Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Louis Jordan: Five Guys Named Moe


There are some that say that this underrated great was the father of rhytm and blues and rock and roll. From wikipedia

Louis Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician and songwriter who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the later years of the swing era. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #59 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Jordan was one of the most successful African-American musicians of the 20th century, ranking fifth in the list of the all-time most successful black recording artists according to Billboard magazine's chart methodology. Though comprehensive sales figures are not available, he scored at least four million-selling hits during his career. Jordan regularly topped the R&B "race" charts, and was one of the first black recording artists to achieve a significant "crossover" in popularity into the mainstream (predominantly white) American audience, scoring simultaneous Top Ten hits on the white pop charts on several occasions. After Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Louis Jordan was probably the most popular and successful black bandleader of his day. But in contrast to almost all of his colleagues of all races, he was a major personality in his own right, an all-round entertainer of enormous and diverse accomplishments.

lyrics-perhaps another text to decode with the jive dictionary?
Let me tell you a story from way back,
truck on down and dig me, Jack,
there's Big Moe, little biddy Moe, four eyed Moe, No Moe,
Look at brother, look at brother, look at brother,
eat Moe!
Who's the greatest band around,
makes the cats jump up and down,
who's the talk of rhythm town,
five guy's named Moe, that's us!
When they start to beat it out,
everybody jumps and shouts,
tell me who the critics all rave about,
five guys named Moe.
We came out of nowhere,
and that don't mean a thing,
we rate high and you'll know why,
when you hear us sing, sing, sing, sing, sing.
High brow, low brow, they all agree,
we're the best in harmony,
I'm telling you folks, you really ought to see,
five guys named Moe.

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