[Dixielandjazz] Mickey Rooney

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

Mickey Rooney was not the last drummer of considerable gifts to identify himself as a Paisley bodie (pronounced Buddy) though unlike our own cherished maestro Mathieson's his family did not wait until he was born (quite some time before Ken) in the town.  Mr. Rooney did as I recall refer to himself as a "bodie" when on a trip to UK he came to Scotland to visit the old hometown.  


The town had previously produced the greatly undervalued poet Alexander Wilson, "father of American ornithology" pre-Audubon, who decamped to North America following his delivery of accurate descriptions of how local weavers were being swindled by Scottish big business. The alternative to emigration was less spacious accommodation with severe curtailment of liberty, a cage rather than birds, and his departure westward was decidedly presto... He died in Philadelphia in 1813. 


Robert R. Calder