[Dixielandjazz] Barnacle Bill the What?

[Hal Vickery]

Okay, I brought this up months ago, but I had some time on my hands this
evening and I listened one more time to the Hoagy Carmichael recording of
"Barnacle Bill the Sailor."  Supposedly Joe Venuti is clearly audible saying
something nasty on it, and once again (or really three times again) I heard
absolutely nothing of the sort.

 

I then decided to check out the story by googling "Baracle Bill the Sailor"
"Joe Venuti."  In the first three links I got three different stories, to
wit (nasty words censored by me - I'm a teacher and have a reputation to
maintain):

 

1) The Wikipedia article on the song states, "In the second chorus of this
recording violinist Joe Venuti <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Venuti>
can be heard singing "Barnacle Bill the ****ter."  However, this entry lacks
a citation.

 

2) Richard von Busack states in an article, "Barnacle Bill on Mars" the
following:  "Many stories persist of Venuti's misdeeds. He's said, for
example, to have once shoved a piano out a window to find out what chord it
would make when it landed on the pavement. Venuti can be plainly heard on
the recording, bellowing out the chorus as "Barnacle Bill the ****head."
Obviously, Venuti was protesting the emasculation of this familiar song."
Source:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.10.97/mars-rock-9728.html 

 

Of course this guy states that the recording is by Paul Whiteman's
orchestra, and there is no particular reference to exactly where Venuti
sings this, and there are two vocal choruses on the recording.

 

3) So what better place to go than a person who actually was in the band,
Bud Freeman.  Here's what he says in "Crazeology:  The Autobiography of a
Chicago Jazz Man":  "They asked Joe Venuti because he had a gruff voice, to
say at the end 'Barnacle Bill the Shailor."  He was supposed to be the
drunken sailor.  If you listen very closely you can hear him say "Barnacle
Bill the **** ass.'  The people at Victor didn't pick that up; the musicians
were the first people to find out."

 

Problem is you can definitely hear the "or" sound.  It doesn't sound like
"ter," "head," or "ass."  It sounds like "shail -or."  Long "o".

 

So there you have it.  Three citations:  "****ter" in the second chorus,
"****head" in "the chorus," and "**** ass" at the end.  People here said
it's perfectly distinct what Venuti supposedly says, despite my listening to
the recording for about 45 years and hearing nothing of the sort.  Well, the
first three citations I found had three different versions of what he said
in three different places in the record.  I can't hear anything resembling
any of the three.  

 

Sounds like another case where myth has taken over from fact.

 

Hal Vickery