Mamie Smith at Okeh Records, Take Two
See our February 11 post for “Take One” about Mamie Smith and Okeh
One Hundred years ago today … This is the day most often reported, it seems, that Mamie Smith first recorded for Okeh Records, the first African American to record for a US label. (See February 11 for the confusion over the date.)
Okeh Records August 1920 78 rpm vinyl records
The songs she recorded were both composed by Perry Bradford, whose birthday happened— happens—to be this day, February 14th. He turned 27 years old in 1920. Bradford had been performing and composing for vaudeville productions since the age of 13. He and Smith met in a 1918 show Made in Harlem, and became her musical director. In February, 1920, vaudeville giant Sophie Tucker was supposed to record for Okeh, but fell ill. Bradford convinced Okeh Records producer Fred Hager to record Smith instead.
Elizabeth K. Sules notes that Smith adapted Bradford’s lyrics to “That Thing Called Love.” She writes: “The lyrics become more intimate because Smith shifts from first person to second-person in the last twelve measures of the chorus” (Sules, “I BEEN TO HEAR THE HIGHEST KIND OF OPERA GRAND”: BLUES, “GOOD MUSIC,” AND THE PERFORMANCE OF RACE ON RECORD, 1920-1921. 2010 Masters Thesis, U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.)
Bradford’s published lyrics:
That thing called love, has such a funny feelin’
Thing called love, it‟s got my brains a reelin’
All alone, feeling blue,
Never knew how much I really cared for you
Cause nobody knows what
That thing called love will do
Smith’s performed lyrics:
That thing called love, has such a funny feelin’
The thing called love, will set your brain a reelin’
And when you‟re alone, feeling blue
You’re thinkin’ bout someone that don‟t care for you
Cause nobody knows what
The thing called love will do.