Muggsy led several traditional, "hot" jazz bands, most notably Muggsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band (which did not, in fact, play ragtime but, rather, "hot jazz" that would now be called Dixieland). This band set the style for all later attempts to play traditional jazz with a swing rhythm section. Its key members, apart from Muggsy, were: George Brunies - later Brunis - (trombone and vocals), Rodney Cless (clarinet), George Zack or Joe Bushkin (piano), Ray McKinstry, Nick Ciazza or Bernie Billings (tenor sax), and Bob Casey (bass). A number of competent but unmemorable drummers worked in the band.
The Ragtime Band's theme tune was "Relaxin' at the Touro", named for Touro Infirmary, the New Orleans hospital where Muggsy had been treated for a perforated ulcer early in 1938. He had been at the point of death when he was saved by one Dr. Alton Ochsner who drained the fluid and eased Muggsy's weakened breathing.
"Relaxin' At The Touro" is a fairly straightforward 12-bar blues, with a neat piano introduction and coda by Joe Bushkin. The pianist recalled, many years later: "When I finally joined Muggsy in Chicago (having left Bunny Berigan's failing big band) we met to talk it over at the Three Deuces, where Art Tatum was appearing. Muggsy was now playing opposite Fats Waller at the Sherman hotel and we worked out a kind of stage show for the two bands. Muggsy was a man of great integrity. We played a blues in C and I made up a little intro. After that I was listed as the co-composer of "Relaxin' at the Touro" (quoted by Richard B. Hadlock in the notes to the Bluebird CD 'Muggsy Spanier 1939 - The "Ragtime Band" Sessions', 07863 66550).
The (then) young pianist Joe Bushkin was in the Ragtime Band in 1939 and later said of Muggsy: "When he nailed something right, he stayed with it; he wouldn't fix it if it wasn't broke".
In his time, Muggsy made numerous Dixieland recordings that still serve as favorites today. Apart from the famous Ragtime Band, his other most important ventures were the quartet he co-led with Sidney Bechet (the 'Big Four') in 1940 and the traditional band he co-led with pianist Earl Hines at the Club Hangover in San Francisco in the 1950s. During the early 1920s he played with The Bucktown Five in Chicago.
Although Muggsy's real name was Francis Joseph Julian Spanier, he acquired the nickname "Muggsy" either because of his youthful enthusiasm for a baseball hero ("Muggsy" McGraw), or because of his obsession with King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. He was known to have shadowed and "mugged" both of them, copying their styles and incorporating them into his own music. He was allowed, on at least one occasion, to sit in with King Oliver's band (with Louis Armstrong on second cornet) at the Lincoln Gardens, Chicago, in the early 1920s.
He ended his days in the 1960s, leading a traditional jazz band that included old friends like Joe Sullivan (piano), Pops Foster (bass) and Darnell Howard (clarinet). He was not a great technician or virtuoso, but he could lead a traditional ensemble with fire and guts.
St. Louis Blues
Muggsy Spanier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hate to see that evening sun go down
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I love my man till the day I die
The lyrics to the song St. Louis Blues by Muggsy Spanier express a deep sense of loss and heartache. The singer hates to see the evening sun go down because it reminds them that their lover has left town. The sense of loneliness and despair are palpable in the repetition of this phrase throughout the song. The singer feels that tomorrow will be just as bleak as today and contemplates leaving town as their lover has done.
The lyrics also describe the power dynamic between the St. Louis woman with her diamond ring and the man the singer loves. The woman seems to have control over the man, whom the singer thinks would have gone nowhere without her. This sense of powerlessness and jealousy contribute to the singer's blues.
The final verses of the song express the depth of the singer's love for their departed lover. They love their partner like a schoolboy loves his pie or a Kentucky colonel loves his mint and rye. The singer's love for their man is so profound that they will love him until the day they die. Overall, the lyrics to St. Louis Blues convey a powerful sense of loss, desperation, and heartache that typify the blues genre.
Line by Line Meaning
I hate to see that evening sun go down
It pains me to see the sun setting each day
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
My beloved has left this place, making me miserable
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
I'll feel the same tomorrow as I am feeling today
If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
In case I am feeling the same tomorrow, as today
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
I'll leave this place and move on with my life, abandoning everything
St. Louis woman with her diamond ring
A woman from St. Louis, flaunting her precious diamond ring
Pulls that man around by her
She manipulates the man she's with by using her charm
if it wasn't for her and her
If it weren't for her tactics and her only
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
The man I love would have been nowhere, unknown to the world
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
I am truly sorrowful, as I have the St. Louis Blues
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
The person I loved has a heart that's cold as a rock beneath the sea surface
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
If not, he would not have gone so far away from where I am
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
I love my lover as much as a schoolboy loves his favourite treat
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I love him as much as a Kentucky Colonel loves the famous mint and rye drink
I love my man till the day I die
I will always love the person I adore till the day I breathe my last breath
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: W C HANDY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind