Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?
Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home? is a song written by Hughie Cannon and published in 1902. The song, which also appeared under the titles Won't You (Please) Come Home, Bill Bailey or Bill Bailey , became a popular standard for Dixieland and traditional jazz bands in North America and Europe .
background
Hughie Cannon (1877-1912), an African-American songwriter and pianist , originally wrote the song as a ragtime number. It was often used for musical stage entertainment in minstrel shows . Cannon is said to have previously met a man named Bill Bailey, who told him his story. His wife no longer wanted to let him into the apartment, but after a while she reversed her decision and under certain conditions she is said to have asked him to come home soon. Bill Bailey's Won't You Please Come Home chorus is based on a simple 32-measure chord sequence.
The first lines of the song are:
- One one summer's day, Sun was shinin 'fine,
- The lady love of old Bill Bailey
- What hangin 'clothes on the line
- In her back yard, and weepin 'hard.
First recordings and later cover versions
Baritone Arthur Collins was the first to record the song in 1902 for Columbia . In 1917 the track was recorded by Nick LaRocca's Original Dixieland Jazz Band , and in 1921 by Kid Ory . In the following years recordings followed a. a. by Aileen Stanley . From the late 1940s Bill Bailey became a popular track in the repertoire of numerous Dixieland bands as part of the New Orleans Jazz Revival. The discographer Tom Lord lists over 600 (as of 2015) cover versions in the field of jazz , including a. by Alvin Alcorn , Paul Barbarin , Emile Barnes , Sidney Bechet , Sharkey Bonano , Ken Colyer , the Dutch Swing College Band , Darnell Howard , George Lewis , Humphrey Lyttelton , Turk Murphy , Tony Parenti , Bob Scobey , Monty Sunshine and Lu Watters . Pop singers like Pearl Bailey , Bobby Darin , Jimmy Durante / Danny Kaye and Brenda Lee also covered the song.
Web links
- Inclusion in the catalog of the German National Library: DNB 358115892
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/7832/
- ↑ Basic information at Jazzstandards.com
- ↑ a b Freddy Schauwecker: Let's go to the very best of jazz: The stories of the best tracks in Old Time Jazz. 2015, p. 24
- ^ Maximillien De Lafayette History how Pilgrims, and Afro-American Slaves Brought . Page 240
- ↑ Tom Lord: Jazz discography (online)