what music are you listening to now

[Dekalb_Blues]

Wand'ring & Dreaming From New York To Paris & Back


"In this brilliant interview [excerpted promotionally here], Henry Miller (1891-1980) describes the motivation and inspiration that guided his writings. He talks about his self-imposed exile to Europe and Paris, his return to the U.S., censorship, fame and the importance of reading."


This 7-inch "about 70 r.p.m." United States Gramophone Co. record (made of hardened rubber, which required a fresh steel needle with every play) was recorded October 29, 1895, a mere 125 years ago (come this October). The record, released as Berliner 959, is an abbreviated re-recording of George J. Gaskin's hit version of this Tin Pan Alley song, which was issued on the Chicago label.  That version first charted March 2, 1995 (in early trade magazines like Talking Machine World, way before Variety magazine in 1929 debuted its hit-list or Billboard magazine in 1940 debuted its top-seller list) and climbed to #2 over a three-week run. Gaskin, known as "The Silver-Voiced Irish Tenor," was born in Belfast and became one of the leading pioneer recording artists of the 1890s -- scoring 31 hits (mostly #1s!) -- between 1891 and 1904. He died around 1920.
The talking machine heard here is a Victor Type II gramophone from 1905.

 < Sheet music from WWI era, when the Hawaiian ukulele craze stalked the mainland U.S.
 
THE SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK (C. B. Lawlor & J. W. Blake, Aug. 1894)

Down in front of Casey's old brown wooden stoop,
On a summer's evening we formed a merry group;
Boys and girls together we would sing and waltz
While Tony played the organ on the sidewalks of New York.

    East side, west side, all around the town,
    The tots sang "Ring-A-Rosie," "London Bridge Is Falling Down";
    Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O'Rourke
    Tripped the light fantastic
    On the sidewalks of New York. (2x)

That's where Johnny Casey, little Jimmy Crowe,
Jakey Krause, the baker, who always had the dough,
Pretty Nellie Shannon with a dude as light as cork
She first picked up the waltz step on the sidewalks of New York.

Things have changed since those times, some are up in "G" [i.e., have the dough]
Others they are wand'rers but they all feel just like me
They'd part with all they've got, could they once more walk
With their best girl and have a twirl on the sidewalks of New York.


 La meilleure fille [Best girl]

Some en route in-flight E-Z listenin' to while away the dreamy hours aloft spent ruefully contemplating the implications of all the tyrannical arbitrary hoops helpful safety measures one now has to jump through to humbly petition the Utterly-Science-Following Powers That Be to grudgingly deign to capriciously vouchsafe to one an evanescent license to travel:



 

Ca plane pour moi, bébé!

Next time I'm catching a ride with this très chic jet-set chick, une femme de mystère for sure:

If I can dodge the bodyguard, naturellement.
(Coincidentally, there's an Algerian-French slang word for "[cute] woman": nana zouz )