Kerry Mills: info on life?

Subject: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: greg stephens
Date: 20 Jan 04 - 05:37 AM

I have been a great admirer of the music of kerry Mills for at least 40 years, but I know next to nothing about him. He wrote some amazing tunes: Redwing(the Moon shines bright on charlie Chaplin); Whislting Rufus, beloved of trad jazz bands and country pub melodeon players; At a Georgia Camp Meeting; the Kerry Mills Barn Dance(presumably he didnt call it that, but I dont know his original title).
    But other than the fact that he was(presumably) American, and was in full flight around 1890(??), I know nothing. Considering how well his tunes are lasting, I feel we should know a bit about the man himself. Anybody got any snippets?

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 20 Jan 04 - 07:31 AM

First bit of info:-
Real name - Frederick Allen Mills, "Kerry" was a nickname.
Also author of "Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis". "At a Georgia Campmeeting" (9-14 Aug. 1897).
Plus some very limited biographical info here - http://nfo.net/cal/tm5.html.
Hope that gets you satrted.
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: greg stephens
Date: 20 Jan 04 - 02:49 PM

Thanks Geoff. More please, someone!

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: Warsaw Ed
Date: 20 Jan 04 - 03:35 PM

The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection [Johns Hopkins Univ.] has some 21 songs by Kerry Mills [which can be printed online] including Georgia Camp Meeting, Red Wing, Meet Me in St. Louis and Any Port in a storm. Ed

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: greg stephens
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 02:05 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: M.Ted
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 05:51 PM

I was just reading about Kerry Mills last month--my mind is like a sieve anymore, though, so rather than post bad information, I'm going to dig out the books--now if I can only remember where I read it--

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: greg stephens
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 06:40 PM

MTed...please do look that up, this sounds a hot lead. I love playing Kerry Mills tunes to people, and saying "arent they great?"..I just want to know something about him to go with the music.

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: Warsaw Ed
Date: 21 Jan 04 - 07:30 PM

Kerry Mills
b. Feb. 1, 1869 Philadelphia, PA, d. Dec. 5, 1948 Hawthorne, CA.
nee: Frederick Allen Mills
At age 6, he was studying violin. At age 23 (in 1892), he was head of the Violin Department in the Univ. of Michigan's Music School. In 1893, he started to concertize.

In 1893, he composed a ragtime two-step march "Rastus On Parade". This may have been the first commercial version of the Cakewalk dance. He moved to New York City in 1895, founded his own publishing firm, F.A.Mills Music, and published his own song, "Rastus on Parade". He went on to publish some more of his own songs that may have been instumental in popularizing syncopation with the Tin Pan Alley writers.
1896 "Happy Days In Dixie"
1897 "Georgia Camp Meeting" was a big success.
1897 "Let Bygones be Bygones", lyric by Charles Shackford.
1899 "Mr Rufus" was a popular song originally published as a ragtime
piano piece. Later, W. Murdock Lind added the lyric.
1904 "Meet Me In St. Louis", was theme for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition
(And revived in the 1944 Judy Garland film of the same name.)
1904 "When The Bees Are In The Hive",lyric by Alfred J. Bryan
1907 "Take Me Around Again", lyric by Ed Rose
"Red Wing", lyric by Thurland Chattaway
1908 "Any Old Port In A Storm", lyric by Arthur J. Lamb
"The Longest Way 'Round Is The Sweetest Way Home", lyric Ren Shields.

At the end of WW1, Mills no longer composed, but devoted all his time to his publishing business. He died in Hawthorne, CA.
[from Big Bands Data Base] Ed

Subject: Lyr Add: MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, LOUIS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Apr 04 - 10:14 PM

From The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, LOUIS
Words, Andrew B. Sterling. Music, Kerry Mills. 1904.

1. When Louis came home to the flat,
He hung up his coat and his hat.
He gazed all around, but no wifey he found,
So he said, "Where can Flossie be at?"
A note on the table he spied.
He read it just once, then he cried.
It ran, "Louis dear, it's too slow for me here,
So I think I will go for a ride."

CHORUS: "Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.
Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there.
We will dance the Hoochee Koochee. I will be your tootsie wootsie,
If you will meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair."

The dresses that hung in the hall
Were gone. She had taken them all.
She took all his rings and the rest of his things.
The picture he missed from the wall.
"What, moving?" the janitor said.
"Your rent is paid three months ahead."
"What good is the flat?" said poor Louis. "Read that."
And the janitor smiled as he read: CHORUS

EXTRA VERSES

3. Lew Woods was the name of a horse
That ran at the New Orleans course.
I played him one day for a dollar each way,
And I charged it to profit and loss.
He started to run in the wet.
The son-of-a-gun's running yet.
That crazy old skate, he made straight for the gate,
And I hollered, "Hey, Lew! Don't forget."

CHORUS: Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.
Take my tip and don't stop running until you are there.
You're a wonder, that's no liesky, if you don't fall down and diesky.
Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.

4. There came to the gay tenderloin
A jay who had money to burn.
The poor simple soul showed a girlie his roll,
And she said, "For some wine, dear, I yearn."
A bottle and bird right away
She touched him, then said, "I can't stay."
He sighed, "Tell me, sweet, where can you and I meet?"
And the orchestra started to play:

CHORUS: Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.
Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there.
I'll be waiting there, my honey, to divorce you from your money.
Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.

5. The clerks in the bank said, "It's queer.
Did anyone see the cashier?
It's way after time, and we haven't a dime.
We can't open the safe till he's here."
The president shook his gray head.
"Send out for an expert," he said.
The door's opened wide. Not a cent was inside,
Just a card, that was all, and it read:

CHORUS: Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.
All the boys and all the girls are going to be there.
If they ask about the cashier, you can say he cuts a dash here.
Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.

6. In church sat a man near the door,
Asleep. He was starting to snore.
The minister rose and he said, "We will close
Singing, 'Meet on the Beautiful Shore.' "
The man in the back then awoke.
He caught the last words that he spoke.
He said, "Parson White, you can meet me all right,
But the Beautiful Shore is a joke."

CHORUS: Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.
Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there.
I'll be waiting at the station for the whole darned congregation.
Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis. Meet me at the fair.

[Refers to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a.k.a. the 1904 World's Fair, held in St. Louis. (Hey! This year's the centennial!) The song was used in, but not written for, the 1944 film "Meet Me in St. Louis," starring Judy Garland.

[Every time I have heard this song, it was pronounced "Meet me in St. Louie, Louie," but there is nothing in the sheet music to indicate this pronunciation. No resident of St. Louis today pronounces the name of the city that way (although the city's founders surely pronounced it the French way). It is pronounced "Saint Lewis."

[The Virtual Gramophone has a recording by Robert Price, undated, probably 1904 or 1905.]

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: greg stephens
Date: 29 Apr 04 - 03:56 AM

Thanks a lot for that information, Jim.

Subject: ADD: At a Georgia Camp Meeting
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 03:26 AM

I found these lyrics at http://www.pdmusic.org/1800s/97aagc.txt
I can't imagine anyone singing these lyrics in this day and age, but the song can be found in my 1952 edition of the Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs.

"At a Georgia Campmeeting" (9-14 Aug. 1897)
A Characteristic March
which can be used effectively as a
Two-Step, Polka or Cake Walk
A Song in Black.
by Kerry [Frederick Allen] Mills, 1869-1948

At a Georgia Camp Meeting
(Kerry Mills, 1897)

1.
A campmeeting took place, by the colored race;
Way done in Georgia
There were coons large and small, lanky lean fat and tall,
At this great coon campmeeting,
When church was out, how the "Sisters" did shout,
They were so happy,
But the young folks were tired
And wished to be inspired
And hired a big brass band.

CHORUS 2 times
When that band of darkies began to play
Pretty music so gay hats were thrown away
Thought them foolish coons their necks would break
When they quit laughing and talking
And went to walking, for a big chocolate cake.

2.
The old "Sisters" raised sand, when they first heard the band,
Way down in Georgia
The preacher did rare and the deacons did stare
At the young darkies prancing,
The band played so sweet that nobody could eat
'Twas so entrancing
So the church folks agreed
'Twas not a sinful deed,
And joined in with the rest.

(CHORUS 2 times)

I'm sure you'll be familiar with the tune: Click to play

Subject: RE: Songwriter Kerry Mills: info on life? & songs
From: greg stephens
Date: 22 Aug 06 - 04:12 AM

Thanks Joe. A fantastic tune, but the words, as you say, are perhaps not entirely in keeping with the sentiments of today. Better consigned to history!

Subject: RE: Songwriter Kerry Mills: info on life? & songs
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 06 - 07:51 PM

Hey "Kerry" Mills is my Great Great Grandfather. My dad being Frederick Allen Mills III and my brother the Fourth.

    Nelson Mills

Subject: RE: Songwriter Kerry Mills: info on life? & songs
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 06 - 08:48 PM

Correction: Great Grandfather

Nelson Mills

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: GUEST,Dave Bourne
Date: 19 Aug 08 - 03:33 PM

I can supply the only difinitive article on Kerry Mills for those who are interested. It was printed in the Rag Times in March of 1997. I would also like to get in touch with Nelson Mills.

You can e-mail me at [e-mail] and mention the Mills article.

Dave Bourne
saloonpiano.com

Subject: RE: Kerry Mills: info on life?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jun 22 - 03:33 PM

Hi My name is Joe, and I found this song on an album discussing the roots of music wheb I was 10.It was called Little Red Wing and I played it over and over on the piano. Riley Pickuett , an early folk musicians played this song to his mother and father in 1929.Kerry Mills had not done it yey but Thurland Chattaway had written a tune based on an 1888 folk melody. iHenry Burr and Len Spencer recorded this in 1907 and there have been many songs to this tune.