THROWBACK THURSDAY: Have Yourself a Bluesy Little Christmas

 

Someone told me that it's almost Christmas.

Woah, if true!

So here are a few choice musical Christmas treats from the magical realm of blues and rhythm and blues.

Let's start with Reverend Edward Clayborn, aka "The Guitar Evangelist," with a 1928 release called "The Wrong Way to Celebrate Christmas," in which he declares, "While the church is praying, on Christmas day / Other people are roamin' the streets and drinkin' their soul away ..."

Leroy Carr apparently tried to celebrate Christmas in the wrong way. Here's a 1929 tune called "Christmas in Jail."

Skipping ahead a few decades, a doo-wop called The Youngsters had a hit with a song of the same title.

Back in the '30s, Bumble Bee Slim had a specific request of Santa Claus:

Here's a tune from 1954 from a singer named Jimmy Butler who only wants to trim your tree:

Finally, here's some holiday cheer from 1962 by Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns, "Doing the Santa Claus":

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 13, 2020
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Someone Like You by Divine Horsemen

Hobo Jungle by Scott H. Biram

Holy Motor by Sloks

Leonardo by Kazik Staszewski & Kwartet ProForma

Hey! Rockstar by Jon Langford & Skull Orchard

What Happened to Delila by The Mekons

Surfing on Christmas Day (Santa Won’t You Bring Me Some Waves) by Southern Culture on the Skids

(Background Music: Chinatown, My Chinatown by David Murray)

Christmas With Satan by James White

Turn It Off - Zombie Mix by Kathy Freeman

Eat Your Heart and Wear Your Face by The Cavemen

Nutbush City Limits by Frontier Dan & The Hickoids

Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise by Devo

I Refuse to Sing by Elected Officials

They Don’t Know by King Salami & The Cumberland 3

Who’s Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxi Cab by Lincoln St. Exit

I Can’t Control Myself by Big Maybelle

Empty Yodel No. 0 by Nick Shoulders

Even Squeaky Fromme Loves Christmas by Rev. Glen Armstrong

(Background Music: Lint Head Stomp by Phebel Wright)

Blue Christmas by Stan Ridgway

Dance Like Fuck by Oh! Gunquit

Won’t You by The Plasmatics

Bang On by The Breeders

Breakfast Taters by MFC Chicken

Go-Go Girls by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs

Don’t Take My Whiskey Away From Me by Wynonie Harris

Built for Comfort by Memphis Slim & Willie Dixon

Seeds & Candy by Boris McCutcheon

In the Dark of Morning by Possessed by Paul James

Christmas Boogie by Canned Heat & The Chipmunks

(Background Music: Swingin’ on Pier 13 by The Bomboras)

Can Man Christmas by Joe West

Midnight Express by Degurutieni Day-guru-tee-enny

Always Horses Coming by Giant Sand

Whiskey Willey by Michael Hurley

Coney Island Waltz by Harvey McLaughlin

The Old Rugged Cross by Homer Henderson

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this. CLICK HERE

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday Redd Foxx

 

On Dec. 9, 1922, John Elroy Sanford was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up to be known by another name, Redd Foxx. But he didn't forget the surname of his birth. Probably more people know him from the hit sitcom Sanford & Son than his previous decades as a raunchy "party records" comic. (His character's name, Fred Sanford, also happened to be the name of his father and his older brother.)

Although he's far better known as a comedian, Foxx also was a singer. When he was just a 13-year-old kid, according to his website, Fox "supported himself by playing the washboard in a band."

Soon he began his career as a stand-up comedian on the Chitlin Circuit. To put it mildly, he wasn't afraid to "play blue." By the mid 1950s his nightclub career led to a recording career, with Foxx creating an avalanche of "party albums" that sold admirably, despite the fact that none of his records ever had any chance of actual radio play.

But even before that, Foxx recorded five R&B singles for Savoy Records. Here's one from 1946, a tune titled "Fine Jelly Blues."

He also sang with bands like the Kenny Watts Hot Five. (Pianist Watt with Kenny Watts & His Brooklyn Buddies backed Foxx on his Savoy singles.)  

This one's called "Shame on You" from 1947.

Foxx recorded some more R&B singles in the mid '50s. Here's  "It's Fun To Be Living In The Crazy House," from 1957.

As Fred Sanford, Foxx often sang on his TV show. This one, "All of Me"  is a duet with Scatman Crothers.

And in honor of the season ... 

Happy birthday, Red!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 6, 2020
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Behind the Barn by Demon’s Claws

Can’t Be Brought Down by Roky Erikson

You Got That Thing by Holly Golightly

Leave Me Alone So I Can Rock Again by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Sookie Sookie by Steppenwolf

Speed Limit by Dot Wiggin Band

Language is a Virus by Laurie Anderson

(Background Music: Riff Blues by Skip Martin)

Ill Wind by Dinola

Johnny Voodoo by Empress of Fur

In the Rex by Churchwood

Eat Your Heart and Wear Your Face by The Cavemen

Roam by The B-52s

When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again by Big Al Downing

(Background Music: Spooky Bongos by Beach Girls & The Monster)

Florentine Pogen by Frank Zappa 

Platypus by Mr. Bungle

Horrorshow by The Blacks

Cry Cry, Laugh Laugh by The Krayolas

Shake Shake by The Bluetones

Go! Go! Go! by Roy Orbison

Bamalamalicious  by Rattanson

There Oughta Be a Law Against Sunny Southern California by Terry Allen

(Background Music: Lonely Guitar by Bert Weedon)

The Old Main Drag by The Pogues

Rose Tattoo by Dropkick Murphys

Polka Christmas by The Polkaholics

Since I Met You Baby by Asylum Street Spankers

What Is Love by Cheetah Chrome

Moonglow, Lamp Low by Eleni Mandell

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page


    Want to keep the party going after I sign off at midnight?
Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this. CLICK HERE

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast CLICK HERE

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday Gussie Davis!

 

Goodness Gussie, it's the birthday of one of the most successful African-American songwriters of the 19th Century, the first Black Tin Pan Alley composers, Mr. Gussie Davis. 

Though he died when he was just 35, many of his tunes lived on into the 20th Century and eventually were recorded by early country music stars. He also wrote a song that's become an American classic -- though Davis hasn't received proper credit for it. (Keep reading to the bottom.)

An article about the songwriter by Wayne Erbsen in Native Ground  quotes Tin-Pan Alley historian Maxwell Marcuse:

“Gussie Davis reached for the tender spots that lurk deep within all of us, no matter how thick or tough our outer crusts may be. In an era of ‘sing-em-and-weep’ melodies, Davis did more than his share to open up the tear ducts of America.”

Born in Dayton on Dec. 3, 1863, Davis wanted to attend the Nelson Musical College in Cincinnati. But his application to the school was rejected because of his race. 

But, according to Eileen Southern in her 1997 book, The Music of Black Americans: A History, Davis found a workaround. He got a job as a janitor at the school and was paid in part with private music lessons from the instructors there. 

He self-published his first song in 1880, when he was only 18, a sentimental ditty called "We Sat Beneath The Maple On The Hill." 

In Ernsen's piece Davis was quoted saying:

I was just eighteen years old, and not caring to enter in the rear, I set to work to study music, and before long I managed to get together a pretty air and had it arranged. It was the ‘Maple on the Hill,’ and became quite popular throughout the West. Music publishers are not over generous in taking to publishing or even handling music from an unknown person, and I found a great deal of trouble, but I gave one publisher money to get it out, and he took pity on me. The song proved a great go.”

Let's hear a 1926 recording of that song by Vernon Dalhart, a pioneering country singer (He's the first to record "The Wreck of the Old 97" back in the 1920s.) But hey Vern, you don't sound that country here!

Davis kept writing and publishing songs. Before long, he hooked up with Cincinnati publisher George Propheter, who in 1886 moved to New York. Davis followed him. Davis kept writing as well as performing. In 1895 he was invited by the New York World to enter the paper's contest to determine the 10 best songwriters in the U.S. Davis came in second with his song, "Send Back the Picture and the Ring", and won a prize of $500 in gold.

I couldn't find a recording of this online, but here's a melodramatic1893 song -- composed by Davis and lyricist William H. Windom -- called "The Fatal Wedding." This was Davis' first national hit The performer here is another white country singer, Bradley Kincaid.

Vernon Dalhart also recorded another Davis tune, "The Baggage Coach Ahead." This is a more recent live version by the late Mac Wiseman.

This is "My Creole Sue," which Davis published in 1898, a year before his death. This recording is from 1923 by a group called The Shannon Quartet.

None of the above songs are very familiar to modern audiences, but chances are you've heard this one. A 2000 report by NPR says Leadbelly always attributed "Goodnight Irene" to his uncle. However, Davis composed the song he titled "Irene, Good Night" in 1886. It became a favorite of traveling minstrel shows.

So goodnight, Irene and happy birthday Gussie!