"Ain't Got No Home" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Clarence "Frogman" Henry | ||||
B-side | "Troubles, Troubles" | |||
Written | 1955 | |||
Released | December 15, 1956 | |||
Recorded | 1956 | |||
Genre | Rhythm and blues | |||
Length | 2:23 | |||
Label | Argo | |||
Songwriter(s) | Clarence "Frogman" Henry | |||
Clarence "Frogman" Henry singles chronology | ||||
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"Ain't Got No Home" is a song written and originally recorded by American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist Clarence "Frogman" Henry. It was released as a single in the United States on December 15, 1956. [1]
The first verse of the song is sung in a man's voice, the second in a falsetto and the third in a frog's voice.
In the United States, the song reached no. 3 on one of the Billboard R&B chart [2] [3] and no. 20 on the Billboard pop chart. [1] [3] [4]
Clarence Henry used his trademark croak to improvise the song "Ain't Got No Home" one night in 1955. Chess Records' A&R man Paul Gayten heard the song, and had Henry record it in Cosimo Matassa's studio in September 1956. Initially promoted by local DJ Poppa Stoppa, the song eventually rose to number 3 on the national R&B chart and number 20 on the US pop chart. [5] The gimmick earned Henry his nickname of "Frogman" and jump-started a career that endured until his death. [6]
The song was the first big hit released on the Chess subsidiary Argo Records.
It was used in the 1987 film The Lost Boys and the 1995 Martin Scorsese movie Casino .
The song is ranked no. 98 on the NME magazine's list of 100 Best Songs of the 1950s. [7]
7" single (1956) – Argo Record Corp., cat. no. Arc Music 5259 (US) [8]
7" single (1966) – London Records HLU 10025 (UK), Parrot 45 PAR 10822 (US)
The song has been covered by many artists including the Band, Suzi Quatro, Buddy Holly, The Country Gentlemen, the New York Dolls, and Jackie Edwards. [10] In Rod Stewart's version of the song "Some Guys Have All the Luck", Stewart incorporates the vocal refrain from "Ain't Got No Home" as an homage. The song was a favorite of Madeline Kahn, who performed it on Saturday Night Live on December 16, 1995. Steve Miller incorporated some of the vocal lines from the song on the track "Just A Little Bit" on his 1988 Born 2 B Blue album.[ citation needed ]
David Louis Bartholomew was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Originally a trumpeter, he was active in many musical genres, including rhythm and blues, big band, swing music, rock and roll, New Orleans jazz, and Dixieland. In his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was cited as a key figure in the transition from jump blues and swing to R&B and as "one of the Crescent City's greatest musicians and a true pioneer in the rock and roll revolution".
Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records.
Clarence Henry II, known as Clarence "Frogman" Henry, was an American rhythm and blues singer and pianist, best known for his hits "Ain't Got No Home" (1956) and "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" (1961).
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"(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" is an R&B song written by Paul Gayten and Bobby Charles, and performed by Clarence "Frogman" Henry.
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