"Beware" is a song attributed to Morry Lasco, Dick Adams, and
Fleecie Moore
Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...
. It was performed by
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...
and his
Tympany Five
Tympany Five was a successful and influential American rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double bass, guitar and pian ...
, recorded in January 1946, and released on the
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
label (catalog no. 18818-A).
It peaked at No. 2 on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''s race record chart and remained on the chart for nine weeks.
It also reached No. 20 on the pop chart. It was ranked No. 13 on the magazine's list of the most played race records of 1946.
Jordan and the Tympany Five also performed the song as the title track for the motion picture ''
Beware'' (1946).
[
Jordan biographer Stephen Koch noted that the granting of partial songwriting credit to Jordan's wife, Fleecie Moore, was part of "a publishing and tax dodge gone awry."]
See also
* Billboard Most-Played Race Records of 1946 Billboard Most-Played Race Records of 1946 is a year-end chart compiled by '' Billboard'' magazine ranking the year's top race records based on the number of times the record was played on the nation's juke boxes.''Billboard'' assigned point totals ...
References
{{Louis Jordan
1946 songs
Louis Jordan songs
Songs written by Louis Jordan