Lyr Req: Ol' Man Mose (Louis Armstrong)

Subject: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 09:33 AM

Anybody know which came first, the song or the Al Capp comic strip character?

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: clueless don
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 10:27 AM

I know "Old Man Mose" as a character in The Phantom.

Don

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 11:54 AM

Really? That's a new one on me.

Old Man Mose was a character in the "Li'l Abner" strip. He was a hermit who lived in a cave, way up in the mountains, and the residents of Dogpatch believed him to have paranormal powers, and went to him for advice and predictions.

The problem was, it was a long, tedious walk to his cave, and he was VERY old, so there always a certain amount of apprehension that he might have 'kicked the bucket' since he was last visited.

So the title character in the song is clearly the same dude, but was the song based on the comic strip character or vice-versa?

Subject: Lyr Add: OL' MAN MOSE (L Armstrong/Z Randolph)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 07:45 PM

for the record, here are the lyrics for the Louis Armstrong song, from http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/o/olmanmose.shtml

OL' MAN MOSE
(Louis Armstrong / Zilner Randolph)

Nat Gonella & His Georgians (vocal: Nat Gonella)
Also recorded by : Louis Armstrong; Teresa Brewer;
Bob Crosby & His Orch.; Eddy Duchin; Ella Fitzgerald;
Connie Francis; Georgia Gibbs; Golden Gate Quartet; The Ink Spots;
Made In The Shade; Wayne Newton; Louis Prima.


Now one time there lived an old man
With a very crooked nose
He lived inside a log hut
and they called him ol' man Mose
One dark and dreary morning I knocked upon his door
I didn't hear a single sound
so I ain't gonna do it no more.

'cos I believe ol' man, I believe ol' man
I believe ol' man, thatol' man Mose is dead.
I believe ol' man, I believe ol' man
I believe ol' man, that ol' man Mose is dead.

(Now you believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe he's dead)

(You believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe) Mose kicked the bucket
(You believe he's dead)

Now listen here,
I went round to the window
And I peeped in through the crack,
Inside there was an old man
Laying flat upon his back
I thought that he was sleeping
Head hung to the floor
He didn't make a single move
So I ain't gonna do it no more

'cos I found out ol' man, I found out ol' man
yeah, I found out ol' man, ol' man Mose is dead

('cos you found out) ol' man
(you found out) ol' man
(you found out) ol' man
(you found out he's dead)

(you found out) Mose kicked the bucket
(you found out) Mose kicked the bucket
(you found out) Mose kicked the bucket
(you found out he's dead)


(you found out) Mose kicked the bucket
(you found out) Mose kicked the bucket
(you found out) Mose kickin' up daisies
(you found out he's dead)

Old Man Mose is dead.


(Contributed by Bill Huntley - December 2004)

---

The Harry Fox Agency songfile.com site lists five songs titled "Old Man Mose."
Songwriters:
Louis Armstrong & Zilner Randolph
Jesse Fuller
Hal Bynum & Dave Kirby
Gary Farr
Staf Dierckx & Jan Van de Ven


Are they all the same song? The Jesse Fuller and Louis Armstrong recordings are very different, but it's clearly the same song.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 08:07 PM

The lyrics used by the Les Humphries Singers are substantially different, eliminating the reference to 'kick[ing] the bucket', which, one supposes, would be puzzling to their European audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jN2ZDIBpmU

I love songs that can't seem to decide whether they're in a Major or a minor key, of which this one is an excellent example.

But I'd still like to know if the song was based on Al Capp's character, or he invented the character after hearing the song.

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 08:30 PM

Old Man Mose, Louis Armstrong and Zilner Randolph, ASCAP Work No. 410125725.
Variations covered, Anne Rachel Music Corp., c/o Warner/Chapell Music Inc.
First recorded 1935.

Li'l Abner- initiated 1934. Don't know when Capp's Old Man Mose appeared in the strip.

Both may be loosely based on an old folk tale.

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: GUEST,Uncle Rumpo
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 09:07 PM

..and here's the 'contraversial' Eddy Duchin vesion
from 1938..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbDKNHMDrEU

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 07 Sep 10 - 09:32 PM

Li'l Abner- initiated 1934. Don't know when Capp's Old Man Mose appeared in the strip.

The Li'l Abner dailies are available in book form, and I think that my local library might even have them. If so, it should be easy, and entertaining, to see if Mose appeared before 1935.

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: clueless don
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 08:36 AM

My apologies! Apparently, the character I was thinking of from The Phantom is Old Man Moz.

Don

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 09:03 AM

Don, that was a strip I never could get very interested in, it always seemd to me like a soap opera, nothing much ever seemed to happen.

Lee Falk also wrote Mandrake, which is one of my all-time favorites, always exciting, suspenseful, and way ahead of its time in the 1940's and 50's in having a black man who was an important character and not just comedy relief.

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 01:53 PM

Terry and the Pirates, Milton Caniff, another released in book form (and attractively done with archives from Ohio State University). No Old Man Mose, but the Dragon Lady was a favorite of mine.

Subject: RE: Old Man Mose
From: beeliner
Date: 08 Sep 10 - 02:29 PM

Capp and Caniff were close personal friends. and many readers assumed that Caniff was also Jewish; in fact, Capp once had a story line with a character named Milton Goniff.

Caniff was in fact an Irish Catholic.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ol' Man Mose (Louis Armstrong)
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 06:49 PM

There's a Louis Jordan song,
"Jack, You're Dead",
which references this song:


"... You were always kickin',
But you stubbed your toes,
When you ups and kicks the bucket
Just like ol' man Mose."