Nitty Gritty Mind Bender

Nitty Gritty Mind Bender

Talkin’ Music

By Jack Coll

Sometimes a song just works on you, I mean sometimes I listen to music, and it’s the mindless variety, you know the song, you sing along with it, the songs over and you move on.  If you’re like me, (I come to realize that very few people are like me) A song comes on, I sing along with it, the song ends, and my mind continues to think about it, what did the artist mean, who wrote that, is it true?

One such song is one that I love to sing along with, “Mr. Bojangles” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

You know the song, “I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you, In worn out shoes.”  So the song goes on and says “I met him in a cell in New Orleans, I was down and out.”  So I don’t know why but I get to thinking about Mr. Bojangles, the Mr. Bojangles that I’m only slightly aware of is the Mr. Bojangles that danced in a couple of movies with Shirley Temple back in the day.  I’m thinking “Man,” this guy must have fallen on some really hard times to go from Hollywood to a cell down in New Orleans.

Now I feel obligated to check this song out, is it true, is this the movie star Bojangles in New Orleans.

“Mr. Bojangles” was the nickname used by Bill Robinson, a black tap dancer who appeared in many movies in the 1930’s, including a number of films with Shirley Temple.  Robinson spent the first 50 years of his life entertaining black audiences throughout the South devoting most of his early career on the black theatre circuit.  He worked with the well-known George Cooper as a vaudeville team, he also gained success as a nightclub and musical comedy performer, and for more than 25 years he was the toast of the great white way on Broadway.

Interesting enough, to white people his nickname “Bojangles” meant happy-go-lucky, while the black people claimed the word to mean “squabble.”  Robinson appeared in more than 18 major films playing one roll or another, mostly performing his dance tapping routines. Four of his films were with Shirley Temple, “The Little Colonel,” “The Littlest Rebel,” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” and “Just Around the Corner.”  Bill Robinson was the first African American male to appear on film dancing with a white girl, Shirley Temple (The Little Colonel, 1935).  Following Bill Robinson success in films, many black street dancers became known as “Bojangles,” in an effort to cash in on the name as they performed their routine while passing the hat.

In 1965 a country music artist named Jerry Jeff Walker found himself behind bars in a New Orleans Jail.  Walker had left his home in upstate New York years earlier to travel the country to play his guitar and sing his songs.  While passing thru New Orleans one night he found himself a little tipsy, and made a public display, and that landed him behind bars.  Walkers cell mate was an older black man who made his living as a street dancer and told Walker all about his life.

Years later as Walker retold the story, he claimed one of the guys in the cell jumped up and said “Come on, Bojangles, give us a little dance.”  As explained, Bojangles wasn’t so much a name as a category of itinerant street entertainer.  The old man said, “Yes, Hell yes.”  He jumped up and started clapping a rhythm and he began to dance.  Walker claims to have spent most of his time in jail talking to that old man learning about the tough blows life had dealt him, while Walker had shared his dreams with him. As it turned out this wasn’t Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the movie actor, but as he said, a New Orleans street dancer.

Walker was released from jail and moved onto Texas where one night he sat down and the song just came rolling out, no hesitation, no corrections, just one shot down the page of the yellow tablet.   Walker explained it’s a love song.  In a lot of ways, Mr. Bojangles is a composite, he’s a little bit of several people he had met for only moments of a passing life.  Walker had written another verse for the song, but at the time it made the song way too long for radio airplay.  The verse was about the old man in jail who told him about his three wives.  As Walker likes to say, “the song “Mr. Bojangles” is about an old drunk and a dead dog.”

When the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded the song, (interesting note that Jackson Browne was a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, only for a short time) it was released on an album in 1970 called “Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.”  The album included a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles.”

The Nitty Gritty version began with the Uncle Charlie interview, where this old man is talking to his dog Teddy, and makes the dog sing, kind of like an old basset hound would do, then that recognizable country bluegrass twang and guitar riff comes in.

In 1966, long before the band released “Mr. Bojangles” a guitarist named John McEuen replaced Jackson Browne in the band and McEuen played with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band from 1966-1986, (in the late 1970’s the band became known as simply “The Dirt Band.”  McEuen rejoined the band in 2001 and continues to play with them from time to time.  I caught up with McEuen some years ago back stage at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.  He was very pleasant, I didn’t ask him about the song “Mr. Bojangles” but I did ask him about playing with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band he stated how he liked getting together with old friends Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden, a couple of founding members of the band, he noted how they always had a good time both on stage and off.

So in the end, Mr. Bojangles who served time in the New Orleans jail cell with Jerry Jeff Walker for a weekend was actually Jewell Stovall, better known as Babe Stovall.  Babe was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist.  Sometime in the late 1930’s Babe settled in New Orleans Louisiana where he made a pretty good living entertaining on the street corners and in cafes and galleries of the French Quarter.

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson on the other hand enjoyed the Hollywood life despite the obstacle of racism.  Robinson recalled the time he sat himself in a restaurant and a customer objected to his presence.  When the manager suggested that it might be better if Mr. Robinson leave the establishment.  Robinson smiled and asked, “Have you got a ten dollar bill?”  Robinson asked to borrow the manager’s ten spot for a moment.  Robinson pulled six ten dollar bills from his wallet, and mixed them all together and extended the seven ten dollar bills back towards the manager and said, “Here, let’s see you pick the colored one.”  The restaurant manager served Robinson without further delay.

During his lifetime Mr. Robinson was very generous with his money, he co-founded the New York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936, the team was very successful participating in the Negro National League until it disband in 1948, after Major League Baseball was desegregated.  In 1933, while visiting his hometown of Richmond Virginia, he saw two children caught in the middle of the street in the heat of traffic, the kids were attempting to retrieve a ball they had been playing with.  Since there was no stoplight at the intersection allowing the children to get out of harms way, Robinson went to the city and provided the money to have a stop light installed.  In 1973, a statue of “Bojangles” was dedicated in a small park at that intersection.

Despite earning more than two million dollars during his lifetime, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson died penniless in 1949 at the age of 71.  His funeral was arranged by his longtime friend and television host Ed Sullivan.  He was buried with a military funeral and was buried near Harlem, the funeral was attended by more than 32,000 people.

And to think you can learn all that from a song:

Mr. Bojangles

I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you

In worn out shoes;

With silver hair, a ragged shirt, and baggy pants,

The old soft shoe.

He jumped so high, he jumped so high,

Then he’s lightly touch down

Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles,

Dance!

I met him in a cell in New Orleans, I was

Down and out.

He looked to me to be the eyes of age

As he spoke right out

He talked of life, he talked of life,

He laugh-slapped his leg a step.

He said the name, Bojangles, and he danced a lick

Across the cell

He grabbed his pants, a better stance, he jumped up high,

He clicked his heels.

He let go a laugh, he let go a laugh,

Shook back his clothes all around.

Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles,

Dance!

He danced for those at minstrel shows and county fairs

Throughout the South.

He spoke with tears of fifteen years how his dog and him

Had traveled about.

His dog up and died, he up and died, After 20 years he still grieves.

Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles,

Dance!

He said “I dance now at ev’ry chance in honky tonks

For drinks andtips.

But most of the time I spend behind these county bars

‘Cause ‘I drinks a bit.”

He shook his head, and as he shook his head I heard someone ask “Please,

Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles, Mr. Bojangles,

Dance!

Answer to Trivia Questions from two weeks ago

#1  Elvis Presley  had 114 songs hit the “Top 40 Billboard Hits Chart.”

#2   Dionne Warwick had 31 songs hit the “Top 40 Billboard Hits Chart.”

#3  The Mama’s & Papa’s only had one Number One Hit, Monday Monday. 

       “Dedicated to The One I Love” was a Number Two hit for the group.

         A few other popular songs performed by the group included “California Dreamin’,”

          “I Saw Her Again,” “Words Of Love,” and “Creeque Alley”

This week’s Trivia

#1  Jerry Jeff Walker stated that the song “Mr. Bojangles” was about a drunk man and his dead dog.  Who recorded the 1971 hit song “Me And You And A Dog Named Boo?”  The songwent all the way to Number 5 on the Billboard Hits Chart.

#2  For a short time Jackson Browne was a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jackson had only two songs break the top ten on the Billboard Charts, one of his songs reached Number 7, and one of his songs hit Number 8.  Hint: it wasn’t “Running On Empty.”

#3  The group Orleans was formed in New York City by John Hall, the band had two smash hits in the mid 1970’s, one of the hits reached Number 5, and the other hit reached Number 6, can you name me one or both of them? Chances are you know both songs!