| Tishomingo Blues: The Story of Composer Spencer
Williams
Broadcast the week
of 2/26/04
Above: sheet music cover courtesy of Audrey Van Dyke
Spencer Williams was one of the earliest black composers to shape jazz as
popular music. Many of his songs, such as Royal Garden Blues, Everybody Loves My Baby,
and I Ain't Got Nobody, became anthems of the Jazz Age and the swing era.
Spencer Williams was born in 1889 in New
Orleans. Educated at St. Charles University in New Orleans, LA., Williams worked in
Chicago around 1907 as a vocalist and pianist. There he often worked with another pianist,
composer, and bandleader: Clarence Williams (no relation). About the time of WWI, he began
writing songs, such as Squeeze Me, which he co-composed with Fats Waller.
In 1925, he traveled to Paris where he wrote songs for the
voluptuous American expatriate, Josephine Baker, who was then working at the famed Follies
Bergere. In 1930, he made several recordings, singing and playing the piano, with Teddy Bunn, and with Lonnie Johnson. In 1932, he and his friend Fats Waller
vacationed in France. But while Waller returned to the U.S., Williams moved to England,
where he remained in residence until 1951, after which he made Sweden his home.
 Left:
Vernel Bagneris
Our special guest is the Obie Award-winning actor Vernel Bagneris, who plays the part of Spencer
Williams in this musical biography of Williams' life.
"Basin Street Blues," Williams' 1928 song, celebrates the center of
New Orleans' nightlife, which took its name from the "basin" formed back of town
from the excavation of building materials by the city's early inhabitants. The great
trombonist and singer Jack Teagarden later made it one of his signature songs.
Basin
Street Blues
Words and Music by Spencer Williams 1928
Verse:
Won't you come along with me,
To the Mississippi,
We'll take a boat to the land of dreams,
Steam down the river to New Orleans.
The band's there to greet us,
Old friends there to meet us.
Where the rich and the poor folks meet,
Let me take you down to Basin Street.
Chorus:
Basin Street,
That's the street,
Where the elite
Always meet,
In New Orleans,
The Land of Dreams,
You'll never know how nice it seems or
Just how much it really means,
I'm glad to be,
Yes siree,
Where the welcome's free.
They're so good to me,
That's where I can lose,
My Basin Street Blues.
"Royal
Garden Blues" by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams, was recorded by the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band, New York, May 25, 1921. The Royal Garden was the legendary South Side
Chicago dance hall where Bix Beiderbecke came with his Whiteman Band buddies to listen in
awe to King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band.
Royal
Garden Blues
Words and Music by Clarence Williams and Spencer Williams
A Section:
No use of talkin' no use of talkin'
You'll start in dog-walkin' no matter where.
There's jazz-copation blues modulation,
Just like a Haitian you'll rip and tear.
Most everybody likes the blues
Here's why I'm ravin', here's why I'm ravin'
If it's blues you are cravin' just come on down.
You'll hear 'em playin', you'll hear 'em playin'
Soon you'll be sayin', "Hon jazz me 'round"
Because your feet they can't refuse.
B Section:
What's that familiar strain
That true blue note refrain
It's drivin' me insane;
Can't keep still,
Tho it's against my will;
I'm on my P's and Q's
I just can't refuse.
There goes that melody,
It sounds so good to me,
And I am up a tree;
It's a shame,
You don't know the name;
It's a brand new blues,
The Royal Garden Blues.
Interlude:
Everybody Grab somebody
And start jazzing 'round
C Section:
Hon don't you hear that trombone moan?,
Just listen to that saxophone.
Gee, hear that clarinet and flute,
Cornet jazzin' with a mute,
Makes me just throw myself away,
When I hear 'em play.
That weepin' melancholy strain,
Say, but it's soothing to the brain;
Just wanna get right up and dance,
Don't care I'll take most any chance;
No other blues I'd care to choose,
But Royal Garden Blues.
"Tishomingo Blues" was named after a northeast Mississippi town. The song, which
also serves as Garrison Keillor's theme song for A Prairie Home Companion, was a
hit in 1917.
Tishomingo Blues
Words and Music by Spencer Williams, 1917
Verse
Oh, Mississippi,
Oh, Mississippi,
My heart cries out for
You in sadness,
I want to be where
The wintry winds don't blow,
Down where the southern
Moon swings low,
That's where I want to go.
Chorus
I'm goin' to Tishomingo,
Because I'm sad today,
I wish to linger,
Way down old Dixie way.
Oh, my weary heart cries out in pain,
Oh, how I wish that I was back again,
With a race,
In a place,
Where they make you welcome all the time.
Way down in Mississippi,
Among the cypress trees,
They get you dippy,
With their strange melodies,
To resist temptation,
I just can't refuse,
In Tishomingo
I wish to linger,
Where they play the weary blues.
Verse
Tonight I'm prayin',
Tonight I'm sayin',
Oh Lord please take the
Train that takes me,
To Tishomingo,
'Way down old Dixie way,
Where southern folks are
Always gay,
That's why you hear me say.
Repeat Chorus
|
 Here
is a tune list for this show.
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