Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)

Subject: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: GUEST,Cookie
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 08:03 AM

Does anyone know the lyrics to this song "Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones? I think it was about Willie Puddin' Head Jones
Third Baseman, Right-handed - Philadelphia Phillies 1947-1959; Cleveland Indians 1959; Cincinnati Reds 1959-1961

Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 09:43 AM

Data from Indiana State University (and some other sources)

Title: PUDDIN' HEAD JONES
First Line: There was a most peculiar kid in our town, was always late for school....
Chorus: Puddin' head Jones was fat and funny, dumber than sticks and stones....
Music by: Handman, Lou. 1894-1956
Words by: Bryan, Al.
P/P/D: New York : Remick Music Corp., 1933.

allmusic lists 3 recordings on CD:

Joe Haymes, "Joe Haymes and His Orchestra, 1932-1936," IAJRC CD #1008, 2000.

Ozzie Nelson, "Very Best of Ozzie Nelson, Vol. 1: 1932-1934," Collectables CD #7477, 2002.

Don Redman, "1933-1936," Classics CD #553, 1990.

There are sound samples available, but I don't have time to transcribe them right now.

Anyway, the song is older than the dates you gave for the baseball player. Maybe the player took his nickname from the song. Or maybe there was another song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: Louie Roy
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 08:57 PM

Somewhere in my collection I have the words that I learned off of an old 78 back in the 1930s and when I find it I will post Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: GUEST,Cookie
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 07:54 AM

Title: Puddin' Head Jones
Composer(s)/Lyricist(s)/Arrangers: Handman, Lou (m); Bryan, Al (w);Jenkins, Gordon
Copyright: 1933

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Dec 04 - 01:28 PM

Eddie Cantor also sing this on "The Chase and Sanborn Radio Show," a 4-CD set.
Here's my partial transcription, assembled from several sound samples, but mostly from Eddie Cantor:

There was a most peculiar kid in our town, was always late for school.
He never learned to tell a verb from a noun, and always broke the rule.
Though they looked upon him as a clown, yet he wasn't such a....

CHORUS: Puddin'head Jones was fat and funny, dumber than sticks and stones....

...the teacher carried candy and ice-cream cones.
But who do you think the teacher married? Wooden-head, Puddin'-head Jones!

Puddin'head Jones became a doctor, fixing up nerves and bones.
Patients got well whenever they called in Wooden-head, Puddin'-head Jones.

Whenever babies have the colic, he gave them...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: GUEST,Cookie
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 12:38 PM

Thanks for the info too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: Azizi
Date: 12 Dec 04 - 01:09 PM

Could the "Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones" chorus be the source for the children's saying:

Sticks & stones
may break my bones
but names will never hurt me.
---
If not, does anyone have any information on that chant.

Sorry,Guest Cookie if this results in thread creep [i.e going off topic to discuss something else].

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: GUEST,Louie Roy
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 11:35 AM

Refresh

Subject: Lyr Add: PUDDIN' HEAD JONES
From: Louie Roy
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 04:48 PM

I said I would post the lyrics when I found them. In my search I also came across the music written for a piano.

PUDDIN' HEAD JONES

There was a most peculiar kid in our town.
He was always late for school.
He never learned to tell a verb from a noun
And always broke the rule.
They looked upon him as a clown,
Yet he wasn't such a fool.

Puddin' Head Jones was fat and funny,
Dumber than sticks and stones.
That's why the kids all called him
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

He couldn't spell Constantinople,
Didn't know beans from bones.
Pencils and books were never made for
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

The teacher told his mother she would take him right in hand
And teach him a thing or two.
Like his older brother, he began to understand.
He learned everything she ever knew.

All of the kids to teacher carried
Candy and ice-cream cones,
But who do you think the teacher married?
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

His spelling was bad as spelling could be.
He spelled cat with a K.
He saw that he and the teacher could not agree
So he threw his books away.
He was only wasting his time, he said,
So he got a job instead.

Puddin' Head Jones was fat and funny,
Dumber than sticks and stones.
That's why the kids all called him
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

He couldn't spell Constantinople,
Didn't know beans from bones.
Pencils and books were never made for
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

After he got married, he went out and got a job,
And kept at it night and day.
Money stuck to him like corn on a cob.
Never spent it in a cabaret.

Stock market crashed, then came the depression.
Bankers cut down their loans,
But who do you think had all the money?
Wooden-head Puddin' Head Jones.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Dec 04 - 06:25 PM

Digression for Azizi- "Sticks and Stones" is in one of my books of quotations, with the indication 19th century, but no reference.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Wooden Head, Pudden Head Jones
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jan 07 - 12:00 AM

This song was also made popular by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra in the 30's. I sure would like to find a copy of it on 78 rpm!! Dan [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones
From: GUEST,Terremoto
Date: 21 Jul 07 - 12:17 PM

Willie Jones' parents actually gave him the nickname from the song, not the other way around.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 25 Jul 07 - 09:25 AM

This is a song that was CONSTANTLY on Warner Brothers cartoons, including the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones
From: GUEST,Willie Jones
Date: 08 Sep 08 - 09:06 PM

I knew Wille Puddin' Head Jones. He lived in the Cincinnati area back in the late 60's and early 70's. I helped him move once. He was a nice guy...although maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer. That could be why they called him Puddin' Head.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Sep 08 - 06:37 AM

I searched in Google Books for the phrase

"Sticks and stones
May break my bones,
But names will never hurt me."

The oldest examples I could find came from two books published in the same year. (I suspect they are the same text published under different titles in different countries.)

Cupples, George. Tappy's Chicks: And Other Links between Nature and Human Nature. London: Strahan & Co, 1872, page 78.

Cupples, George. Singular Creatures, and How They Were Found: Being Stories and Studies from the Domestic Zoölogy of a Scotch Parish. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1872, page 87.

...but I suspect the proverb is much older than that.

An article called "Rhythm" by Thaddeus L. Bolton in The American Journal of Psychology in 1894 points out that it has the same metrical structure and similar alliteration to:

"Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST,don't know the song but I am looking for his
Date: 02 Oct 10 - 05:01 PM

"children" by his wife Carolyn. I was friends with them in CARSON (they would know what I was talking about). If so, contact BARBARA BURKE on Facebook (was FEIST).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST,whitney girl
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 07:21 PM

Thanks for the memories, my dad just passed away at 92 yrs old.   He use to sing this to me as a child.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST,Brent
Date: 10 Jul 12 - 11:25 PM

my mom usto sing this song to me as a child her father sang it to her and he heard it from a black family that lived close to them i cant belive anyone else has heard it thought it was from that family

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 13 - 05:19 AM

Willie was the first big leaguer to wear lace panties under his uniform

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST,frank wikde
Date: 13 Sep 13 - 09:42 PM

I enjoyed reading all of your posts

My grand aunt was Dixie Hamilton a vaudeville perforner and lou handman and his wife Florrie were family friends for many years

The story goes that lou wrote this song about one if my uncles who was very rambunctious and Dixie would sing it in her act.

The story goes on that this was also one if Babe Ruth's favorites. In fact...my aunt would say..."the babe was the best!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Oct 14 - 10:45 PM

At that point, do you know where his ex-wife Carolyn and his kids: Eddie, Cathy and Brad may be? I knew them in 1964, Flourtown, Pa.
Been looking for them for years.

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: GUEST,tylerica
Date: 29 Oct 18 - 02:38 PM

This song is not about the baseball player, Its a betty boop song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Puddin' Head Jones (A Bryan, L Handman)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Oct 18 - 05:44 PM

There's a list of Betty Boop cartoons in Wikipedia, here; unfortunately, it doesn't list the songs that were used. IMDb was no help either. Many of those cartoons are viewable on YouTube, and they make fine entertainment. It has occurred to me it would be fun to compile a list of Betty Boop songs and post them on Mudcat, but right now I don't know a good way to proceed.