On this Throwback Thursday let's celebrate the zoot suit, a type of apparel that's inspired many musicians -- as well as sparking a bloody, racist 10-day riot in Los Angeles.
With its super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels and peg leg pants, the zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits popular in Harlem dance halls in the mid-1930s. The flowing trousers were tapered at the ankles to prevent jitterbugging couples from getting tripped up while they twirled. By the ’40s, the suits were worn by minority men in working-class neighborhoods throughout the country. Though the zoot suit would be donned by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, it was “not a costume or uniform from the world of entertainment,” the Chicago big-band trumpeter and clothier Harold Fox once said. “It came right off the street and out of the ghetto.’’
Maybe the first song with "zoot suit" in the title was "A Zoot Suit (for my Sunday Girl)." It was recorded by all sorts of folks in the '40s including the Kay Kyser Orchestra (who did the original in early 1942), Benny Goodman, The Andrews Sisters and, later, even Dave Van Ronk.
My favorite version is the one by Dorothy Danridge and Paul White:
Then there's these guys, whoever they are. (Seriously, does anyone know? Please tell me!)
WARNING: This video probably is illegal in Florida!
Skip ahead to the early 1960s and we'll find a little combo called The High Numbers.
The who?
That's right! It's the band later known as The Who. I don't think Pete and Roger and the boys actually ever wore an actual zoot suit though:
Known as the first Chicano play on Broadway, Luis Valdez's 1979 musical Zoot Suit (made into a movie starring Edward James Olmos in 1981) was based partly on the 1943 zoot suit "riots" in Los Angeles, in which U.S. Navy members stationed in southern California attacked zoot-attired Chicanos (and Filipinos. And Blacks) in East L.A., as the cops turned a blind eye. Because, you know, patriotism. (Just a few months ago, the Los Angeles City Council formally apologized for "effectively sanctioning the violence perpetuated eight decades ago.")
The Cherry-Poppin' Daddies had a huge hit in 1997 with their own song about that ugly little stain on American history.
Now those sailors know where their women went for love!
Monday, September 25, 2023 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
I'll Be Gone by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Hook Line and Sinker by Nick Shoulders
Freakin’ Out by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Rockin' Bones by The Cramps
Burn Baby, Burn by Stud Cole
Go Go Go For Louie's Place by The A-Bones
Hot Skillet Momma by Yochanan
Get In The Groove by The Mighty Hannibal
Swingin' Little Chicky by The Beltones
I Couldn't Spell !!*@! by Roy Loney And The Young Fresh Fellows
Bang Bang Bang by Eilen Jewell
Please Come On Home by Esquerita
Pumping (My Heart) by Patti Smith
Honky Tonk Merry Go Round by Patsy Cline
Little Ramona (Gone Hillbilly Nuts) by BR5-49
Ramona by The Ramones
Deputy Dog by Great Gaylord & The Friggs
Lonely Street by Bobby Charles
Hey! Sister Lucy (What Makes Your Lips So Juicy?) by The Treniers
Rocket To The Moon by Lenny Welch
Marie by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
The Jim Rob Song by Miss Tammy Faye Starlite
Daddy Rockin' Strong by The Dirtbombs
Little Red Book by Benny Joy
Flesh Eating Cocaine Blues by Daddy Long Legs
Harlem Shuffle by The 5.6.7.8's
Jungle Fever by Charlie Feathers
Shanty Tramp by Betty Dickson
Flyin' Saucers Rock And Roll by Billy Lee Riley & The Little Green Men
DooI'll Never Be Mean by The Radiants
The Jones Girl by The Five Satins
Teenage Bells by The Loungers
Love In The Afternoon by The Dreamtones
Your Tender Lips by The Syncopates
Bob-O-Link by The Smart Tones
What's Your Name by Don & Juan
School day Crush by Nicky & The Nobles
She's Gone (with the wind) by Fred Parris & The Scarlets
Sunday, September 24, 2023 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
I'm Ready by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Bad Boy by The A-Bones
Baby Baby Baby by Barreracudas
Mera Naam Bano Hey by Tandoori Knights
Everyday Vacation by Alien Space Kitchen
Go Go Gorilla by The Ideals
Walkin' With The Beast by Gun Club
Vegas by Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
Tower Of Song by Tom Jones
I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen
Dirt Bag Fever by Quintron
Burning Down The House by Talking Heads
Rough And Tumble Guy by Webb Wilder
The Sea by Sierra Ferrell
Robot Man by Jamie Horton
Voodoo Eyes by The Silhouettes
Rat Fink by Ron Haydock & The Boppers
GRAM PARSONS, RIP
(all songs by GP except where noted)
Still Feeling Blue
The New Soft Shoe by Polly Parsons & Eden
Hearts On Fire
Hickory Wind by Bob Mould & Vic Chesnutt
Boulder To Birmingham by Emmylou Harris
Hot Burrito #1 by The Mavericks
Sin City by The Mekons
In My Hour Of Darkness by Gram Parsons
Is Heaven Real? by Johnny Dowd
By The Fire by Jon Dee Graham
If I Had You by Johnny Gimble with Emily Gimble
Whalebone by The Dead Brothers
Steadfast, Loyal And True by Elvis Presley
All Bad by Nick Shoulders
Crow Hollow Blues by Stan Ridgway
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Tomorrow, September 22, 2023, will mark the 8th anniversary of a federal
judge's landmark decision that declared the song "Happy Birthday to You" to be
in the public domain. That decision led to a
subsequent settlement
in which Warner/Chappell, the giant media corporation that claimed to
have owned the copyright, agreed to repay, to the tune of $14 million, those who had licensed the song.
But, contrary to a rumor I just made up, Judge George H. King, did not
admonish Warner/Chappell by declaring, "You look like a monkey and you smell
like one too."
"Happy Birthday to You" undoubtedly is the most sung 10-second song in the
USA.
Yes, 10-seconds. Remember singing it -- twice -- while washing your hands
every few minutes during the early months of the COVID pandemic? As a
2020 article in Billboardnoted:
This has led to some strained attempts at humor, as people try to defuse
the tension we’re all feeling. Mark Ronson tweeted: “Been washing my hands
for 7 minutes singing ‘happy birthday’ by @StevieWonder x2. I didn’t know
they meant the ‘other’ birthday song… smh.”
The melody that everyone loves while someone brings a flaming cake to the
table was written by a couple of sisters, Patty and Mildred Hill in Kentucky
back in 1893.
The first version was titled "Good Morning to All," and was meant to be sung
in the classroom. (Patty was the principal of the Louisville Experimental
Kindergarten School, while Mildred was a teacher there.) This early version of
the song, which didn't mention any birthdays, was published in Song Stories for the Kindergarten and Primary Schools a book written by the sisters. But, according to
The Farmer's Almanac:
Nearly ten years after their first song book was published, the Hill
sisters were invited to a neighbor’s birthday party. It was then that
Patty changed the words of “Good Morning to All” to “Happy Birthday to
You,” in an effort to make the occasion more festive. The song was the
highlight of the party, and obviously caught on.
Sounds like some party!
Oklahoma City's beloved Ho Ho the Clown, about to sing "Happy
Birthday" to my brother, back in the days when we weren't all
afraid of clowns.
Billboard, however, noted that "There are various accounts of how `Good Morning to
All' morphed into `Happy Birthday to You'."
The sisters copyrighted their original song in October 1893 but years
later in March of 1924, it appeared without authorization in a songbook
edited by a Robert H. Coleman. In the book, Coleman used the original
title and first stanza lyrics but altered the second stanza’s opening line
to read, “Happy Birthday To You.” Thus, through Coleman, the sisters’ line
“Good Morning dear children,” became “Happy Birthday dear (name).”
During the next decade, the song was published several times, each time
with minor alterations in the lyrics. By 1933, the widely accepted title
was “Happy Birthday To You.” When the song was soon being belted nightly
in the Broadway musical, As Thousands Cheer, a third Hill sister, Jessica, tired of the ongoing theft of the melody
and total lack of royalty payments, took the case to court.
And apparently she won. The tune was dropped from As Thousands Cheer, and, as the Songwriters Hall of Fame notes, "...Western Union and
Postal Telegraph both ceased using the song in singing telegrams. A Broadway
hit play with Helen Hayes, `Happy Birthday,' arranged for the star to speak
the lyrics so the producers might avoid paying royalties to the authors."
The copyright saga of "Happy Birthday to You" serves as a great example of
corporate greed. The publisher of the Hill sisters'
Song Stories for the Kindergarten and Primary Schools was
the Clayton F. Summy Company, which became the Summy-Birchard Company in
1957, and became a division of the Birch Tree Group in 1970, only to be
gobbled up by Warner/Chappell in 1988.
But that lawsuit against Warner/Chappell, originally filed in 2013
by documentary filmmaker Jennifer Nelson returned the song to the people
two years later.
Just a week after Nelson filed her suit in New York, a singer named Rupa
Marya, singer with a band called Rupa & The April Fishes, filed a similar
suit in California, where the cases were combined.
Marya told
The Hollywood Reporterthat a San Francisco audience had sung the song to her on her birthday in
2013. But... "When the band tried to add that live rendition to an album, she
was hit with a lawyers demand for payment to license the song."
Here is Rupa, in the center, with her lawyers and others at the law firm singing the song they
fought for:
Here is what is song has to be the most famous performance of this song.
Marilyn took more than the mandatory 10 seconds. Nobody complained:
Kermit Ruffins does a version of "Happy Birthday to You," that features lyrics
I first heard in elementary school:
Sunday, September 17, 2023 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
Right Hand Man by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Ookami Otoko by Horror Deluxe
Girls on Bikes by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Back in the late '60s, the hippies with their long hair and marijuana inspired
Jack Webb to try to warn the nation of the dangers of peace and love and their threatening new music on Dragnet. In the' 70s and '80s, punk rock
inspired overwrought television episodes trying to shock Mr. Marvin
Middleclass about the unhealthy phenomenon destroying the nation's youth.
Actually on sitcoms, punk-rock generally was treated as weird but essentially
harmless fun for the kids. The humor came not only from the
stereotypical Mohawks and slam dancing, but from the squares' reactions to
it.
This was the case with case with Don Rickles in CPO Sharkey. A 1978
episode titled "Punk Rock Sharkey" actually featured The Dickies. This video
of the band's song "Hideous" features clips from that show:
On WKRP in Cincinnati, in a 1978 episode there's a British punk band
called Scum of the Earth (which featured musician/actor Michael Des
Barres) dress all spiffy, but that's only a guise. Under those 3-piece suits
there are rascally punk-rock hearts who like to spray their audiences with
fire extinguishers, much to the dismay of Mr. Carlson, who prefers Benny
Goodman, and Andy, who yearns for Crosby, Stills & Nash:
But on television dramas, things got serious.
Punk rock became a backdrop for murderous violence and destruction.
On CHiPs, for instance, a band called Pain, in a 1982 episode called "Battle
of the Bands" thinks it's funny to throw an electric bass off a rooftop
causing traffic mayhem. (I was sympathetic though, because one band member is
named "Potatohead"!)
All the way up to 1987 -- long after the heyday of actual punk rock -- an ABC After School Special called "The Day My Kid Went Punk" warned of the danger of "Punk
Syndrome," which apparently is even worse than the Woke Mind Virus! Here, a
meek, soft-spoken high school orchestra nerd transforms himself into a punk
rocker to try to win the heart of a cute blonde girl in the orchestra. Here's
an abbreviated version of that episode:
But perhaps the craziest punk rock depiction of all time was on
Quincy ME, that Jack Klugman vehicle about the crime-solving
medical examiner. In one episode called “Next Stop, Nowhere,” a kid
is stabbed to death at a punk rock show and Quincy is convinced that the evil
music was at least partially to blame. “Whoever killed that boy was
listening to words that literally cried out for blood,” he says at one point
during the episode. Here are some clips from this infamous episode:
Sunday, September 10, 2023 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
Pressure Drop by The Clash
Jumpin Jack Off by Thee Retail Simps
Walking With Frankie by Eilen Jewell
Waiting for the World by City of My Death
Nga Nga by Ebo Taylor
Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by The Grawks
Mathis James Reed, better known in this world as Jimmy Reed, would have been 98 years old today. However, he died at the age of 50 back in 1976 at the age of 50.
Happy birthday, Boss Man!
Reed, who like so many of his generation of blues singers migrated from Mississipoi to Chicago, left behind an amazing catalogue of songs, some of the most recognizable blues tunes this side of Muddy Waters.
He began recording on the Chicago-based label Vee Jay in 1953 (Hey, they had The Beatles for a short time!) Encyclopedia Brittanica --not usually my first go-to blues history source --described his tunes:
"They almost invariably featured the same basic, unadorned rural boogie-shuffle rhythm accompanied by his thickly drawled "mush-mouth: vocals and high, simply phrased harmonica solos."
Much of his success can be credited to his friend Eddie Taylor, who played on most of his sessions, and his wife, Mama Reed, who wrote many of his songs and even sat behind him in the studio reciting his lyrics into his forgetful ear as he sang. His hits appealed to blacks and whites. Many of his blues songs were even adopted by white R&B groups during the early 60’s. He was the first of the Chicago electric bluesmen to break through to the pop/rock market. Reed had fourteen hits for Vee Jay on the R&B charts between 1955 and 1966.
Among those who have covered Reed tunes are Elvis Presley, Count Basie, Willie Nelson, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Grateful Dead, Waylon Jennings Sonny James and scores of others.
But nobody sounded like mush-moth Jimmy!
Here are a few of my favorite Reed songs.
Honest, I do love this one:
And if you don't love Jimmy Reed I'm going to ask you to Hush:
I'm amazed no insurance company never tried to use this one in a comercial:
But my favorite has always been Big Boss Man. I always have imagined some bone-weary Egyptian slave defiantly shouting this into the air while working on some pyramid.
