Day 13: What's wrong with the song 'Mr. Bojangles?'

One song that keeps coming up internally in our band, "Repeat Offenders" is Jerry Jeff Walker's  1968 Mr. Bojangles.  This wildly popular song has been covered by artists as diverse as Chet Atkins,  Harry Belafonte, David Bromberg, Garth George Burns, JJ Cale, Jamie  King Curtis, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Bobbie Gentry, Whitney Houston,  Frankie Laine, Lulu, Rod McKuen, Don McLean,  Harry Nilsson, and very strangely Nina Simone.

The most successful recording came from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970. In 1971, the record rose to #9 on Billoard Hot 100

Perhaps the most enduring interpretation comes from Sammy Davis Jr. who recorded it in 1972 and kept performing it until 1989, one year before his death. Here he is introducing it in what I believe to be Munich, Germany



Very much like the songs  "Mexico" or "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" are for the Repeat Offenders this was a must play for Sammy every show.

Even Bob Dylan recorded this song in 1970 although it doesn't really sound like Dylan except for the background vocals.

If this song was good enough for so many of my absolute heroes...including Bob, what is my problem with this tune?

Fair enough.

Let's go back to the origin story. “According to Walker, a murder on the 4th of July weekend in 1965 precipitated the arrest of all the street people in the area. In the crowded cell, a disheveled homeless man began to talk to Walker, who had been arrested earlier for drunkenness. The man told various stories of his life, but the tone darkened after “Mr Bojangles” recalled his dog who`d been run over. Someone then asked for something to lighten the mood, and the man obliged with a tap dance."

Walker says, “One of the guys in the cell jumped up and said, ‘Come on, Bojangles. Give us a little dance.’ ‘Bojangles’ wasn’t so much a name as a category of itinerant street entertainer known back as far as the previous century. The old man said, ‘Yes, Hell yes.’ He jumped up, and started clapping a rhythm, and he began to dance. I spent much of that long holiday weekend talking to the old man, hearing about the tough blows life had dealt him, telling him my own dreams.”

Two things about this story....

1. The drunk in the cell is called "Bojangles." In the song, he is Mr. Bojangles. Mr. Bojangles was the performing name of Bill Robinson.  Robinson famously tap danced with Shirley Temple among others in the 1930s and 40s. Not the guy who met Jerry Jeff Walker because that guy died in 1949. Robinson's legacy is mixed amongst historians as to whether he was an 'Uncle Tom." Look at this photo and tell me what you think.

2. The 'Bojangles' that Jerry Jeff Walker met in jail was WHITE! This from Kinky Friedman's book
Texas Holdem

And which was it....prison or jail?

And how was this white guy playing in minstrel shows?

Al Jolson, the son of a cantor in blackface!

That all said, there is one use or appropriation of the name for which I approve. That is by my nephew, Will Schutze, street puppeteer and musician. Here is his character, "Mr. Bonetangles" performing in the film Chef (2013) starring Jon Favreau


Chef(2013) - Mr. Bonetangles Scene from Alex Downs Wagner on Vimeo.