Search

Song

Lyrics written by
Originally written by
Language
English
ISWC
T-902.883.621-7 ASCAP, ISWC
Adapted from
St. James Hospital written by [Traditional]
Comments
Credited to Mills in the PRO databases, and to Don Redman on the first Louis Armstrong releases. None of them are likely to be the actual writers though.
On September 2nd 1928, Joe Bishop joined Al Katz's band and ecouraged Katz to add St. James Infirmary to his repertoire, a song he had learned from his father. Katz was reluctant, but that changed when a few days later William Brookins also joined the band and made the same request. Apparently Brookins had learned the song around 1926 from a piano player, Jack Dalton, in his hometown Dallas.
Eventually Brookins sang St. James Infirmary with the Al Katz Orchestra at Detroit's Graystone Ballroom in December 1928, and that's where Don Redman heard it, as his band the McKinney's Cotton Pickers were the resident dance band. Both Bishop and Brookins claim they taught the song to Don Redman on December 5th, 1928. Redman had heard the song before but liked Katz' arrangement, and a week later Louis Armstrong recorded the song in that arrangement. That's how the song briefly got credited to Redman, but this was corrected in subsequent releases.
Published by
CPP-BELWIN INC GEMA
EMI MILLS MUSIC INC ASCAP
Licensing
Request a synchronization license

Meta

Added by Denis
Managed by Bastien