[Dixielandjazz] Barnacle Bill the What?

[Robert S. Ringwald]

While I haven't listened to the recording for quite a while, I remember, 
during the chorus's, hearing Venuti say, "Barnacle Bill the shitter."

--Bob Ringwald


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hal Vickery" <hvickery at svs.com>
To: "Bob Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 7:48 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Barnacle Bill the What?


> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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