78 RPM - Cootie Williams - Red Blues / Things Ain't What They Used To Be - Hit - USA

78 RPM Record

Artist:	Cootie Williams
Label:	Hit
Country:	USA
Catalogue:	7084
Date:	Apr 1944
Format:	10"
Collection:	I Own It I Want It
Community:	5 Own
Price Guide:	Valuation Page
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Track	Artist	Title	Composer	Rating
A	Cootie Williams	Red Blues	Haggart	Rate
B	Cootie Williams	Things Ain't What They Used To Be	Ellington, Persons	Rate

Notes

Cootie Williams And His Orchestra
Vocal Refrain by Eddie Vinson
Recorded Jan 6, 1944. Reissued on Majestic 7084 in 1945.

BB April 8, 1944, p. 18 (Popular Record Releases - from March 30 thru April 6)
BB #2 R&B ("Harlem" Hit Parade) - Cherry Red Blues

Images

Comments and Reviews


xiphophilos 18th Aug 2022		F. T. means Fox Trot.



benchwarrant17 18th Aug 2022		'There is a long history of chicanery in the recording industry' you are so correct, especially the claims submitted to the US Copyright Office by publishers and artists back in this time period. The first record with the title "Red Blues" is already making me laugh. What is "FT"? Doesn't matter, just curious



benchwarrant17 18th Aug 2022		Thanks for the great info Here is some additional 1. Never made pop charts - Aug 26 1944 'Cherry Red Blues' was a "territorial favorite" Memphis, TN on the Most Played Juke Box Records page. Whitburn gave it a number 23 and put it in his book. 2. 'Red Blues' was the no. 3 Harlem Hit Parade record of the year (according to my calculations). It was on the HHP chart for 39 weeks (2nd record on the 1944 most weeks list had 26). I use Billboard's year-end formulas (see Wikipedia Year In Music for 1920-1949), not the no. 1 for most weeks formula that ranks Red Blues at #15. So this was probably Cootie's biggest chart hit of all-time



fixbutte 7th Apr 2017		It's clearly printed "Persons" when you look at the label images linked on my first comment. I've corrected it like that. Discogs knows more: Ted Persons Real Name: Simon Schwartz Lyricist, writer and producer (1909 - 1988). Along with other (mainly political) activities, he wrote lyrics under the name Ted Persons and produced a TV show in the early 1950s, the AdLibbers. Also corrected on the linked Majestic 7084 issue which has also printed "Persons" on the label as a label image on eBay shows. Btw, the composer "Ellington" on the B-side is not the Duke but his son, Mercer.



slholzer 6th Apr 2017		According to Wikipedia, the second composer on "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" is not Parsons but Persons. I've never seen a photo of this label that was clear enough to know if that's how it is printed or not.



fixbutte 30th Mar 2017		Well spotted, xiphophilos. The link on my first comment actually leads to label images with the "Elite" note at the top of both labels, and on the evidence of other Hit Record labels this was the earlier version. The change must have been made at some point in mid-1944. Our displayed labels for Hit 7083 have the same altered "Classic Record Company New York" note as our A-side here and most probably belong to a later pressing as well.



xiphophilos 30th Mar 2017		The B side I added still bears the note "Made by Elite Record Mfgers." with a slightly strange abbreviation for Manufacturers. The A side we already had says instead "Classic Record Company New York" and must be a later repress.



fixbutte 29th Mar 2017		Clean A-side label image uploaded, with the same mistakes as the previously commented stickered one (wrong title and composer, vocalist's name misspelled). B-side label image still missing though. [meanwhile added by xiphophilos, thanks]



slholzer 24th Feb 2017		I think there must have been some confusion on Hit's part. The Johnson-Turner attribution on the Majestic issue is credible given that they were the apparent originators of the song. Haggart, the credited author on Hit 7084, is most likely Bob Haggart, the bass player with Bob Crosby's Bob Cats, a much sought after studio musician, and a not-infrequent composer. He could easily have written something called "Red Blues", but if he did, it probably didn't sound anything like "Cherry Red" except to the extent that all blues have a certain similarity. There is a long history of chicanery in the recording industry involving attempts by record executives to hijack the composer royalties of tunes on their labels but I don't see how they could have profited from this switch unless the substituted composer was in on the deal. I have no reason to believe that Bob Haggart, if he was the Haggart in question, would have been inclined to do such a thing. The simplest explanation is that somebody just goofed. If the composer was some other Haggart with a known association with the label, I might rethink that.



fixbutte 23rd Feb 2017		I still think that this here was the inspiration for Dylan who must have known "Cherry Red Blues", but others have other presumptions, see here: Incidentally, the well-known line from Lay, Lady, Lay - "lay across my big brass bed", comes from the 1931 single "Rough Alley Blues" by Blind Willie McTell with Ruth Willis (also known as Mary Willis), and is actually sung by Ruth Willis. This is interesting because that song actually includes the lines I take it to my room and lay it 'cross my big brass bed I take it to my room and lay it 'cross my big brass bed I guess I'll be my own singer, neighbours turn cherry red So "Rough Alley Blues" seems to have been an inspiration for Big Joe Turner in 1939 at least. Here is the record on YouTube: You can read along the lyrics here.



fixbutte 23rd Feb 2017		After the obligatory orchestral introduction, "Cherry Red Blues" (written and first performed by Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner in 1939) gets really raunchy, even underlined by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson's lewd vocal style, ending with the verse that gives the clear sexual explanation of the song title: "Take me, pretty mama, Jump me in your big brass bed, Rock me, mama, Till my face gets cherry red". Despite its reckless content the record was not only a big seller among the Afro-Americans (#2 in Billboard's "Harlem" Hit Parade, charted from May 1944 to Jan 1945) but it also entered the pop charts. Bob Dylan must have remembered the big brass bed when writing "Lay Lady Lay". (copied from my own review from 2007)



fixbutte 23rd Feb 2017		Created an extra entry for this original HIT record and moved st0nesstein' label image here. I guess the record shop sticker is not accidentally across the label name which may have been already out of use when the record was sold. Un-stickered labels can be seen here. Can you upload your B-side as well, st0nesstein? What is intriguing is the change of the title and the composer credits from the HIT record to the Majestic record. Even stranger, although the record was listed very early in Billboard's "Harlem" Hit Parade (as of May 27, 1944), all contemporary sources refer to "Cherry Red Blues" - in contrast to all HIT labels that I have seen. Another oddity (on all labels, not corrected on Majestic) is Eddie Vinson's name misspelled as "Vincon".

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Linked Releases

USA - Majestic - 1945