[Dixielandjazz] "War Cloud" (was "Riverboat Shuffle")

[Dick Baker]

Phil Wilking wrote:

>I have confirmed the story about "War Cloud" being the original title of
>"Fidgety Feet" with James LaRocca, the son of Nick.
>
>He told me that the publisher did change the title to prevent a drop in
>sheet music sales after World War I stopped.
"Sheet music sales"?  That stopped me short, as I 
wasn't aware of its being published in sheet form 
at the time.  But I had done my previous research 
11 years ago and thought I recalled that it was 
oknly informally and verbally known as "War 
Cloud," e.g., on the bandstand at 
Reisenweber's.  But I checked my notes and see 
that Jim Jones reported having a published 
arrangement (Leo Feist, 1918) by Le Roy Walker of 
"War Cloud" -- "As Played by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band."

Since then, I've tracked down digital copies of 
all the Library of Congress copyright catalogs, 
so I started digging and found that it was indeed 
first copyrighted as "War Cloud":

In 1918:
         War cloud; one-step, by D. J. La Rocca, 
Larry Shields and H. W. Ragas [of U.S.];
         piano. © 1 c. June 26, 1918; E 428197; Leo Feist, inc., New York.
Later came a rereg. dropping Ragas:
         War cloud; one step, by D. J. La Rocca 
and Larry Shields [of U.S.]; piano.
         © Aug. 9, 1918; 2 c. Aug. 10, 1918; E 
430045; Leo Feist, inc., New York.
And then an arrangement copyright:
         War cloud; one step, by D. J. La Rocca 
and Larry Shields [of U.S.], arr. by
         Le Roy Walker [of U.S.]; orch. with 
piano. 4to. © Dec. 13, 1918; 2 c. Dec.
         14, 1918; E 440108; Leo Feist, Inc., New 
York. [Copyright is claimed on arrangement]
THIS is the version that Jim Jones has.

NO copyrights as Fidgety Feet 1917-18.

In 1919, we get two copyrights side by side as 
"Fidgety Feet," one for the arrangement, one for the piano score:
         Fidgety feet; jazz one step, by D. J. La 
Rocca and Larry Shields, arr.
         by Leroy Walker [of U.S.]; orch. 4to. © Jan. 28, 1919; 2 c. Jan. 29,
         1919; E 442167; Leo Feist, inc., New York.

         __________ one step, by D. J. La Rocca 
and Larry Shields [of U.S.]; piano.
         © Jan. 20, 1919; 2 c. Jan. 21, 1919; E 
439966; Leo Feist, inc., New York.

I double-checked the original Victor 18564 record 
label: Just Fidgety Feet by La Rocca-Shields.

However, the Victor Project ledgers report that 
its "alternate title" is "The War Cloud."
(see that source at 
http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/700007166/B-22042-Fidgety_feet)

So there was a published arrangement that got out 
as "War Cloud," but no recordings, and if there 
was a "consumer" (i.e., piano) sheet music 
version published under either title I haven't 
ever run across it.  But George Gershwin wrote 
and published a "Fidgety Feet" in 1926.

I apologize to all those whose eyes glaze over at 
the presentation of such endless minutia, but if 
you enjoy this sort of thing, feel to free to dip 
into my notes in progress for 300+ pages of it in 
8-point type.  But it's a PDF, so you can easily 
search for any name or title you wish.



--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