Music Reviews: What a Little Moonlight Can Do and Kitchen Man
What a Little Moonlight Can Do (as sung by Billie Holiday) and Kitchen Man (as sung by Bessie Smith) are two classic blues/jazz songs. Both songs express the joy of love but do so in lyrically different ways. I think you might say that each song is talking about a different aspect of love. Both are written from a female point of view. What A Little Moonlight Can Do is a jazzy swing song that captures the excitement,wonder and giddiness of actually falling in love. The noted Tin Pan Alley songwriter Harry Woods wrote the song. Ironically even though the song is incredibly optimistic and upbeat, Woods himself was an often depressed alcoholic who didn't mind putting hands on people when he found it necessary. Holiday's version of the song included a number of musicians who like her would become legendary: Teddy Wilson, Ben Webster and Benny Goodman. Kitchen Man is a bluesy piece that is much earthier. The love it describes is perhaps indistinguishable from physical lust. Kitchen Man makes uses of barely concealed double entendres. The singer is not falling in love but rather describing all the reasons why she is in love with the titular hero. And the love she's detailing really doesn't have a whole lot to do with moonlight or stuttering or uncertainty. The singer knows exactly what she wants. And she's going to tell you. Kitchen Man features Eddie Lang on guitar and Clarence Williams on piano. Eddie Lang was actually Caucasian (Italian-American born Salvatore Massaro) and had to resort to pseudonyms in order to record with black singers. Lang was one of the people instrumental (pun intended) in replacing the banjo with the guitar in jazz songs. Clarence Williams was not only a pianist but a composer, producer and music publisher among other things. For a time in the 20s and 30s he was the primary Black music publisher in the nation. He also produced songs for country artists such as Hank Williams. And he would become the grandfather of noted actor Clarence Williams III. I like both songs. Each singer had her own enjoyable and influential vocal style.
Although one singer was more associated with "jazz" and the other with "blues" there wasn't as much difference between them as you might have thought. Blues singer Bessie Smith recorded with jazz icon Louis Armstrong, after all. And Billie Holiday could and did sing blues as well as any of her contemporaries. Each woman came up in a time before there was the hard divide between jazz and blues that would later be used to market music. I think that Smith and Holiday were great examples of people who didn't necessarily have great vocal range but were still impressive singers because of the way they phrased a note. Although Smith did her share of shouting type blues songs, neither Holiday nor Smith routinely indulged in the empty vocal pyrotechnics that have become almost de rigeur today. If you have a chance to listen to Smith's and Holiday's work on Columbia you should do so.
Ooh, what a little Moonlight can do Ooh, what a little moonlight Can do to you
You're in love Your hearts fluttering All day long You only stutter 'Cause your poor tongue Just will not utter The words, I love you
Ooh, what a little Moonlight can do Wait a while Till a little moonbeam Comes peepin' through You'll get bored You cant resist him And all you'll say When you have kissed him is Ooh, what a little Moonlight can do
Madam Bucks was quite deluxe Servants by the score Footmen at each door Butlers and maids galore But one day Sam, her kitchen man Gave in his notice, he's through She cried, "Oh Sam, don't go It'll grieve me if you do"
I love his cabbage gravy, his hash Crazy 'bout his succotash I can't do without my kitchen man Wild about his turnip top Like the way he warms my chop I can't do without my kitchen man
Anybody else can leave And I would only laugh But he means too much to me And you ain't heard the half Oh, his jelly roll is so nice and hot Never fails to touch the spot I can't do without my kitchen man
His frankfurters are oh so sweet How I like his sausage meat I can't do without my kitchen man Oh, how that boy can open clam No one else can touch my ham I can't do without my kitchen man
When I eat his doughnuts All I leave is the hole Any time he wants to Why, he can use my sugar bowl Oh, his baloney's really worth a try Never fails to satisfy I can't do without my kitchen man
