Our final stop on the “High Society” express is a deep depression cut from 1933.
This version is played in Eb/Bb and has a different arrangement from the 1929 recordings.
Once again, the identity of the clarinetist is shrouded in mystery and guesses – and we also have a mystery percussionist keeping a steady beat on a bass drum or tom throughout!
We also notice a curious songwriter credit: “Steele-Melrose” on this composition – which was credited on the 1929 version to A.J. Piron. Record Research #124 contains a history of this song – which was *originally* composed and copyrighted by Porter Steele in 1901. In 1929 Steele neglected to renew his copyright on the work, and it passed into the public domain. A.J. Piron and Clarence Williams – who at the time had a music publishing business – filed copyright on the work on May 13, 1929. Melrose publishing in Chicago created a new arrangement of the work by George Leaman and filed a separate copyright in 1931. Piron and Williams filed an additional copyright on an arrangement of the tune with words on August 13, 1933 – a month after this recording session and ostensibly just before the record was released. Why then, Vocalion chose to credit the song to Steele-Melrose is another mystery.
Read all about it on page six of Record Research if you want to nerd out completely:
https://archive.org/details/RecordResearch124/page/n5/mode/2up
Recorded in New York City on July 14, 1933.
Released as Vocalion 25010.
Credits –
Ed Allen – cornet
Unknown Artist – clarinet
Clarence Williams – piano
Floyd Casey – washboard
Unknown Artist – bass drum or tom-tom.
If you liked this one, check out these earlier 1929 versions:
Okeh 8706 (take A)
https://youtu.be/xzbJwOpWn4o
Columbia D.B. 3513 (take C)
https://youtu.be/fP39_YQVlao
Leave a Reply