Griffith and Moore both died, largely unknown, in the 1960s. Griffith’s bridge is busy-a heap of references to gold, a Cadillac, a “fancy” bar and “lovely clothes.” The version Brown sang streamlined them into “all these pretty presents you see before me.” And while Griffith’s version closed:īrown, a teetotaler, cut the sappiness and offered mischief instead:Īt a minimum, I think Brown should have received partial credit for writing the song. Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images Graph: Heather Palmateer / Smithsonian It was certainly the basis for “Merry Christmas, Baby”-the first verse is nearly identical to the song we know today, as is the second, rhyming “music on the radio” with “underneath the mistletoe.” After the start of the bridge, though, the lyrics chart a different course.Ĭharles Brown (far right) with fellow Blazers (from left) Johnny Moore and Eddie Williams. Copyright Office, including, in September 1947, one titled “ Merry Xmas Baby.” It was never published, but earlier this year, I laid eyes on a copy of the song from the Library of Congress. He deposited dozens of his songs in the U.S. What’s more, a woman named Richie Dell Thomas, an aspiring pianist in Los Angeles in the 1940s, told the blues historian Roger Wood that Brown, a friend of hers, developed the song in her apartment.Īnd I recently discovered that “Lou Baxter” was a pseudonym for one Andrew Whitson Griffith, an Army veteran in the dry-cleaning business who shopped lyrics around the Los Angeles blues scene in the 1940s and ’50s. The bandleader, Brown said in interviews over the years, had nothing to do with the song’s composition. When the record came out, he said, he was surprised to see it credited to Baxter and Moore. Brown, who had already written a hit song in “ Driftin’ Blues,” said he reworked one of Baxter’s compositions into “Merry Christmas, Baby” and recorded it with the Three Blazers. In several interviews over the decades, Brown maintained that an ailing songwriter named Lou Baxter had asked him to record one of his songs as a favor, so he could pay for a throat operation. In the postwar music industry, such intellectual-property disputes were as common as mediocre B sides, but I’ve uncovered evidence that Brown’s claim was legitimate. But it was the performance of Charles Brown, the Three Blazers’ pianist and vocalist, that defined the song-and he insisted that he wrote it, too. It was, and remains, credited to Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore. Yet this particular holiday gift has always been wrapped in doubt. Jeff Beck and Frankie Valli joined forces for a version released just last fall. More than 80 artists have covered it, from Elvis to Springsteen, Otis Redding to Billy Idol, Christina Aguilera to CeeLo Green. 3 on Billboard’s Jukebox R&B chart, and quickly became an American Christmas standard. In contrast to the nostalgic schmaltz of “ White Christmas,” which was already (and remains) the best-selling Christmas single of all time, this was a blues number with a slow tempo, and it promised something new for the holidays: romance. The song was the last #1 hit of Casey Kasem's 18-year run as the original host of American Top 40 (he would return to host the program 10 years later), as well as being the first #1 song of Shadoe Stevens' hosting tenure.A new song by a Los Angeles-based trio called Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers began showing up in record bins 70 years ago this month, just in time for the holidays:īut this being America, a counterpoint soon emerged. The album Roll with It was also nominated as Album of the Year. "Roll with It" was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1989, Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal performance. In the United Kingdom, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart. It topped the Billboard adult contemporary chart for two weeks, and also spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the summer of 1988. Publishing rights organization BMI later had Motown songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland credited with co-writing the song due to its resemblance to the Junior Walker hit "(I'm a) Roadrunner". It was written by Winwood and songwriter Will Jennings. "Roll with It" is a song recorded by Steve Winwood for his album, Roll with It, released on Virgin Records.
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