[78-L] Dance with me Henry

[Bill McClung]

In "What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record" (Faber & Faber, 1992) it says
that the song was first called "Sock It To Me, Mary" written by Hank
Ballard.    Ballard was lead singer for the Royals who were recorded for
Federal.  This first version was toned down and became "Work With Me,
Annie."  Work was slang for sex in the Detroit neighberhood where Ballard
lived.  The song was first released credited to the Royals but the group
changed it's name to the Midnighters because King, Federal's parent company,
was about to lure the 5 Royales away from Apollo and didn't need two groups
with similar names.

Despite (and because of) the song's overt sexual content, it sold very well.
It was a Billboard pick of the week and spent seven weeks at number one on
the Billboard charts.

Johnny Otis had discovered the Royals and by the time Annie had become a hit
had a new discovery named Ettajames Hawkins who was singing in a group named
the Peaches.  They took the same melody and wrote "Roll With Me, Henry"
which Modern recorded, giving writing credit to Otis and Etta James.  To
avoid legal action the record was released as "The Wallflower" and it shot
to number two on the Billboard charts.

And then Mercury cleaned up things even more with a Georgia Gibbs version
which was number one for three weeks and outsold all the Annie and the Henry
songs on its way to being one of the top selling songs of 1955.

Ballard was not credited as writer on the James version but did get credit
on the Gibbs.

As for P. Otis, Johnny's wife is named Phyllis.




On Sun, Jan 16, 2011 at 10:46 AM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>wrote:

> Stardust URC 1196 has Tweedle Dee on the flip as well (correctly lists the
> composer as "Scott") so it's a straight copy from the Mercury reissue.
>
> Ever hear the story of LaVern Baker listing Georgia Gibbs as her
> beneficiary
> when filling out an airline insurance form? "You need this more than I do,"
> Baker is said to have written to Gibbs, "because if anything happens to me,
> you're out of business."
>
> dl
>
> On 1/16/2011 11:40 AM, kil wrote:
> > My 45 is a Mercury reissue with TWEEDLE DEE on the flip.  It gives J.
> Rogers
> > and P. Otis as writers of DANCE WITH ME HENRY.  The orchestra credited is
> > Hugo Peretti.  Glen Osser is credited on TWEEDLE DEE.
> > RayK
> >>
> > From: "David Lennick"
> >> And a reissue I have on Stardust URC 1196 lists the songwriters as (J.
> >> Rogers,
> >> P. Otis). Modern Music Pub. BMI, no orchestra credited. I've just gone
> >> through
> >> a few hundred 50s 45s and 78s and don't seem to have an original of that
> >> one.
> >>
> >> Who the heckity heck are J. Rogers and P. Otis!? Nat Shapiro lists the
> >> credits
> >> as follows:
> >>
> >> DANCE WITH ME HENRY, also known as THE WALLFLOWER
> >> Words and music by Johnny Otis, Hank Ballard and Etta James
> >> Modern Music Publishing Co./Lois Publishing Co.
> >> Original rhythm and blues version, entitled "The Wallflower", introduced
> >> by
> >> Etta James (Modern). Best-selling record by Georgia Gibbs (Mercury).
> >>
> >> How do Ballard and Lois fit in here? Back to 1954, for
> >> WORK WITH ME, ANNIE
> >> Words and music by Henry "Hank" Ballard
> >> Lois Publishing Co.
> >> Best-selling record by The Midnighters (Federal)
> >>
> >> dl
> >>
> >> On 1/16/2011 8:24 AM, Gary Herzenstiel wrote:
> >>> Hi, Peter and 78-L fellows.
> >>>
> >>> Questions about Georgia Gibb's "Dance with me Henry" from 1955
> >>>
> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaIJvlHXEqU"
> >>> Mercury 70616
> >>> Wallflower (Dance with me Henry)
> >>> Otis * Ballard * James
> >>> BMI
> >>> with orchestra conducted by Glenn Osser
> >>>
> >>> But my copy of the tune, Mercury 70572, shows:
> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoCgCZ8cF0o
> >>> Mercury 70572
> >>> Dance with me Henry (Wallflower)
> >>> James Etta - P. Otis
> >>> ASCAP
> >>> with Hugo Peretti and his orchestra
> >>>
> >>> The recording is the same.  No, I did not mis-type "James Etta."  Who
> is
> >>> Ballard?  Who's band is it and would someone pay ASCAP or BMI?  How
> >>> messed up is that!
> >>>
> >>> As if that wasn't enough of a puzzle, most copies I've seen of 70572
> are
> >>> backed with "Ballin' The Jack."  I found a copy that was backed with
> >>> "Every road must have a turning."  Orchestra credit on "Every" is Glenn
> >>> Osser.  Was one of the pairings pulled?  The labels all have that
> >>> mid-'50s Mercury half-n-half logo.
> >>>
> >>> Who knows the real stories here?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks.    Gary
> >>> http://78rpmrecord.com
> >>>
> >>> P.S. I finally re-vamped the 78 label page so that it accepts labels
> from
> >>> contributors.  Next to add is some security, unfortunately.  Please
> feel
> >>> free to contribute nice quality scans.  Quite a few of my scans are old
> >>> and need to be replaced (hint, hint.)  Hope you enjoy it.
> >>> __________________________________________
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