Down the Road a Piece

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"Down the Road a Piece" is a song written in 1940 by Don Raye as a boogie woogie for the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley big band, which recorded it in August, and gained a top 10 hit in the closing months of the year.

Contents

[edit] Versions

The song became a standard of rock and roll, recorded by at least 96 artists. Amos Milburn, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Foghat, Bruce Springsteen, Manfred Mann, Jerry Lee Lewis, are a few.

In the 1940 original, the Will Bradley/Ray McKinley Orchestra was pared down to drums, bass, and piano, under the name, "The Will Bradley Trio," even though Bradley was not in the trio. The three musicians are mentioned in the lyrics,

The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack.
And you remember Doc and ol' "Beat Me Daddy" Slack.

"Eight Beat Mack" refers to drummer Ray McKinley, "Doc" refers to bass player Doc Goldberg, and "Beat Me Daddy Slack" refers to Freddie Slack, the pianist, who had risen to stardom as the pianist in "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" with this same band earlier in the year. Vocals on the recording were by McKinley and Don Raye, author of the song.

The original lyrics were also sung by Glenn Miller in 1946, and Harry Gibson in 1945, but later versions had the lines about the musicians altered. Amos Milburn, who recorded the song in 1946, included the reference to Eight Beat Mack, but changed the next line to "You remember me in beat me daddy's shack" removing references to the other two. Merrill Moore sang "Eight Beat Joe...Beat Me Daddy Moe," in 1956. Chuck Berry, who recorded the song in 1960, changed the lyrics further, removing Eight Beat Mack and replacing him with Kicking McCoy, and re-wrote much of the song, which version was copied by many later musicians, such as the Rolling Stones and Foghat. Modern musicians more often than not use the original lyrics. One oddment: when Ella Mae Morse sang the song in the early 50's, she deleted Doc and Slack from the lyrics and replaced them with "Sam and Spider-Finger Jack," but kept the "Eight Beat Mack" reference, in spite of the fact that McKinley was not in the band, but Slack was.

[edit] Lyrics as written by Don Raye in 1940

If you like to boogie woogie, I know the place.
It's just an old piano and a knocked-out bass.
The drummer man's a guy they call Eight Beat Mack.
And you remember Doc and ol' "Beat Me Daddy" Slack.
It's better than chicken fried in bacon grease
Come along with me boys, it's just down the road a piece

Well there's a place you really get your kicks
It's open every night from about 12 to 6
If you like the boogie woogie, then you'll get your fill
They throw the 8-beats at you like an old steam drill
Come along with me boys, before they lose their lease
It's just down the road, down the road a piece.

[edit] Lyrics as re-written by Chuck Berry

Now if you want to hear some boogie like I'm going to play
It's just an old piano and a knockout bass
The drummer man's a cat they call Kickin' McCoy
You know, remember that rubber legged boy?
Mama cooking chicken fried in bacon grease
Come on along, boys, it's just down the road apiece

Well there's a place you really get your kicks
It's open every night about 12 to 6
Now if you want to hear some boogie, you can get your fill
And shove and sting it like an old steam grill
Come on along, you can lose your lead
Down the road, down the road, down the road apiece

[edit] Partial list of musicians who have recorded the song, in chronological order

also:

  • Bruce Springsteen 1999, singing on Joe Grushecky live album, never recorded under his own name
  • Willie Dixon has been cited as having recorded the song, which he did when he played bass on the Chuck Berry record in 1960, but no evidence of his recording the song under his own name has been found.
  • Count Basie Orchestra has also been cited, but no evidence has been found.
  • Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, same as above.
  • Joey And The Jivers (date unknown)
  • Daphne Hellman Quartette (date unknown)

[edit] External links