shake that thing

Papa Charlie Jackson set the style with his new dance; but got sick and tired of tellin' us to do it.  Born in New Orleans, Jackson moved to Chicago where he made a name for himself playing a six string banjo on the street and at house parties in the 1920's.  Work as a session man led to solo records (like  "Papa's Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues") on the Paramount label.  The 'hokum' style he helped to create featured humorous innuendo set to a danceable  rhythm.   In 1925, he recorded "Shake That Thing", which became a minor sensation.  


The song has been covered by many artists including:   

Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band
Vince Giordano's Nighthawks
Big John Hurt
Abe Lyman's California Orchestra
Taj Mahal
Viola McCoy
Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions / Grateful Dead 
Turk Murphy and Lu Watters
Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band
Ethel Waters




"Shake That Thing"

Now down in Georgia, they got a dance that's new.
They're ain't nothing to it, it's easy to do.
They call it "Shake That Thing".
Call it "Shake That Thing".
I'm getting sick and tired, of telling you to shake that thing.

Now it ain't no "Chocolate", ain't no "Pigeon Wing",
All you got to do, is shake that thing.
They call it "Shake That Thing".
I'm getting sick and tired, of telling you to shake that thing.

Now the old folks like it, the young folks too.
The old folks showing the young folks how to do.
They call it "Shake That Thing".
Call it "Shake That Thing".
I'm getting sick and tired, of telling you to shake that thing.

Now get back children, and Dina too.
Let the men show you just how to do.
You're gonna shake that thing.
Oh shake that thing.
I'm getting sick and tired, of telling you to shake that thing.

I was walking downtown, and stumbled and fell.
My mouth fell open like a country well.
Why don't you shake that thing.
Oh, why don't you shake that thing.
I'm getting sick and tired, of telling you to shake that thing.

Now Grandpa Johnson grabbed Sister Kate,
She shoke it just like she shakes the jelly upon the plate.
We're gonna shake that thing.
Aw, shake that thing.
I'm gettin' sick and tired of tellin' you to shake that thing.

Now old Uncle Jack, the jelly roll king.
He just got back from shakin' that thing.
Now he shakes that thing.
Wants a little more to shake that thing.
I'm gettin'sick and tired of tellin' you to shake that thing.

Now old Uncle Moe, he's sick in bed.
The doctor says he's almost dead.
From wantin' to shake that thing.
Wants a little more to shake that thing.
I'm gettin' sick and tired of tellin' you to shake that thing.

Now the folks in Georgia they've done gone wild.
The hold of this dance is settin' the style.
They call it Shake That Thing.
Aw, Shake That Thing.
I'm gettin' sick and tired of tellin' you to shake that thing.

bb king live at the regal

B.B. "Blues Boy" King 
 (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015)



Riley B. King  was born the son of a sharecropper in Indianola, Mississippi and got his first guitar at the age of twelve.  He got his start in 1941 playing on the radio while driving tractors and picking cotton.  In 1949, he began his recording career.    King would reflect:    "Hard times don’t necessarily mean being poor all the time. I’ve known people that was a part of a family and always feel that the family likes everybody else but them. That hurts and that’s as deep a hurt as you can possibly get. I’ve known people that would have problems with their love life. This is kind of how blues began, out of feeling misused, mistreated, feeling like they had nobody to turn to. Blues don’t necessarily have to be sung by a person that came from Mississippi as I did because there are people having problems all over the world  ...  There's a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There's also happiness to it if you want to hear it. Blues was started by the slaves and I think everybody thinks that it all should be sad ... even some of the slaves had fun with it."

He was already considered 'The King of the Blues' with thirty-seven singles  (R&B number one  "3 O'Clock Blues"  in 1951;   "Shake It Up and Go" and  "Story from My Heart and Soul"  in 1952;  "Woke Up This Morning",  R&B number one "Please Love Me", and "Please Hurry Home"  in 1953;   "The Woman I Love",  "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer", and R&B number one "You Upset Me Baby" in 1954;   "Sneaking Around",  "Every Day I Have the Blues",  and  "Ten Long Years" in 1955;   "Crying Won't Help You",  "Sweet Little Angel", and "Bad Luck" in 1956;   "I Want to Get Married", "Troubles, Troubles, Troubles", and "Be Careful with a Fool" in 1957;   "Please Accept My Love"  and  "You've Been an Angel" in 1958;   "Sugar Mama" in 1959;  "Sweet Sixteen, Pt. I"  and  "Walking Dr. Bill" in 1960;  "Someday" and  "Peace of Mind" in 1961;   "My Sometime Baby"  in 1962;   "The Road I Travel" in 1963;   "How Blue Can You Get",  "You're Gonna Miss Me",  "Beautician Blues",  "Help the Poor",  "The Worst Thing in My Life",  "Rock Me Baby",  "Never Trust a Woman",  and  "Please Send Me Someone to Love" in 1964;   and "I Need You" and  "Blue Shadows" in 1965)   and thirteen albums  (Singin' the Blues  in 1956,  The Blues  in 1958,   B. B. King Wails and  Sings Spirituals in 1959,  The Great B. B. King  and  King of the Blues in 1960,  My Kind of Blues  and  More B.B. King in 1961,   Twist With B.B. King,  Easy Listening Blues,  and  Blues in My Heart in 1962,   and   B.B. King  and  Mr. Blues in 1963)   before he finally released his first live album, 'Live at the Regal' at a time when he played almost three hundred shows a year.

The album was recorded on November 21, 1964 at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois  with  B.B. King on guitar and  vocals;   Leo Lauchie on bass;   Duke Jethro on piano;   Sonny Freeman on drums;  and  Bobby Forte and  Johnny Board on tenor saxophone.     Johnny Pate produced the album.   King would reveal:   "The company I was with knew a lot of things they didn’t tell me, that I didn’t learn about until later.  I don’t give them a hard time, like some of the guys, who say, ‘They cheated me!’ I think that as long as you do business, if you don’t know, they’re not going to tell you...Some of the songs I wrote, they added a name when I copyrighted it.  Like ‘King and Ling’ or ‘King and Josea.’ There was no such thing as Ling, or Josea. No such thing. That way, the company could claim half of your song." 

 'Live at the Regal' became his biggest album yet, charting at number ninety-six in the UK,  eighty-five in Germany,  seventy-eight in the US,  seventy-five in Australia, and  seventy-four in Germany.   King considered:   "In the beginning, I was really confused about the way the politics ran in music. I always thought if you made a good record, it was a good record. ... Not black, not white, not red or yellow — but people would like it. Some people would like it. But I learned quickly after I got into the music business that there are so many categories and you can get lost. You're like a little fish in a big pond, and more so if you're a blues singer, a blues musician. So I was not really wanting to be a crossover [artist], actually. But I wanted all people to hear it and like it; I was hoping, rather, that they would like it...There used to be a saying that if a black performer — it was four theaters you had to play and be accepted before you would be accepted as a true entertainer. One of those theaters was the Howard Theatre in Washington, the Royal Theater in Baltimore and the master itself was the Apollo Theater in New York, in Harlem. ... The fourth theater was the Regal Theater in Chicago. My manager said, 'Do not go to New York trying to be Nat Cole or anybody else that's trying to be slick, because there are people that are sweeping the floors that are much better than you'll ever be. So the best thing for you to do is go there and be B.B. King. Sing '3 O'Clock Blues'; sing the songs that you sing the way you sing them. All these other people can do all of those other things, but they can't be you as you can be you.' That I've tried to keep from then until now."






http://www.bbking.com/







"Sweet Little Angel" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNr_eIgP0tI







'Live at the Regal' 
full album:



1. "Every Day I Have the Blues"   Memphis Slim 2:38
2. "Sweet Little Angel"   Riley King, Jules Taub 4:12
3. "It's My Own Fault"   John Lee Hooker 3:29
4. "How Blue Can You Get?"   Leonard Feather 3:44
5. "Please Love Me"   King, Taub 3:01
6. "You Upset Me Baby"   King, Taub 2:22
7. "Worry, Worry"   Maxwell Davis, Taub 6:24
8. "Woke Up This Morning (My Baby's Gone)"   King, Taub 1:45
9. "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now"   Joe Josea, King 4:16
10. "Help the Poor"   Charlie Singleton 2:58

louis armstrong and his hot five

eighty five years ago a new era in jazz swung on in with the first session of louis armstrong and his hot five. combining the different jazz styles from new york, chicago, and his native new orleans; he reinvented and reinvigorated the form with a relaxed approach to improvisation that was inclusive and expressive.

it was also the first time armstrong made records in his own name on okey records. these three songs were recorded with armstrong on cornet, kid ory on trombone, johnny dodds on clarinet, johnny st. cyr on banjo, and lil hardin armstrong on piano.

this song was written by mrs. armstrong; who was the driving force behind the relocation from new york to chicago and starting their own band. originally they were the lil hardin armstrong band.

'yes, i'm in the barrel' was written by louis armstrong and was the b-side of the first single. it sounds too good to be referring to a fish or a bullet or an unpleasant task.

the a-side was also written by louis armstrong.

"mmm hmmm...that...right there's good"

el paso

martin david robinson 
(september 26, 1925–december 8, 1982)

my father used to listen to a lot of marty robbins' music when i was young. though a lot of the songs sounded the same to me, i distinctly remember 'el paso' for the flavorful spanish guitar and the vivid story of a jealous cowboy's foul evil deed over his love for wicked feleena. the swells in the song are like a swoon conveying the intense emotions of the narrator. it was a number one hit in 1960 and won a grammy a year later. robbins would record two sequels to the song over the years: one from the perspective of feleena (who loves the young cowboy and kills herself after he dies), and another from the perspective of a modern drifter who wonders if he might have been the young cowboy of the original song in another life. listening to this song brings me back to another life as well.

out in the west texas town of el paso
i fell in love with a mexican girl.
night-time would find me in rosa's cantina;
music would play and feleena would whirl.
blacker than night were the eyes of feleena,
wicked and evil while casting a spell.
my love was deep for this mexican maiden;
i was in love but in vain, i could tell.
one night a wild young cowboy came in,
wild as the west texas wind.
dashing and daring,
a drink he was sharing
with wicked feleena,
the girl that i loved.
so in anger i
challenged his right for the love of this maiden.
down went his hand for the gun that he wore.
my challenge was answered in less than a heart-beat;
the handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.
just for a moment i stood there in silence,
shocked by the foul evil deed i had done.
many thoughts raced through my mind as i stood there;
i had but one chance and that was to run.
out through the back door of rosa's i ran,
out where the horses were tied.
i caught a good one.
it looked like it could run.
up on its back
and away i did ride,
just as fast as i
could from the west texas town of el paso
out to the bad-lands of new mexico.
back in el paso my life would be worthless.
everything's gone in life; nothing is left.
it's been so long since i've seen the young maiden
my love is stronger than my fear of death.
i saddled up and away i did go,
riding alone in the dark.
maybe tomorrow
a bullet may find me.
tonight nothing's worse than this
pain in my heart.
and at last here i
am on the hill overlooking el paso;
i can see rosa's cantina below.
my love is strong and it pushes me onward.
down off the hill to feleena i go.
off to my right i see five mounted cowboys;
off to my left ride a dozen or more.
shouting and shooting i can't let them catch me.
i have to make it to rosa's back door.
something is dreadfully wrong for i feel
a deep burning pain in my side.
though i am trying
to stay in the saddle,
i'm getting weary,
unable to ride.
but my love for
felina is strong and i rise where i've fallen,
though i am weary i can't stop to rest.
i see the white puff of smoke from the rifle.
i feel the bullet go deep in my chest.
from out of nowhere feleena has found me,
kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side.
cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for,
one little kiss and feleena, good-bye.










Faleena (From El Paso)





El Paso City