[Dixielandjazz] Re: Who wrote Bye Bye Blackbird?

[Gluetje1 at aol.com]

Bye Bye Blackbird is one of my favorite tunes.  So I have tried  to learn a 
bit more of the story.  Thomas Hischak in "The Tin Pan  Alley Encyclopedia" 
says that Mort Dixon wrote the "catchy lyric, a series of  non-sequitors about 
waiting all winter with the blackbird singing the blues  outside the door.  But 
now that Spring is here, it is time to find a true  love and bid the bird 
farewell. (p.51)
 
It's unfortunate that up against great recordings by jazz artists, this  tune 
got appropriated by racists.  There are pieces of history of it being  sung 
to black quarterbacks by the pep squad of opposing college, etc.  Then  the 
pathetic story snipped and pasted below.
 
_http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/bbracey/posts?Month=09&Year=2005_ 
(http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/bbracey/posts?Month=09&Year=2005) 
 
Bye Bye, Blackbird
You probably don't know this history. Technology is  wonderful to let us tell 
the stories of previous times. In 1927, the great  Mississippi flood rumbled 
down upon New Orleans. As Barry writes in his account,  "Rising Tide," in the 
New York Times, the disaster ripped the veil off the  genteel, feudal 
relations between whites and blacks, and revealed the festering  iniquities. Blacks 
were rounded up into work camps and held by armed guards.  They were prevented 
from leaving as the waters rose. A steamer, the Capitol,  played "Bye Bye 
Blackbird" as it sailed away. The racist violence that followed  the floods helped 
persuade many blacks to move north.
End of quote:
 
So when I do this song I talk about Dixon's intent in writing it, name some  
of the great artists who have recorded it, etc.; i.e., make it clear why I am  
including it.
Ginny
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 5/16/2006 6:41:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
bhaesler at bigpond.net.au writes:

Dear  Lewis,
"Bye Bye Blackbird" (1926. Ray Henderson, music - Mort Dixon,  lyrics).
No comma after the first 'Bye'.
Kind regards,
Bill.