I have done research on Richman and I have enjoyed playing and singing the first song he wrote and recorded -- "Will You Remember Me?" – which he recorded Jan. 30, 1925.
I have been thinking about this name, "Muddy Water," and the strange path it led. Blues guitarists know it from one source of questionable data and I know it from another source.
"Muddy Waters" (McKinley Morganfield) was born in the 1915 Mississippi Delta and got his nickname, "Muddy" from his grandmother when he was just a little kid. He liked to play in puddles. But he later added the "Water" to make it "Muddy Water" and still later he made the "Water" plural.
For my interests in the music of the 1900 to 1939 era, I have been looking for a published date for this name but most appear to be after 1932. This is after he started playing guitar and the name, "Muddy Water(s)" was constant from 1948-on when he made his first recording. It was his electrification of Delta Blues, among other things, that gave him the well-deserved reputation.
But before there was a "Muddy Water(s)," the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, had been discovered by Ma Rainey sometime in 1912. Bessie made her first recording in the spring of 1923.
There is little doubt that Bessie Smith and others were hearing a song called "Muddy Water" as early as 1926 and Bessie recorded it the first time in March the next year. It was another big seller for Bessie.
"Muddy Water" (the song) was described as a Mississippi Moan. There were several terms used to describe such music. This was when every drug store, variety store, and the like, would have a rack of sheet music. This music had gone by many names...not unlike music does today. Mississippi Moan would be a much different piece of music from say...a Chicago Coon Shout. Blossom Seeley – white – was considered one of the best Coon Shouters. (These terms are used for educational purposes and historical accuracy.)
So the whole concept of "Muddy Water" was well-established in Black Americana before McKinley "Muddy Waters" Morganfield and even Bessie Smith’s performance.
Yet, the story of "Muddy Water" is a little more strange than that.
The song was written by a white, Jewish guy from Cincinnati, Ohio. This Harry Reichman, who had changed his name to Harry Richman when he became a performer, had moved east in the early '20s, and played piano to back up The Dolly Sisters, Nora Bayes, and Mae West. (Not at the same time.)
Richman was one of the first straw hat and cane – or top hat, cape, and cane – performers. He was a star of vaudeville, Broadway, Ziegfeld Follies, records, radio, and movies. He had more style than most performers at the time. He was a contemporary of Al Jolson, but Richman had even more flamboyance, and many thought, a better voice than Jolson.
Richman traveled among the well-to-do and performed for royalty. In Britain, he had to rush from a command performance for the King and Queen to an evening party for the American Ambassador, Joseph P. Kennedy.
Harry had many great songs written for him like "Birth of the Blues,"
and "Blue Skies." He was identified with another song he introduced,
"Puttin’ On the Ritz," as well as "Exactly Like You" and "On
the Sunny Side of the Street."
I have done research on Richman and I have enjoyed playing and singing the first song he
wrote and recorded -- "Will You Remember Me?" – which he recorded Jan. 30,
1925.
(To hear Harry Richman sing "Will You Remember Me?")
He wrote "Walking My Baby Back Home" which gave Johnnie Ray such a big hit in 1956. Ray is pretty much forgotten today but certainly should not be. He was an original.
(To hear Johnnie Ray sing Richman's "Walking My Baby Back Home")
And Harry Richman wrote "Muddy Water" in 1926. This song contributed to the success of Bessie Smith and Richman’s "Miss Annabelle Lee" crossed the ocean and was a big hit for none other than Django Reinhardt.
Harry died in California in 1972. He had made and spent a fortune but died broke. His autobiography, "Hell Of A Life" pretty well sums it up.
(This is a 1929 recording of Harry Richman doing "Muddy Water." Urban version?)
(This is a 1929 recording of Bessie Smith doing "Muddy Water.")
It is a long way from the Mississippi Delta to Bessie Smith to "Puttin’ On The Ritz," but the uninterrupted path is there. Music defines Culture, as well as transcends Culture.
Music simply IS!
We are merely human, and therefore, temporal.
Ken Cashion
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