Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]

Subject: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 02:14 PM

RED TOP
words by King Pleasure
music by Ben Kynard and Lionel Hampton

instrumental intro
[spoken:] Red top!

OPENING CHORUS
My little red top
See how you got me spinning
Going round and round
And I don't want to stop
You've got me so
If I don't go around
I'm sure gonna drop, gonna drop, gonna drop

So red top
You just go right on spinning
Go round and round
And don't you ever stop
Remember that
If you don't go around
We're sure gonna drop, gonna drop, gonna drop

[The tenor saxophone of Gene Ammons in a featured improvised solo.
The solo opens by quoting the melody of "Alice Blue Gown."]

tenor-sax solo vocalese, words sung by King Pleasure
My sweet little Alice Rosetta
I'm spinning and I promise
That I'll love you forever
I know that there is
No other who can thrill me
No one can kill me
Baby like you do

And I'll tell the world
I'm in love with you
Oh yes I'm in love with you
Any old thing you say
And everything that you do
So darling won't you tell me you're mine
And hold me tight
Through the night
If you love me

Gonna go spinning
-------   spinning top
And don't you dare stop
I'm high upon a dream
And I don't wanna drop


[The trumpet of Gail Brockman in a featured improvised solo.]

Trumpet solo vocalese, sung by Betty Carter
I would take a solo
But I can't stop
I gotta go right on spinning
It's a symbol
Of my little red top
I gotta go right on spinning
Gotta go round and round
Until I tumble down
And fall with a drop
Mornin' Glory
Now you know the story
Of the little red top


[instrumental intro]
spoken: Red top!

FINAL CHORUS
My little red top
See how you got me spinning
Going round and round
And I don't want to stop
You've got me so
If I don't go around
I'm sure gonna drop, gonna drop, gonna drop

So red top
You just go right on spinning
Going round and round
And don't you ever stop
Remember that
If you don't go around
You just cool down baby
'Cause we're sure gonna drooooop

Under copyright, dating from late 1940's.
The musical royalties went to Lionel Hampton, represented by
Glad Hamp Music Publishing Co.
as well as
Swing and Tempo Music Publishing Co.;
these would be known in the broadcast/airing sector as
"Music Rights Societies."

As for the lyrics:
King Pleasure recorded for Prestige Records,
and I know nothing further.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 02:22 PM

The word "vocalese," said to have been coined by
music critic Leonard Feather,
has more than one definition. Here is one:

"The art of setting
established instrumental jazz solos
to lyrics,
and singing them."      
--    Sol Foster,
at his website. (this link won't work for me)

And, if the link works, here is another definition.
Grove's/Oxford Music definition ( beginning )

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 02:42 PM

The earliest instrumental recorded performance,
upon which the vocalese is based.
Neither Lionel Hampton,
nor Ben Kynard, a member of Lionel Hampton's Big Band,
take part in this performance.

This is the small ensemble formed around
tenor saxophone player Gene Ammons,
from his record album The Boss on Savoy Records (late 1940's).
The vocalese lyric words are fitted to music executed by
Gene Ammons, tenor saxophone,
and
Gail Brockman, trumpet.

Red Top

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 02:52 PM

Now, as to the lyrics recorded in the post that opens this thread,
here is the artist who wrote and performed the lyrics,
assisted by a youthful Betty Carter.

Red Top vocalese by King Pleasure, Prestige Records

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 19 - 03:09 PM

To reiterate, covering the musical composition:
Ben Kynard played in the reed section of
the big band led by
Lionel Hampton, vibraphone artist and popular entertainer.

"Red Top" was one of several hit tunes
that made Lionel Hampton a wealthy man
(his wealth managed by the legendary business acumen
of his spouse, Gladys Hampton, a graduate of Fisk University;
hence the publishing company's name of
'Glad Hamp': Glad for Gladys, Hamp for either/both Hamptons.)

Then there is Ben Kynard's side of the story.
In the interview to which this post will link,
Kynard explains how he composed the actual music,
then cut a deal to have it published by Mr and Mrs Hampton's company.
As Kynard explains it, the deal was straightforward:
he received a one-time fee ( a lot of money at the time, I believe),
and Lionel Hampton got his own name put on the writing credits.

Then the Hamptons got busy and used their own system
to get the composition circulating, in order to
encourage other musicians to perform and record the music.
Which is how Gene Ammons, with his small ensemble,
beat Lionel Hampton's Big Band
into the recording studio.
Eventually, Lionel Hampton's Big Band recorded Red Top,
presumably with Ben Kynard playing saxophone someplace in there.

interview, Ben Kynard

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Dec 19 - 03:04 AM

Oh, I love this one!
My friend Carmy and I were learning this in our "Swing Jazz Trio" back in the late 90s.
(too bad we folded before we got to perform it, LoL!)
Cheers!
Rich-Joy (Down Under)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Top [vocalese by King Pleasure]
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 23 - 09:39 AM

It's a gloomy day, and for some reason
this song cheers me up.
Maybe it will cheer up somebody else too.
(see previous links for recording)