NRR Project: 'Minnie the Moocher' (1931)

NRR Project: ‘Minnie the Moocher’

Composed by Cab Calloway, Irving Mills, Clarence Gaskill

Performed by Cab Calloway and his Orchestra

Recorded March 3, 1931

3:00

It was the first record by an African-American to sell a million copies. It cemented the reputation and bolstered the career of the flamboyant and tuneful Cab Calloway.

Calloway (1907-1994) was one of the breakout stars of the Harlem Renaissance. He started off by working in Chicago clubs as a singer, a drummer, and a master of ceremonies. Eventually he moved to New York, where Louis Armstrong recommended him as a singer of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” in a musical revue. This caused another band to hire him on as bandleader.

As Cab Calloway and His Band, they soon got a highly desirable gig as the band at the Cotton Club when Duke Ellington was on tour. Soon, however, they had the job full time. Calloway was a relentlessly engaging performer – he had energy, inventiveness, charisma. Then, in 1931, he recorded his signature song, “Minnie the Moocher.”

The song is based on an earlier number, “Willie the Weeper,” about a drug-addicted chimney sweep that made its rounds in vaudeville in the early 1900’s. Calloway probably cribbed most directly from Frankie “Half-Pint” Jaxon’s 1927 recording of the song.

But Calloway turbocharged the material. He tells the story of Minnie the Moocher, a “low-down hoochy-coocher” with a boyfriend who was into cocaine, and who taught her “how to kick the gong around” (smoke opium). She takes drugs, and flies off to a world of fantasy. She meets the King of Sweden, who gives her everything “she was needin,’” setting her up with a home, a car, horses and fancy meals, and a million dollars in nickels and dimes. In doing so, he created a contemporary folk figure – many sequel and answer-songs on the topic were composed in the wake of this song’s success.

Perhaps the most infectious part of the song is the call-and-response chorus. “Hi-de-hi-de-hi,” sings Calloway, and everyone repeats him. "Ho-de-ho-de-ho!" Back and forth goes the melody. As the song continues, the choruses become longer and more complicated, until Calloway is scatting beyond the ability of the audience to keep up.

The song was the big hit of 1931. Soon Calloway was known as the “Hi-De-Ho Man.” He appeared in Betty Boop cartoons, singing the song. Calloway would perform for another 50 years, but “Minnie” was always on the set list. It is worth today to look up video of Calloway’s performances, to see his wild dancing and extravagant gestures. He was the quintessential showman.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: Bacon, Beans and Limousines.

NRR Project: 'Suncook Town Tragedy' (1930)

NRR Project: ‘Suncook Town Tragedy’

Sung by Mabel Wilson Tatro

Recorded July 1930

2:12

Oh, boy, a murder ballad! Ever since I was overexposed to “Tom Dooley” as a child, they have been a favorite of mine.

Murder ballads are exactly that – songs that outline a ghastly, true crime and its inevitable punishment.

These kinds of songs have been around for hundreds of years, most of them organic creations by amateurs that wind up as enduring folk songs. “Knoxville Girl,” “Pretty Polly,” “Ballad of Little Romy” -- they serve as the sensationalistic billboards of the time, drawing in listeners riveted by their horrifying details.

Such is the case with “Suncook Town Tragedy,” which is based on an actual murder in 1875 New Hampshire. It’s sung here by Mabel Wilson Tatro, who relates it acapella. It tells of the story of the killing of a 17-year-old girl and of the criminal’s comeuppance afterward.

This excellent example of the genre was collected by Helen Hartness Flanders, a Vermonter who for 30 years, from 1930 to 1960, traveled across New England collecting songs and stories that otherwise would have been lost to memory. This NRR selection serves as an example of her findings, and commemorates the more than 4,000 recordings she preserved for mankind.

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

NRR Project: Highlander Center Field Recording Collection

 

NRR Project: Highlander Center Field Recording Collection

Curated by Frederick C. Packard, Jr.

1930s – 1980s

The Highlander Center is an alternative school in Tennessee, founded in 1932. It not only taught traditional subjects, but pursued training in labor rights and civil rights action. This decidedly liberal institution has become a magnet for those interested in these subjects.

The Collection consists of all manner of material: folk songs, interviews with civil rights leaders, labor songs, religious songs, and much more. Here’s a link to the Highlander Research and Education Center.

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

NRR Project: the Harvard Vocarium record series

 

NRR Project: Harvard Vocarium record series

Curated by Frederick C. Packard, Jr.

1930 -- 1955

I cannot do better than the explanatory essay written by Matthew Rubery for the National Recording Registry, which you can read here.

Basically, Professor Frederick C. Packard, Jr. of Harvard decided that it was important for people to hear poetry aloud, as opposed to the silent reading that had been going on for centuries. He thought he’d record the great poets of his day, starting with T.S. Eliot and continuing with hundreds of writers, including William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, and Ezra Pound.

The result is compendium of invaluable information regarding the author’s intent. To hear them speak their own words strongly inflects the sense in which they express themselves. The recordings are uneven in quality – not everyone is cut out to perform their writing. However, when some fortunate, gripping recordings were made, they reveal new bursts of nuance that help to set the writer down in relation to his or her work.

Today, the Harvard Vocarium still exists, and a substantial portion of it is available online, here. A click on “the listening booth” tab on its site will lead you to selections from the collection.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Highlander Center Field Recording Collection.

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.