"I Ain't Got Nobody" (sometimes referred to as "I'm So Sad and Lonely" or "I Ain't Got Nobody Much") is a popular song copyrighted in 1915.

Roger A. Graham Roger A. Graham (12 June 1885 – 25 October 1938) was an American lyricist, composer, singer, and music publisher who flourished from 1906 to 1920 — a period that included World War I, the golden age of Tin Pan Alley (from about 1915 to 1920), ...

(1885–1938) wrote the lyrics,

Spencer Williams Spencer Williams (October 14, 1889 – July 14, 1965) was an American jazz and popular music composer, pianist, and singer. He is best known for his hit songs " Basin Street Blues", "I Ain't Got Nobody", " Royal Garden Blues", " I've Found a New ...

composed it, and Roger Graham Music Publishing published it. It was first recorded by

Marion Harris Marion Harris (born Mary Ellen Harrison; April 4, 1896 – April 23, 1944) was an American popular singer who was most successful in the late 1910s and the 1920s. She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs.Ward, Elij ...

, and became a perennial

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

, recorded many times over following generations, in styles ranging from pop to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

. The 2008 film ''

Be Kind Rewind ''Be Kind Rewind'' is a 2008 buddy comedy film written and directed by Michel Gondry, and starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Melonie Diaz, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow and Sigourney Weaver. The film first appeared on January 20, 2008 at the 2008 Sund ...

'' uses the version recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, although two covers were recorded for the film as well: a piano solo version by

Jean-Michel Bernard Jean-Michel Bernard (born 23 November 1961) is a French pianist, composer, educator, orchestrator, and music producer. He is well known for regularly writing, performing, and scoring for films, such as ''The Science of Sleep'', ''Hugo'', '' Par ...

, and a

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

-esque version by

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

Attribution

Chicago and Saint Louis ragtime pianist and blues composer Charles Warfield (1878–1955) claimed to have originally written the song and a

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

dated April 1914 attributes Warfield as the composer, David Young as the

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

, and Marie Lucas as the

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. The title of the song is given as "I Ain't Got Nobody and Nobody Cares for Me".

' copyright entry from 1916 under a shorter title attributes the composition to Davy Peyton and himself and the lyrics to publisher Roger Graham. In 1916, Frank K. Root & Co., a Chicago publisher ''(né'' Frank Kimball Root; 1856–1932), acquired the Craig & Co. copyright, and, later that year, also acquired the Warfield-Young copyright. Clarence E. Brandon Sr. and Billy Smythe, both

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

musicians, both claim that they wrote the first version, words and music, of "I Ain't Got Nobody", filed two copyrights 1911, and published it that same year.

"Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley

"I Ain't Got Nobody" is best known in a form first recorded by

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, " Just a Gigolo". Prima started pairing the songs in 1945 and the idea was revisited in the popular

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

in a new, jive-and-jumping style, created by

Sam Butera Sam Butera (August 17, 1927 – June 3, 2009) was an American tenor saxophonist and singer-songwriter best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ...

for Prima's 1950s Las Vegas stage show. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, which aimed to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled ''

The Wildest! ''The Wildest!'' is an album by Louis Prima, first released in 1956. It features singer Keely Smith with saxophonist Sam Butera and the Witnesses. Background Louis Prima was a well-known 1930s and 1940s trumpeter and singer who had a moderate seri ...

'' and released in November 1956, opened with "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", which then became Prima's signature number and helped relaunch his career. Butera is noted for his raucous playing style, his

off-color humor Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult c ...

, and the innuendo in his lyrics. The arrangement he made with Prima of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" has been covered by

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

and

The Village People ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. The

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the release ...

recorded a disco version of the "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley for their 1978 album '' Macho Man''. Although the two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, further popularized by

on his 1985 EP '' Crazy From The Heat'', has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition. In 2017, the Spanish band De Morao Swing Tablao released a version of this song by double pairing it with the popular Spanish song, "María de la O".

References

External links

* * - Jazzmania Quintet, with

Georgie Stoll Georgie Stoll (born George Martin Stoll; May 7, 1905 – January 18, 1985) was a musical director, conductor, Academy Award-winning composer, and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals and performers fr ...

on Stroh violin, playing ''I Ain't Got Nobody'' {{authority control 1915 songs 1910s jazz standards Bessie Smith songs Sophie Tucker songs Songs written by Spencer Williams Cab Calloway songs Village People songs

Attribution

"Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley

See also

References

External links