Sam Theard

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Lovin 'Sam Theard (born October 10, 1904 in New Orleans , † December 7, 1982 in Los Angeles ) was an American hokum - blues singer , actor and songwriter , who was mainly known for his songs (I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You and Let the Good Times Roll will be remembered.

Live and act

Theard started his career as a show singer and comedian, u. a. as Lovin 'Sam from Down in' Bam from the Minstrel Show Musical Sam from Alabama from 1917. He first recorded in 1929 after Tampa Red introduced him to the Afro-American record producer J. Mayo Williams in Chicago. After a contract with Gennett Records in 1930 under the pseudonym Sam Tarpley , he took the following ten years a. a. with Cow Cow Davenport for Decca, Vocalion and Bluebird Records on over fifty songs, mostly blues numbers, novelty songs like She's Givin It Away or I'm Crazy 'Bout My Bozo as well as original compositions like I Wonder Who's Boogiein My Woogie Now / New Rubbing On the Darned Old Thing (Decca 6186) under the band name Oscar's Chicago Swingers with Albert Ammons (1936). Theard's song New Rubbing on That Damed Old Thing was soon covered by Louis Jordan and 30 years later by the Grateful Dead . He also appeared on the recordings of Tiny Parham and Hot Lips Page .

One of his first recordings for Brunswick Records was You Rascal You , the bitter complaint of a betrayed husband, which began with the line:

"I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You."

Initially, Theard's song went unnoticed after the first recording in 1929; two years later it was covered by Red Nichols & His Five Pennies in a cleaned version (Brunswick 6133), which dispensed with a line of text from the original, which was about neutering the rival . The song rose to # 17 on the charts for a week.

Cab Calloway about 1933; Photo: Carl van Vechten

This was followed by the versions of Cab Calloway (# 17, Brunswick 6196) and Louis Armstrong (# 13, Okeh 41504), both of which entered the Billboard charts in October / November 1931. In 1932, Brunswick had the song recorded in a defused version by the Mills Brothers (Brunswick 6225), which became a national success and rose to # 3 on the charts, where it stayed for eight weeks.

In the 1930s Sam Theard recorded under various pseudonyms and had engagements in New York's Apollo Theater , a. a. under the pseudonym Spo-Dee-O-Dee ; he recorded the song of the same name in 1937 for Vocalion Records and in 1940 for Decca Records .

The song was full of sexual innuendo; Spo-de-o-dee was a black slang word for spode , the male seed. The song said:

Adam met Eve in the Garden of Eden,
That's where it first began,
Adam said to Eve,
Let's spo-dee-o-dee, come on,
Let's have some fun.
Louis Jordan around 1946. Photo: Gottlieb .

During this time he worked with Tampa Reds Hokum Boys , who had recorded his song My Daddy Rocks Me (with One Steady Roll) in 1929 . In the 1940s he worked with Sammy Price and with Louis Jordan, who took half the royalties as the reward for the admission. You Can't Get That No More , a version of a song Theard had previously written for Tampa Red, became a hit for Jordan on the national pop charts in 1944 (Decca 8668, # 11).

The song Let the Good Times Roll , written by Theard, became even more popular, but in addition to Sam Theard (as Spo-de-o-dee ), Louis Jordan's second wife Fleecie Moore was entered as the author. The song also later became popular in versions by BB King , Ray Charles , Muddy Waters , Eric Clapton , Herbie Hancock, and Quincy Jones .

In 1950, Theard worked with saxophonist Hal Singer ; together they recorded the rhythm and blues number Rock Around the Clock for Mercury Records , the structure of which, however, differed from the later rock 'n' roll hit Rock Around the Clock by Max C. Freedman, the first to Sonny Dae and his Knights Recordings. Sam Theard's voice ( Let's rock ) is followed by the choir of the band members ( We're gonna rock around the clock ). After several bars of the call and response , Theard follows with the line: One for the Money, two for the Show, three make ready, and four let's go, Let's rock ... to which the band replies: We're Gonna Rock, Rock Around the clock. In the final line Theard sings: Come on now, let's carry on, we're gonna rock till the break of dawn, let's rock ....

The original Mercury recording received little attention; Theard then appeared in the 1970s as an actor in the sitcom Sanford and Son , and he also had minor roles in television series and comedies such as in the Richard Pryor film Which Way Is Up? (1977). However, by the end of the decade, he had difficulty getting roles. He died in December 1982 at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Discographic notes

  • Sam Theard in Chronological Order 1929–1936 ( Document Records ), with Albert Ammons, Sam Tarpley, H. Benton Overstreet, Tampa Red, John Oscar
  • Complete 1934–1940 Recordings In Chronological Order (Wolf), with Tiny Parham
  • Lovin 'Sam from Down in' bam (Blues Documents)

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait at Satchmo.com (October 10) ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.satchmo.com
  2. ^ Henry Louis Gates Jr., Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham <: Harlem Renaissance Lives , p. 144
  3. ↑ Brunswick 7098, published under the pseudonym Lovin 'Sam , he was accompanied by Thomas A. Dorsey ; see. Brunswick Records at 78discography
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Otto Fuchs: Bill Haley , Father of Rock'n'Roll . Wagner Verlag, ISBN 9783866839014 , p. 118.
  5. ↑ Recordings were made on April 3, 1941 for Decca ( The Goon Drag, Lead Me Daddy Straight to the Bar and Just Jivin 'Around ); played in the Sam Price Band a. a. also Shad Collins , Lester Young, and Harold Doc West ; see. Sammy Price, Caroline Richmond: What Do They Want ?: A Jazz Autobiography , p. 96.
  6. ↑ The pop hit Let the Good Times Roll (1956) by Shirley & Lee and Bill Haley's Let the Good Times Roll, Creole are different compositions.
  7. ↑ cf. Jet, Sep 27, 1979, p. 41.
personal data
SURNAME Theard, Sam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Theard, lovin 'Sam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, songwriter and actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 1982
Place of death los Angeles