Elsie Carlisle

“Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey?” (1932)

March 18, 2017

“Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey?” Originally titled “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home?”; words and music by Hughie Cannon (1902). Recorded by Ambrose and His Orchestra with vocalists Sam Browne and Elsie Carlisle in London on March 18, 1932. HMV B-6162 mx. 0B-3048-2.

Personnel: Bert Ambrose dir. Max Goldberg-Harry Owen-t / Ted Heath-Tony Thorpe-tb / Billy Amstell-cl-as / Joe Crossman-cl-as-bar / Joe Jeanette-cl-ts / Ernie Lewis-Teddy Sinclair-Peter Rush-vn / Bert Read-p / Joe Brannelly-bj-g / Don Stuteley-sb / Max Bacon-d¹

Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey? Ambrose & his Orchestra (with Sam Browne & Elsie Carlisle
Video by David Weavings (YouTube)

Now a jazz standard, “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey?” originated as a ragtime piece by American songwriter Hughie Cannon and predates Ambrose’s recording by thirty years. It has as its characters an emotionally desperate and abandoned battered wife and a smug husband who seems to think her situation serves her right. Somehow the song usually manages to sound upbeat, most often perhaps because musicians keep the refrain and omit the verses, leaving us to wonder who Bill Bailey is and why he is gone in the first place. In this her first recording session with Ambrose and His Orchestra, Elsie Carlisle plays the wife, who has ejected her husband from their home after he “took and throwed her down, / Bellowing like a prune-fed calf” — but she nevertheless blames herself. For this piece, Elsie adopts an attempt at negro dialect suited to her character:

Won't you come home, Bill Bailey?
Won't you come home?
I moans de whole day long.
I'll do de cooking honey,
I'll pay de rent!
I knows I've done you wrong!
'Member that rainy eve that
I throwed you out
With nothin' but a fine-toothed comb?
I knows I's to blame --
Well, ain't dat a shame?
Bill Bailey, wont you please come home?

The Ambrose recording lacks the second verse, in which it is revealed that Bill Bailey has somehow become rich and experiences Schadenfreude as he hears his wife moan for him.

“Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey?” had been recorded in Britain in late 1931 by Jay Wilbur and His Band (with vocalist John Thorne) and by Jack Leon’s Band — in both cases as part of a medley.

Brian Rust and Sandy Forbes, British Dance Bands on Record (1911-1945) and Supplement, p. 25. ↩︎

Gilt-Edged Four

“Meadow Lark” (1927)

February 4, 2017

“Meadow Lark.” Words by Hal Keidel, music by Ted Fiorito (1926). Recorded by Elsie Carlisle, accompanied by The Gilt-Edged Four, on February 4, 1927. Columbia 4275 mx. WA-4788-1.

Personnel: Al Starita-as / Ray Starita-ts / Sid Bright-p-cel / Len Fillis-g / Rudy Starita-x

Meadow Lark – Elsie Carlisle with The Gilt-Edged Four
Video by Jonathan David Holmes (YouTube)

“Meadow Lark” takes its name from an ingenious solution two young lovers find for a problem presented to them. Their habit of “spooning” (cuddling amorously) in a public park meets with opposition from the authorities and is forbidden. They arrange to continue meeting in the park, but after close of day, and to identify one another with a whistle approximating the call of a meadow lark — which is how this “whistling song” gets its title. Part of the fun the two young lovers are having derives from an odd pleasure some people seem to experience when they risk being caught:

A policeman just went by
Pounding his beat;
Each little kiss we steal
Is ten times as sweet!

Elsie Carlisle imbues this catchy song with sweet, ebullient fun. I am particularly fond of the way that she emphasizes “With each hug we’re oh so snug, / Like a little bug in a little old rug!” This version of “Meadow Lark” fully realizes the potential of what was already an international hit, and the accompaniment provided by The Gilt-Edged Four could not be a better match to Elsie’s perkiness: they give the impression of unstoppable, upbeat energy throughout.

“Meadow Lark” was recorded in America in 1926 by Adrian Schubert and His Salon Orchestra (with vocalist Irving Kaufman), the Isham Jones Orchestra (with vocals by Frank Munn), Bill Wirges and His Orchestra (as Phil Hughes and His High Hatters, with vocalist Tom Stacks), the Jack Albin Orchestra, Cole McElroy’s Spanish Ballroom Orchestra (with vocals by George Eichhorn), Wendell Hall, Jesse Crawford (on the organ), Duke Yellman and His Orchestra, George Olsen and His Music, Harry Reser’s Night Club Orchestra, Cliff Edwards (Ukelele Ike) and His Hot Combination, and Frances Sper. A version was broadcast by Sam ‘n’ Henry (Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who would later create the characters Amos ‘n’ Andy).

In Britain in 1927 versions of “Meadow Lark” were recorded by Jack Hylton and His Orchestra (with vocals by Jack Hylton), The Piccadilly Revels Band (under the direction of Ray Starita, with vocals by his brother Al), the Edison Bell Dance Orchestra (with vocalist Tom Barratt), Bert and John Firman (as Eugene Brockman’s Dance Orchestra), and the Savoy Havana Band (in a “Blue Skies Selection”).

Biography & Career