NRR Project: 'Ten Cents a Dance' (1930)

NRR Project: ‘Ten Cents a Dance’

Music: Richard Rodgers

Lyrics: Lorenz Hart

Sung by Ruth Etting

March 4, 1930

3:15

Rodgers and Hart were one of the first great songwriting teams of the 20^th century. They were introduced as young men in 1919, and soon began cranking out material together. Richard Rodgers was an adept composer, and Lorenz “Larry” Hart was a master of the lyric. By 1930, they had already crafted 17 Broadway shows, and several hits, such as “Manhattan” and You Took Advantage of Me.”

“Ten Cents a Dance” was written for the show Simple Simon, starring Ed Wynn, in 1930. At an opening performance of the musical in Boston, the singer for whom the song was written, Lee Morse, showed up drunk. She was fired, and Ruth Etting was called on to take her place.

Etting was riding high as well. She had started her singing career in clubs in Chicago. In 1922, she met Martin Snyder, a gangster better known as “Moe the Gimp.” Insanely jealous, controlling, and violent, he took over Etting’s career, using threats and intimidation to get her better gigs, recording contracts, and radio appearances. (Their dysfunctional relationship was outlined in the film Love Me or Leave Me in 1955.) She was a popular star, one whose performance could make a hit out of a song. This Etting did.

“Ten Cents a Dance” outlines the melancholy prospects of a “taxi dancer.” A taxi dancer is someone who dances with customers for a fee, a formerly popular vocation in formerly popular places termed “dance halls.” The dancer would charge ten cents a dance – and she and the hall would split the money.

The singer bemoans her fate, as she must dance with whoever chooses her as a partner.

“Ten cents a dance

That's what they pay me

Gosh, how they weigh me down

Ten cents a dance

Pansies and rough guys

Tough guys who tear my gown

Seven to midnight I hear drums

Loudly the saxophone blows

Trumpets are breaking my eardrums

Customers crush my toes

Sometime I think

I've found my hero

But it's a queer romance

All that you need is a ticket

Come on, big boy, ten cents a dance”

The plaintive situation is fully revealed in Etting’s plaintive vocal. She’s sad and complaining, but she also wields a rueful sense of humor. She doesn’t ask to be freed from her work, she just views it as a means to an end. It stinks, but it’s what she’s got.

The song would inspire a movie of the same name in 1931. Rodgers and Hart would continue to craft songs until Hart’s death in 1943. Etting would retire in 1937, after a messy divorce and shooting scandal impacted her career. Soon dance halls would die off, leaving only this unique artifact behind.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: the Harvard Vocarium record series.

NRR Project: 'Night Life' (1930)

NRR Project: ‘Night Life’

Composed and performed by Mary Lou Williams

1930

2:59

I could hardly do better than the explanatory essay by Linda Dahl, which you can read here. As her biographer, Dahl offers not just a musical evaluation, but an extremely painful personal narrative that underlies the 1930 recording session that gave birth to “Night Life”.

A child prodigy, Williams was not content with merely being an interpreter of others’ music. She was a gifted composer and arranger, and found herself working with Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy. While the band was setting up for a recording session in Chicago, Williams was asked to improvise a couple of solo numbers. Out of this came “Nite Life,” and “Drag ‘Em,” two classic tracks. (Dahl clearly outlines the terrible personal circumstances suffered by Williams right before this session.)

The piece is sprightly and inventive, working on a bluesy foundation. Williams does frills and fills, modulates and gets down and dirty, bringing it all to conclusion with a twinge of whimsy. Few are the times when a young genius makes their mark so clearly and distinctly.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: Ten Cents a Dance.

 

NRR Project: Egmont Overture, Modesto High School Band (1930)

NRR Project: Egmont Overture, Op. 84

Modesto High School Band

1930

This is one I don’t have a lot of information on, and only a small excerpt to listen to online. I refer you to the excellent, comprehensive essay by Steven Pecsek. Between 1926 and 1934, there was a National High School Band contest. This recording was made in 1930. There was a small trade in commemorative albums of the high school bands’ performances, used sometimes for fundraising purposes as well. The Modesto High School Band ranked highly in these competitions.

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

NRR Project: 'Sittin' on Top of the World' (1930)

NRR Project: ‘Sitting on Top of the World’

The Mississippi Sheiks

1930

3:12

It’s interesting that a song I thought of as an upbeat bluegrass tune started off as a slowly paced blues song. Once again, the National Recording Registry holds an excellent explanatory essay on it by Edward Komara, which you can read here.

The Mississippi Sheiks were a duo that consisted of Walter Vinson on violin and Lonnie Chatmon on guitar. They played in central Mississippi, and probably would have been forgotten if not for the success of this unique song. It was recorded when Polk Brockman of Okeh Records caught them at a remote recording session in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1930. The song was a hit, and sustained the duo through their career together.

The lyrics are counterintuitive. Instead of lamenting the loss of a lover, the singer declares, “Now she’s gone, and I don’t worry/For I’m sittin’ on top of the world.” This defiant, proud statement overcomes the sorrow that the singer is feeling. (The title may have come from the 1925 pop song, “I’m Sitting on Top of the World,” made popular by Al Jolson.)

Almost immediately, others began to cover the tune, in all kinds of styles. Among those artists were Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, bluegrass creator Bill Monroe, Howlin’ Wolf, Cream, and the Grateful Dead. Each brought their unique perspective to the song, bending it into many shapes, generally with a faster tempo, until the song became a rollicking, happy one.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: the Modesto High School Band plays Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.

NRR Project: 'Lamento Borincano'

‘Lamento Borincano’

Canario y Su Grupo

1930

3:04

I could not do better than Mario C. Cancel-Bigay’s explanatory essay on this selection. To read it at the National Recording Registry, go here.

For the sake of completeness, however, I will do my best to summarize. “Borincano” derives from the native slang for Puerto Rico. The song is a lament from the person of a peasant bringing his wares to town, only to find it deserted. The song becomes larger in scope, as the singer contemplates the sorry state of his homeland, before pledging his loyalty to it.

“The entire morning goes by

Without anyone wanting

To buy his load, oh to buy his load

Everything, everything is deserted

And the town is full of need

Oh, of need

The mourning is heard everywhere

In my unhappy Bonrinquen, yeah

 

And sad, the peasant goes

Thinking, saying

Crying like this on the way:

‘What will happen to Bonriquen, my dear God

What will happen to my children and mt home?’ Oh!

 

Bonriquen, the land of Eden

The one that when sung by the great Gautier

He called out the pearl of the Seas

‘Now that you lay dying from your sorrows

Let me sing to you also

Bonriquen of my love’, and no one will take that away

I’m a child of Bonriquen and no one will change that

I’m a child of Bonriquen and no one will change that

And on the day that I die, I want to rest in you

I love you, Puerto Rico, and no one will take that away,

Yeah!”

The song was an immense hit, and made the careers of its writer, Rafael Hernandez; of its original bandleader, “Canario”, and its singer “Davilita.” It has since been recorded innumerable times, serving as an informal anthem.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: Sitting on Top of the World.

NRR Project: 'Gregorio Cortez'

 

‘Gregorio Cortez’

Performed by Trovadores Regionales – Pedro Rocha, Lupe Martinez

October 1929

2:31

The corrido is a Mexican ballad, often in three-quarter time, that relates a narrative or describes an historical event. It is a genre that inflates mundane realities into legends, and makes heroes of common men. So it is with Gregorio Cortez.

He was born in 1875 in Mexico. When he was 14, his family moved to Texas, and Cortez began working as a cowboy and a farmhand. On June 14, 1901, Sheriff W.T. Morris and his deputy, who served as interpreter, came to interview Cortez and his brother regarding the theft of a horse. Due to mistranslation, the sheriff determined that the Cortezes were lying and declared his intent to arrest them.

Cortez’s brother ran at the sheriff and was shot several times. Cortez responded by shooting the sheriff dead. After taking his brother for medical attention, Cortez began his escape. For ten days, he traveled hundreds of miles by horse and on foot, evading over 300 lawmen deputized to bring him in. Finally captured, he was tried and sentenced for murder, but his sentence was commuted after a relatively short period of time.

This exploit made him a hero among Mexican-Americans, who saw him as a symbol of the fight against prejudice and malfeasance against them by the Anglo community. No fewer than eleven versions of “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” developed, each of them giving a slightly different perspective on his story. One common thread in these songs is the bemoaning of the unequal justice meted out to Mexican Americans.

The version preserved here is performed by a duo with guitar, singing simple harmonies. “Gregorio Cortez said, with his gun in his hand, ’I’m not sorry I killed him,’” they sing. “’I was only thinking of my brother.’”

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

 

 

The NRR Project: 'Pony Blues'

 

‘Pony Blues’

Written and performed by Charley Patton

June 1929

2:58

Charley Patton is “the father of Mississippi Delta blues”. What does this mean?

Blues issued forth initially from two regions – the city and the country. Country blues are finger-picked, acoustic performances. Mississippi delta blues are those that originated in the region of east Arkansas and Louisiana, and western Mississippi, adjacent to the Mississippi River. Primary proponents of this style were Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and Lead Belly.

Patton, born perhaps in 1891, quickly proved himself adept at the guitar and began performing throughout the region. He started performing around 1908. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he played higher-class locations consistently. He also served as a mentor to many bluesmen, including Robert Johnson.

“Pony Blues” is a typical blues tune – revolving around sexual metaphors and the idea of hooking up with someone. Patton’s growly intonation, syncopated rhythms, and percussive intensity make him a distinct voice in the blues pantheon.

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