Comments on: Okay, so "muddy water" may be a stretch.

Question: Okay, so "muddy water" may be a stretch.

the luke parker fiasco — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:24:46 -0800

Ultimate Thanksgiving music set: Help me find as many food-referential jazz, blues, jump-blues, swing, and generally dance-y songs as possible.

A few years back, I used to frequent a dance night in Chicago where, during the week of Thanksgiving, would play a "food set"--basically, 4-ish hours of jazz and blues dancin' music that was food-related (with no repeats--the regular DJ had a staggering music collection). I would like to recreate this for my Thanksgiving gathering this year, but I'm out of the country and no longer in contact with the scene, and the website where occasional setlists was posted is down indefinitely. And while I would know dozens of such songs were I to hear them, I'm not encyclopedic in my knowledge of titles, artists, etc.

So, music gurus, jazz aficionados, dancers out there, help me track down as many such songs as possible. Anything from the totally obvious to the most nebulously connected is great. Artists including and beyond names like Nina Simone, Lou Rawls, Slim Gaillard, Jimmy Witherspoon, Etta James, Diana Krall, B.B. King ...
Here's a sampling of what I've found, and the direction I'm looking in:

Frim Fram Sauce
Potato Chips
I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water
One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
Sherry Flip
Why Don't You Eat Where You Slept Last Night
Sugar in My Bowl

... and so on. (Not all the links are the greatest versions, but they give an idea.)

By: TedW

TedW — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:42:41 -0800

It night be a little too country for your taste, but i have always been partial to Home Grown Tomatoes.

By: vilcxjo_BLANKA

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:44:21 -0800

The album Milestones, with Miles Davis, has a great piano track played by Red Garlaned called Billie Boy. The tune is really the old folk-standard "Can She Bake a Cherry Pie". You'd have to be a stick of wood to not like it.

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:45:20 -0800

Beans and Cornbread - Louis Jordan
Greasy Greens

By: box

box — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:46:32 -0800

Cab Calloway - Everybody Eats When They Come to My House
Cab Calloway - A Chicken Ain't Nothin But a Bird
Louis Jordan - Beans and Cornbread
Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries
Professor Longhair - Jambalaya (originally a Hank Williams song)

By: baltimoretim

baltimoretim — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:47:50 -0800

"Gimme a Pigfoot" - Bessie Smith

By: kaudio

kaudio — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:48:29 -0800

I could only come up with a handful off the top of my head:

Lou Monte - That's Amore ("When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie...")
Dizzy Gillespie All Star Quintet feat. Charlie Parker - Salt Peanuts
Astrud Gilberto & Shigeharu Mukai - Champagne and Caviar

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:56:00 -0800

Charles Mingus: Eat That Chicken

By: fuse theorem

fuse theorem — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:16:07 -0800

Jill Scott seems to be categorized more as soul and R&B but I think she's rather jazzy. Her song It's Love is extremely food-referential and quite danceable. In fact, she uses a (relatively) lot of food references in her music.

By: General Malaise

General Malaise — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:41:34 -0800

"Pass the Peas" - the JBs

By: mattholomew

mattholomew — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:42:31 -0800

Louis Armstrong with Ella Fitzgerald - All That Meat & No Potatoes

By: pised

pised — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:50:58 -0800

Willie Bobo - "Fried Neck Bones and Some Home Fries", off the Verve Remixed 2 album. Dance-y and jazzy!

By: imposster

imposster — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:08:10 -0800

Jimmy McGriff - Fat Cakes

By: imposster

imposster — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:11:17 -0800

Louis Armstrong - Struttin' With Some Barbecue

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:11:28 -0800

Solid Potato Salad

By: Floydd

Floydd — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:22:20 -0800

Les McCann & Eddie Harris - Cold Duck Time

By: Kimothy

Kimothy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:33:20 -0800

Beans and Cornbread - Louis Jordan

Stealin' Apples - Benny Goodman

Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home) - Clarence William's Blues Five

Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson - also done by Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Coleman Hawkins...

Potato Head Blues - Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven

Strange Fruit - Nina Simone, though originally done by Billie Holiday...

Salt Peanuts - Charlie Parker

Straight No Chaser - Thelonious Monk

Scrapple from the Apple - Charlie Parker - maybe a stretch...

Tea for Two - Art Tatum

Nutty - Thelonious Monk

Coconut Champagne - Rich Wetzel - though better by Maynard Ferguson

Swedish Schnapps - Charlie Parker

Tangerine - Chet Baker - Paul Desmond on Sax...

Days of Wine and Roses - Oscar Peterson - another stretch.

Struttin with Some Barbecue - Louis Armstrong

Cherry Red - Count Basie

Candy - Nat King Cole

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado

Red Beans - Coleman Hawkins He has a few other "bean" songs if you feel like looking.

Rum and Coca Cola - The Andrews Sisters

Ole Buttermilk Sky - Kay Kyser

Whipped Cream and Other Delights - Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass - This entire album is food related.

One Mint Julep - Freddie Hubbard

Cheesecake - Dexter Gordon

Apple Honey - Woody Herman

Cornbread - Lee Morgan

These are more Funky Jazz
Soul Intro/The Chicken - Jaco Pastorius

Fat Cakes - Jimmy McGriff

Sassy Stew - Ramsey Lewis

Good luck! This is a pretty cool idea!

By: tugena13

tugena13 — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:40:37 -0800

Bessie Smith does a version of "I Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" as well.

Otherwise,
Bessie Smith - "Nobody in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine"
Lil Johnson - "Sam the Hot Dog Man"
Lil Johnson - "Hot Nuts (Get 'em From the Peanut Man)"
Faye Richmond - "Tony's Got Hot Nuts"
Eileen Barton - "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake"

And it's not exactly in your span of genres, but what about the Shitbirds' cover of "Beef Bologna," originally by Fear? Or Evolution Control Committee's excellent "Breakfast," "Lunch," and "Dinner," all off "Plagiarhythm Nation"?

By: radioamy

radioamy — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:06:03 -0800

RJD2 - Bus Stop Bitties ("Cornbread, collard greens, candied yams...")

By: Bigfoot Mandala

Bigfoot Mandala — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:16:01 -0800

Um, Strange Fruit isn't really food-related...

By: meringue

meringue — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:38:06 -0800

Eat the lunch you brought - Janiva Magness

By: Queen of Spreadable Fats

Queen of Spreadable Fats — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:15:33 -0800

"Shoo fly pie and apple pandowdy" sung variously by Dinah Shore, Ella Fitzgerald, and June Christie

By: Queen of Spreadable Fats

Queen of Spreadable Fats — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:23:59 -0800

Oh, and Cole Slaw by Louis Jordan (featured in a dance performed by the incomparable Silver Shadows)

By: rhinny

rhinny — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:27:25 -0800

Another Louis Jordan: Saturday Night Fish Fry
I love this song.

By: Kimothy

Kimothy — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:20:57 -0800

Er, yeah, Bigfoot. I meant to note that - but in my linky madness I forgot.
I put it in because the OP said "Anything from the totally obvious to the most nebulously connected is great." Thanks for the reminder...