NRR Project: 'I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man' (Jan. 7, 1954)

 

NRR Project: “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”

Composed by Willie Dixon

Performed by Muddy Waters

Recorded Jan. 7, 1954

2:47

First, read Robert Gordon’s excellent and quite funny essay on this piece at the National Recording Registry!

This recording joins the titanic energy of bluesman Muddy Waters (aka McKinley Morganfield, 1913-1983) and the genius of songwriter Willie Dixon (1915-1992). Waters moved from Mississippi to Chicago after World War II, and set about making a name for himself on that city’s stages. Used to working acoustically, he soon found that he had to electrify his sound to make himself heard in the clubs. This spawned the second great innovation in blues history, one in which amplified instruments howled and wailed the blues, inspiring generations of bluesmakers and, later, rockers.

Dixon was a preternaturally gifted songwriter, and he created dozens of hit songs. Beginning in 1953, he ruled the roost at Chess Records. For this recording, he assembles an amazing selection of musical talent to back Muddy up – Jimmy Rogers on guitar, Elga Edmonds on drums, Otis Spann on piano, Little Walter on harmonica, and Dixon himself on bass. The thunder of the accompaniment makes the song hit hard and not let go.

The song itself is a bragging song, as the singer identifies himself as a master of sexual potency. He invokes various folk beliefs to justify his sonnet of self-worth. This kind of grandstanding was common in blues signing – here Waters pushes it into the stratosphere.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon).

NRR Project: 'A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge' (1954)

 

NRR Project: “A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge”

Performed by Choir of King's College, Cambridge

Recorded 1954

52:01

Another entry I know little about. Read Timothy Day’s excellent essay on the piece here at the National Recording Registry!

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man.

NRR Project: 'Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)' (1954)

 

NRR Project: “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)”

Written by Jesse Belvin, Curtis Williams, and Gaynel Hodge

Performed by the Penguins

Recorded 1954

2:57

It was the first “crossover” song from R & B to pop, migrating easily from one genre to another. It was this group’s only hit.

This new kind of ensemble singing, denoted as “doo-wop” after the kind of syllables chanted behind the lead tenor line, had as ancestors the close-harmony jazz singing of such groups as the Ink Spots, the Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters, and the Andrews Sisters. More recently, R & B quartets such as the Orioles, the Flamingoes, and the Crows were performing extensively, putting a soulful dimension into vocalizing.

The Penguins were Cleveland Duncan, Dexter Tisby, Curtis Williams, and Bruce Tate – two tenors, one bass, one baritone – who met up in high school in 1953. This blend of voices became the classic setup for performers in the doo-wop genre. It was recorded as a demo in a garage in South Central Los Angeles. This primitive (and inexpensive) kind of production helped the genre explode, until everyone knew someone who sang on the streetcorner, hoping to hit the big time.

But this was early days. Everybody loved this song. It hit Number One on the R & B charts, and Number Eight on the pop charts. A white group, the Crew-Cuts, recorded a version for white listeners. That version hit Number Three on the pop charts.

It spawned several lawsuits as to who really wrote the song. It is estimated to have sold 20 million copies over its lifespan. 

Read Lawrence Pitilli’s meditation on it here at the National Recording Registry!

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: A Festival of Lessons and Carols as Sung on Christmas Eve in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.

NRR Project: 'The Damnation of Faust' (1954)

 

NRR Project: “The Damnation of Faust”

Composed by Hector Berlioz

Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Munch

With the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society

Recorded Feb. 21/22, 1954

121 min.

Another entry about which I have little to add. Read Cary O’Dell’sexcellent essay on the piece at the National Recording Registry, here.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Penguins sing ‘Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)’.

NRR Project: Fritz Reiner conducts 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (1953)

 

NRR Project: “Also Sprach Zarathustra”

Composed by Richard Strauss

Performed by the Chicago Symphony, conducted by Fritz Reiner

Released 1953

33 min.

Another piece that I have little to add about. Jonathan Horrocks’ essay on it, which you can read here, is pretty comprehensive about Reiner and the Chicago Symphony.

It’s an orchestral showpiece, written by composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949) in 1896. It is based on one of the philosophical works of Friederich Nietzsche, who published it in 1885. Nietzsche famously declared that “God is dead.” He decided that normal human spiritual values and organized religion were no longer valid and that they must be supplanted by “masters,” motivated by the “will to power,” who would craft their own morality in response to their personal needs and visions, thereby creating an Ubermensch, a superman who represents the next step in the volution of humanity. With me so far? It was this kind of intellectual exceptionalism that later spawned philosophies such as Hitler’s.

Strauss’s composition takes certain chapters from the book and sets them to music – ecstatic, blowsy music that sweeps the listener off their feet. They are as follows: 

1. "Sonnenaufgang" (Sunrise)
2. "Von den Hinterweltlern" (Of the Backworldsmen)^[4]
3. "Von der großen Sehnsucht" (Of the Great Longing)
4. "Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften" (Of Joys and Passions)
5. "Das Grablied" (The Song of the Grave)
6. "Von der Wissenschaft" (Of Science and Learning)
7. "Der Genesende" (The Convalescent)
8. "Das Tanzlied" (The Dance Song)
9. "Nachtwandlerlied" (Song of the Night Wanderer)

Strauss was a phenomenal composer, and this is one of a slew of tone poems that he wrote at the end of the 19^th century. A noted conductor, he moved on to crafting operas that became famous worldwide. He later endured an uncomfortable relationship with the Nazis, playing along with them in order to safeguard his Jewish daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Cleared of collaboration after the war, he did not long survive it.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Damnation of Faust.

NRR Project: 'Tipitina' (1953)

NRR Project: “Tipitina”

Composed and performed by Professor Longhair

Released 1953

2:15

The evolution of Henry Roeland Byrd into Professor Longhair (1918-1980) was a blessed and vital happenstance. He made his own unique music out of a disparate array of styles he absorbed as he grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Precocious, he worked the piano since childhood, unlocking its harmonic mysteries on his own. He picked up blues, rhumba, barrelhouse tunes and started crafting his own.

“Tipitina” is a wild, exuberant nonsense song. It’s a hybrid, part blues and part rhumba, somehow meshing in a frenzied crash of chords. Longhair’s raucous, rangy playing style is matched by his rasping, slurred vocals. Read Per Oldaeus’ essay at the National Recording Registry for more info on him!

He was so obscure, music producers had to hunt him down to record him. He was backed by various pickup groups, labeled with monickers such as the Shuffling Hungarians and the Blues Jumpers. He enjoyed mild notoriety in the R & B scene in the mid-1950s, but it was his great reappreciation in the 1970s that brought him the most fame, and a second performing career.

Professor Longhair wrote upbeat, life-affirming music that proved influential to new generations of music makers in New Orleans.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Fritz Reiner conducts Also Sprach Zarathustra.

NRR Project: 'Songs by Tom Lehrer' (Jan. 22, 1953)

NRR Project: “Songs by Tom Lehrer”

Composed and performed by Tom Lehrer

Recorded Jan. 22, 1953

23:18

Tom Lehrer (1928-2025) was a genius. With an unerring ear for parody, he composed and performed humorous songs that shocked many and pleased many more. This initial album by him marks the birth of “sick” humor in the United States, a classification that would eventually include many comics of the 1950s, including Lenny Bruce, MAD magazine, Jules Feiffer, Charles Addams, and Nichols and May.

Lehrer was a Harvard student, majoring in mathematics, when he went into a studio and paid $15 to record himself singing 12 songs that he had been performing around campus for a couple of years. An initial pressing of 400 sold out, then 400 more. Finally the album was re-recorded and reissued, and sold strongly across the U.S.

Lehrer, a fan as a boy of musical theater, had the ability to mimic popular song styles to a T. Within his lively, catchy musical expeditions were couched lyrics that were snappy, incisive – and grim. Try these from his “My Home Town”: 

I really have a yen
To go back once again
Back to the place where no one wears a frown
To see once more those super-special just plain folks
In my home town

No fellow could ignore
The little girl next door
She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown
Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free
In my home town

I remember Dan
The druggist on the corner,
He was never mean or ornery
He was swell
He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well
And sprinkled just a bit
Over each banana split

The guy that taught us math
Who never took a bath

Acquired a certain measure of renown
And after school he sold the most amazing pictures
In my home town

That fellow was no fool
Who taught our Sunday School
And neither was our kindly Parson Brown
We're recording tonight so I have to leave this line out
In my home town

I remember Sam
He was the village idiot
And though it seems a pity, it was so
He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow
And nothing could be done
Because he was the mayor's son

The guy that took a knife
And monogrammed his wife
Then dropped her in the pond and watched her drown
Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks
In my home town

Lehrer tackles school spirit with “Fight Fiercely, Harvard,” sings a sentimental song about “The Old Dope Peddler,” and makes fun of nuclear annihilation in “The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be.”

Lehrer immediately became a celebrity. However, fame didn’t suit him. After some short tours (he claims to have only written 37 songs and performed 109 shows in his sporadic 20-year career) he gave up writing and performing and settled down into teaching mathematics and the history of musical theater at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

He was simply done, satisfied with his accomplishments and unwilling to push farther. He enjoyed widespread admiration, and the regular playing of his songs, throughout his life until he passed away at the age of 97.

You really have to listen to his output to get a sense of how talented he was. Singing with gusto and sarcastic verve, he puts over his creations, as tuneful and witty as those of any songwriter in the Great American Songbook. He was just funny, that’s all.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Tipitina.