Charlie My Boy

[RaleighRob]

I DJ at the Carolina shag club that hosts our weekly lindy night. It's not uncommon to have older shaggers show up and make comments like "This is the music I grew up on.", etc.

This week, I had a drunk 60-ish year-old shagger ask me if I had "Charlie My Boy". He wanted me to play it because his mother used to play it for him off a old 78 rpm LP. I wasn't immediately familiar with it, so I asked him if he knew the artist. He'd brought his tipsy 89 year-old mother with him, so he went to ask her if she knew the artist. She didn't. I couldn't find it in my collection, but I told him I'd look for it.

Looking on allmusic, I found a version of it on Jimmy Dorsey and the Dorseyland Jazz Band's America's Premier Dixieland Jazz Band Live 1950 (Jazz Crusade, 1998). There's a preview on Amazon.com here. It's not the best quality recording.

Anyone know of better/other versions of "Charlie My Boy"? Any opinions about this CD or about this label?

[redthunder64]

I was looking for information on this song when I came across this post. I hope you don't mind my responding, as I am just a visiting guest.

Oh my, listening to that tune brought me back. My Grandmother used to play that song for me when I was little. The version she played was not an instrumental. The album she had gotten it from had "the Roaring 20's" in the title. The album also had "Yes, We Have No Bananas" and "Button Up Your Overcoat"

I was very little, but it seemed to me, some of the lyrics of "Charlie My Boy" went...

"and when we dance
I read in your glance
sweet notions
and oceans
of love and romance

My mother told me that I shouldn't be kissed
But boy, those eyes of yours are hard to resist"

I don't remember the rest, sorry. I hope this helps

[CafeSavoy]

Some additional versions here