My Bucket's Got A Hole In It
Here is my transcription of Branford Marsalis playing “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” as an encore during his performance at the 2023 North Sea Jazz Festival:
Click here for the original YouTube video
Authorship of “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” is usually attributed to Clarence Williams, who obtained a copyright for it in 1933. But the first recording with that title was in June of 1927 by the Tom Gates Orchestra—an otherwise forgotten band out of Minneapolis—crediting Lee N. Blevins and Victor Sells as the composers (they were in the band). The melody was recorded under different names during the preceding twelve years, and its documented history extends before that. So Clarence Williams didn’t write it. Louis Armstrong released a version in 1950—a year after the recording by Hank Williams in 1949 reached number 4 on the country chart. A variation of the melody also appears in "Keep A-Knockin.” That tune became the basis for several R&B versions of the song “You Can’t Come In," recorded by multiple artists. Its roots run deep.
“To-A-Bac-A-Wa” was recorded in March 1927 when the Victor Recording Company traveled to New Orleans to capture some of the jazz popular in Chicago and New York at its source. In this case, Luis Dumaine’s Jazzola Eight. Despite the black masking Indian patois title, this is an instrumental version of “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It.” The New Orleans musicians in his band heard and played it their whole lives. Louis Dumaine lived from 1890 until 1949. He was a member of the Tuxedo Brass Band in the early to mid-1920s. Louis also played with the Henry Allen Brass Band, the Eagle Brass Band (originally the Buddy Bolden band from 1895–1906—before Louis joined), Kid Howard, and trombonist Frankie Duson (a member of Buddy’s band). In the 1930s, he led brass bands, including the WPA band in 1935 and the ERA Orchestra in 1936.
A similar melody appears after the introduction of "She's Crying for Me (Blues),” recorded in early 1925 by the (Original) New Orleans Rhythm Kings (released on Okeh 40327). They were a band in Chicago heavily influenced by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. Only two of the five members were from New Orleans, but I can’t believe they weren’t all familiar with the original melody.
H. Alf Kelley (music) & J. Paul Wyer (lyrics) copyrighted Long Lost Blues” in 1915 as part of their sheet music release “A Bunch Of Blues.” It was recorded and released three times as a piano roll. It is unclear how Alf heard the melody, but its inclusion in an arrangement with the other popular blues themes suggests he had an ear for what was happening in New Orleans.
Introducing a television performance, Louis Armstrong refers to King Oliver playing it in New Orleans before leaving for Chicago in 1917— “Well, they called it something else in 1917 when he left there. Joe Oliver used to blow this one, and it’s called The Bucket’s Got A Hole In It”.
People who played with him and remember hearing him say the song was a regular part of Buddy Bolden’s repertoire. Someone remarked that he played it “when he spotted friends or some of the sporting crowd (patrons of Storyville) and wanted to liven things up.” Joe “King” Oliver, Freddie Keppard, and Bunk Johnson were all young trumpet players in the early 1900s heavily influenced by Buddy Bolden, responsible for carrying his style and innovation forward—Bolden never recorded—and influencing the first generation of jazz stars in Chicago and New York. It makes sense that Armstrong remembers hearing Oliver playing “Bucket’s Got A Hole In It”—whatever he called it.
This became one of the first jazz songs before it settled on a title. Buddy Bolden didn’t write it—its origin is unknown—but the melody was an ingredient in the gumbo of burlesque, vaudeville, cabaret, Wild West, tent revivals, circuses, minstrel shows, lawn parties, house parties, all-day picnics on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, bars, dance halls, and brothels—keeping musicians in the late 1800s well-fed.