Namesake (anniversary)

It's two years now since we began broadcasting here from Fluville.

I usually mark this day with some Elvis, since I started this on his birthday (Happy Birthday Elvis), but instead, today we'll pay tribute to an infectious little number (pun intended) by our patron saint Huey 'Piano' Smith. I've gathered up a few versions of "Rockin' Pneumonia and The Boogie Woogie Flu," for your listening pleasure.

First, the original in its original 78 RPM issue. It rocks, but you know that already. Next, The Clowns' drag-queen lead singer Bobby Marchan's funk remake from ten years later where the Boogie Woogie Flu gets updated to the Boogaloo Flu. Then, a version of BWF part 2 from a budgety compilation by a pre-Frankenstein Edgar Winter, probably from the mid-sixties, and probably with brother Johnny, although I don't know anything about the origin of this recording - if any of you scholars out there do, feel free fill in the gaps. English blued-eyed soul singer Chris Farlowe sings the shit out of this one - invoking both Tom Jones and James Brown - on an Andrew Loog Oldham produced extravaganva from 1966. Larry Williams condenses parts one and two into a pretty faithful copy made the same year as the original, and Mac Rebennack gives it some of his own mojo in a solo piano rendition. The Grateful Dead, take a plodding, half speed approach, in a performance from their last tour with biker/founding member Pigpen, who died the next year of the Rockin Pneumonia and the Liver Failure Blues at the ripe age of 27. Then, there's Fess' version, which is a bit like when Roger McGuinn covered Tom Petty, considering that the piano style of Huey Smith originates from that of Professor Longhair. It's great, and if you don't own Rock n' Roll Gumbo, you are seriously missing one of the great records of all time. And finally, Johnny Rivers' top ten version from 1972. I've always had a soft spot for this one, because it's the first one I heard, and it came out around the same time that I discovered the radio. I listened to it on KSLQ and KADI in St. Louis.

So, two years into this thing, and I'm not quite sure where it's going. It's been nice having my friends contribute here this past year, and you can expect to see more of that. Honestly, this is a lot of work and if it weren't for all the nice comments and emails I receive, I probably would have quit this a long time ago. But as the song says, "I would be runnin' but my feets too slow."


Download:



"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu Pt 1" mp3
by Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns, 1957.
available on Having a Good Time



"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu Pt 2" mp3
by Huey 'Piano' Smith and the Clowns, 1957.
available on Having a Good Time




"Rockin' Pneumonia" mp3
by Bobby Marchan, 1967.
out of print

"Rockin' Pneumonia" mp3
by Edgar Winter, date unknown.
available on Harlem Nocturne

"Rockin' Pneumonia" mp3
by Chris Farlowe, 1966.
available on 14 Things to Think About

"Rockin' Pneumonia" mp3
by Larry Williams, 1957.
available on Specialty Profiles

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by Dr. John, 1981.
available on Dr. John Plays Mac Rebennack Vol. 2

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by The Grateful Dead, 1972.
available on Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead: England '72

"Rockin' Pneumonia" mp3
by Professor Longhair, 1974.
available on Rock 'n Roll Gumbo

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by Johnny Rivers, 1972.
available on L.A. Reggae

*************************

UPDATE: 1.10.09

I just received this from Robert in Reno today. Thanks!

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by Jerry Lee Lewis, 1965.
available on The Locust Years & Return To The Promised Land

*************************

...and two more from JM and Gerald. Thanks fellas.

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by PJ Proby, 1965.
available on I Am P.J. Proby

"Rockin' Pneumonia & the Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by The Flamin' Goovies, 1970.
available on Flamingo


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UPDATE: 1-11-09

another PJ, another planet.

"Rockin' Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by PJ and The Galaxies, 1964.
available on American Surf Treasures Vol 1

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UPDATE: 1-17-09

I got this from pianist Pete Wingfield yesterday.

"...as a fellow long-time sufferer of said Degenerate Record Collector's Disease, I considered myself duty-bound to add to your historical collection of Boogie Woogie Flu breakouts . This particular little-known instance was actually recorded by my own band Jellybread for the Blue Horizon label here in the UK in 1970. No epidemic resulted."

"Rockin' Pnuemonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by Jellybread, 1970.
available on Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

and from Bruce, uptown...

"Rockin' Pnuemonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu" mp3
by Shocking Blue, 1968.
available on Beat With Us
out of print

*************************

top photograph:
by Lee Friedlander, New York City, 1982.
from Letters From The People
D.A.P./ Distributed Art Publishing, Inc. © 1993.

Lee Diamond

The first time I heard "Bony Maronie," it was not by Larry Williams, but by Johnny Winters and I was in my early teens, stoned, and trying to learn the riff on guitar in my friends basement. The first time I heard "Hattie Malattie" by Lee Diamond, I was sure it was some record company guy at Vee-Jay trying to come up with a "Bony Maronie" type of thing to get a hit. I wasn't stoned, but I was wrong. It does bear a resemblance to "Bony Maronie," but it turns out Lee Diamond is actually Wilbert Smith, part of Little Richard's tenor section in The Upsetters, and Lee Diamond's band is The Upsetters lumbering on after Little Richard gave up Rock and Roll and joined the ministry with Lee/Wilbert stepping up to the microphone. It's a pretty great record, as is the b-side "Mama Loochie." Both songs have unusual introductions that never reappear in the song. Wilbert can also be heard on "Why Do You Do Me" the b-side of James Brown's first Federal single, "Please, Please, Please" and on some of Little Richard's best Specialty sides, including the insane sonic attack of "Ooh!, My Soul."

Download:


















"Hattie Malattie" mp3
by Lee Diamond, 1958.
available on Vee-Jay: The Definitive Collection



















"Mama Loochie" mp3
by Lee Diamond, 1958.
out of print



















"Bony Maronie" mp3
by Larry Williams, 1957.
available on Here's Larry Williams

*******************************

"Ooh! My Soul" mp3
by Little Richard, 1958.
available on The Georgia Peach

"Why Do You Do Me" mp3
by James Brown, 1956.
available on The Singles Volume 1: The Federal Years 1956-1960

********
BONUS
********
"Bony Maroney" mp3
by George Jones, 1965.
available on Live at Dancetown U.S.A.

Have Mercy

A few months ago, I bought this record on eBay. I purchased it because it was cheap and on the Ace record label, and 90% of those records are great, including the one for which this blog is named. I had no idea who Mercy Baby was and neither did the guy who sold it to me. He listed it as Mercy Dee in parentheses and I didn't know much about him either, except as a passing name when browsing for records.

After I won the auction, I did a little web research on Mercy Dee, whose record I thought I had just bought and made a startling discovery. Years ago, my friend, roommate, and cohort from art school Bruce Silcox, with whom I spent many hours listening to and playing music with gave me a cassette tape he made (at the library I think) with no track listing of a Texas Blues compilation labeled only "'dis be it blues." He excitedly played me an hysterically funny song called "Eighth Wonder of the World" in which a guy runs through a list of bad strategies for testing his woman's love, I've had this tape for over 20 years and had no idea who it was. More than once, I spent a considerable amount of time fishing around the web and trying to figure it out to no avail.

So, while looking at track listings of Mercy Dee records on Amazon to find out what the record I just bought sounded like - that wasn't Mercy Dee after all - I came across "Eighth Wonder of the World," and listened to a sound sample to find out what I'd been trying to figure out for all these years.

Below, we have the record I bought, which is fantastic by the way, featuring Frankie Lee Sims on guitar backing up Mercy Baby (AKA Jimmy Mullins). Mullins, like Mercy Dee Walton is a Texas blues piano player. On the A-side "Silly Dilly Woman," I'm not sure, but I think he refers to his woman as a "hole" or maybe it's the more common "ho." You tell me - I'm not sure. Either way, in my experience, this has proven to be as ineffective as the strategies illustrated in Mercy Dee's composition. Rhythmically it bears some resemblance to Rosco Gordon's shuffling proto-calypso rock. Also check out the way the drummer throws the accents during the saxophone solo. Frankie Lee cuts loose on the b-side.

Also, we get Mercy Dee doing "Eight Wonder" and his most famous composition, "One Room Country Shack," as well as a cover of it by Mose Allison, who was a fan of Mercy Dee and included it on his first record Back Country Suite.

Additionally a song that uses mercy as an exclamation of love, and a pair of songs begging for mercy in love and in life.

Download:



















"Silly Dilly Woman" mp3
by Mercy Baby, 1957.
out of print



















"Mercy's Blues" mp3
by Mercy Baby, 1957
out of print

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Download:

"One Room Country Shack" mp3
by Mercy Dee Walton, 1953.
available on Jook Joint Blues: That's What They Want

"One Room Country Shack" mp3
by Mose Allison, 1957.
available on Back Country Suite

"Eighth Wonder of The World" mp3
by Mercy Dee Walton, 1961.
available on Troublesome Mind

*******
BONUS
*******

"Mercy, Mercy" mp3
by Don Covay, 1964.
available on Mercy!/See-Saw

"Mercy, Mercy" mp3
by The Rolling Stones, 1965.
available on Out Of Our Heads

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" mp3
by Larry Williams and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, 1967.
available on The Best of the Okeh Years

"Love and Mercy" mp3
by Brian Wilson, 1995.
available on I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

top photograph: Mercy, Rivington Street, 1985. © Ted Barron