[Dixielandjazz] Everybody don't know / Lily of the valley

[Ingemar Wågerman]

Mike,

There are many Lilies in the Valley! The one sung by the warbling old ladies 
  is not the song I'm looking for. The very first Salvation Army band master 
Charles Fry wrote this song with the lyrics  "I've  found a friend in Jesus, 
He's everything to me, He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul...  He's 
the Lily of the Valley, in him alone I see all I need to cleanse and make me 
fully whole."  The tune is "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" by William 
Shakespeare Hays (sic!).  The first recording was made by John McGhee and 
Frank Welling in 1928 on Vocalion 5251.

Prince´s band made the first recording of another song called Lily of the 
Valley in July 1917, Columbia A2327 "Lily Of The Valley Jazz One-Step". This 
is a Friedland / Gilbert song, called "A Nut Song" and probably the Jimmy 
Dorsey recording from 1950 is the same tune. Are there other recordings?

There is also a spiritual "He's the lily of the valley, Oh! my Lord . . . 
King Jesus in the chariot rides..." which was published in "Jubilee Songs" 
1872. It was recorded by Texas Jubilee Singers (with Arizona Dranes!) in 
1928.

Rev. F.W. McGee recorded "Everybody Don´t Know Who Jesus Is" in 1930, only 
one chorus of the first strain.  Barbarin recorded it in1951. The lyrics of 
the verse: "Everybody don't know (3x) who Jesus is". There are many versions 
of the chorus, most of them starting with "He's the Lily of the Valley". 
Some bands (like the British Phil Mason) sing the lyrics "O Happy Day".

To make it even more complicated: Harry Dixon Loes wrote "Everybody ought to 
know (3x) who Jesus is" (copyright 1940?) The chorus is almost the same as 
the Fry song but with another melody:  "He's the Lily of the Valley, He´s 
the Bright and Morning Star, He's the fairest of ten thousand, Everybody 
Ought to Know". The melody of the chorus is the same as "What A Friend We 
Have In Jesus"...

There are several other Lilies, too, both secular and religious, but that's 
another story.

The question remains: What is the origin of the McGee / Barbarin chorus?? 
Any recordings or instance of the tune between 1930 and 1951??

Thanks

Ingemar Wagerman
http://listen.to/gotariver