Maddox's interest in the ragtime era was fueled by his great-aunt Zula Cothron. She played with an all-girls' orchestra at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and later played in vaudeville. Maddox studied classical music for nineteen years with Margaret Neal and Prudence Simpson Dresser, who studied in Europe for a short time with Franz Liszt. One of his teachers of popular music, Lela Donoho, accompanied silent movies in his hometown of Gallatin, Tennessee. He played his first public concert when he was five and began his professional career in 1939 playing with a local dance band, the Rhythmasters, led by J. O. "Temp" Templeton.
Around 1946, Maddox started working for his friend Randy Wood at Randy's Record Shop in Gallatin, where Wood founded Dot Records. Maddox's first single, "St. Louis Tickle" with "Crazy Bone Rag" on the flip side (recorded May 19, 1950), sold over 22,000 copies in only a few weeks. He became the first successful artist on Dot, and his instant success helped build Dot into one of the most popular labels of the 1950s. He signed with MCA and began touring nightclubs across the country. In Dallas, Texas, he appeared with Sophie Tucker; in Las Vegas with Billy Eckstine and Elvis Presley; in Miami, Florida, with Eddy Arnold and the Duke of Paducah; and in Detroit, Michigan, with Pat Flowers, Dorothy Donegan, and Lawrence Welk. His first record to sell over a million copies was probably "San Antonio Rose by Bob Wills. Another one of his most popular early records was "In the Mood," and he performed the song on The Pee Wee King Show in February 1953.
After hearing him play in 1952, the "Father of the Blues," W. C. Handy, called Maddox "the white boy with the colored fingers."
In 1954, Maddox was declared the Number One Jukebox Artist in America by the MOA (Music Operators of America). In January 1955, he recorded "The Crazy Otto Medley," which was composed of Lou Busch's "Ivory Rag," several German folk songs, and Irving Berlin's "Play a Simple Melody." The medley was originally recorded on the Polydor label by German pianist Fritz Schulz-Reichel under the pseudonym "Otto der Schrage." Disc jockey Bill Randle of WERE in Cleveland, Ohio, suggested to Randy Wood that Maddox record a version of the song and use "The Crazy Otto Medley" as the title. Maddox's record was number one on Billboard magazine chart for fourteen weeks and became the first million-selling all-piano record, eventually selling more than two million copies. Schulz-Reichel then came to the United States and recorded for Decca under the name "Crazy Otto." The reference to "Crazy Otto" in the Grateful Dead song "Ramble on Rose" is a reference to Maddox's hit record. Maddox performed The Jack Paar Show in March 1955 and played "The Crazy Otto Medley" on Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theatre on May 31, 1955. He appeared with two other pianists, Hazel Scott and Joe Loco, on Patti Page's program The Big Record in November 1956. One of his later appearances was on The Soupy Sales Show.
Maddox continued to record for Dot Records through 1967, by which time he had earned nine gold singles, and his total sales were over eleven million.[2] One of the highlights of his was performing twice at New York's Stork Club, where he appeared on live television with Teresa Brewer. At the annual Hillbilly Homecoming in Maryville, Tennessee, in 1957, he worked with an up-and-coming young singer named Patsy Cline. Maddox toured fairgrounds across the country in the late 1950s and early '60s with Swenson's Thrillcade, playing on a piano placed on the back of a pickup truck that was lifted by a hydraulic lift as high as fifteen feet! His longest professional engagement was at the Red Slipper Room in Denver, Colorado's Cherry Creek Inn, where he played for seventeen years. Maddox befriended many more musicians and performers from the ragtime and vaudeville days in his travels, including Glover Compton, Butterbeans and Susie, Candy Candido, Ted Lewis, Gus Van, Glenn Rowell, and Joe Jordan.
Maddox began collecting antique sheet music, 78s, cylinders, piano rolls, photographs, and more at a very young age. He sold much of his first collection to Brigham Young University when he moved to Bad Ischl, Austria, in the 1970s. Tired of life on the road, he attempted to retire from show business forever. Soon, however, he was back performing in the United States and began a long residency at Il Porto Ristorante in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
He retired in 1992 but was then coaxed to perform at the Historic Strater Hotel's Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, Colorado, where he played from 1996–2012. He owned one of the largest collections of popular sheet music in the world,[citation needed] likely totaling over 200,000 pieces.
He is the only ragtime pianist to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which was included when construction on the Walk of Fame began.
A caricature of Maddox was placed in the main dining room of the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant next to Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallee, Hank Williams, and Bill Haley.
Bye Bye Blackbird
Johnny Maddox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go, winging low
Bye, bye, blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye, bye, blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
Bye, bye, blackbird
Where somebody waits for me
Sugar's sweet, so is she
Bye, bye, blackbird
No one here can love or understand me
Oh what hard luck stories they all hand me
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
The lyrics to Johnny Mathis's song "Bye Bye Blackbird" evoke a sense of melancholy and a desire for escape. The singer is lamenting the fact that he feels misunderstood and unloved by those around him, and he longs to leave his cares behind and start anew. He speaks of the "hard luck stories" that others have given him, implying that he has been the victim of others' misfortune or misunderstanding. However, he also expresses hope that there is someone out there who does understand and love him, as he sings of "somebody" who waits for him, and of a woman who is "sweet."
The imagery of the "blackbird" is also interesting - in nature, these birds are known for their melodious songs, but in this context, the blackbird seems to represent the singer's sense of loneliness and despair. By saying "bye bye" to the blackbird, he seems to be saying that he is ready to leave behind those negative emotions and move forward. The final lines of the song, where he sings of making his bed and lighting the light before arriving "late tonight," emphasize the sense of anticipation that he feels as he prepares to embark on this new journey.
Overall, "Bye Bye Blackbird" is a poignant and timeless song that speaks to the universal human experience of feeling alone and longing for connection. Its themes of hope, longing, and the desire for escape have resonated with listeners for generations.
Line by Line Meaning
No one here can love or understand me
I don't feel loved or understood by anyone here
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me
Everyone keeps telling me sad stories about their own misfortunes
Pack up all my cares and woe, here I go, winging low
I'm leaving all my troubles behind to start a new life
Bye, bye, blackbird
I'm saying goodbye and moving on to a new chapter
Where somebody waits for me
I have hope that I'll find someone who accepts and loves me for who I am
Sugar's sweet, so is she
I believe that the person waiting for me is kind and caring
Make my bed and light the light, I'll arrive late tonight
Prepare for my arrival, because I'll be arriving late tonight
Blackbird, bye, bye
Farewell, past struggles and hardships
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MORT DIXON, RAY HENDERSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind