The Chant

Artie Shaw and his Orchestra : The Chant

Originally titled ‘Ubangi’, ‘The Chant’ is Artie Shaw’s very bluesy version of ‘St. James Infirmary Blues’ with a trumpet solo by “Hot Lips” Page. The origin of ‘St. James Infirmary Blues’ has never been satisfactorily determined. Sometimes ‘St. James Infirmary Blues’ was credited to a composer known as Joe Primrose, who would later claim the rights to the song. Many trace the song overseas to a 19th century English ballad titled ‘The Unfortunate Rake’. Notable recordings of the song have been made by Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway who sang the song in ‘Betty Boop in Snow White’, a 1933 cartoon by Max Fleisher. Others have said that ‘The Chant’ is the best example of a song influenced by ‘Klezmer music’ that Shaw wrote. Klezmer music being a traditional, secular Jewish style of dance music often played at weddings and other joyous celebrations.

Album:
Side A: St. James Infirmary Blues, Part I
Side B: St. James Infirmary Blues, Part 2

Style: Jazz

Date Recorded: March 12, 1939

Composer: Artie Shaw

Lyricist:

Instrumentation:

Charted:

Name: Instrumental

Artie Shaw and his Orchestra

Artie Shaw, clarinet, director
John Best, first trumpet
Chuck Peterson and Bernie Privin, trumpets
George Arus, first trombone
Les Jenkins and Harry Rodgers, trombones
Les Robinson, first alto saxophone
Hank Freeman, alto saxophone
Tony Pastor and Georgie Auld, tenor saxophones
Bob Kitsis, piano
Al Avola, guitar
Sid Weiss, bass
Buddy Rich, drums

Instrumental

I went down to St James’ Infirmary,
I saw my baby there,
Stretched out on a long white table,
So cold, so sweet, so fair.

Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be.
She can look this wide world over,
She’ll never find another sweet man like me.

Though she treated me mean and lowdown,
Somehow I didn’t care.
Well the Lord knows she was a good girl,
And I’ll see her again up there.

Now when I die I want you to bury me in gentleman’s glove shoes,
A box back suit and a stetson hat.
Put a twenty dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So the boys’ll know that I died standin’ fast.

Label: Victor 27895-A

Artie Shaw - The Chant (St. James Infirmary)

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