Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey

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1902 sheet music cover, words and music written by Hughie Cannon published by Howley, Haviland and Dresser BillBailey1902Cover.jpg
1902 sheet music cover, words and music written by Hughie Cannon published by Howley, Haviland and Dresser

"(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey", originally titled "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please.... Come Home?" is a popular song published in 1902. It is commonly referred to as simply "Bill Bailey".

Contents

Its words and music were written by Hughie Cannon, an American songwriter and pianist and published by Howley, Haviland and Dresser. It is still a standard with Dixieland and traditional jazz bands. The simple 32-bar chord sequence of its chorus also underpins many other tunes played mainly by jazz bands, such as "Over the Waves", "Washington and Lee Swing", "Bourbon Street Parade", "My Little Girl", and the final themes of "Tiger Rag" and "The Beer Barrel Polka".

Hughie Cannon American composer

Hugo Cannon publishing as Hughie Cannon was an American songwriter and pianist whose best-known composition was the popular ragtime song "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey".

Dixieland, sometimes referred to as hot jazz or traditional jazz, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Excerpt of jazz band version by Kid Ory, 1946, chorus only.

Origin

Cannon wrote the song in 1902 when he was working as a bar pianist at Conrad Deidrich’s Saloon in Jackson, Michigan. Willard "Bill" Bailey was a regular customer and friend, and one night told Cannon about his marriage to Sarah (née Siegrist). Cannon "was inspired to rattle off a ditty about Bailey’s irregular hours. Bailey thought the song was a scream [i.e. very good], and he brought home a dashed-off copy of the song to show Sarah. Sarah couldn’t see the humor.... [but] accepted without comment the picture it drew of her as a wife." Cannon sold all rights to the song to a New York publisher, and died from cirrhosis aged 35. Willard and Sarah Bailey later divorced; he died in 1954, and she died in 1976 aged circa 102. (See New York Times archives 1976, unknown date)

Jackson, Michigan City in Michigan, United States

Jackson is a city in the south central area of the U.S. state of Michigan, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Ann Arbor and 35 miles (56 km) south of Lansing. It is the county seat of Jackson County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Served by Interstate 94, it is the principal city of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Jackson County and has a population of 160,248.

Cirrhosis Chronic disease of the liver, characterized by fibrosis

Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, is a condition in which the liver does not function properly due to long-term damage. This damage is characterized by the replacement of normal liver tissue by scar tissue. Typically, the disease develops slowly over months or years. Early on, there are often no symptoms. As the disease worsens, a person may become tired, weak, itchy, have swelling in the lower legs, develop yellow skin, bruise easily, have fluid build up in the abdomen, or develop spider-like blood vessels on the skin. The fluid build-up in the abdomen may become spontaneously infected. Other serious complications include hepatic encephalopathy, bleeding from dilated veins in the esophagus or dilated stomach veins, and liver cancer. Hepatic encephalopathy results in confusion and may lead to unconsciousness.

Covers

It was a #1 hit for Arthur Collins in July 1902.[ citation needed ] Among the artists who have covered the song are Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, Patsy Cline, Mandy Barnett, Dan Hornsby, Bobby Darin, Aretha Franklin from Take a Look (1967), Brenda Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Durante, Phish, Danny Barker, Harry Connick Jr., Renee Olstead, Michael Bublé, Sam Cooke, Al Hirt [1] and others. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961). Singer and actress Della Reese recorded the song in 1961, and it entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number #98, and became a part of her performance repertoire. In Britain, the Edwardian music hall star Victoria Monks (1884–1927) popularised the song in 1905 and thereafter it became her most demanded and remembered song.

Arthur Collins (singer) American singer

Arthur Francis Collins was an American baritone who was one of the most prolific and beloved of pioneer recording artists, regarded in his day as "King of the Ragtime Singers".

Cover version later version of a song already established with a different earlier performer

In popular music, a cover version, cover song, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by someone other than the original artist or composer of a previously recorded, commercially released song.

Most commonly it is performed in a truncated version based on the chorus. While the chorus is much more familiar than the verse, some artists continue to perform the verse as well, sometimes as an introduction. Without the lyrics of the seldom heard verse, one doesn't know who Bill Bailey is nor why he isn't home. (An unusual approach is Bobby Darin's version, as he added his own spoken word introduction, as an aside to the mythical Bailey.)

In 1987, American cowpunk band The Gun Club covered Bill Bailey as part of their album Mother Juno. [2]

Cowpunk is a subgenre of punk rock that began in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and California in the early 1980s. It combines punk rock or new wave with country, folk, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style. Many of the musicians in this scene have now become associated with alternative country or roots rock.

The Gun Club band

The Gun Club were an American post-punk/ blues band from Los Angeles, California, United States, that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer guitarist and songwriter Jeffrey Lee Pierce, they merged the contemporary genre of punk rock with the more traditional genres of rockabilly and country music along with X, the Flesh Eaters and the Blasters. The Gun Club has been called a "tribal psychobilly blues" band and initiators of the U.S. wave of Cowpunk

<i>Mother Juno</i> 1987 studio album by The Gun Club

Mother Juno is a 1987 album released by The Gun Club. It was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. "Yellow Eyes" was originally entitled "Funky Junkie"; "Nobody's City" was originally "Sleepy Times Blues". The original recordings of Mother Juno were released as Mother Berlin in 2015 on Bang! Records containing an additional track, "Country One".

Parodies

Parodist Allan Sherman recorded a parody of this song on his 1963 album My Son, the Celebrity, entitled "Won't You Come Home Disraeli?"

Allan Sherman American comedian

Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer, television producer, singer and actor who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer (1962), became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. His biggest hit single was "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh", a comic novelty in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours.

<i>My Son, the Celebrity</i> 1963 studio album by Allan Sherman

My Son, the Celebrity is a musical comedy album by Allan Sherman, released in the United States by Warner Bros. in January 1963.

Benjamin Disraeli British Conservative Prime Minister

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield,, was a British politician of the Conservative Party who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the glory and power of the British Empire. He is the only British prime minister to have been of Jewish birth. He was also a novelist, publishing works of fiction even as prime minister.

In the "The Happy Household" episode of The Flintstones , first aired February 23, 1962, Wilma Flintstone belts out a portion of the song while auditioning for "The Happy Housewife" TV cooking show.

<i>The Flintstones</i> American cartoon series

The Flintstones is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera for ABC. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting, and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the Rubbles. It was originally broadcast from September 30, 1960, until April 1, 1966, as the first animated series to hold a prime time slot.

In the "Miss Solar System" episode of The Jetsons , first aired February 3, 1963, Jane belts out "Won't You Fly Home Bill Spacely" in Hanna-Barbera's own parody of the song. Hanna-Barbera (with Cartoon Network Studios) makes more frequent use of the song throughout its Johnny Bravo cartoon series.

Children's performer Tom Chapin recorded a version of this song on his album Some Assembly Required.

In The Simpsons episode "Whacking Day", Grampa Simpson is featured posing as a female cabaret singer in Nazi Germany, singing this song to Adolf Hitler.

The 1980 Smurfs album, "Smurfing Sing Song", includes a version of this song entitled "Smurf Baby" which is the "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" chorus repeated and the name "Bill Bailey" is replaced with "Smurf Baby".

Sandler & Young recorded a 20-minute medley where Bill Bailey is adapted to England, France, Switzerland, Nashville, Italian opera, Bach, Israel (with Jewish jokes), and climaxing with the United States.

In Avalon Family Entertainment's Jack and the Beanstalk , Grayson the Goose played by Gilbert Gottfried now half human and half goose after eating one of the magic beans begins to sing "(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey" to Jack played by Colin Ford, until Jack covers his ears and groans when he can't stand the singing (along with some wolves/dogs that were howling in the distance).

See also

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References

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