A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
(There'll Be) A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight is a song written by Theodore A. Metz (music) and Joe Hayden (lyrics) and published in 1896.
background
The idea for the song is said to have come from a tour that Theodore Metz with McIntyre and Heath Minstrels took by train to a place called Old Town . From her train window, Metz could see a group of children lighting a fire near the train tracks. One of his band colleagues commented: there'll be a hot time in the old town tonight . Metz noted this movement with the intention of composing a march on this basis. This was then included in the repertoire of the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels in their street parades. Metz published the song in 1896 in the New York music publisher Willis Woodward & Co. The dialect and narrative of the song imitate an African-American mass evangelism .
The song became a popular title among American military bands at the beginning of the 20th century, especially during the Spanish-American War and the Boxer Rebellion . The song was often played in the military after it was introduced to Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders .
In the tradition of the University of Wisconsin , a special Wiconsin-related arrangement had been used since the late 1890s ; the University of Wisconsin Marching Band regularly plays this arrangement at sporting events.
First recordings and later cover versions
Musicians who covered the song included Dan Quinn ( Edison Records , 1896), Len Spencer ( Columbia Records , 1896), Arthur Pryor 's Sousa's Band ; in the 1920s he played a. a. also Al Jolson , Nathan Glantz (Gennett), Bessie Smith (1927) and Miff Mole (OKeh).
The song also became a popular track in the repertoire of numerous Dixieland bands; the discographer Tom Lord lists a total of 38 (as of 2015) cover versions in the field of jazz , u. a. by Louis Armstrong , George Scott-Wood , Sid Phillips , Zutty Singleton , Turk Murphy , Marty Grosz , George Lewis , Nat Gonella / Beryl Bryden , Ken Colyer , the Dukes of Dixieland and the Firehouse Five Plus Two. Also, Mississippi John Hurt and Leon Redbone took up the song. It was also used in the cartoon of the same name (1930) by Max Fleischer , in the TV series Petticoat Junction and, arranged by Ralph Burns , in the soundtrack of the film Lucky Lady .
Notes and individual references
- ↑ a b c Michael Lasser: America's Songs II: Songs from the 1890s to the Post-War Years . 2014, p. 7
- ^ A Composer's and Lyricists Database . In: Theodore Metz . Archived from the original on April 2, 2003.
- ^ Finson, Jon W .: The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song . Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 222 (Retrieved July 25, 2012).
- ^ Browne, The Story of Our National Ballads , p. 208: "The witchery of this tune was such, that during our brief war with Spain, the Spaniards in Cuba were quite convinced that our National Anthem was named 'There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night.' At all events, the frolicsome tones of this unpretentious popular song are the most intimately associated of any, with the already dimming recollections of that 'whirlwind campaign'. "
- ^ Tucker, Spencer C (editor) The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History ABC-CLIO (2009) p. 768
- ^ "Hot Time - University of Wisconsin Marching Band" ( December 30, 2007 memento on the Internet Archive ). Retrieved March 24, 2008
- ↑ Dan Quinn, Songwriters Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Len Spencer, Songwriters Hall of Fame ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)
