![]() ![]() Fuji nor a pagoda can be observed there-even on a clear day. I am also fairly certain that neither Mt. I have never noticed any propensity among the men of Nagasaki to chew tobacco, and if I have ever seen Nagasaki women "wicky wacky woo," I probably did not recognize it as such. The earth shakes milk shakes ten cents a piece. The following is the original first verse to "Nagasaki"-although I have yet to hear it sung in this exact manner.īack in Nagasaki where the fellers chew tobaccy Luckily, jazz relies on considerable improvisation, and most performers have chosen either to eliminate the words entirely or to alter them beyond recognition. In the case of Nagasaki," that honor belonged to Mort Dixon. While Harry Warren may be one of the most popular American musical composers of the twentieth century, he was not responsible for the words to his tunes. When Harry Warren sat down at his piano sixty-six years ago, little did he realize that he would provide the excuse this writer needed to write about two topics so dear to his heart-Nagasaki and jazz! The song's value lies not in its accurate portrayal of Nagasaki in 1928, but in the insights it offers concerning the development of music in America during the years of the Great Depression. It could just as easily have been called "Shanghai" or "Honolulu"-and, indeed, Warren later wrote melodies about these cities as well. In reality, the song has little to do with Nagasaki, other than as a reflection of the Western image of exoticism (eroticism?) associated with Pacific ports-of-call. Doris Day sang it in the movie "My Dream is Yours," and Bill Robinson and Scatman Crothers tapdanced to it decades apart in the Cotton Club and on the television show "Sanford and Son," respectively. Introduced by the Friars' Society Orchestra of Paul Mares, the song was recorded under a variety of arrangements by the likes of Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, the Mills Brothers, Fats Waller, the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Red Norvo, and Benny Goodman. Penned in 1928 by the American musical giant Harry Warren and the lyricist Mort Dixon, "Nagasaki" was usually performed in an up-tempo manner. While Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" is deservedly the most famous composition set in the Japanese port town, a tune entitled simply "Nagasaki" was a popular song covered by many of the big band jazz groups of the thirties and forties. ![]() Nagasaki has long held a musical attraction for Western composers. BACK IN NAGASAKI WHERE THE FELLERS CHEW TOBACCY. ![]()
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