking only of the letters, I can instantly find any tune. Here's an extract from my Index:

ILoveParis285

ILoveYou(ColePorter)288

ILoveYou(Thompson/Archer)294

ILoveYouBecauseYouUnderst289

ILoveYouSoMuchItHurts167

ImAloneBecauseILoveYou168

ImAlwaysChasingRainbows356

IMayBeWrongBut293

ImBeginningtoSeethLt386

ImBlueandLonesome28

ImComingVirginia1140

ImConfessin1142

ImCrazyBoutMyBaby1141

ImDreamingofaWhiteChristm229

ImForeverBlowingBubbles333

ImGettingSentimentlOY387

ImGoingAwaytoWearY290

ImGonnaLockMyHeartand244

ImGonnaMeetMSwtieN382

ImGonnaSitRightDown&W167

ImHenerytheEighthIAm35

ImHummingtoMyself315

ImintheMarketforYou1143

ImintheMoodforLove292

ImLookingOver4L289

ImNobody’sBaby47

ImPuttingAllMyEggs390

ImShyMaryEllenImShy356

ImSittingonTofthWld391

ImSorryIMadeYouCry256

InaMellowTone47

InAppleBlossomTime155

InaShantyinOldShantyTown257

Indiana122

IndianLoveCall244

INeverKnewthatRosesGrew356

INeverKnewWhataGalCdDo379

InHarlemsAraby370

IntheGarden388

IntheGloaming383

IntheGoodOldSummerTime190

IntheMood374

IntheShadeoftheOldAppleTr284

InTheSweetB&B289

IntheUpperGarden389

IntoEachLifeSomeRain294

InWalkedBud361

IOnlyHaveEyesforYou274

ISawMummyKissingSantaCl294

IsItTrueWhatTheySayabtD1115

IsleofCapri113

ISurrender,Dear386

IsYouIsOrIsYuAintMB317

ItDontMeanaThing333

ItFeelsSoGood164

ItHadToBeYou287

ItHappenedinMonterey295

ItIsNoSecret462

ItLooksLikeaBigTimeTont421

ItLooksLikeRaininCherry422

ItsAllRightWithMe351

ItsaLongWaytoTipperary1115

ItsaSintoTellaLie179

What it means is that, for example, if I want 'I'm in the Market for You', I find it as
ImintheMarketforYou1143
and this tells me the tune is to be found in Notebook One, Page 143.

Post 424: 'ROYAL TELEPHONE'

F M Lehman

Royal Telephone is a gospel song often played by traditional jazz bands. It appears to have been first recorded by a jazz band in 1946.

It is attractive because it has a simple, pleasant tune on which it is easy to improvise.

I have noticed that most bands play it comfortably in the key of Bb and that they seem to treat it as a sixteen-bar melody. At its simplest, they follow this chord sequence:-

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  Bb

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb7 | Eb  |  Eb  |  Bb  | F7 |  Bb

I doubt whether many musicians today know that Royal Telephone was written in 1919 by Frederick Martin Lehman, an America immigrant from Germany. His piano music is available on the internet.

I noticed that it is really necessary to treat the song as a 32-bar, with 16 as 'Verse' and 16 as 'Chorus'. There were originally five verses (The first beginning 'Central's never busy - always on the line') and the Chorus - repeated after each verse - comprises the 16 bars always beginning with the words 'Telephone to Glory, Oh what joy divine!'

The chords I have printed above match the Chorus (and that is probably why they are followed so rigidly by most traditional jazz bands). However, if you want to play the tune correctly and include a verse or two, you need to use the following VERY slightly different chord sequence for the verses.

Bb  |  Bb  |  Eb  |  Bb  |  F7  |  F7  |  F7  |  Bb

Bb  |  Bb  |  Bb7 | Eb  |  Eb  |  Bb  | F7 |  Bb

To see what I mean and to hear a really clear performance of the song, complete with vocal, listen to the version by Burl Ives on YouTube by clicking here. But note that he begins with the Chorus before singing the First Verse.

Footnote: Curiously, if you play Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think, you may find a remarkable similarity with Royal Telephone, at least in the chord progression.

Post 422: 'LET THE LIGHT FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE SHINE ON ME'

I first heard the gospel song Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me in 1965. It was being played by one of the English traditional jazz revival bands.

I discovered that some think it was composed by Blind Willie Johnson (pictured above) who died in 1945. He certainly recorded it but it is probably an old gospel tune dating back to before even his time.

The correct title could be Let YOUR Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me. That's what Blind Willie sings.

This is how I now play it on my keyboard. 

Post 416: ONE TUNE - TWO TITLES?

It is surprising how many tunes in the traditional jazz repertoire have with the passage of time acquired more than one title. There must have been various reasons for this, one of which was that a later performer wanted to disguise the fact that he was plagiarising a tune from an earlier band. But I am sure there were other reasons too, that had more to do with mere memory loss.

Here are over fifty examples. Maybe you can send me some more?

Algiers Strut is You're all I Want for Christmas (composed by Glen Moore and Seger Ellis)

Astoria Strut is also known as Climax Rag

Atlanta Blues (final strain) is also known as Make Me a Pallet on the Floor

Babik is a variation on I Got Rhythm

Barnyard Blues is also known as Livery Stable Blues

Black Bottom Stomp is also known as Queen of Spades

Blame it on the Blues is also known as Quincy Street Stomp

Blue Bells Goodbye was actually composed in 1905 as Bright Eyes Goodbye

Bogalusa Strut is a re-interpretation of the first two strains of Scott Joplin's Rose Leaf Rag

Bugle Boy March is also known as American Soldier

California Blues is also known as Blue Yodel No. 4

Can I Sleep in Your Arms Tonight, Lady? is the same tune as Red River Valley and is the same tune as We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City

Chant of the Tuxedos is virtually the same as Ol' Man Mose

Chicago Breakdown is the same as Stratford Hunch

Chimes Blues is also known as Mournful Serenade

Corrinne Corrinna is also known as Alberta Blues

Creole Love Call is basically the middle theme from Camp Meeting Blues

Creole Song is also known as L'Autre Can Can and is also known as Madame Pedoux

Dauphine Street Blues (first strain) is also known as Nobody Knows the Way I Feel This Morning

Deep Bayou Blues is also known as The Three Sixes

Dippermouth Blues was re-created by the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra as Sugarfoot Stomp

Do Lord (tune) is also known as It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song

Don't Go 'Way, Nobody (tune) is also known as  How Come You Do Me Like You Do Do Do? and  is also known as Everybody's Talking About Sammy and  is also known as I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas and  is also known as If It Don't Fit, Don't Force It and is much the same as Walk Right In

Don't You Feel My Leg is also known as Don't Make Me High

Down Home Rag is also known as Black Rag

Duke's Place is also known as C-Jam Blues

Fidgety Feet is also known as War Clouds

Frogimore Rag (trio) is also Sweetheart of Mine

Frosty Morning Blues is also known as Lost Your Man Blues

The Eyes of Texas (tune) is also known as I've Been Working on the Railroad

Garbage Man Blues is also known as Call of the Freaks and is also known as New Call of the Freaks 

Get a Working Man is identical to Pinchbacks, Take 'Em Away (and the chorus is harmonically the same as It's a Long Way to Tipperary)

Golden Leaf Strut is also known as Milenberg Joys

Good Time Flat Blues is also known as Farewell to Storyville

Hesitating Blues is also known as How Long, How Long Blues

Hiawatha Rag  is also known as Lizard on a Rail and as A Summer Idyll

San Jacinto Stomp is based on You Can't Escape from Me and is also known as In the Groove and  is also known as Baby, I Don't Mean Maybe and is harmonically identical to The Kat's Got Kittens

I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music is also known as I Hope You Like My Music

In The Highways (I'll Be Somewhere Working for My Lord) is pretty much the same as Down By The Riverside

In The Sweet By and By is also known as The Preacher and the Slave

Joe Avery's Piece is also known as Victory Walk and also as The New Second Line

Jones Law Blues is also known as Muscles Blues

La Harpe Street Blues (theme) is also known as We Sure Do Need Him Now

Lily of the Valley is also known as Everybody Ought To Know and was probably plagiarized from the final theme of Red Onion Drag

London Blues is also known as Shoe Shiner's Drag

Lotus Blossom is also known as Sweet Lotus Blossom (it started out as Sweet Marijuana, of course; but that title came to be considered politically incorrect)

Loveless Love is also known as Careless Love

Love Me Tender is also known as Aura Lee

Martha is also known as Mazie

Memphis Blues is also known as Mr. Crump

Milneberg Joys is usually mis-spelt Milenberg Joys [The New Orleans suburb took its name from Scotsman Alexander Milne]

Midnight Mama - see under Tom Cat Blues

Mississippi Wobble is also known as Quality Shout

Montmartre is also known as Django's Jump

Mood Indigo is also known as Dreamy Blues

Moonlight and Roses is actually Lemare's 'Andantino'

The chorus of Celestin's My Josephine (1926) is remarkably similar to Some of These Days

New Orleans Bump is also known as Monrovia

Old Stack o'Lee Blues (not Stack o'Lee Blues) is virtually identical to Faraway Blues

Oriental Jazz was called Soudan by its composer

The 1919 March is also known as The Rifle Rangers

China Boy is also known as Pacific Rim Stomp

Poor Old Joe is also known as Old Black Joe

Lazy Luke (composed in 1905 by George J. Philpot) was misleadingly renamed Red Flannel Rag by Turk Murphy when he recorded it many years later

Moanful Blues is actually Some Day Sweetheart

My Good Man Sam is virtually identical to Doctor Jazz

After You've Gone (1917) seems to have plagiarized Peg o' My Heart (1913)

Riverboat Shuffle was originally Free Wheeling

Riverside Blues is also known as Dixieland Shuffle

Root Hog or Die is virtually the same as Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen

The final theme of Royal Garden Blues is also the main theme of Georgia Bo Bo

Savoyager's Stomp is also known as Muskrat Ramble

Sidewalk Blues is also known as Fishtail Blues

Silver Bell (second theme) is also known as Sometimes My Burden's Too Hard to Bear

Si Tu Vois Ma Mère is also known as Lonesome

Soap Suds is also known as Fickle Fay Creep

South is also known as Pork Chop

Storyville Blues is also known as Those Drafting Blues  and is also known as Bienville Blues

Gully Low Blues is also known as S.O.L. Blues

Original Dixieland One-Step (final strain) is also known as That Teasing Rag

Take My Hand, Precious Lord is the same tune as Maitland

Tar Paper Stomp is also known as Hot and Anxious (one theme) and is also known as In The Mood

The Midnight Special is also known as Shine a Light on Me

Till Times Get Better and Smokehouse Blues are almost identical to Up a Lazy River

Ting-a-ling started its life as Waltz of the Bells

Tom Cat Blues is also known as Midnight Mama (or Midnight Papa)

Two Nineteen Blues is also known as Mamie's Blues

Uptown Bumps was originally The Long Lost Blues (by Paul Wyer, 1914). Its final theme is also known as The Bucket's Got a Hole in It. It also became Keep a Knockin' But You Can't Come In. The Bucket's Got a Hole in It is also known as Ta-Wa-Bac-A-Wa and was used again in If You Don't Want Me, Please Don't Dog Me Around

Viper Mad is also known as Pleasure Mad

Washington and Lee Swing is also known as Tulane Swing and Louisiana Swing

Way Down upon the Swanee River is also known as The Old Folks at Home

Weary Blues is also known as Travelling Blues and much of it is often played as Shake It And Break It (but note there is also a different Shake It And Break It recorded by King Oliver)

When Shadows Fall is also known as Home

Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula is also known as Hawaiian Love Song

BUT:
Please note that Red Onion Rag (by Abe Olman, 1912) is a quite different tune from Louis Dumaine's Red Onion Drag.

Correspondent Robert Duis writes:

Dear Ivan, 

1) BLACK ORPHEUS
MANHA DO CARNAVAL

2) MOULIN A CAFE
THE COFFEE GRINDER

3) OLD FOLKS AT HOME
SWANEE RIVER

4) SEE SEE RIDER 
EASY RIDER

5) QUIET NIGHTS OF QUIET STARS 
CORCOVADO

Best regards, 

Robert Duis.

Post 382: BUNK JOHNSON AND THE LIFEBOAT

Willie 'Bunk' Johnson was a legendary jazz trumpet player. He is believed to have been born in or after 1889; and he died in 1949. Bunk was a star in New Orleans during the early years of the Twentieth Century but later fell into obscurity, only to be re-discovered and encouraged to make recordings and give performances on tour during the years shortly before his death. So he was much involved in the revival of traditional New Orleans jazz in the 1940s.

Many of those tunes he recorded in the 1940s are still favourites with traditional jazz bands.

One of them that I decided to work out and learn is Lord, Let Me in the Lifeboat.

To my ear, it sounded like this. I have transcribed it - as I do with all the tunes I collect - into one of my mini filofaxes:

The tunes Bunk is believed to have recorded (supplied to me by a kind correspondent) are these:

2.19 Blues
827 Blues
Ace in the Hole
After You've Gone
Ain't Misbehavin'
Alabama Bound
Alexander's Ragtime Band 

Amour 

Arkansas Blues 

Baby I'd Love To Steal You 

Baby Please Come Home 

Ballin' The Jack 

Basin Street Blues 

Beautiful Doll 

Big Chief Battle Axe 

Blue As I Can Be 

Blue Bells Goodbye 

Blues In C 

Blues 

Bolden Medley 

Bolden's Style 

Boogie Woogie 

Bottle Up And Go 

Bucket's Got A Hole In It 

Bugle Boy March 

Bunk's Blues 

Bunk's Life Story 1,2,3 

Bye And Bye 

Careless Love (Blues) 

Carry Me Back To Old Virginny 

Chloe 

Clarinet Marmalade 

Coquette 

Darktown Strutters' Ball 

Days Beyond Recall 

Dear Old Southland 

Didn't He Ramble 

Dippermouth Blues 

Do Right Baby 

Do You Ever Think Of Me 

Does Jesus Care 

Don't Fence Me In 

Down By The Riverside 

Down In Jungle Town 

Dusty Rag 

Embraceable You 

Feetwarmers Stomp 

Fidgety Feet 

Franklin Street Blues 

Funeral Parade 

God's Amazing Grace 

Golden Leaf Strut 

Good Morning Blues 

Goodnight Ladies 

Happy Birthday To You 

Heartaches 

High Society 

Hilarity Rag 

Honey Gal 

How Long Blues 

I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody 

I Ain't Got Nobody 

I Can't Escape From You 

I Can't Give You Anything But Love 

I Don't Want To Walk Without You Baby 

I Found A New Baby 

I Know That You Know 

I Love My Baby 

I Never Knew 

I Travel With Jesus 

I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen 

I'm Alabamy Bound 

I'm Confessing 

I'm Making Believe 

I'm So Glad I'm Brownskin 

I've Got Everything 

In The Gloaming 

Indiana 

Ja Da 

Jazz Me Blues 

Just A Closer Walk With Thee 

Just A Little While To Say Here 

Kat's Got Kittens
Kinklets 

Lady Be Good 

Listen To Me 

Little Coquette 

Long Blues 

Lonesome Road 

Lord Let Me In The Lifeboat 

Lord You're Been Good To Me 

Lowdown Blues 

Make Me A Pallet On The Floor 

Mama's Gone Goodbye 

Maple Leaf Rag 

Margie 

Maria Elena 

Marie 

Maryland, My Maryland 

Memphis Blues 

Midnight Blues 

Milneberg Joys 

Moose March 

Muskrat Ramble 

My Life Will Be Sweeter Someday 

My Old Grey Bonnet 

My Old Kentucky Home 

Nearer My God To Thee 

Never No Lament 

New Iberia Blues 

Nobody's Fault But Mine 

Noon's Blues 

Of All The Wrongs 

Ole Miss 

One Sweet Letter From You 

Ory's Creole Trombone 

Out Of Nowhere 

Over In The Gloryland 

Pacific Street Blues 

Pagan Love Song 

Pallet On The Floor 

Panama 

Peg O'My Heart 

Perdido Street Stomp 

Pete Lala and Dago Tony's Tonks 

Pistol Packin' Mama 

Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone 

Plenty To Do 

Poor Butterfly 

Porto Rico 

Precious Love 

Riverside Blues 

Royal Garden Blues 

Runnin' Wild 

San Jacinto Stomp 

See See Rider 

Shake It And Break It 

Shine 

Sidewalk Blues 

Sister Kate 

Swanee River 

Sleepy Time Down South 

Slow Drag's Boogie Woogie 

Snag It 

Sobbin' Blues 

Some Of These Days 

Someday Sweetheart 

Sometimes I'm Happy 

Sometimes My Burden 

South 

Spicy Advice 

St. Louis Blues 

Star Dust 

Storyville Blues 

Streets Of The City 

Sugar Foot Stomp 

Summertime 

Swanee River 

Sweet Georgia Brown 

Sweet Lorraine 

Tell Me Baby 

Tell Me Your Dreams 

Temptation Rag 

That Teasin' Rag 

The Entertainer 

The Girls Go Crazy 

The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow 

The Minstrel Man 

The Sheik Of Araby 

The Waltz You Saved For Me 

The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise 

There's Yes Yes In Your Eyes 

Those Drafting Blues 

Thriller Rag 

Tiger Rag 

Till We Meet Again 

Tishomingo Blues 

Tony Jackson 

Twelfth Street Rag 

Two Jim Blues 

Ugly Child 

Up In Sidney's Flat 

Walking The Dog 

Wang Wang Blues 

Weary Blues 

When I Leave The World Behind 

When I Move To The Sky 

When The Moon Comes Over The Mountains 

When The Saints 

When You And I Were Young, Maggie 

When You Wore A Tulip 

Where Could I Go But To The Lord 

Where The River Shannon Flows 

Whispering 

Willie The Weeper 

Yaaka Hula, Hickey Dula 

Yellow Gal 

Yes Lord, I'm Crippled 

Yes Yes In Your Eyes 

You Always Hurt The One You Love

You Are My Sunshine 

You Got To See Mama Every Night 

You're Driving Me Crazy