Thursday July 30, 2020 “Mr. Bojangles” Jerry Jeff Walker
Time for another story song.
Great opening lyric, “I knew a man Bojangles and he danced for you” which according to the songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker (Born Ronald Crosby in Oneonta, NY) started out as “I knew a girl she was my world…”
Walker said he was inspired to write this song after an encounter with a street performer in a New Orleans jail where Walker was incarcerated for public intoxication. During his stay he met the homeless man who called himself "Mr. Bojangles" perhaps after the 1930’s dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who danced with Shirley Temple in a number of her earlier films. Robinson died, unfortunately penniless, in 1949 so it is improbable that Walker born in 1942 met the real Bojangles.
When Jerry Jeff presented this song to his record label the executives said 'who wants to listen to a waltz about a drunk and his dog?'. Apparently everyone did.
Jerry Jeff has gotten a lot of mileage with “Mr. Bojangles” with several recorded versions including Garth Brooks, Chet Atkins, Jim Croce, John Denver, Dolly Parton, David Bromberg, Niel Diamond, Don McLean, Cat Stevens and also big hits for Sammy Davis Jr. and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band to name just a few.
Stay safe and well...and skip the melancholy of this song but do dance.
