Stomp Off 1001 - Dickbaker.org

Alexander Robinson on Paramount has nocomposer credit, but Online 78 says Blythe-Roberts-Johnson for it--where’d they get that?Perfesser Bill’s site says Blythe-Roberts (withno first name for “My Baby,” but we’ve gotearlier OKeh label to contradict that.OK, I think I know where some of theconfusion is coming from. The composercredits on the flip side of “My Baby” byBlythe’s Washboard Wizards is Blythe-Robinson. I’ve seen more that a few indexlistings that show all the composers for bothsides of a record in the same grouping. I’ll betsomebody named Roberts is a composer onthe flip side of one of the other recordings of“My Baby.”But enough: We have Blythe copyright andBlythe-Slaughter on the first recording.My Baby Just Cares for Me(Walter Donaldson–Gus Kahn)Ingham–Grosz Hot Cosmopolites 1237ASM, 1930, Donaldson, Douglas & Gumble;m. Donaldson/w. Kahn.My Baby Knows How (Benny Davis–Harry Akst–Harry Richman)Chris Tyle’s Silver Leaf JB 1311Des Plantes’ Washboard Wizards 1357Barbara Rosene & Her New Yorkers 1422Confirmed by 9/29/26 copyright reg., w/m allthree, and cover of sheet pub. by Irving Berlin.My Baby’s Arms (Harry Tierney–Joseph McCarthy)Dan Levinson’s Roof Garden JB 1361Rec. ODJB, London, 1/8/20, Columbia 805.Synco JB, 3/19, Empire 5002.Confirmed by 6/21/19 copyright reg., w. JM/m.HT. In Sept. came copyright for arrangementby Jos. Sauter (of Sauter-Finnegan fame?) forZiegfeld’s Follies of 1919.My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now(Cliff Friend–Irving Caesar)Charquet & Co 1195John Gill’s Novelty Orchestra 1227Charleston Chasers 1287Barbara Rosene & Her New Yorkers 1393Confirmed by 9/18/28 copyright reg., w. IC/m.CF. Sung by Cantor in Ziegfeld musicalWhoopee and by Jolson in film Lucky Boy.My Blue Heaven (Walter Donaldson–George Whiting)Gauthé–Marquet Clarinet Serenadrs 1216Ingham–Grosz Hot Cosmopolites 1237Confirmed by music cover and 10/10/27copyright reg., w. GW/m. WD.My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It(Clarence Williams)Hal Smith’s Creole Sunshine Orch 1078New Orleans Rascals 1113St. Louis Ragtimers 1267Grand Dominion JB 14081/15/01: Oh boy. In the Clarence Williamssheet collection at LC MRR I found MyBucket’s Got a Hole in It, (supposedly) byClarence Williams, with the lyric that I’vealways associated with the song (well, they’rethe lyrics that Ricky Nelson recorded in thelate 1950s):(chorus)My bucket’s got a hole in it,My bucket’s got a hole in it,My bucket’s got a hole in it,I can’t buy no beer.(verse)Well I went up on a mountain,I looked down in the sea.I seen the crowds and the fishesDoin’ the be-bop bee.Wasn’t H. Alf Kelly a turn-of-the-century guymore at home in the St. Louis Ragtimerssongbook? Would he have written “be-bopbee”?1/17/01: Well, in our St. Louis Ragtimersrecording, Al Stricker sings only the chorus.And the liner notes say,A very old Mississippi Valley folk tunerecalled by some of the last survivors of theearliest days of New Orleans jazz. The tunefirst appeared in 1914 as Long Lost Blues,claimed by New Orleans pianist J. Paul Wyerwith lyrics by J. Alf Kelly. It was“successfully introduced” by ragtimepioneer Ben Harney, pictured on the cover.We must get this sheet music and compare itwith the song as published by ClarenceWilliams and figure out how to treat this.Seems to me that if we’re going to give Kellyand Wyer composer credit, then we also oughtto list it under the title Long Lost Blues ratherthan My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It.1/25/01, no LC cy listing for My Bucket, butthere is one for The Long Lost Blues: w/H. A.Kelley, m/J. P. Wyer, arr. W. H. Dorsey.Published 7/7/14 Wyer & Kelley, Chicago.1/25/01 got a copy of The Long Lost Bluesfrom Audrey Van Dyke. There is nothing in thelyrics about a bucket. I think we’ve been hadby the Ragtimers on this composer credit.Even if Clarence Williams borrowed liberallyfrom Wyer for the melody, the words areentirely different. If there’s much difference inthe melodies, we must change the composercredit to Williams. If the melody is very similar,we might consider something like we did withUgly Chile:My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It (newlyrics by Clarence Williams toThe Long Lost Blues byJ. Paul Wyer)I’ll ask Robbie Rhodes to compare themelodies.1/27/01: here’s what Jasen & Jones say about“My Bucket” in their chapter in Spreadin’Rhythm Around about Clarence Williams:“. . . the old New Orleans folk tune, ‘MyBucket’s Got a Hole in It,’ which Williamsremembered and copyrighted in 1933.”I couldn’t find a copyright card for “MyBucket,” but the original copyright date on thePickwick publication of it that I found is indeed1933.Note too that even if we decide that Williamsjust took a melody & lyrics that had beenfloating around New Orleans for a long time,the fact is that he copyrighted it that way. Ifthis approach is valid for W. C. Handy andothers, how can we deny it to ClarenceWilliams. The Ragtimers’ liner notes implystrongly that the melody actually predatedWyer & Kelley, so one presumes that all theydid was take an old melody and write somelyrics for it. If that same old melody was stillfloating around in 1933, either with other “folk”lyrics about a leaky bucket that Williams wasthe first to write down, I’m all for giving himcredit.2/1/01: Bob, I skipped my airplane clubmeeting to go meet Audrey Van Dyke andfetch the sheet music to “A Bunch of Blues,”because you seemed to feel it would confirmyour argument for J. Paul Wyer for My Bucket,but it does not. (NOTE: All my conclusionsand recommendations are based on thepresumption that J. Paul Wyer did notcompose the Bucket melody himself, aconclusion that hardly seems in doubt.)Here’s the research of the past few days,mainly from Robbie Rhodes.On Jan 30, he wrote,I agree with St. Louis Ragtimers Tichenorand Stricker that the simple refrain, both themelody and the words, was around before1914 and probably should be considered afolk melody and folk lyrics.The sheet music entitled "Long Lost Blues"(H. Alf Kelley - J. Paul Wyer, (C) 1914)seems to be the first time the simple refrainwas copyrighted and published. Indeed,the published refrain is the same melody towhich the familiar "Bucket" words are sung.But we believe Wyer was not the realcomposer.The verse of "Long Lost Blues" is muchmore sophisticated than the refrain, somuch that I say it bears no artistic