Who was/is The Johnny Otis Show ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD and more
The Johnny Otis Show
Willie And The Hand Jive
We last encountered Johnny Otis as a front man in 1951, although his presence was felt in later volumes as an arranger, producer and sideman. This was Otis' only pop hit of any consequence in the United States, and it was, of course, a kinder, gentler version of the Bo Diddley 'shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits' rhythm. After signing with Capitol, Otis scored a huge hit in England with a revival of Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me, and came over to discuss the possibility of touring. The British musicians' union nixed the idea of a tour, but Otis saw kids doing a hand jive on the BBC's 'Six-Five Special'. Back in the States, Otis wrote this tune with the overseas market in mind, but it became a Top 10 pop hit in the United States while faring poorly overseas.
When some accused him of plagiarizing Bo Diddley, Otis insisted that he had heard Count Otis Matthews and his West Oakland Houserockers play the Diddley beat when he worked with them circa 1939 (and who, at this point, can disprove him?). Later, Otis cast himself in the role of musicologist. He recalled that, after he'd had a few hit records, he saw a chain gang in the South whose long metal hammers pounded out exactly that rhythm, and that the next time he heard the beat was on a Red Saunders record called 'Hambone' - all of which, he said, predated both him and Bo. One day, Otis recounted, Bo was at his house (they both raised chickens and ducks, and Otis was giving him some) when Bo, half-jokingly and in rather coarse words, accused him of taking his song. Otis asked him whether he had ever heard 'Hambone' - and Bo simply told him to keep quiet about it.
Its origins notwithstanding, Otis' record has survived in part because of Jimmy Nolen's beautifully economical guitar. Nolen would go on to more or less invent funk guitar with James Brown. Willie And The Hand Jive charted again in 1966 for the Strangeloves, in 1974 for Eric Clapton and in 1985 for George Thorogood.
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