A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs - PLEDGE WEEK: “Ain’t Got No Home” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry

Episode Date: July 17, 2020

Welcome to the fifth in the Pledge Week series of episodes, putting up old bonus episodes posted to my Patreon in an attempt to encourage more subscriptions. If you like this, consider subscribing to the Patreon at http://patreon.com/join/andrewhickey . This one is about “Ain’t Got No Home” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry, a classic of both novelty music and New Orleans R&B. Click the cut to view a transcript of this episode: (more…)

This is not a proper episode of the podcast. Rather, this is something else. I've decided to hold a pledge week to try to get a few more subscribers to my Patreon. So every day this week, I'll be putting one of the backer-only episodes I've done over the past year up on the main podcast feed, so people can hear what it is you get

if you sign up for the Patreon, with this little introductory piece before them. If you're already a backer, you will already have this episode, so you can skip this, and everything else labeled Pledge Week. I do one of these every week for my backers, and backers even at the lowest levels get them.

If you sign up for a dollar a month, you get each new one as it comes out, and access to all the old ones. There are 59 of them up so far, as well as a few other things, like the monthly Q&As I've been doing for backers. I'm only making seven of these available on the public feed, so there's a lot still there for you to listen to.

If this works well, I might do another one next year, where there'll be another 50-odd episodes to choose from. None of this is meant to put any pressure on anyone who can't afford it to back the podcast. The podcast will always remain free to listen to, and I hope it will remain ad-free as well. I know times are especially tough right now, and many of you literally can't afford the money you're already spending, let alone paying any more out. I only want backers who can spare the money. But if you can afford it, and if you like these bonus episodes enough, then go to patreon.com slash Andrew Hickey, that's spelled H-I-C-K-E-Y, or follow the link in the show notes, and sign up,

and you'll get one of these the same day as every new episode. If you can't, well, enjoy this extra free bonus, and don't worry about it. This episode is almost a request. one. Daniel Helton asked during the question and answer sessions last week if I'd thought about covering this song in an episode, and I said then that I'd do it as a Patreon bonus. I may do other songs suggested by backers in future bonus episodes. We'll see, but this one is a song that genuinely deserves at least a brief look. Claren't got no home

or no face to wrong I'm a lonely boy I ain't got a home I got a voice I love the thing I sing like a girl and I sing like a frog I'm a lonely boy

Clarence Frogman Henry is from New Orleans as you can immediately hear from the record It's yet another of those classic records made in Cosimo Matas's studio, but Henry was young enough that he grew up listening to those earlier records. As a teenager, he was a fan of Fats Domino and Professor Longhair. He started playing in bars in his teens, with various local bands, and he soon developed a unique vocal technique. At the time, Shirley and Lee were one of the biggest acts in New Orleans.

and everyone wanted to hear their material. But Henry was the only singer with the bands he was in, and so he would sing both Shirley's vocal part and Lee's, and he developed ways to make his voice sound more feminine. He would also play around with his voice and try other unusual voices, including one that sounded like a bullfrog. He used to imitate frogs and alligators in school to scare the girls. and then one night, performing in a club at 2 o'clock in the morning,

far past when he wanted to go to bed, he started wondering if the audience had no homes to go to and improvised a song around that theme, Ain't Got No Home, using his different voices. The song was very loosely based on one he'd already written called Lonely Tramp, but sped up and turned into a showcase for his vocal tricks. The song became a regular in his sets, and he eventually came to the attention of Paul Gaeton,

a musician in New Orleans who also worked as an A&R man for chess records. Gaten signed Henry to Chess's new subsidiary Argo, and they went into Cosimo Matas' studio to record a single. Ain't Got No Home was intended for the B-side. The A-side was a Fats Domino-style song called Troubles Troubles. Everybody got trouble, trouble, trouble, and I got trouble too. Everybody got troubles, trouble, trouble, and I got troubles too. I got so much trouble. I don't know what to do.

Everybody got trouble, trouble, trouble, troubles all the time. Everybody got troubles, trouble, trouble, troubles all the time. I got so many trouble. I'm about to lose my mind. I got troubles with the room. Leonard Chess initially didn't want to release the single at all, but then the New Orleans DJ, known as Popper Stopper, played an acetate of it. Popper Stopper was one of several white men who performed under that name,

playing a character initially created by a black man and pretending to be black, and he was to New Orleans what Alan Freed was to Cleveland, Huggy Boy to L.A., and Dewey Phillips to Memphis, the white DJ who could make or break black music in the mass market. Popper Stopper played both sides of the record, but it was the B-side that made listeners sit up and take note. They kept calling in to hear the song by the Frogman. Popper Stopper turned to Henry, who was in the studio with him,

and said, from now on, you're Frogman. The record went out with Ain't Got No Home on on the AC. side and it became a big hit going to number three on the R&B charts and hitting the top 20 in the pop charts however the follow-up lonely tramp didn't chart I'm a lonely tramp I'm a lonely tramp don't have nobody in this world who care for me because I'm lonely I'm no good After a couple more failed attempts at follow-ups, Henry went back to just being a live performer and didn't make a record for three years.

But then in 1961, he teamed up with the songwriter Bobby Charles. Charles was a white Cajun songwriter who had been as influenced by Fats Domino as Henry was. He'd written hits for Domino, but was best known for his song Later Alligator, which as See You Later Alligator had been a big hit for Bill Haley. Charles and Gaiton wrote a ballad called I Don't Know Why But I Do, which they gave to Henry to sing.

Alan Toussaint produced, arranged and played piano, and the result was absolutely nothing like his first hit but a catchy pop ballad that became a perennial classic. But I Do became a worldwide hit, reaching number four in the pop charts and number three in the UK. Several follow-ups also charted, though less well. Many listeners believed Henry to be white, something that Chess encouraged by putting a stock photo of a white man with his head in his hands on the cover of his first album. This was a common technique in the early 60s when a black artist had crossover appeal.

Clarence Frogman Henry was no longer a one-hit wonder who'd had a hit with a novelty record, but a serious artist who'd had multiple big hits. While he would never again reach the heights of But I Do, that was enough to ensure him a career which continues to this day. For decades, Henry had a residency in a club on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, but he also spent lengthy periods in Britain, where he had a big following. His most famous British fans were the Beatles, who invited him to perform as their opening act on their first US tour.

He'd first met them on a UK tour a little earlier, and they had occasionally played But I Do in their set when that had been in the charts. But he had other UK fans as well, and would occasionally perform with them, as this record from 1983 shows. That's Frogman with Chas and Dave, remaking one of their songs, released on Chaz and Dave's Rockney record label. He also toured with Canon and Ball around that time. Clarence Frogman Henry is still alive, aged 82,

and was still performing at least as recently as May 2017, the most recent gig I've been able to find for him, still playing his classic hits. Here's hoping he carries on for many more years. Bollah do, rock and roll. Bola loo, yeah.