Waterboy (song)

"Waterboy" / "Water Boy"

Cover of sheet music to a piano version of the "negro convict song" arranged by Avery Robinson for singer Roland Hayes, 1950
Song
Published 1922
Genre Jazz, Folk, Blues
Length Typically 3-4 mins
Writer Traditional
Composer Avery Robinson (arr.)

"Waterboy" (a.k.a. "The Water Boy") is an American traditional folk song.

Originally a black prison work song composed by Jacques Wolfe, a Romanian immigrant, Waterboy became known as a jazz arrangement by Avery Robinson[1] popularized "Water Boy" in the 1920s. From 1949 onwards, it has also been performed by many blues and folk artists.

Versions

This is the version arranged by Avery Robinson[2] (see image).
"Waterboy" was recorded by several other jazz singers around this time, including Fats Waller (see below), Earl Hines and John Payne.
This version appears on the compilations The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker, The Unknown John Lee Hooker: 1949 Recordings and Jack O' Diamonds: 1949 Recordings.[5]
Song: "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain/Water Boy".[6]
"Waterboy" became a song Odetta performed regularly, and it appears on several of her albums. It is also the song she plays in the film No Direction Home, in a TV performance from the 1960s (shown to highlight her influence on Bob Dylan).

Jimmie Rodgers (1960)

Bill Shirley Trio (1961 Most assuredly this should be the DON Shirley Trio

Alan Sherman did a parody of the song as "Seltzer Boy" (1962), taken from the album, "My Son the Folksinger". He was sued by the songwriter's estates for not asking approval beforehand. Sherman paid the penalty for this. (Source: "A Gift of Laughter" by Alan Sherman (1965).)

External links

References

Retrieved January 14, 2007 unless stated

  1. ^ AMG: Avery Robinson > Songs composed by
  2. ^ JSTOR: The Black Perspective in Music, “Isaac Hayes in London” retrieved April 25, 2008
    If unavailable, text also contained in Google search result
  3. ^ Fats Waller - In London, AMG
  4. ^ Fats Waller - 1938, AMG
  5. ^ John Lee Hooker - "Water Boy", AMG
  6. ^ Odetta - "I've Been Driving on Bald Mountain/Water Boy", AMG
  7. ^ Harry Belafonte - Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall, www.akh.se
  8. ^ Paul Robeson - The Power & the Glory, AMG