Verse 1, Verse 2

Posted on August 12, 2013 by sixstrstories

In September 1980, John Lennon told David Sheff, an interviewer for Playboy magazine, that “In My Life” was “the first song that I wrote that was really, consciously about my life.”

John elaborated: “‘In My Life’ started out as a bus journey from my house on 250 Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning every place that I could remember. And it was ridiculous. It was the most boring sort of ‘What I Did on My Holidays Bus Trip’ song and it wasn’t working at all.”

“But then I laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about the places I remember.”

John concluded “It was, I think, my first real major piece of work.”

Listen.

Verse 1 of “In My Life” begins: “There are places I’ll remember…” In the sixth line of the verse, Lennon mentions the “lovers and friends I still can recall.” He finishes the first verse stating: “In my life, I’ve loved them all.”

Verse 2 narrows the subject of Lennon’s attention: “But of all these friends and lovers, there is no one compares with you.” Though he again commemorates his past: “I know I’ll never lose affection, for people and things that went before,” he ends the second verse, and ultimately the song, by proclaiming to his present tense love: “In my life, I’ll love you more.”

This is not the perfect “Thank You” song or the perfect “Happy Anniversary” song, but as I once wrote: “There are songs that are more than melody and words.” This is one of those songs.

So, I offer Verse 1 to all of my family and friends who planned, conspired and gathered to give me a surprise 60th birthday party this past Thursday that went far beyond anything I had ever dreamed of. I have been and will continue to be marveling and thinking back over that once-in-a-lifetime evening for many, many days to come.

I offer Verse 2 to my dearest Andrea as we joyfully celebrate on this sun-drenched August day the 35th anniversary of our wedding.

In my life, I love you all.

P.S.: If you’d like to hear the song that I sang to my bride on this day 35 years ago, go to the blog archives for August 2011 and scroll down to the post entitled “33 Years.” Click on the blue link for “Tell You Very Simply (Wedding Song)” and wait for it.

P.S.S.: The Beatles began work on the recording of “In My Life” on the afternoon of Monday, October 18, 1965 in Studio Two of Abbey Road Studios in London, England. The third “take” of the song was deemed the best. (They’d spent the first part of the three hour and fifteen minute session  recording George Harrison’s song “If I Needed Someone.”) The famous instrumental piano break was added on Friday, October 22. It was created and played by George Martin, The Beatles’ producer.

The final mono mix of “In My Life” was made on Monday, October 25 and the stereo mix was made on Tuesday, October 26. The Beatles themselves attended very few of these mixing sessions at this time.

“In My Life” was released as the fourth track on the second side of the LP Rubber Soul on Friday, December 5, 1965.

The sources for the information and quotes used in this post were: The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono: The Final Testament…, interviews by David Sheff, edited by G. Barry Golson, Berklee Books edition, 1982 and The Beatles: Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn, Harmony Books, 1988.

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Tonight

Posted on August 7, 2013 by sixstrstories

I started going to concerts not long after I became a teenager.

The first concert I attended was in the Field House at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. The performer was Judy Collins.

I don’t remember what songs she played that night, but I can still picture her, through the crowd ahead of me, standing on the stage in a bright, white spotlight, long hair framing her face, strumming a big acoustic guitar, singing and smiling at her band playing around her.

It seems appropriate that tonight, on the evening of the last day of my fifties, I again saw Judy Collins in concert, this time in Porstmouth, NH, on the stage of the Prescott Park Arts Festival. 

And tonight, her still-gorgeous voice and her big acoustic guitar filled the cool night air with this song.

Thank you, Judy Collins, thank you very, very much.

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This Historic Day In Music: Louis Armstrong

Posted on August 4, 2013 by sixstrstories

In 1979, Woody Allen directed, co-wrote and starred in the film Manhattan, a romantic comedy-drama set in New York City. In the film, Isaac Davis, the character Allen plays, is asked the question: “Why is life worth living?” In his lengthy and now-famous answer he includes four people – Groucho Marx, Willie Mays, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra – and two pieces of music: the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony (by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and Louis Armstrong’s recording of “Potato Head Blues.”

I saw that movie and the line about Louis Armstrong stuck with me. Several years later, following my brother-in-law David’s recommendation, I purchased The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (Revised Edition) and was quite pleased to see “Potato Head Blues” among the eleven tracks in the collection featuring Louis Armstrong.

“Potato Head Blues” was recorded by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven on May 10, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois for OKeh Records.

The musicians on the recording are: Louis Armstrong, trumpet; John Thomas, trombone; Johnny Dodds, clarinet; Lil Armstrong, piano; Johnny St. Cyr, banjo; Pete Briggs, tuba and Baby Dodds, drums.

 

I hope you listened to that.

The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (Revised Edition) was released in 1987. In the book that accompanies the recordings in this outstanding boxed set, author and Jazz historian Martin Williams quotes from author Richard Hadlock’s 1965 book, Jazz Masters of the Twenties in the entry for “Potato Head Blues.”

Mr. Hadlock described the performance by Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven as: “a triumph of subtle syncopation and rhythmic enlightenment; strong accents on weak beats and whole phrases placed against rather than on the pulse create delightful tension. This tension is then suddenly released with an incisive on-the-beat figure, which in turn leads into more tension-building devices. Thus does Armstrong build the emotional pitch of the solo over a full chorus.”

On the indispensable website, AllMusic.com, in a Song Review of “Potato Head Blues,” Thomas Ward writes: “Armstrong’s trumpet begins rather sedately, but builds and culminates in perhaps the most remarkable solo in the history of Jazz.”

Mr. Ward concludes his review by saying that “Potato Head Blues” is “One of the most astonishing accomplishments in all of twentieth century music.”

What did you think of “Potato Head Blues?”

Louis Armstrong was born on this day, August 4, in 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He passed away on July 6, 1971.

Louis Armstrong once said: “All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.”

If you’d like to read another post of mine celebrating Louis Armstrong’s birthday, go to the blog archives for August 2010 and scroll down until you find the one titled: “On This Day In Music History: Louis Armstrong.”

As always: “Good music doesn’t get old.”

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This Historic Day In Music: A.P., Sara, Maybelle & Ramblin’ Jack

Posted on August 1, 2013 by sixstrstories

In the evening, on this day, August 1, in 1927, Alvin Pleasant Carter, his wife Sara Dougherty Carter and Sara’s younger cousin, Maybelle Addington Carter sat around a microphone in a make-shift recording studio on the second floor of an old furniture store at 408 State Street in Bristol, Tennessee.

Earlier in the day, they had auditioned for the man who had set up the recording studio, Mr. Ralph Peer, a traveling talent scout for Victor Records up in New York City. Ralph liked what he heard and invited The Carter Family, as they were known, to “come back that evening at 6:30, after supper, and they would try some recordings.”

With Sara playing the autoharp, Maybelle playing guitar and all three of them singing, the first song they recorded was “Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow.”

Give a listen.

On this day in 1931, Elliott Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York.

At a young age, Elliott developed a love of cowboy songs. Around 1948 or 1949, he learned to play guitar to accompany his singing. Not long after, Elliott moved to Greenwich Village in New York City and somewhere along the way, while performing in the Village’s many coffeehouses, he became known as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

My favorite song by Ramblin’ Jack is “912 Greens” from his 1968 LP Young Brigham.

Give this one a listen, too. It’s a bit long, but well worth your time.

Happy Birthday, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. I hope you’re doing well.

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A Trip To The Library

Posted on July 19, 2013 by sixstrstories

Eighty years ago this month, in July of 1933, musicologist John Lomax and his 18-year-old son Alan met and recorded Huddie Ledbetter, a singer and 12-string guitarist, at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, West Feliciana Paris, Louisiana. Huddie, who went by the name “Lead Belly,” was an inmate at the Penitentiary. The Lomaxs were on a song-collecting trip through the South for The Library of Congress.

If you’d like to read more about this momentous recording session, turn to the blog archives for July, 2010 and scroll down until you come upon my post for July 17: “On This Day In Music History: John & Alan Lomax Meet Huddie Ledbetter.”

But, if you’d like to hear the commercially-unavailable July, 1933 recordings of Lead Belly, you’ll have to go to Washington, D.C. and visit The Library of Congress.

This past March, I made that trip.

The Library of Congress is located on Independence Avenue, SE, a short walk from the Capitol South Metro stop. The July, 1933 recordings of Lead Belly are part of The Alan Lomax Collection and the Curator of this collection is Mr. Todd Harvey. Mr. Harvey’s base of operations is The American Folklife Reading Room, which can be found in the Jefferson Building of The Library of Congress.

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Having visited The Library of Congress once before (in June, 2011), I knew that you needed to have a “Reader Card” in order to do research in The American Folklife Reading Room. To get this card, one must visit the Madison Building of The Library of Congress, which is right next door to the Jefferson Building.

In preparation for my trip, I contatced Mr. Harvey in late February with my plan to visit The Library and my interest in listening to the July, 1933 Lead Belly recordings. When I arrived in The American Folklife Reading Room on that sunny March morning, Reader Card in hand, Mr. Harvey presented me with a library storage box full of carefully labeled CDs…

LoCCDs

…and directed me to a well-equipped listening station.

LoCListening

Mr. Harvey also handed me the Reading Room copy of an essential reference book: Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943 (4th Edition) by Dixon, Godrich & Rye. On the first page of the listings for Huddie Ledbetter, Mr. Harvey showed me the song titles and corresponding catalogue numbers for the July, 1933 recordings. Good thing, because the CDs in the box were only labeled with the catalogue numbers!

Before long, I had the headphones on and was listening to the first piece Lead Belly performed that day for the Lomaxs’ recording machine: “The Western Cowboy”  (#119-B-1). Here’s what I wrote in my journal about this and the recordings of seven other songs made that long ago day in Louisiana.

“The recordings on the CD are all pieces of the songs. The first “Irene” (#120-A-1) is one chorus and one verse. Others are a couple of verses – “Frankie and Albert” (#119-B-5) and “You Can’t Lose Me Cholly” (#120-A-3).”

Not only were these short, incomplete versions of the songs, but there were several tracks where you hear the sound of the disc coming up to speed as the machine starts to record. Some tracks obviously end before Lead Belly had stopped playing. Through the morning, as I listened several times to them all, the answer became obvious as to why these recordings had never been commercially released.

When I asked Mr. Harvey about what I had been hearing, he first said that the Lomaxs probably would have only asked Lead Belly to play “snippets” of each song. He then stated that John and Alan had acquired the recording equipment they were using only a week or so before they arrived at Angola and that “they were still learning how to use it.”

Biographer John Szwed, writing in his 2010 book Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded The World describes that recording equipment as “a 315-pound disc-cutting recorder, a vacuum tube amplifier, two seventy-five-pound Edison batteries to power them, a generator for recharging the batteries, piles of aluminum amd celluloid blank discs, a mixing board, a loudspeaker, a microphone, and boxes of replacement parts,” all stuffed into the rear of a Model A Ford.

Considering that their previous field recorder had been an Edison phonograph-like machine called the “Ediphone” that recorded onto cylinders and was intended for business use in an office, I’d say that the Lomaxs were lucky to have captured as much of Lead Belly’s performances as they did.

Despite all the technical difficulties and resultant drawbacks of these first recordings, Lead Belly’s powerful, vibrant voice and virtuosic 12-string guitar playing come shining through.

For instance, Lead Belly sings that lone verse in the first take of “Irene” – a lyric I’d never heard before – with the relaxed confidence of a seasoned musician performing before a large audience; rather than for two strangers and their strange machine in a small room, in a prison.

“One day, one day, one day

Irene was a-walkin’ along.

Last words that I heard her say

‘I want you to sing one song.'”

Thanks to the extensive list of catalogue numbers in Blues & Gospel Records for the recordings of Huddie Ledbetter, I soon discovered that the box of CDs I was working from also contained the recordings that the Lomaxs made of Lead Belly when they returned to Angola in July of 1934!

Oh boy.

Since the Lomaxs had by then become experts at using their recording equipment, these recordings are of complete songs – all the verses and choruses! – and feature stunning performances by Lead Belly. They made for some fascinating and revelatory listening. Of the recordings in this group that are not commercially available (on CDs released by Rounder and Document Records and on iTunes), the song called “I Got Up This Morning, Had To Get Up So Soon” (#122-A-2) was especially enjoyable. 

Towards the end of my visit to the American Folklife Reading Room, and at Mr. Harvey’s suggestion, I listened to a few tracks from a CD of pleasant but not particularly distinguished music by Blues singer & guitarist Calvin Frazier. Mr. Frazier’s claim to fame was that he played back-up guitar in 1930 for Robert Johnson. Entitled This Old World’s In A Tangle, the recordings on the CD were made by Alan Lomax in 1938.

Quite obviously, we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to The Library of Congress for providing the resources and to John & Alan Lomax for having had the vision and determination to make their many, song-collecting trips and for finding and forever preserving the music of not only Lead Belly, but the hundreds of other musicians whose music, voices and names would have otherwise disappeared and been forgotten.

I would also like to extend a personal thank you to Mr. Todd Harvey for helping to make both of my visits (so far) to the American Folklife Reading Room as exciting, informative and memorable as they were.

So, what should I listen to on my next trip to The Library?

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This Historic Day In Music: Tommy Gallant

Posted on July 14, 2013 by sixstrstories

“Bonjour,” he’d say, adding to his greeting a little chuckle and a smile.

Tommy Gallant, my colleague and friend, always brought a smile. “Bonjour,” as I remember it, was the punch line of one of his favorite jokes. More often than not, he would follow his “Bonjour” with: “Have you heard the one about…?” 

As good as he was at telling a joke, when Tommy Gallant played the piano, smiles were absolutely guaranteed. 

And when Tommy Gallant played the piano, he played Jazz.

                                          s_tommy_PEA2

Born on this day, July 14, 1935, in Exeter, NH, he was the only son of Thomas and Doris Gallant. (Tommy’s dad and my dad were classmates at Exeter High School.) By the time he was in high school, Tommy played piano with several local Jazz bands. On his own and often with his trombone-playing friend Phil Wilson, Tommy spent many hours learning new tunes and beginning the process of mastering his craft on the piano in his parents’ living room.

After high school and his service with the United States Marine Corp, Tommy studied piano and music theory at the University of New Hampshire and the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Settling down in the New Hampshire seacoast, he proceeded to build a life-long career as a performer, a teacher (at UNH, Berklee and Phillips Exeter Academy), and as a dedicated promoter of Jazz.

In an early draft of this post, I attempted to describe how Tommy Gallant played the piano. I wrote, among several even longer sentences, that Tommy had “the priceless ability to endow each and every joyful note with the exact measure of foot-tapping, spirit-lifting, smile-inducing and simply irresistable swing.”

I have decided that it would be far better to let you hear Tommy Gallant’s piano playing for yourself.

On November 25, 1985, playing the Kawai grand piano in the Bratton Room in the Paul Arts Center at the University of New Hampshire, Tommy Gallant recorded a superb album of solo Jazz piano music. 

TomGBest

Released in 1984 by the New Hampshire Library of Traditional Jazz, Tommy Gallant… by himself starts off with the song “Danny Boy.” (The melody of “Danny Boy” is also known as “Londonderry Air,” a traditional Irish Folk tune that first appeared in print in 1855.)

Click on the blue link below to hear that track from my well-worn copy of that LP.

“Danny Boy” – arranged and performed by Tommy Gallant

Among the countless gigs throughout New England that Tommy Gallant played over the course of his career, he is probably best remembered for the two decades of Sunday night Jazz sessions that he hosted – most often with trio-mates Jim Howe on bass and Les Harris, Jr. on drums – at The Press Room on Daniel Street in Portsmouth, NH.

When Tommy Gallant played his final Sunday night at The Press Room, the last piece that he played by himself, at the piano, was a song written in 1928 by Larry Shay, Mark Fisher and Joe Goodwin.

The song was “When You’re Smiling.” 

Everyone knew the words: “When you’re smiling, when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you…”

A few weeks before he died, I visited Tommy in the hospital. I brought him a joke. Not having his gift for the telling of a joke, I had the joke written down and I read it to him and his wife Patricia. When I finished, they laughed and then, still laughing, Tommy said “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone read a joke before!” 

Well, I’ve never heard anyone, before or since, play the piano, play Jazz, and make it smile like Tommy Gallant.

Tommy Gallant passed away on September 28, 1998.

Not long after, two annual events were established here in the New Hampshire seacoast that bear his name and help to keep the music he loved alive and well. Every spring, Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter presents the Tommy Gallant Memorial Jazz Concert in Phillips Church. Every summer, Prescott Park in Portsmouth hosts the Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival as part of the Prescott Park Arts Festival.

If you’d like to listen to Tommy Gallant playing with his six-piece Traditional Jazz band, The Tommy Gallant All-Stars, go into the blog archives for September 2012 and find the post for September 16 entitled “While We’re On The Subject… The Tommy Gallant All-Stars.” You’ll find another one of those blue links to click on for a piece called “Shine.”

If, Dear Reader, you knew, heard and/or remember Tommy Gallant, click on “leave a comment” or “comments” below and share your thoughts, memories and/or your story!

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This Historic Day In Music: Mississippi John Hurt

Posted on July 3, 2013 by sixstrstories

Today! was the first album of music by Mississippi John Hurt that I owned.

MJHToday

Although I don’t recall where or when I bought it, I do know that Today! introduced me to an artist that remains among the most enjoyable and remarkable of all the musicians I’ve ever heard.

Released in 1966 by Vanguard Records, Today! contains 12 songs featuring just John Hurt’s vocals and fingerstyle guitar accompaniment. In the LP’s liner notes, esteemed music journalist Nat Hentoff describes Mississippi John Hurt’s music as having “an uncommon gentleness,” “finely shaded nuances” and “an unforced, unhurried sensuality.”

Writing in 2003 for the All Music Guide to Blues, David Freedlander says of the music on Today!: “It is still difficult to believe that there is just one man playing on the seemingly effortless guitar work” and “…that sound, along with a mellow and heartfelt voice, wizened here by decades, combine to make Today! an unforgettable whole.”

Mississippi John Hurt once said of his music: “I just make it sound like I think it ought to.”

One of my favorite songs on Today! is the one that starts off the second side of the LP: “Coffee Blues,” a John Hurt original.

Mississippi John Hurt was born John Smith Hurt, in Teoc, Mississippi, on this day, July 3, 1893. (Some sources state his date of birth as being March 8, 1892.) He passed away on November 2, 1966.

If you’d like to read more about Mississippi John Hurt, especially the incredible story of his “rediscovery” in 1963, look into the blog archives for July 2010 and find the July 3 post entitled “On This Day In Music History: Mississippi John Hurt.” If you’d like to listen to some more of his music and see video of the man himself, check out my blog post of July 3, 2012.

One of the reasons I started writing this blog was to do my small part in helping to keep this kind of music alive. If you’ve enjoyed the music as well, and would like to help, please pass a link on to your family and friends.

If someone should ask, just tell them: “Good music doesn’t get old.”

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Hot Dog! P.S.: Jim Boyd

Posted on June 27, 2013 by sixstrstories

Ok, Google. Search: Jim Boyd.

About 6,970,00 results in 0.20 seconds and the first ten are for Jim Boyd, the television news anchorman; Jim Boyd, the insurance agent; Jim Boyd, the musicain (born in 1956); and Jim Boyd, the member of the Florida House of Representatives.

Not those Jim Boyds.

Try again, Google. Search: Jim Boyd guitarist Roy Newman and His Boys.

About 285,000 results in 0.48 seconds and the very first one is a link to the YouTube video for “Hot Dog Stomp.”

Bingo.

A little further down and there are links, via Google Books, to The Encyclodia of Country Music, 2nd Edition (2012), Compiled by the Staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum; Country Music, USA, 2nd Revised Edition (2002) by Bill C. Malone; and the website Hillbilly-Music.com.

Here’s what I found out from those sources about Jim Boyd, the man who played the electric guitar – Spanish, not Hawaiian – on the first recordings to feature that instrument.

 

                                                Best Jim Boyd 

Jim Boyd was born on September 28, 1914 in the town of Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas.

By the time he was 12 years old, Jim and his 4-years-older brother, Bill, were good enough musicians to perform Country music live on the radio in  Greenville, Texas.

In 1929, Jim and Bill moved to Dallas, Texas. By 1932, they’d found work there at radio station WFAA and then at radio station WRR.

Also in 1932, the Boyd brothers formed The Cowboy Ramblers, a Country music group that started recording in 1934 and stayed together in one form or another until 1951. Jim played upright bass for The Cowboy Ramblers and Bill played guitar. Of the 300-plus recordings they made, one of The Cowboy Ramblers’ most famous and popular sides was the 1935 instrumental “Under The Double Eagle,” featuring Bill Boyd on guitar and fiddler Art Davis.

Besides his work with The Cowboy Ramblers, Jim Boyd had a long and very busy musical career as a performer and recording artist.

From 1934-1938, he played electric guitar for Roy Newman and His Boys. He played upright bass for The Light Crust Doughboys from 1938-1941. From 1949-1951, he fronted his own group, Jim Boyd & His Men Of The West. All of these groups were based in Dallas, Texas, performed and recorded extensively and were very influential in the developement of the style of music that is now known as “Western Swing.” 

Jim Boyd was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame on April 21, 1990.

According to Hillbilly-Music.com, “Jim was a humble person, he gave his brother credit for any success he found in the music business.”

Jim Boyd passed away in Dallas, Texas on March 11, 1993.

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Hot Dog!

Posted on June 23, 2013 by sixstrstories

On June 15, 2010, I wrote and posted an essay called “Recent Discoveries.” In it, I relayed the story behind my exciting discovery of the very first use of an electric guitar – “Spanish,” not “Hawaiian” – on a commercially-released record!

I had found out that the first electric guitarist on record was not, as I’d thought, Charlie Christian. It was not Eddie Durham or George Barnes. (Those three had made their first recordings respectively on October 2, 1939; March 18, 1938; and March 1, 1938.)

The very first electric guitarist on record was Jim Boyd.

On September 28, 1935, in Dallas, Texas, Jim Boyd recorded three sides playing the electric guitar as a member of the Dallas/Fort Worth-based band known as Roy Newman and His Boys.

The pieces that Roy Newman and His Boys recorded that day were: “Corrine, Corrina,” “Shine On Harvest Moon” and “Hot Dog Stomp.” At the time of my writing in June, 2010, I was only able to find one of those recordings to hear and share with you and that was  “Corrine, Corrina.”

Well, guess what?!?

Just yesterday, I discovered videos on YouTube for both “Shine On Harvest Moon” and “Hot Dog Stomp!”

Really!!

I couldn’t hit “play” fast enough.

But… after carefully listening several times to both “Shine On Harvest Moon” and “Hot Dog Stomp,” I found that Jim Boyd’s electric guitar is prominently featured only on “Hot Dog Stomp.” The recording of “Shine On Harvest Moon” showcases the classic song in a most impressive rendering by the very fine vocalists in Roy Newman and His Boys. It is well worth listening to.

“Hot Dog Stomp” is a swinging, up-tempo little number featuring the instrumental and improvisatory skills of the members of the band. Clarinetist Holly Horton takes the lead on the opening statement of the main, rather humorous melody and continues through as the first soloist. Acoustic rhythm guitarist Buddy Neal and fiddler Thurman Neal step up, in that order, for the next two solos and finally, at 2:02, Jim Boyd takes the spotlight and more than holds his own on that electric guitar.

Check it out!

That video was produced and posted by Lloyd T on December 14, 2012. Lloyd T is also responsible for posting videos of the weekly Sunday services from the Utica Baptist Church in Utica, Mississippi.

Many thanks, Lloyd, for all of your good work!

Thanks as well to AllMusic.com for some biographical information about band leader Roy Newman.

Roy Newman (11/12/1899-2/23/1981) was a Texas born and based musician who played piano, accordian and guitar. Now considered to be one of the pioneers of Western Swing (music that merges elements of Jazz and Country), Roy and His Boys recorded 72 sides between 1934 and 1939 before disbanding in 1940. Several of those recordings are available for your listening pleasure on YouTube and a handful can also be purchased on iTunes.

However, in the humble opinion of yours truly, the most important two of those 72 recordings by Roy Newman and His Boys are: “Hot Dog Stomp” and “Corrine, Corrina,” recorded in Dallas, Texas on September 28, 1935 and featuring Jim Boyd on the electric guitar.

Good music doesn’t get old, and when it’s so historically important… it doesn’t get much better.

I just love this stuff!

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Wrestling With The Angel, Chapter 6

Posted on June 15, 2013 by sixstrstories

Joe Keone was a trumpet player and, as I remember it, like me, a Music Education major at the University of New Hampshire in the 1970’s.

During the course of our college-days friendship, Joe introduced me to one of his favorite songs: “When Sunny Gets Blue.” Being always interested in learning a new song, I asked if he could get me a copy of the sheet music for it, and he did. Here’s page 1.

When Sunny Gets 2

Joe was right. “When Sunny Gets Blue” is an extraordinary song. It has wonderfully well-crafted lyrics, a sublime and superbly-singable melody and the kind of complex, constantly-shifting yet, in the end, totally-logical chord progression that I find to be so much fun to play on the guitar. 

Once I learned to play and sing it – and I have most enjoyably continued to play and sing it ever since – Joe and I got together and worked out a trumpet/guitar/vocal arrangement that we were both quite happy with. I was playing at The Loaf & Ladle in Exeter at the time and I invited Joe to come down and sit in one night. I don’t recall the audience’s response, but I can still picture Joe sporting a wide and satisfied smile as we wrapped up our rendition of “When Sunny Gets Blue.”

As the sheet music informs, “When Sunny Gets Blue” was copyrighted in 1956. The lyrics were written by Jack Segal, the music composed by Marvin Fisher.

Jack Segal (1918-2005) was born in Minneapolis, MN and is best known for writing the lyrics to the 1949 song “Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair).” With music by Evelyn Danzig, “Scarlet Ribbons” was a huge hit for Harry Belafonte in 1952.

Marvin Fisher (1916-1993) was born in New York, NY; the son of Fred Fisher, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter. Among the better known songs that Marvin wrote the music for were: “Destination Moon” and “That’s The Kind Of Girl I Dream Of.”

“When Sunny Gets Blue” was first recorded by vocalist Nat King Cole (1917-1965) in 1956. With an orchestral accompaniment arranged by Gordon Jenkins, “When Sunny Gets Blue” was included on Mr. Cole’s album Love Is The Thing.

Here it is.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Thanks, Joe. 

“When Sunny Gets Blue” has been recorded by many, many artists including several instrumentalists who forgo the lyrics and let Marvin Fisher’s melody tell the tale all by itself. A little searching on YouTube and/or iTunes will provide many fabulous versions well worth your time.

Let me know what you find!

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