[Dixielandjazz] 50 Miles of Elbow Room -- probably not Buffum

[Marek Boym]

Turk Murphy playing "50 Miles.." in 1974.
Cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Fmzz2IEIiJA#t=95

On 25 November 2014 at 05:28, Jim Hillesheim <jwh66047 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Is Turk’s recording of 50 Miles available out there somewhere, to hear/buy?
>
> Jim Hillesheim
> Lawrence, Kansas
>
> > On Nov 24, 2014, at 6:41 PM, Dick Baker <djml at dickbaker.org> wrote:
> >
> > The story so far, as to the provenance of this tune, most famously (for
> us) recorded by Turk Murphy:
> >
> > Bill Haesler reported that it was first recorded by the Vaughan Happy
> Two in 1930, but the seminal early recording was 1933 by Rev. F. W. McGee
> -- and McGee copyrighted the song in 1933 and renewed that copyright in
> 1960.
> >
> > But more than a few reliable-looking sources claim that the song was
> written by Herbert Buffum, a famous and prolific writer of gospel music.
> At this point I picked up the cudgel and looked through all the Buffum
> copyrights in the books from his first in 1910 until well into the 1930s,
> several dozen in all.  Nothing like "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" in that
> list, but there was one song that seemed to have the same underlying theme,
> called "There'll Be Room Enough in Heaven," from 1923.
> >
> > Could McGee have sung Buffum's song with a different title, perhaps
> based on a line from the lyrics?  Well, there was, amazingly, a copy of the
> published sheet on sale on amazon.com, so I just plunked down my credit
> card and bought it.  (10 cents in 1923; $10 in 2014--at least the inflation
> rate is easy to calculate.)  I've scanned it and put it on my Stomp Off
> site for all to see:
> >
> >                http://stompoff.dickbaker.org/50miles/Buffum.pdf
> >
> > Alas, it's a different song.  Lyrics not even close, and while I don't
> read music, I doesn't appear to me that Buffum's lyrics could be sung to
> the same tune as the Carter Family's and Turk's:
> >
> > First verse:
> >        When our work on earth  is ended, and we lay our burdens down,
> >        And we answer to the final, solemn call;
> >        When we go to meet the  Saviour and receive the promised crown,
> >        There'll be room enough in Heaven for us all.
> >
> > Chorus
> >        There'll be room enough in Heaven for us all,
> >        For the wise and foolish, for  the great and small;
> >        When we safely make the landing,
> >        There'll be no misunder standing,
> >        There'll be room enough in heaven for us all.
> >
> > Now what'll we work on?
> >
> >
> >
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