[Dixielandjazz] Why I was looking for that Bessie Smith record, or...

[Dick Baker]

...the discographer's lament.

1. On May 13, 1929, Clarence Williams copyrighted it as
         I've got what it takes, but it breaks my heart to give it away

2. Two days later, Bessie Smith recorded it on Columbia 14435-D as
         I got what it takes (but it breaks my heart to give it away)

3. Then in October, Williams himself recorded it on OKeh 8738 as
         I've got what it takes (it breaks my heart to give it away)

Where to put it?  Rust indexed it under "I've," which is why I failed 
to find it when I first looked.  And everybody else has been confused 
as well, which is why you can't trust online mentions and even most 
discographical listings.  I repeatedly found both the Williams and 
Smith records listed under both variations of I/I've and (but it 
breaks)/(it breaks).  Thus my insistence on digging up the original 
record labels.

What's right?  Well, my feeling is that the original publication 
title is definitive.  If the original publication of a tune was sheet 
music, you use that.  If it was a recording, you use the title on the 
record label.

So the Stomp Off index will list it under the Bessie Smith title, but 
since Clarence Williams was both the composer and a famous musician 
too, we'll put his OKeh label version as an alternative.  And if you 
look for it as "I've got...," you'll find a cross-reference:  See "I Got..."

(And note that in 1925, Lucille Hegamin recorded the exact Williams 
copyright title on Cameo 254, but that was a song by Turk & Robinson 
from "Plantation Revue."  AND also in 1925 Papa Charlie Jackson 
copyrighted a song by that same title.)



--Dick Baker
Working on an updated version of the Stomp Off Records Tune Titles 
and Composers Index
See working draft at http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/index.pdf