The Honeydripper

The Honeydripper in the original version of Joe Liggins was the first million-seller of Rhythm & Blues in 1945.

Genesis

Joe Liggins worked with Sammy Franklin & His Rhythm Rascals California and settled during the performances of the traditional " Shortnin ' Bread" inspire, from which he developed the idea for the title The Honeydripper in 1942. " Honeydripper " is the slang term for a smart, süßholzraspelnden ( African-American ) types. After his bandleader Sammy Franklin rejected the adoption of this title, Liggins formed his own band under the name The Honeydrippers and received in November 1944 when as small as short-lived record label Bronze Records the opportunity to record the song. However, the label lacked the distribution channels to spread it nationwide can, so that the charts were not taking any notice of him.

But Liggins played the song tirelessly during his performances. One of these performances was attended by the composer and producer Leon René, the Liggins under contract took the newly founded label Exclusive Records in March 1945. With the occupation of Joe Liggins (vocals, piano ), Little Willie Jackson (alto saxophone and clarinet), James Jackson Jr. ( tenor saxophone), Red Callender (bass) and Earl Carter (drums) The Honeydripper was in two parts on 20 April 1945 recorded and released in April 1945 as A- and B-side under the title The Honeydripper Parts I & II (Exclusive # 207). Also, the crossover success was remarkable with a rank of 13 in the pop charts.

Success

After strong sales and airplay intense recording already reached on 8 September 1945, the top position of the Rhythm & Blues charts, where it remained for 18 weeks. So the title is next to Choo Choo Ch'Boogie of Louis Jordan one of the two songs that have stood up today at the longest Toppostion the R & B charts. He sat down by more than two million copies.

Cover versions

Already on August 9, 1945 Jimmy Lunceford hastened with his orchestra to participate in the success of the song, especially the small label Exclusive Records was unable to meet the huge demand. On Decca # 23451 Lunceford reached the rank 10 of the pop singles chart. Already on October 9, 1945 was followed by Roosevelt Sykes ( Bluebird # 0737 ), which reached a third rank of the R & B charts. On November 13, 1945 Cab Calloway hastily took on a cover that leaves the impression that The Honeydripper has been written specifically for the Calloway band. Calloway reached with his version in February 1946 also third in the R & B charts. Bull Moose Jackson had the honor to bring out with his version of August 1945 the first board of the newly founded label Queen Records ( Queen # 4100 ), but remained in the face of strong competition from other versions with no success charts.

Collapse of Exclusive Records

The record company (with its subsidiary label Excelsior Records) was founded by the African-American brothers Otis and Leon René, there to publish the songs produced by them. Liggins still brought out some plates at Exclusive, until it went bankrupt in January 1950; could not prevent even the million-seller. The master tapes were purchased from Swing Time Records. Already on January 20, 1950 Liggins recorded his first songs for Specialty Records.