[Dixielandjazz] Muskrat Ramble

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

This topic pops-up periodically and the consensus is that we just don't
know what the "original" title was.

Caution: discographical information follows  :-)

SteveB gives a useful selection of points of view but does not mention the
cause of the question being asked in the first place. The original issue of
the Louis Armstrong Hot Five recording (on Okeh 8300) gives the title as
Muskrat Ramble but all subsequent 78 rpm issues (from Columbia 36153) show
Muskat Ramble - note, Muskat with a "k" not a "c". I have English Columbia
DB 2624 and the title is certainly Muskat Ramble (all in caps, for our
discographical Gang of Five). The general view is that the original Okeh
label spelling is correct but that, for unknown reasons, the Columbia
company "corrected" it in later issues. This is the view expressed by Kid
Ory and the one implied by Eric Townley in his book "Tell your story"
(Storyville, 1976).

Could there be a muskat/muscat relationship? Yes. See Steve's posting of
Walter Pichon's statement.

Also, there was (?still is) a locality in Shreveport, Louisiana called
Muscat Hill, the subject of  "Muscat Hill Blues" (Buddy Woods, San Antonio,
30 October 1937). The title refers to muscat, the sweet wine and Richard
Spottswood (in his notes to the CD re-issue, Columbia CK 46218) says >It
was also the inspiration for Kid Ory's 'Muscat Ramble', usually misspelled
'muskrat'<

So, where do we stand?

The "official" story (Muskat, a mistaken "correction" of the supposed typo
Muskrat) is entirely plausible and, in the absence of other contemporary
(1926) evidence, the prefered one.

I still have a nagging doubt however. Why is Richard Spottswood so
categoric? Also, muskrats are not exactly your everyday pet or domestic
animal and why would one ramble? (Prediction - some bright spark will write
to answer "because it drank too much muscat"). But then, why shouldn't a
jazz title be about an unlovable rodent? After all, we do have stomping
hyenas, blind mice and blue wolverines.

Which brings us to another thread - (non human) animals in jazz titles.

An aside for those of a biological bent - if Ory had an animal in mind,
which was it? The "true" muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) or the "round
-tailed" muskrat (Neofiber alleni ). 

OR (and here I'm really running amok) - could Ory have been taking a swipe
at the citizens of St Clair Flats, Michigan - known in the late 19th
century as, yes you've guessed it, muskrats.

More than you wanted to know but, nevertheless, there it is.

Anton

PS, Steve - can you give me the reference for the Walter Pichon statement?