Sweet Georgia Brown
| "Sweet Georgia Brown" | |
|---|---|
 Later recording by Brother Bones and His Shadows (1949) | |
Song by Ben Bernie | |
| Written | 1925 |
| Released | 1925 (1925) |
| Composer(s) | Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard |
| Lyricist(s) | Kenneth Casey |
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard and pop tune composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey.
Reportedly Ben Bernie came up with the concept for the song's lyrics – although he is not the accredited lyricist – after meeting Dr. George Thaddeus Brown in New York City: Dr. Brown, a longtime member of the State House of Representatives for Georgia, told Bernie about Dr. Brown's daughter Georgia Brown and how subsequent to the baby girl's birth on August 11, 1911 the Georgia General Assembly had issued a declaration that she was to be named Georgia after the state, an anecdote which would be directly referenced by the song's lyric: "Georgia claimed her – Georgia named her."
The tune was first recorded on March 19, 1925, by bandleader Ben Bernie, resulting in a five-week number one for Ben Bernie and his Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra.[1]
One of the most popular versions of "Sweet Georgia Brown" was recorded in 1949 by Brother Bones and His Shadows and later adopted as the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team in 1952.
Contents
1 Renditions
2 See also
3 Notes and references
4 External links
Renditions
Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra, 1925[2]
California Ramblers, 1925
Ethel Waters, 1925[2]
Cab Calloway, 1931[2]
Bing Crosby recorded the song on April 23, 1932 with Isham Jones and his Orchestra[3] and it is assessed as reaching the No. 2 spot in the charts of the day.[4]
Carnival Day, 1936[5]
Coleman Hawkins with Benny Carter and Django Reinhardt, 1937[2]
Django Reinhardt, 1938[2]
Art Tatum, 1941[2]
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, 1943[2]
- The version used by the Globetrotters is a 1949 instrumental by Brother Bones[2] and His Shadows with whistling and bones by Brother Bones. It was adopted as the Globetrotters theme in 1952.
Bud Powell, 1950[2]
Red Norvo with Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow, 1950[2]
Anita O'Day, Jazz on a Summer's Day, 1958[2]
Carol Burnett, 1960- The song was covered by The Beatles while working as a backup band for singer Tony Sheridan. Two versions exist; the first was recorded on May 24, 1962 in Hamburg, Germany, using the original lyrics.[6] The second (but the first version released) was released in 1964 during the wave of Beatlemania with Sheridan having re-recorded the vocals with tamer lyrics and the additional verse "in Liverpool she even dares/to criticize the Beatles' hair/with their whole fan-club standing there/oh Sweet Georgia Brown."[7]
Nancy Sinatra, Covered that song for the 1966 album Sugar
Oscar Peterson, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and Ray Brown performed the song live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1977- Oscar Peterson, Live at the Blue Note, 1990[2]
Denny Zeitlin, Slickrock, 2003[2]
See also
- List of 1920s jazz standards
Notes and references
^ CD liner notes: Chart-Toppers of the Twenties, 1998 ASV Ltd.
^ abcdefghijklm Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. New York City: Oxford University Press. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, US: Record Research Inc. p. 103. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167814/reference
^ Craig Cross, Beatles-Discography.com, iUniverse, 2004, p. 46.
ISBN 978-0-595-31487-4.
^ "Polydor NH 52-906". Dmbeatles.com. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
External links
Audio file of the Brother Bones version at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (MP3 format)
Song information from Warner-Chappell Music
Sweet Georgia Brown lyrics (original version)
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
