Lazybones or "Lazy Bones" is a

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It originally referred to a specific place: West 28th Street ...

song written in 1933, with lyrics by

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

and music by

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

. Mercer was from

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, and resented the Tin Pan Alley attitude of rejecting Southern regional vernacular in favor of artificial Southern songs written by people who had never been to the South. Alex Wilder attributes much of the popularity of this song to Mercer's perfect regional lyric. He wrote the lyrics to "Lazybones" as a protest against those artificial "Dixies", announcing the song's authenticity at the start with "Long as there is chicken gravy on your rice".

Recordings

The song has been recorded scores of times over the years. Recordings were released as early as 1933 by

Jay Wilbur James Edward Wilbur (1898–1968) was a British bandleader and prolifically recorded musician identified with and influential in the era of Big Band and British dance band music. Wilbur was born Wilbur Blinco in 1898 in Leamington Spa. He ...

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

, and 1934 by

the Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and traditional pop vocal quartet who made more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies an ...

, and as recently as 2018 by

Nellie McKay Nell Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is a singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London to an English father, writer-director Malcolm McKay, and an ...

. It has been recorded by a variety of artists in a variety of formats, including country singers such as

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

on the album ''Old Doc Brown'' in 1955, R&B artists such as

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

on their 1965 album ''

The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop ''The Supremes Sing Country, Western & Pop'' is the fourth studio album recorded by the Supremes, issued by Motown in February 1965. The album was presented as a covers/tribute album of country songs, as Ray Charles had done with his album '' ...

'',

Leon Redbone Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian; August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognized by his hat (often a Panama hat), dark sunglasses, and black tie, Red ...

on his 1975 album ''

On the Track ''On the Track'' is debut album from Leon Redbone, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1975, and reissued on CD in 1988. The album features a cover illustration by Chuck Jones depicting the character Michigan J. Frog. Track listing Side One ...

'', and even fictional characters such as the Electric Mayhem band on the ''

Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a ser ...

'' in 1977.

Jonathan King Jonathan King (born Kenneth George King; 6 December 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He first came to prominence in 1965 when "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a song that he wrote and sang while still an undergraduate, ...

's 1971 revival was a top 20 hit in the UK and was played on US

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

stations, earning a position on ''Billboard'''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart, reached #34.Jonathan King's Lazybones chart positions
Retrieved November 2, 2012. King's version sold over a million copies around the world.

Notes

External links

"Lazybones"
- Lead sheet at wikifonia.org {{authority control 1933 songs 1971 singles Songs with music by Hoagy Carmichael Songs with lyrics by Johnny Mercer Mildred Bailey songs Jonathan King songs We Five songs Jazz compositions in B-flat major