Willow Weep For Me

Willow Weep For Me has been recorded hundreds of times since 1932. Being the age I am, the first recording I ever heard also happens to be the "biggest hit" version (in terms of chart success based on sales and radio play) and that was by the British folk-pop duo Chad & Jeremy in 1964. Since then it's continued to be a favorite of jazz musicians and singers alike, but this post will focus on the years leading up to Chad & Jeremy's hit, 32 years during which the song was recorded in many different styles. 

Willow Weep For Me was written by Ann Ronell around 1932. Ann was a college student in Cambridge, Massachusetts when she had the opportunity to interview the great composer George Gershwin. Gershwin hired her as a rehearsal pianist which got her foot in the door of the entertainment business where she became both a lyricist and composer. Around the same she wrote Willow Weep For Me she also wrote Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? for Disney. For a period she was involved romantically with Gershwin and there has been speculation that Willow was actually composed by Gershwin and the copyright given to Ann as a gift. This is based on the similarities of the structure of the song compared to other Gershwin works but as some have also pointed out, those similarities have more in common with what Willow evolved into and not so much with it as first presented in the early 1930's.

Willow really "took off" and became a jazz standard in the 1950's and there are so many recordings from then I can't even mention them all here. I've selected 21 recordings to highlight the evolution of the song during those years and to also showcase the different styles it enjoyed along the way.

The first recording of the song was done in October 1932 by Ted Fio Rito & His Orchestra featuring Muzzy Marcellino on vocals. Muzzy became much better well known as a whistler in later years. Remember Lassie on TV in the 50's? Remember how the show opened each week? That was Muzzy doing the whistling. How about the 1968 hit by Hugo Montenegro with the theme from the film The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly? That was Muzzy whistling. Muzzy recorded a whistling version of Willow Weep For Me in the late 50's, some 25 years after he first sang it. This first recording begins with about a minute instrumental opening and as you can hear, is a very snappy number!

 

A few weeks later the song was recorded again, on Nov. 17, 1932, by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra with Irene Taylor doing the vocals. This time it features an instrumental opening lasting 1:45 that is full of interesting time changes and that is followed by the original opening lyrics that seem to have been discarded by every other recording since 1933.

 

The song quickly found its way across the Atlantic to England where on Jan. 24, 1933 it was recorded by (Bert) Ambrose & His Orchestra with Sam Browne on vocals. It also has a 1:45 opening and sounds like it was sourced from the first recording done by Ted Fio Rito with Muzzy Marcellino.

 

Also in 1933 the song was recorded in New York by Austrian singer Greta Keller. She discarded the long instrumental opening but did use the opening lyrics, to the best of my knowledge the last time they were recorded. This sounds like it was inspired by the Paul Whiteman/Irene Taylor recording as at certain points the orchestra changes time for like 1 bar and then reverts back to the slower tempo. It's also heard in the brief but very jazz-like violin solo and perhaps this is the first time we hear the future of the song.

 

At this point the song seems to disappear for awhile. I'm sure it was recorded, but the old shellac 78's quickly wore out and were extremely fragile and unless the song was recorded for a major label that had good storage of its masters it could easily be lost to time. As far as I can tell, the song doesn't reappear until 1941 when it was recorded by Cab Calloway & His Orchestra as a jazz instrumental featuring the sax of Hilton Jefferson....making it one of two of the most significant recordings of the song ever done. From that point forward the song was a jazz standard popular with soloists of not only the sax, but players of the piano, violin, trumpet, guitar, organ, clarinet....you name it. 

 

In January 1945 it was recorded by another jazz group, Cozy Cole & His All Stars. Up to now the music has been done by good size orchestras. With this recording we hear it being trimmed down to smaller combos. In addition to Cozy on drums some of the other musicians include Tiny Grimes on guitar, Coleman Hawkins on sax and Slam Stewart on bass using a seldom heard (in jazz) bow.

 

Next up is the other of the two most significant recordings of Willow Weep For Me. It was recorded July 25, 1946 by Stan Kenton & His Orchestra featuring June Christy on vocals. What can I say? It has an extremely innovative arrangement and June's vocals moves the song in an entirely new direction. From this point on there was no holding the song back. Anyone could take it anywhere they wanted to go with it and they did.

 

On March 18, 1949 the great unsung arranger/composer Mary Lou Williams sat down at the piano and recorded this great interpretation of the melody along with just a bass player for rhythm.

 

A couple weeks later, on April 2, another pianist, one of the greatest jazz pianists ever, Art Tatum recorded this solo improvised take on the melody. I believe this is a live recording of a performance in Los Angeles.

 

On July 15, 1950, Mabel Scott recorded the song in the R&B style of the post-war decade showcasing its blues possibilities.

 

September 3, 1954 - Billie Holiday takes it blues full circle.

 

By then Willow Weep For Me was getting recorded a lot by both vocalists and jazz performers. In 1955, saxophonist Cannonball Adderley relocated from Florida to New York City where he quickly found session work. Savoy Records brought together some musicians on June 28 for a LP project titled Bohemia After Dark. Willow was recorded that day featuring Cannonball on alto sax and Horace Silver on piano.

 

On November 12 of that same year, Dinah Washington recorded her version in an uptempo blues style.

 

On May 19, 1958 Frank Sinatra, with a great Nelson Riddle arrangement, took the song in yet another new direction with a very slow tempo.

 

Ray Charles is probably best remembered sitting at the piano singing out his many hits, but in the 50's he also included in his act a very tight jazz combo that also recorded for Atlantic and included some fine musicians such as sax players David "Fathead" Newman and Hank Crawford, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. On Nov. 5, 1958 they recorded their version of Willow featuring Newman on sax and Ray on piano. The photo below is from the Newport Jazz Festival earlier that year. Newman in the back and Ray in the front. Yes, many people forget that Ray was a very good sax player too.

 

On March 25, 1959 Ella Fitzgerald recorded her Willow with a great arrangement that included its own spurts of time changes.

 

A few years earlier she had recorded the song with Louis Armstrong. Next to Ella in the photo is the great pianist Oscar Peterson who also recorded the song in 1957.

On June 15, 1960 The Coasters recorded the song giving it a very pop feel for that period. It's really just their lead tenor, Carl Gardner. I think that's Carl in the center of the photo.

 

In 1961 The Barons gave it a rock 'n' roll vocal group workout. There were a lot of "Barons" in those days but I think these guys were from Detroit.

 

In 1962, Julie London did a nice job with it in a lounge style.

 

 In 1963 Sam Cooke gave it a contemporary pop go.

And in 1964 Chad & Jeremy had a decent pop hit with the song in the US, done in a very breezy pop style produced by Shel Talmy who was behind a lot of hits in those days working on both sides of the Atlantic. Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde had scored a hit in England and the US with Yesterday's Gone prior to Willow. They never did that well again in their native England, but in the US they followed Willow up with A Summer Song and Before And After and also make appearances on USA sitcoms The Patty Duke Show, My Three Sons, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Batman and even appeared in the western Laredo. Jeremy Clyde went on to dabble in acting up to this day, most recently appearing in episodes of Downton Abbey, The Old Guys, The Green Green Grass and My Family. He also had regular roles in the excellent 90's British sitcom Is It Legal? and the very good 80's comedy Blott On The Landscape with David Suchet of Poirot fame.

 

After Chad & Jeremy the song continued being a popular item. I could have easily posted another 21 versions of the song, but enough is enough. Wes Montgomery and his unique guitar sound did a nice job with it in 1967, Linda Ronstadt included it in her repertoire for a time. Earlier this year is was recorded by Dutch jazz sax player Susanne Alt. There are hundreds of recordings going as far back as 80 years ago this month.

That Lucky Old Sun

That Lucky Old Sun is a song written by Beasley Smith (music) and Haven Gillespie (lyrics) that first appeared in 1949. Gillespie also wrote the lyrics for Santa Claus Is Coming To Town and Right Or Wrong. That Lucky Old Sun enjoyed a shelf-life of about 30 years, but continues to be recorded today with more recent recordings by Chris Isaak, Kenny Chesney, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Bonnie Bramlett and K.D. Lang. A search of my music hard drive turned up over 30 versions.

The song is something of a lament about the physical hardships of life similar to Ol' Man River. A number of singers (such as Bing Crosby and Dean Martin) recorded the song in almost a joyful manner lacking any sentiment, which is kind of strange.

I believe the earliest recording was done by Sarah Vaughan. She recorded it twice in 1949, on January 25 and again on May 6. I'm assuming the first session was rejected which led to the second.

 

Later in 1949 the song was recorded by at least 6 singers with four of them achieving hit success. Frankie Laine recorded his version on June 14 and he had the biggest hit with it.

 

Frankie sang it kind of upbeat, but the next two versions are among my personal favorites. I'm not sure when Vaughn Monroe recorded it with his orchestra, but it hit the charts in September 1949. Vaughn's baritone voice seems well suited to the nature of the song and he used the "oh Lord" opening like Sarah and it has seldom been heard since.

 

Next up is the recording done by Louis Armstrong on September 6. Louis most certainly had a singing voice very well suited for songs about hardship and toil. His opening was also unique to the long history of the song.

 

 Nine days after Louis cut the song, Frank Sinatra recorded his for Columbia Records.

 

Also making a splash with That Lucky Old Sun in 1949 were recordings by Bob Houston and the name of the other guy isn't coming to me at the moment. 

                  LaVern Baker recorded it in July 1955.

 

Sam Cooke updated it to a late 1950's pop sound in 1957, a year after Jerry Lee Lewis rocked it for Sun Records.

 

The Four Esquires gave it a vocal group - light rock 'n' roll workout in 1959.

 

 and in 1960, down under in Australia, Billy Owens & The Thunderbirds rocked it up a bit

 

 also in 1960, The Velvets gave it the pop vocal group sound

 

 In 1961 Chuck Reed recorded it in a strictly pop style

 

In 1962 both The Delights and The Ecstasies did doo-wop versions in much different tempos

 

 

and a young Aretha Franklin recorded it for Columbia also in 1962

 

Ray Charles recorded his popular version in 1963 during his successful ABC-Paramount tenure

 

and in 1968 Soul legends Sam & Dave took it in a new direction (as did Solomon Burke the following year)

 

These are just a few examples of the various takes on the song in its early years and represents only a handful of the many recordings made. Willie Nelson had a country hit with it in 1976 and it was also recorded by country acts like Asleep at the Wheel, Tommy Cash, Tom T. Hall, Mickey Newbury and many years ago the Sons of the Pioneers.

Time Is On My Side

Although it's never been a hugely popular song, Time Is On My Side is a fairly well-known song that continues to be recorded by several people every decade. One of the more recent recordings I can recall was done by British singer Beverley Knight about five years ago. The best known recording is likely the one done by the Rolling Stones in November 1964, but it had a brief and interesting history up to that point.

Kai Winding was a jazz trombonist that played in the famed orchestra's of Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton in the late 1940's and as jazz began to split into different genres in the 50's he found success in the jazz-pop field as well as more experimental undertakings. Born in Denmark, he emigrated to New York City around the age of 12. In addition to playing the trombone, he also performed on the trombonium (similar to a valve trombone) and had a big hit in the summer of 1963 with the main theme from the movie Mondo Cane called More. That song featured the sound of the Ondioline, a new experimental electronic instrument played by Jean-Jacques Perrey. 

 That type of sound isn't even noticed these days, but 50 years ago anything like that jumped out of the radio and put the listener into a headlock. Songs like 1962's Telstar by Britain's The Tornados (brilliantly produced by Joe Meek) and Del Shannon's 1961 big hit Runaway, with the sound of the Musitron, had been massive international hits. With Winding's success with More, he and the people he worked with at Verve Records, were in search of more pop instrumental material to work with.

This led a Verve arranger, Gary Sherman, to contact a friend and fellow arranger, producer, songwriter Jerry Ragovoy. Ragovoy had composed a song called Time Is On My Side, but the only lyrics for it at that point was the title of the song and the repeated line "you'll come running back". That must have been good enough for Winding and the people at Verve as it was recorded "as is" and released in October 1963. Get this: the three singers doing the limited lyrics were sisters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick and their aunt Cissy Houston.

 Jerry Ragovoy was a guy out of Philadelphia that worked as a songwriter, an arranger and producer and is credited with some amazing songs. Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters "Cry Baby" and "My Baby"in 1963, The Majors "A Wonderful Dream" in 1962, Howard Tate "Get It While You Can" in 1967, the awesome Stay With Me by Lorraine Ellison in 1966 as well as Lorraine's "Try (Just A Little Harder), Erma Franklin's (Aretha's sister) "Piece Of My Heart" in 1967, Miriam Makeba "Pata Pata" in 1967, Pat Thomas and later Baby Washington "I Can't Wait To See My Baby's Face" in 1964, and he also did some work with Irma Thomas. You'll notice a lot of these songs were later recorded by Janis Joplin. She knew a good thing when she heard it.   

New Orleans native Irma Thomas has been making records for some 53 years now and still has an international "cult" following and enjoys as much success today as she ever has. As a teen she sometimes sang with NOLA legend Tommy Ridgely's band and during the period 1964-1965, when she was with Imperial Records, she made some incredible records....not to put a damper on her other work by any means. Prior to Imperial she made some great records including such soul and pop classics as Ruler of My Heart, Breakaway (that was a hit for several other people), It's Raining, Look Up, Somebody Told You, Two Winters Long.
Shortly after Winding's recording of Time Is On My Side was released, Thomas was in the studio and her arranger, the writer-recording artist-producer H.B. Barnum, wanted her to record it, but felt it needed some lyrics and he recruited writer/recording artist Jimmy Norman to "complete" the song. The end result just may be the finest example of the link between Gospel music and Soul.

That's H.B. Barnum playing the sax on the left. Interesting to note the lady on the far left with the guitar. That's Carol Kaye, a jazz guitarist but more famous for the thousands of LA recordings she played electric bass on, as did the drummer in the photo, Holyoke, Massachusetts native Hal Blaine. On the right is Jimmy Norman in his later days, the singer/writer who wrote the lyrics to the song except for the title and "you'll come running back."                               

 

Well, as outstanding as the recording is, it sank without a trace in the mainstream market, but it did receive airplay on black radio stations in some of the major urban markets.

A few months later, June 1964, a group of 6 British musicians pay their first visit to the United States. They are basically unknown at that time in the USA, their first almost-a-hit record not coming until later that summer when "Tell Me" barely cracked the Top 30 for a couple weeks. The Rolling Stones, with keyboardist Ian Stewart, had been in both New York City and Los Angeles before reaching Chicago where they visited the Chess Studio to do some recording. Obviously, at one of those places before entering Chess, they had listened to some "black" radio and heard Irma's recording of Time Is On My Side. That day, June 10, they not only recorded "Time" but also Muddy Waters "I Can't Be Satisfied", Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now" and an instrumental they called Stewed And Keefed. This version of "Time" was released as a single in the USA and is commonly called the "organ" version, referring to the opening of the song.

 

The next day they returned to Chess and recorded quite a few songs. Chuck Berry's "Around And Around" and "Reelin' And Rockin'", Wilson Pickett's "If You Need Me", Muddy Water's "Look What You've Done", the boogie-woogie standard "Down The Road Apiece" that had been done by so many in the 24 years prior to that, the Jay McShann-Walter Brown 40's classic "Confessin' The Blues", Howlin' Wolf's "Down In The Bottom", Tommy Tucker's "Hi-Heel Sneakers", Big Bill Broonzy's "Tell Me Baby" and a Stones original "Empty Heart". 

Later in that year of 1964, the Stones return to the USA a second time, now well-known. On November 8, en route from Providence, Rhode Island to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Stones again stopped in Chicago to make another trip to Chess Studio and recorded Buster Brown's "Fanny Mae", Don Covay's "Mercy, Mercy", Howlin' Wolf's "The Red Rooster", and Big Bill Broonzy's "Key To The Highway" (on which it is claimed Howlin' Wolf played guitar). They also recorded a song written by Bill Wyman called "Goodbye Girl", a Stones original "What A Shame" and also another version of Time Is On My Side. This recording would be their UK single and is often called the "guitar" version (referring to the opening) and for the next nearly 50 years has become the version you're going to hear on disc and the radio.

 

After that, quite a few people recorded the song, but it was usually a cover of the Rolling Stones "song" and the original Kai Winding and wonderful recording done by Irma Thomas are largely forgotten. To illustrate how the obscure first Stones recording of June 10 became the US single, when Paul Revere & The Raiders recorded it on May 6, 1965, their recording opened with an organ and not the now well-known guitar lick.

 

In the summer of 1965, the Moody Blues (two years before their change into a progressive art rock act) recorded the song that was definitely inspired by Irma Thomas's recording, as the 'big build up' intro clearly shows.

 

In 1967 Wilson Pickett brought the song back to it's soul roots.