Feet/Feat: Fats Waller

 

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I've spent a good part of the past week putting together a one-off special lesson about The Western, so maybe there is an historical commonality in this choice.

Fats Waller (1904-1943) apppears to have been amazingly talented and incredibly productive (something like 400 songs, compsed the score for the first Broadway musical written by an African American and more). Apparently, many of the 400 or so songs he sold to others and so ended up without being credited.

He was already playing the piano at age 6 and added the organ to his toolkit at 10, playing in his father's church. His success and fame was such that he toured Europe in the '30s.

There are several accounts of the night in 1926 when Fats was kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to a birthday party, where he was forced to play. The birthday boy was Al Capone. Waller's son said that the party went on for several days with Waller sleeping at his piano, and earning $100 for each song he played. Other accounts relate that he could sit down at his piano and easily finish off a gallon of bootleg whiskey and still keep playing. One account I read notes that he and Al probably got along just fine at that party.

I think you'll agree when you listen to the songs I have chosen that you can't keep your feet from tapping in time.

Trees/Grass: If You'se a Viper

purchase [ Martin, Bogan & Armstrong]

This one appears to be a classic in its own realm, but - judging from the fact that several others have covered it - not so far out of the mainstream.

Back when I was an undergraduate student at "Camp Gitchie Goomie" (bonus points if you can provide its real name), the school hosted a group known as Martin, Bogan & Armstrong. From their album Martin, Bogan & Armstrong (maybe their only album?), here's a song that kinda pushes the limits of our current theme.

I mean, grass ... as in "weed"- of the once/still(?) semi-legal variety.

<If You'se a Viper> was written back in the '30s  (soon we'll need to clarify that as the <19>30s!), and there are various interpretations of the song.

The title possibly refers (not reefers) to the sound that emanates from "toking" on a doobie: a hiss, not unlike one that a snake might make?

The song is credited to Snuff Smith (and that's another path worthy of following...).

In the 1920s/30s, a lot of jazz musicians smoked grass. There's a fair amount about the inter-twining of the song itself and the US/WWII era in the Wikipedia article that is fairly entertaining and informative. If the subject interests you, it is worth a read.


There are takes from Fats Waller, The Manhattan Transfer and Jim Kweskin.

Fats Waller above

Manhattan Transfer above

And the Jim Kweskin Band, too

Finally, Snuff Smith's version (above)

In Memoriam/ Resolutions: Gregory Isaacs - Write Myself a Letter

Gregory Isaacs: Write Myself a Letter

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In 2010, the world lost three important reggae artists, Yabby You, Sugar Minott, and Gregory Isaacs. Isaacs was probably the best known. He is credited with creating the reggae style known as “lover’s rock”, which obviously involved love songs. Isaacs wrote many such songs, and he set the mark in reggae for how to sing them. But Write Myself a Letter is an unlikely cover. The original version, which you will find below, was a classic early jazz song by Fats Waller. The conversion of the song into a reggae number shows the rare musical imagination that Isaacs possessed. He also did a fine version of House of the Rising Sun.

Isaacs’ stage persona was all lover, except when he performed his protest songs. But off-stage, he battled an addiction to cocaine for most of his life, and he spent time in and out of jail. This hard lifestyle finally claimed him in 2010.

Bonus track:

Fats Waller: I‘m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

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To be honest, I did not set out to do a transitional post at all. The first song I thought of for our new theme was this classic by Fats Waller. The singer’s resolution is to not allow himself to be lonely. I wanted to find an interesting cover version to go with it, and that’s when I discovered the Gregory Isaacs version. He certainly deserves to be honored, so I’m glad it worked out this way.

Body Parts: Your Feet’s Too Big

Fats Waller: Your Feet‘s Too Big

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Fats Waller was one of the great talents from the time before jazz had a name. Starting in the 1920s, and extending into the early years of WWII, Waller’s career was a steady string of novelty songs, interspersed with a few that have become standards. His best known songs today are Honeysuckle Rose and Ain’t Misbehavin’. In 1978, the show Ain’t Misbehavin’, a revue which was a tribute to Waller’s music, made its debut on Broadway.

Your Feet’s Too Big is a wonderful display of the sense of humor that made Waller’s novelty songs so successful in their day. It also displays the musicianship that has helped his music endure, when so many of his contemporaries have been forgotten.