"I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?" is a ragtime/blues song written by
Shelton Brooks
Shelton Brooks (May 4, 1886September 6, 1975) was a Canadian-born African American composer of popular music and jazz. He was known for his ragtime and vaudeville style, and wrote some of the biggest hits of the first third of the 20th century.
...
in 1913. Sometimes categorized as
hokum
Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early blues recordings and is used from time to time in modern Ameri ...
, it led to an
answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...
written in 1915 by
W.C. Handy, "Yellow Dog Rag", later titled "Yellow Dog Blues". Lines and melody from both songs show up in the 1920s and 1930s in such songs as "E. Z. Rider", "See See Rider", "C. C. Rider", and "Easy Rider Blues".
"I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?"
Written for the vaudeville stage, the lyrics tell of a Susie Johnson who bets on a horse race using a tip from Jockey Lee, who subsequently runs off with her money.
First verse:
:Chorus:
"I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?" was first popularized on the vaudeville stage by
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...
. It is most noted for its performance in a 1933 movie, ''
She Done Him Wrong
''She Done Him Wrong'' is a 1933 pre-Code American crime/comedy film starring Mae West and Cary Grant. The plot includes melodramatic and musical elements, with a supporting cast featuring Owen Moore, Gilbert Roland, Noah Beery Sr., Rochelle Hu ...
'', in which
Mae West
Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
sang it in a suggestive manner. It is perhaps this performance which gave it its hokum reputation.
"Yellow Dog Rag"/"Yellow Dog Blues"
In 1915, W.C. Handy wrote an
answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...
to "I Wonder Where My Easy Rider's Gone?" which he called "Yellow Dog Rag." "Yellow Dog Rag" sold poorly. In 1919, he retitled it "Yellow Dog Blues" to take advantage of the popularity of blues, after which it sold moderately well.
[Wald, ''Escaping the Delta,'' page 283: "When the popular taste for blues asserted itself I took out that old number and changed its name to 'Yellow Dog Blues.' Other than the name, I altered nothing."] His song explains what became of Jockey Lee.
The version quoted is how Bessie Smith sang it in her well-known 1925 recording:
First verse:
Chorus:
(1) (Rural Free Delivery or RFD as it was popularly called was a service by the post office to deliver mail directly to rural farm families)
(2) a "side door Pullman car" was hobo slang for a box car with the cargo door open which made it easy to "bum" a ride.
The "Yellow Dog" was the local name for the
Yazoo Delta Railroad The Yazoo-Delta Railroad (sometimes known as the ''Yellow Dog'') was a branch line that opened in August 1897 between Moorhead and Ruleville, Mississippi. It was extended to Tutwiler, Mississippi, and Lake Dawson and was acquired by the Yazoo and ...
; the "Southern" is the much larger
Southern Railway.
"Yellow Dog Blues" has been recorded a number of times, mostly as an instrumental, and has become a traditional
jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...
.
Berl Olswanger Berl is a given name and surname.
Given name
*Berl Broder (1817–1868), Ukrainian Jewish singer
* Berl Huffman (1907–1990), American multi-sport coach
* Berl Katznelson (1887–1944), founder of Labor Zionism
*Berl Kutchinsky (1935–1995), Dani ...
and the Berl Olswanger Orchestra included its instrumental version on their album ''Berl Olswanger Orchestra with the Olswanger Beat'' (1964).
See also
*
See See Rider
"See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues song that became a standard in several genres. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was the first to record it on October 16, 1924, at Param ...
*
Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad
The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad (Y&MV) was incorporated in 1882 and was part of the Illinois Central Railroad system (IC). Construction began in Jackson, Mississippi, and continued to Yazoo City, Mississippi. The line was later expanded ...
*
List of train songs
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Bibliography
*Louvish, Simon. ''Mae West: It Ain't No Sin.'' St. Martin's Griffin (2007).
*Rubin, Louis Decimus. ''Where the Southern Cross the Yellow Dog: On Writers and Writing.'' University of Missouri Press (2005).
*
Wald, Elijah. ''Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues.'' Harper Collins (2004)
*Wintz, Cary D.; Finkelman, Paul. ''Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance''. Routledge (2004).
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Rags
Blues songs
Jazz songs
Bessie Smith songs
Liza Minnelli songs
Songs written by Shelton Brooks
Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad
1913 songs