{"id":8210,"date":"2011-06-22T06:51:57","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T10:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=8210"},"modified":"2011-06-22T14:26:28","modified_gmt":"2011-06-22T18:26:28","slug":"midweek-music-break-one-shoe-blues-sandra-boynton-via-b-b-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/midweek-music-break-one-shoe-blues-sandra-boynton-via-b-b-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Music Break: “One Shoe Blues” (Sandra Boynton via<\/em> B.B. King)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

[Image: B.B. King and Boynton sock puppet]<\/em><\/p>\n

I had occasion recently to be searching around for an image from the 1970s, the cover of possibly the biggest-selling greeting card in the planet’s (if not the universe’s) history. It was a cartoon, at the top of which was depicted a single hippopotamus, a small avian creature, and a pair of sheep. Beneath, in a charming apparently hand-lettered caption, it said:<\/p>\n

Hippo   Birdy  Two Ewe<\/p>\n

This search made me wonder what had happened to the artist, Sandra Boynton. I took it for granted she continued to work in some capacity, even though she — something like the J.K. Rowling of greeting-card creators — surely could have retired after her first few products hit the market.<\/p>\n

She hasn’t retired, not at all. She’s certainly branched out, though. Among her other accomplishments, Wikipedia<\/a> identifies her as a songwriter and I wondered what that was all about. Hence I came to her 2007 album (actually her fourth), Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never<\/em>. The Boynton-crafted songs on it purport to be (per the subtitle) actual hits from some imaginary parallel universe’s past; the album as a whole is marketed as children’s music. The performers featured, though, include folks likely to be appreciated by adults in our own universe’s past (and present) — Steve Lawrence, Patti LuPone, Sha Na Na, Brian Wilson, and so on.<\/p>\n

And buried in the middle, a true gem: “One Shoe Blues,” upon which B.B. King lavishes his signature attentions:<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin <\/em>One Shoe Blues. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 3:09 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[audio:oneshoeblues_bbking.mp3|titles=’One Shoe Blues’|artists=B.B. King]<\/div>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

One Shoe Blues<\/strong>
\n(by Sandra Boynton; performance by B.B. King)<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, I woke up this morning
\nCouldn’t find my shoe
\nYes, I woke up this morning and I couldn’t find my shoe.
\nAlthough the right one is here, I need the left one too
\n(Yes, I do)
\nI can hear my mama calling.
\nShe says it’s time to go.
\nYes, I can hear my mama calling.
\nShe says:
\nReally<\/em> now, it’s time to go.
\nI say:
\nMama, I can’t find one of my shoes!
\nAnd she says, Oh no. Not again.<\/em>
\nI’ve got the one shoe blues
\nIt seems they’re never gonna stop.
\nYes, those one shoe blues.
\nOh, they might never ever stop.
\nMama says,
\nJust come along now!<\/em>
\nOne shoe.
\nDo you expect me to hop?
\nDid you look in the closet and under the bed?<\/em>
\nYes, I did
\nDid you look <\/em>carefully in the closet and under the bed?<\/em>
\nYes, yes I did.
\nTry and think where you left it.<\/em>
\nThat’s what my mama said.
\nLast night I left it right here next to my other shoe.
\nI know<\/em> I put it right here next to my other shoe.
\nI think somebody took it.
\nBut I don’t know who.
\nNo, I don’t.
\nI’ve got the
\nOne shoe blues.
\nThat’s why I’m singing this song.
\nI’ve got the
\nOne shoe blues!
\nAnd so I’m singing this sad song.
\nYou know it’s been
\nAt least twenty minutes
\nThat I’ve been looking in every possible<\/em> place
\nFor that…
\nHuh.<\/span>
\nThere it is.
\nI guess it was on my foot all along.
\nOkay, I’m ready to go now.
\nAnybody seen my coat?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you prefer action<\/em>, you can also see on YouTube a Boynton-directed video of the performance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boynton’s Web site<\/a>, by the way, really impressed me. No flash, no dazzle (except that from the artwork). Just well-written, funny, unpretentious, and altogether artless in the very best sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Image: B.B. King and Boynton sock puppet] I had occasion recently to be searching around for an image from the 1970s, the cover of possibly the biggest-selling greeting card in the planet’s (if not the universe’s) history. It was a cartoon, at the top of which was depicted a single hippopotamus, a small avian creature, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2252,426,74],"tags":[566,2424],"class_list":{"0":"post-8210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-midweek-music-break","7":"category-celebrities","8":"category-music","9":"tag-bb-king","10":"tag-sandra-boynton","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-28q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}