BASIN STREET BLUES
(Music: Spencer Williams / Lyrics: Jack Teagarden & Glenn Miller)
Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - 1928
Louisiana Rhythm Kings - 1929
Charleston Chasers (vocal: Jack Teagarden) - 1931
Cab Calloway & His Orch. - 1931
Benny Goodman & His Orch. (Instr.) - 1934
Dorsey Brothers Orch. (vocal: Bob Crosby) - 1934
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - 1936
Bing Crosby & Connee Boswell - 1937
Joe Daniels & His Hot Shots - 1937
Fats Waller - 1937
The Mills Brothers - 1939
Lew Stone & His Stonecrackers - 1941
Clyde McCoy & His Orch. - 1946
Pee Wee Hunt - 1946
Louis Armstrong (feat. in the film "New Orleans") - 1946
Jack Teagarden & His Orch. - 1946
Ella "Satchmo" Fitzgerald (with Sy Oliver & His Orch.) - 1949
Ralph Flanagan & His Orch. - 1949
Louis Armstrong (feat. in the film "The Glenn Miller Story") - 1953
Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford - 1954
Dean Martin - 1955
Woody Herman & His Band (Instr.) - 1955
Eli's Chosen Six - 1955
Billy Maxted & His Manhattan Jazz Band - 1955
Lizzie Miles - 1956
Louis Prima - 1957
Julie London - 1957
Shirley Bassey - 1957
The Hi-Lo's - 1957
Patti Page - 1958
Louis Armstrong & His All Stars - 1958
Lionel Hampton (Instr.) - 1958
Matty Matlock & The Paducah Patrol - 1958
Betty Hutton - 1959
Teresa Brewer - 1959
Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges (Instr.) - 1959
Ted Heath & His Music - 1959
Charlie Shavers - 1959
Ray Charles - 1960
Earl Grant - 1960
Humphrey Lyttelton & His Band - 1960
Ethel Smith - 1960
Frances Faye - 1961
Joni James - 1962
Peggy Lee - 1962
King Curtis - 1962
Sam Cooke - 1964
Jimmy Smith (Instr.) - 1964
Dinah Shore - 1965
Brenda Lee with Pete Fountain - 1968
Marian & Jimmy McPartland - 1973
Harry Connick, Jr. - 1988
Dr. John - 1992
Shirley Horn - 1998
Laverne Butler - 2001
Diana Krall - 2005
Wynton Marsalis & Willie Nelson - 2007
Also recorded by:
Tempo King; Dave Brubeck; Tommy Dorsey; Lena Horne; Kid Ory;
Yoku Tamura; Charlie Ventura; Meade Lux Lewis; Tiger Okoshi;
Miles Davis; Al Hirt; Merle Haggard; Art Hodes; Rick Bogart;
George Vukán ............. and many others.
Won't you come along with me
To the Mississippi
We'll take a boat to the land of dreams
Steam down the river, down to New Orleans
The band's there to meet us
Old friends to greet us
Where all the light and the dark folks meet
Heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
Ooh, Basin Street is the street
Where the elite always meet
In New Orleans, land of dreams
You'll never know how nice it seems
Or just how much it really means
Glad to be, yes-sir-ee
Where welcome's free, dear to me
Where I can lose my Basin Street blues
*************************
As recorded by BETTY HUTTON:
Won't you come along with me
To the Mississippi
We'll take a boat to the land of dreams
Steam down the river to New Orleans
Yes, band's there to greet us
Old friends to greet us
Where all the light and the dark folks meet
Heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
Ooooohhh, Basin Street, honey that's the street
Where the elite always meet
In New Orleans, the land of dreams
You'll never know how nice it seems
Just how much it really means
Ooh, I'm glad to be, yes-sir-ee
Where welcome's free and it's dear to me
Where I can lose my Basin Street blues
(Orchestral Interlude)
You'll be glad you came with me
Down the Mississippi
I'm gonna show you what the good life means
No place can send ya like New Orleans
And we'll be glad to be, oh, yes-sir-ee
Where welcome's free and it's dear to me
Where I can lose, you take me back to Basin Street blues
Talkin' 'bout the Basin Street blues
************************
As recorded by RAY CHARLES:
Why won't you come along with me
To the Mississippi
We'll take a boat to the land of dreams
And steam down the river, down in New Orleans
You know the band's there to meet us
Old friends to greet us
Where all the light and dark folk meet
Away down yonder, down on Basin Street
Let me tell ya 'bout that Basin Street is the street
Where the elite always meet
In New Orleans, land of dreams
You'll never know how nice it seems
Or just how much it really means
Glad to be be, yes-sir-ee
Where welcome's free and dear to me
That's why I can't lose these Basin Street blues
(Instrumental Break)
Oh, Basin Street is the street
Where that elite always meet
In New Orleans, land of dreams
You'll never know how nice it seems
Or just how much it really means
I'm glad to be be, yes-sir-ee
Where welcome's free and dear to me
That's why I can't lose these Basin Street blues
Aah, that's why I can't lose these Basin Street blues
************************
As recorded by SAM COOKE:
Basin Street, Basin Street
That's the place where my friends all meet
Down in New Orleans, yeah, that land of dreams
And you don't know how nice it seems
It's dear to me, yes-sir-ee
And that's the place I'm so longing to be
Where I can lose these old Basin Street blues
No-ooh-oh, Basin Street, my Basin Street
Where the young and the old folk meet
Down in New Orleans, in that land of dreams
You don't know how nice it really seems
But it's dear to me, yes-sir-ee
And that's the place I'm sure longing to be
Where maybe I can lose these old Basin Street blues
And, oh man, I'm talkin' 'bout Basin Street, Basin Street
Where the folk who know what's happenin' meet
Out in New Orleans, in the land of dreams
And you'all know how nice it seems and just how much it really means
Dear to me, yes-sir-ee
It's dear to me, yes-sir-ee, can't you see
Why I wanna lose these old Basin Street Blues
Oh, I wanna go where I can lose these old Basin Street Blues
Oh yeah!
*************************
As recorded by DR. JOHN:
Basin Street is the street
Where all them characters from the First Precinct meet
In New Orleans, city of a million dreams
And you'll never know how nice it seems
When you're way down South in New Orleans
You'll be huggin' and a-kissin'
That's what I been missin', yeah
Hear all that good music, Lord, if you just listen
Yeah, New Orleans is truth
That's why I got these Basin Street blues
(Instrumental Break)
I'm tellin' ya, Basin Street, that's the street
Where all the ghouls from Storyville and the St. Louis cemetary meet
New Orleans, land of a million dreams
You'll never beat them rice and beans
Way down South in New Orleans
Basin Street, that's the street
Yeah, where ev'rybody sooner or later gonna meet
New Orleans, yes, it's true
I got those Basin Street blues
Ain't you glad you went with me
On down that Mississippi
We took a boat to the land o' dreams
Heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
Now ain't you glad you went with me
Straight on down that Mississippi
We took a boat to the land o' dreams
A heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2012)
Heaven on earth...they call it Basin Street
