Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/11/fats-waller-told-me-your-feet.html
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Some of us might remember it as the theme to the Harry and the Hendersons TV series.
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John Lennon covered this in an obscure Hamburg bootleg. The superstitious believe that hands and feet sizes are directly proportional to sexual organ size, and Fats wasn’t planning to visit the Grand Canyon.
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Waller doesn’t get enough credit for his influence on jazz and popular music. I feel like he’s mostly forgotten except among jazz historians.
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I’m no jazz historian, but I remember when they staged a revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ back in the 80’s on Broadway. You couldn’t get away from ads for it on television or on the subway. That was my introduction and over-saturation of Fats Waller.
“One never knows. Do one?”
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Fats Waller played the organ at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem when he was a kid. His friend, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr, son of the pastor and future long-time Congressman, would help him pump it.
One of Waller’s last compositions was the “London Suite” which is quite something:
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Was just listening to this the other day. I put on a Fats Waller Playlist on Spotify after hearing his version of Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself a Letter on the Beatles xm station. They played it right after Paul’s version. And I love Macca, but liked Fats’ version better.
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Paul McCartney covered this one, “My Very Good Friend the Milkman”. The lyrics to this song, along with those for “You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew”, were written by a late cousin of mine, Johnny Burke. Anyway, it’s Fats Waller’s singing that keeps me smiling these days.
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The man was a consummate entertainer and incredible musician.
To this day one of my favorite films is the 1943 *Stormy Weather*…So many highlights in this film, but among the best is Fats Waller’s ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’
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