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Thread ID: 46487 2004-06-25 06:33:00 Off Topic. HTOTW#22, Drugs, Drink 'n 'Six' in 1920s/30s Jazz (PGR) Terry Porritt (14) Press F1
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247547 2004-06-25 06:33:00 HTOTW=Hot Tunes Of The Week . Real Audio Player or an alternative capable of playing real media files is required to listen to the streaming audio of the sites hosting the 1920s/30s music of a golden era of hot bands and orchestras .

Warning: The musical content of this HTOTW may offend some sensitive ears, Parental Guidance is Recommended .

Contrary to popular belief the topics of this HTOTW were not invented by, or are not the sole perogative of the current younger generation, or even the previous younger generations :)

Drugs, drink and sex have been around for . . . . for . . . . well, for a very long time :)

It is surprising how much of the content of 1920s & 1930s popular music and jazz had either direct reference to these topics, or indirect reference by way of innuendo and slang .

I mean just take a gander at this, lyrics from the well known 1936 film, "Anything Goes" starring Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman, words and music by Cole Porter, played in every but every western family household over the years, even the kids knew the words, just as I did :)

"I Get A Kick Out Of You"

'I get no kick from champagne
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you

Some get their kicks from cocaine
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically too
That I get a kick out of you'

. . . . and so on .

Or even this one from somewhat later,

"Route 66

Bobby Troup, 1946,
Londontown Music

If you ever plan to motor west:

Travel my way, the
highway that's the best .

Get your kicks on Route
66! "

Back in the 1920s marijuana, heroin and opium, had various slang and code words, much the same as today; junk (junkman= a seller), muggles, reefers, weed, kickin' the gong, mezz(maybe derived from 'Mezz Mezzrow, an addict clarinetist), tea, viper .

There were several tunes with the word 'viper' in the title, so lets kick off and get our kicks first of all with that great pianist and entertainer, Fats Waller in 1934 with Vipers Drag ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/waller/vipersdrag2 . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com)

A double innuendo there as a 'drag' was also a dance .

Then we have Sidney Bechet with the Noble Sissle's Swingsters in 1938 with Viper Mad ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/sissleblake/vipermad . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com), listen carefully for the reference to 'tea' .

Still in 1930s, Cab Calloway, I have come to like a lot of his earlier music in recent times, mainly from listening to Radio Dismuke streaming audio of the 20s and 30s, on Live365 (plug) .

"Minnie The Moocher" is always associated with Cab Calloway, but listen carefully, ' . . . There was Minnie, kickin' the gong . ' This tune was written by Irving Mills, Clarence Gaskill, and Cab Calloway, and was introduced by Calloway at the Cotton Club by one of Mills' bands called The Mills Blue Rhythm Band . Readers may remember me saying in another HTOTW, that Mills was also Duke Ellingtons manager .
Listen to Minnie The Moocher ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/calloway/minniethemoocher . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) .

Now another favourite 1930s swing band of mine is Don Redman, a talented composer, arranger, musician, a pivot figure in the development of swing and big band style . He arranged for Fletcher Henderson, Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, Tommy Dorsey and others .

Here is Don Redman and his Orchestra in 1931 playing Chant of The Weed ( . redhotjazz . com/Songs/redman/weed . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) .
It is a real favourite of mine, I first heard it on a BBC Steve Race jazz program around 1960 .

Louis Armstrong was not above a bit of the weed either, listen to Louis and his Orchestra in 1929 with the great Earl Hines on piano, who was also co-composer with Louis of Muggles ( . redhotjazz . com/Songs/Louie/lao/muggles . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com), muggles being of course marijuana cigarettes .

That was great, I'm beginning to get quite high on this music :)

Gosh, there's not much time left for a tipple or a bit of 'hows yer father', lets visit McKinneys Cotton Pickers and see what they've got . This was another great coloured band with rhythm and swing in plenty .

The 1920s were the years of prohibition (1920-1933), quite daft of course, impossible to enforce, despite the best efforts of Elliot Ness . So America had the years of 'Bathtub Gin', bootleg liquor and associated crime rings .

Here are the Mckinney's Cotton Pickers Sellin' That Stuff ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/cotton/selnstuf . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) in 1929, whilst across town Bessie Smith is telling a sad, sad story of going to the gin house and drowning her sorrows in The Gin House Blues ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/bessie/theginhouse . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) .

Bessie Smith was one of the greatest blues singers, and her songs were earthy, and raunchily explicit . But then, a lot of the lyrics in 1920s jazz tunes were full of sex and innuendo, no wonder the older generation were scandalised .

Mckinney's Cotton Pickers in 1928 reckoned that 'there is delight in doing things right four or five times' Four or Five Times ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/cotton/45times . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) . Incidently as far as I know this is the earliest mention of the word bebop, years before bebop was around, listen carefully .

However J . C . Cobb And His Grains Of Corn in 1929 reckoned if 'you do it nice, you won't have to do it but once or twice', and rubbish the notion of 'four or five times',and Once or Twice ( . redhotjazz . com/songs/misc/onceortwice . ram" target="_blank">www . redhotjazz . com) is more than adequate :)

One thing is for sure, if all tunes having reference to drugs, drink 'n sex were removed, there wouldnt be much jazz left, in fact there wouldn't be any 'jazz' at all :)

That's all for now, I'm worn out!

Next HTOTW we will re-visit Hoagy Carmichael and some of his great tunes that have stood the test of time and are still sung today . 		Terry Porritt (14)
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