Willie the Weeper

Last updated
"Willie the Weeper"
Song
Writtenca. 1904
Songwriter(s) Credited to Walter Melrose, Grant Rymal and Marty Bloom

"Willie the Weeper" is a song about drug addiction. It is based on a standard vaudeville song, likely written in 1904. [1] It is credited to Walter Melrose, Grant Rymal, Marty Bloom, who published it with Morris Edwin H & Co Inc in 1908. [2] The first recording was likely by Freddie Keppard between 1923 and 1926. Many artists recorded the song in 1927, including Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven, and King Oliver. Ernest Rodgers recorded a version, also in 1927, [3] which shares several lines with Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher". [4] [5]

Contents

The song has many different versions, but all share a common theme: Willie, a chimney sweeper with a dope habit, is introduced. The rest of the song is a description of his drug-induced dream. As Carl Sandburg wrote in his book The American Songbag:

R. W. Gordon in his editorship of the Adventure magazine department "Old Songs That Men Have Sung" received thirty versions of Willy the Weeper, about one hundred verses different. Willy shoots craps with kings, plays poker with presidents, eats nightingale tongues a queen cooks for him; his Monte Carlo winnings come to a million, he lights his pipe with a hundred dollar bill, he has heart affairs with Cleopatra, the Queen of Sheba, and movie actresses. [6]

In later years, various artists covered the song. Dave Van Ronk has covered this song. Bette Davis sings this song in the film The Cabin in the Cotton . The song should not be confused with Billy Walker's 1962 song "Willie the Weeper," which reached #5 on the country charts. Despite having the same title, the songs are unrelated.

Lyrics

Have you ever heard about Willie the Weeper?
Had a job as a chimney sweeper,
He had the dope habit and he had it bad,
Listen while I tell you about a dream he had,

He went down to the dope shop one Saturday night,
He knew the lights would all be burning bright,
Well I guess he smoked a dozen pills or more,
When he woke up he was on a foreign shore,

The Queen of Sheba was the first he met,
She called him lovey-dovey and honey pet,
She gave him a great big automobile,
With a diamond headlight and a golden wheel,

Down in Honolulu Willie fell in a trance,
Seein' the dusky beauties do the Hula dance,
His sweetie got in jail and Willie sure did shout,
When he got the news that she had wiggled out,

He landed with a splash in the river Nile,
Ridin' on a seagoin' crocodile,
He winked at Cleopatra, she said "Ain't he a sight"
'n' he said, "How 'bout a date for next Saturday night?"

He had a million cattle and he had a million sheep,
Had a million vessels on the ocean deep,
Had a million dollars all in nickels and dimes,
Well he knew because he counted it a thousand times,

He landed in New York one evenin’ late,
He asked his sugar for an after-date,
Started to kiss her and she started to pout,
When bang-blang!
And the dope gave out!

Derivative works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cab Calloway</span> American jazz singer (1907–1994)

Cabell Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.

"St. James Infirmary" is an American blues and jazz standard that emerged, like many others, from folk traditions. Louis Armstrong brought the song to lasting fame through his 1928 recording, on which Don Redman is named as composer; later releases credit "Joe Primrose", a pseudonym used by musician manager, music promoter and publisher Irving Mills. The melody is eight bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4
4
time signature, but has also been played in 3
4
.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen of Sheba</span> Historical figure in the Abrahamic religions

The Queen of Sheba, known as Bilqis in Yemeni and Islamic tradition and as Makeda in Ethiopian tradition, is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she brings a caravan of valuable gifts for the Israelite King Solomon. This account has undergone extensive Jewish, Islamic, Yemenite and Ethiopian elaborations, and it has become the subject of one of the most widespread and fertile cycles of legends in Asia and Africa.

"Minnie the Moocher" is a jazz song co-written by American musician Cab Calloway and first recorded in 1931 by Calloway and his big band orchestra, selling over a million copies. "Minnie the Moocher" is famous for its nonsensical ad libbed lyrics, also known as scat singing. In performances, Calloway would have the audience and the band members participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of a call and response, eventually making it too fast and complicated for the audience to replicate.

<i>I Married an Angel</i> 1938 musical comedy by Rodgers and Hart

I Married An Angel is a 1938 musical comedy by Rodgers and Hart. It was adapted from a play by Hungarian playwright János Vaszary, entitled Angyalt Vettem Felesegul. The book was by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with music by Rodgers and lyrics by Hart. The story concerns a wealthy banker who, disillusioned with women, decides that the only mate for him would be an angel. An angel soon arrives, and he marries her, but finds out that her perfection and guilelessness are inconvenient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chimney Sweeper</span> Two-part poem by William Blake

"The Chimney Sweeper" is the title of a poem by William Blake, published in two parts in Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794. The poem "The Chimney Sweeper" is set against the dark background of child labour that was prominent in England in the late 18th and 19th centuries. At the age of four and five, boys were sold to clean chimneys, due to their small size. These children were oppressed and had a diminutive existence that was socially accepted at the time. Children in this field of work were often unfed and poorly clothed. In most cases, these children died from either falling through the chimneys or from lung damage and other horrible diseases from breathing in the soot. In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church or possibly even suffered death where church is referring to being with God.

"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South. The song refers to the passenger train Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light."

<i>The Old Man of the Mountain</i> (film) 1933 film by Dave Fleischer

The Old Man of the Mountain is a 1933 American pre-Code live-action/animated short in the Betty Boop series, produced by Fleischer Studios. Featuring music by Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, the short was originally released to theaters on August 4, 1933, by Paramount Pictures. Calloway voices all of the characters in the cartoon save for Betty herself. Calloway and his orchestra also perform all of the music in the cartoon, including two songs Calloway co-wrote.

"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a hobo. The song's authorship is uncertain, but according to hobo poetry researcher Bud L. McKillips, the words were written by an IWW member. Carl Sandburg collected the song for his anthology The American Songbag, and he wrote that it was "heard at the water tanks of railroads in Kansas in 1897 and from harvest hands who worked in the wheat fields of Pawnee County, was picked up later by the I. W. W.'s, who made verses of their own for it, and gave it a wide fame." Some verses may have been written by a Kansas City hobo known only as "One-Finger Ellis," who scribbled it on the wall of his prison cell in 1897. There is also a questionable theory that Harry McClintock, an IWW member, could have written it in 1899 when he was only fifteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Moonshiner</span>

"The Moonshiner" is a folk song with unknown origins. In Ireland and America, it is sung with similar lyrics but different melodies. It is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 4301. The song's structure is very similar to The Wild Rover, but instead extolling the virtues of moonshining.

"Step in Time" is a song and dance number from Walt Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins which was composed by the Sherman Brothers. The choreography for this song was provided by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood. It is sung by Bert, the chimney sweep and the other chimney sweeps on the rooftops of London. It is similar to the old British music hall song "Knees Up Mother Brown".

"Eeper Weeper" or "Heeper Peeper" is an English nursery rhyme and skipping song that tells the story of a chimney sweep who kills his second wife and hides her body up a chimney. The rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13497.

"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on the traditional song, "Gospel Plow," also known as "Hold On," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow," and various permutations thereof.

Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, born Frank Devera Jackson, was an African American vaudeville singer, stage designer and comedian, popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

"Bang Bang Lulu" is a traditional American song with many variations. It derives from older songs most commonly known as "Bang Bang Rosie" in Ireland, "Bang Away Lulu" in Appalachia, and "My Lula Gal" in the West. The form "Bang Bang Lulu" became widespread in the United States from its use as a cadence during the World Wars. The song uses the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies".

"Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" is a cowboy folk song. Also known as "The Cowboy's Lament", "The Dying Cowboy", "Bury Me Out on the Lone Prairie", and "Oh, Bury Me Not", the song is described as the most famous cowboy ballad. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Based on a sailor's song, the song has been recorded by many artists, including Moe Bandy, Johnny Cash, Cisco Houston, Burl Ives, Bruce Molsky, The Residents, Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers, Colter Wall, William Elliott Whitmore and Sam Shackleton.

"One Morning in May" is an English folk song which has been collected from traditional singers in England and the USA and has also been recorded by revival singers. Through the use of double-entendre, at least in the English versions, it tells of an encounter between a grenadier and a lady.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John W. Boyle</span> American cinematographer (1891–1959)

John W. Boyle, was an American cinematographer whose career spanned from the silent era through the 1950s. Over his career he would photograph more than 150 films, including features, shorts and documentaries. He would also work on several British films over the course of his career.

<i>Miss Granny</i> (2018 film) 2018 Filipino film

Miss Granny is a 2018 Filipino musical comedy-drama film based on the South Korean film of the same name. Directed by Joyce E. Bernal, it stars Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, and Nova Villa. It was released by Viva Films on August 22, 2018, and was nominated for three FAMAS Awards including "Best Actress" for Sarah Geronimo and "Best Original Song" for Isa Pang Araw. It was the second most talked about Filipino film of 2018 on Twitter, The Hows of Us. Geronimo received "Best Actress" trophy at the 35th PMPC Star Awards for Movies, whilst Villa received the "Movie Supporting Actress of the Year" award at the 50th GMMSF Entertainment Box Office Awards. The film is also available for streaming on Netflix in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrice Chanler</span> American actress

Beatrice Minerva Ashley Chanler, also known as Minnie Ashley, was an American stage actress, artist, and author. She was active in charity and philanthropy during World War I and World War II.

References

  1. Where Dead Voices Gather, Nick Tosches. 2009
  2. "Willie the Weeper", Second Hand Songs.
  3. Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Willie
  4. Lorenz, Brenna & Lorenz, Megaera. (2001). Heptune Lorenz-Pulte Jazz and Blues Page. Retrieved January 11, 2008, from http://www.heptune.com/jazzfolk.html Archived 2010-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
  5. (1999). "Willie the Weeper". Retrieved 2008-01-11, from http://www.heptune.com/willieth.html
  6. Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag, p. 242.