Music
A Tune from "Satchmo's" Wife
Lil Hardin Armstrong
Recorded Live Aboard
American Cruise Lines Ship
"American Melody"
September 21, 2021
"Struttin' With Some Bar-B-Q"
This song is credited to Louis Armstrong's 2nd wife and sometime piano player, Lil Hardin Armstrong.
Following their divorce in 1938 (after 7 years of marriage and 7 more of separation), Armstrong claimed that he had actually written the song and had given the copyrights to her. Whether this is true is not certain.
He later told the story that the idea had come to him in 1927 while he was eating barbecue with drummer Zutty Singleton.
An Inspired Version of a Centuries Old Classic
Recorded Live Aboard
American Cruise Lines Ship
"American Melody"
November 3, 2021
"St. James Urgent Care Center"
An American folksong of anonymous origin, this tune is said to be based on an 18th-century English folk song called "The Unfortunate Rake."
It was first recorded in 1927 under the title "Gambler's Blues."
The more familiar title of St. James Infirmary is said to come from St. James Hospital in London, which was a religious foundation for the treatment of Hansen's disease.
We're adding one more title to the list to bring this historic standard into the 21st Century. We call our version ... St. James Urgent Care Center.
Thomas "Fats" Waller's
Huge 1929 Hit
Recorded Live Aboard
American Cruise Lines Ship
"American Melody"
November 3, 2021
"Ain't Misbehavin'"
This song, originally written for the Off-Broadway musical comedy, "Connie's Hot Chocolates," was so popular in 1929 that 6 separate recordings of it were released that year and all 6 became top-20 hits.
Waller re-recorded the song in 1943 for the film “Stormy Weather," and in 1984 that version received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.
In 2004 it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.
Fats Waller always claimed he wrote the song while languishing in alimony prison, which is what gave birth to its title.