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lyrics

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THE TIGER RAG - LYRICS
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Writen by Nick LaRocca, Eddie Edwards, Henry Ragas,
Tony Sbarbaro, and Larry Shields in 1917.
Published 1917


Where's that tiger! Where's that tiger!
Where's that tiger! Where's that tiger!
Hold that tiger! Hold that tiger ! Hold that tiger!
Hello Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty

Where's that tiger? Where's that tiger?
Where oh where can he be?
Low or highbrow, they all cry now
"Please play that Tiger Rag for me"

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ABOUT THIS TRACK
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"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard that was recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions. In 2003, the 1918 recording of "Tiger Rag" was entered into the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

The song was first recorded on August 17, 1917 by the Original Dixieland Jass Band for Aeolian-Vocalion Records. The band did not use the "Jazz" spelling in its name until 1917. The Aeolian-Vocalion sides did not sell well because they were recorded in a vertical-cut format which could not be played successfully on most contemporary phonographs.

But the second recording on March 25, 1918 for Victor, made by the more common lateral-cut recording method, was a hit and established the song as a jazz standard. The song was copyrighted, published, and credited to band members Eddie Edwards, Nick LaRocca, Henry Ragas, Tony Sbarbaro, and Larry Shields in 1917.

AUTHORSHIP.
"Tiger Rag" was first copyrighted in 1917 with music composed by Nick LaRocca. In subsequent releases, the ODJB members received authorship credit. This authorship has never been challenged legally. According to author Frank Tirro,

But even before the first recording, several musicians had achieved prominence as leading jazz performers, and several numbers of what was to become the standard repertoire had already been developed. "Tiger Rag" and "Oh, Didn't He Ramble" were played long before the first jazz recording, and the names of Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Bunk Johnson, Papa Celestin, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Freddie Keppard, Kid Ory, and Papa Laine were already well known to the jazz community.

Other New Orleans musicians claimed that the song, or at least portions of it, had been a standard in the city before it was recorded. Others copyrighted the melody or close variations of it, including Ray Lopez under the title "Weary Weasel" and Johnny De Droit under the title "Number Two Blues". Members of Papa Jack Laine's band said song was known in New Orleans as "Number Two" before the Dixieland Jass Band copyrighted it. In one interview, Laine said that the composer was Achille Baquet.

In his book Jazz: A History, Frank Tirro states, "Morton claims credit for transforming a French quadrille that was performed in different meters into ‘Tiger Rag’".

The Italian musicologist Vincenzo Caporaletti has shown how the authorial self-attributions of Jelly Roll Morton are not reliable, by means of an analysis conducted on the first complete transcription in musical notation of Morton's Library of Congress performances (1938) with conclusions defined by Bruce Boyd Raeburn "justifiably compelling" on a scientific level. Furthermore, Caporaletti has accurately identified the "floating folk strains" that Nick La Rocca assembled to create "Tiger Rag".

According to writer Samuel Charters, "Tiger Rag" was worked out by the Jack Carey Band, the group which developed many of the standard tunes that were recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

According to Tirro, the song was known as "Jack Carey" by the black musicians of the city. "It was compiled when Jack's brother Thomas, 'Papa Mutt', pulled the first strain from a book of quadrilles. The band evolved the second and third strains in order to show off the clarinetist, George Boyd, and the final strain ('Hold that tiger' section) was worked out by Jack, a trombonist, and the cornet player, Punch Miller."

credits

from Out with the wrong women, released October 21, 2017
Recorded in 1 day in the autumn of 2017 at Porcupine Studio London.
Engineered by Nick Taylor.
Produced by Benoit Viellefon & Nick Taylor.

MUSICIANS:
Benoit Viellefon - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Andrew Oliver - Piano & Backing vocals
David O'Brien - Double bass & Backing vocals

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Benoit Viellefon London, UK

Benoit Viellefon is a French singer and guitarist established in the UK. Specialised in 1920's 1930's and 1940's music, Benoit is resident at Ronnie Scotts and other famous clubs. Benoit appears in many Hollywood films, TV and radio productions, festivals, and performed for VIP such as Madonna, the Queen, or the Kremlin. He often tours with his 3 bands: The Orchestra, the Hot Club, the trio. ... more

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