This fall, I started to learn swing dancing, Lindy Hop more specifically. I am absolutely loving it, but not just for the dancing. The music is also absolutely phenomenal. I knew of some of the songs played before, but I’ve also not heard many, so I am also engaged in finding good music I had never heard. It was during one of these sessions to build my Swing play list on Spotify that I found this awesome gem called the Oriental Swing that’s a little racist, but totally acceptable to me (an Asian) considering it was done in 1938. 🙂
armstrong
It’s Been a Bad Few Days for the Armstrong Clan, RIP Neil and Lance
First, Lance Armstrong quit the drug fight and basically took his place among the cheaters as far as I’m concerned. He had a bigger ego than any of them, but not all of them combined, apparently.
Now, Neil Armstrong has left Earth for good. I wonder if they’ll scatter his ashes in space or land it on the moon or something?
I will be sad to never hear from Neil again, but there will always be that historic recording I could listen to over and over again.
I would be glad if I could never hear from Lance again, but I’m afraid I’ll still hear him yapping about his supposed innocence over and over again.
Neil was class.
Lance was ass.
Rest in peace, Neil.
Rest in tease, Lance.
Either way, let’s hope the Armstrongs will have better days ahead!
Have You Heard Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye Singing When the Saints Go Marching In?
When the Saints Go Marching In is an American gospel tune that is very popular and been interpreted in many genres and by many artists. If you know the song, quickly think what’s the best version you’ve ever heard. If it isn’t the one done by Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye like the title of this post, have a listen in the video below and tell me you’ve heard a better version.
No. Seriously. Do tell me in the comments at the bottom if you like another version better. I’d love to hear it. Whether I agree or not isn’t the point, really. I want to hear all the variations of that tune. But right now, this one is far above the rest in my opinion, and I am posting it to share it with you in case you haven’t heard it.
Best Songs I Heard for the First Time in 2010
Most people do not hear most of the songs they know for the first time in the year the song was released. If anyone did, I would feel very sorry for them for missing out on all the great songs of the past from before they were born, or even great songs each year they lived they would have missed.
What most people don’t do is reflect each year on the best songs they heard for the first time that year. I’ve blogged some of mine, but not all so this is my entire collection for 2010 which could fit on a CD if I made one.
After several years of discovering a ton of jazz and older music, then tunes from musicals, so that they made up most of the songs in my list for recent years (2009 list), I am back with an eclectic set that reflects my true musical tastes and philanderings across genres. I even have not only one song from the current year, but two! A song from the year of the list was something I didn’t have for several years. I did find newly released songs I liked a lot in those years, but they didn’t compare to a variety of jazz and musicals standards I discovered in those years.
But before I share my list, let me ask you the same question as I answered to write this post. What were the best songs you heard for the first time in 2010?
I’d love to know so please do leave a comment. I can add the links to videos so people can hear what you’re talking about, if you would like. But if you don’t want to do it here, maybe write a blog post like this if you have a blog, or a Facebook note or something like that on a social media platform account you have. It might just be one of the more thoughtful notes to your friends all year.
Here is my list, in no particular order of preference, with videos streaming the songs. You will need to click on the YouTube link for some videos with some weird copyright condition that only allow them to be viewed on YouTube. I hate Grown Up Corporate YouTube that’s become a wussie and lost all its edge.
Happy New Year!
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A Dirty Song Called All That Meat and No Potatoes? (and Lyrics)
There once was a time when you could take a dirty phrase to make a classy hit song out of it. I don’t know when it ended, but it was certainly alive in the 1940s when this song came about! This is the Louis Armstrong version, with Velma Middleton and the Louis Armstrong Orchestra, not the original Fats Waller version (at the end) that wasn’t nearly as good.
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Hey Pops! What’s wrong Daddy?
You look like somethin’ botherin’ you
Ain’t nothin’ botherin’ me honey
That a piece of roast beef can’t fix up
A man works hard then comes on home
Expects to find stew with that fine ham bone
He opens the door, then start to lookin’
Say, Woman, what’s this stuff you cookin’?
Now all that meat and no potatoes
I just ain’t right, dey like da green tomatoes
Here I’m waitin’
Palpitatin’
With all that meat and no potatoes
All that meat and no potatoes
All that food to the alligators
Now hold me steady
I’m really ready
Now all that meat and no potatoes
I don’t think that peas are bad
With meat most anything goes
Yes, I look into the pot
I’m fit to fight
‘Cause, woman, you know that mess just ain’t right
Oh, Pops!
All that meat and no potatoes
Just ain’t right, like green tomatoes
Woman, I’m steamin’, yeah!
I’m really screamin’
All that meat and no potatoes
Say, I don’t think that beans are bad
With meat most anything goes
I look into the pot
And what a sight!
Oh, woman, you know that without rice
Beans just ain’t right
Oh, Pops!
All that meat and no potatoes
Just ain’t right, like green tomatoes
Now woman, I’m steamin’
And I’m really screamin’
All that meat and no potatoes
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Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton
When I first heard this song, I found it really groovy, and I still do, but I thought to myself, why would someone write such a great song about meat and potatoes?
Well, after some researching, I found out.
The title of this song, All That Meat and No Potatoes, was a slur from the early 1940s that was used to described a big figured attractive woman with small breasts. Gee, don’t you wish English was still that classy these days?
Hey, some people will never be classy, but you could help them by giving them language like this rather than, well, you use your own choice words.
Anyhoo, the story regarding how this song came about was that Fats Waller liked some female vocalist he was working with, except that she was all that meat and no potatoes. So he wrote a song about it.
Awww. Wasn’t that romantic? 🙂
But you’ve got to give credits to Fats, and his manager Ed Kirkeby. They wrote a good song on the literal end of things, expressing discontent with cooking that had a lot of meat and no potatoes, as a metaphor for Fats’ feelings towards this woman.
Then Louis came along and just took it to another level. Compare the version above to the version below.
It might be jazz, but I’ll tell ya, can Louis rock it or what???
The Louis Armstrong version of this song goes on my list for Best Songs I Heard for the First Time in 2010. I make a list every year. Please click here for links to other songs I have put on this list so far.
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