Story Behind The Song
I wrote this song while I was on the road with Joe Brown and after the 1974/5 sessions at Decca Studios, for the Blujays album, there was some studio time going spare, so I put this song down and some others on tape. Joe and I were both Randy Newman fans
Song Description
This is a song about a musical child prodigy, who grows up to be a ragtime pianist and a violinist, who eventually runs foul of a crime boss. The song explains why Samuel Leigh 'Don't play piana no more'.
| Song Length |
3:20 |
Genre |
Jazz - General |
| Tempo |
Fast (151 - 170) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Cheerful, Glad |
Subject |
Musician, History, Past |
| Language |
English |
Era |
1930 - 1939 |
Lyrics
The Rise and Fall of Samuel-Ragtime-Leigh
By Kirk Duncan & Joe Brown.
Samuel Leigh, when he was three, he played piano on his Daddy?s knee
He was his Momma?s pride and joy, that little bitty boy,
And into the parlous he would go, to play ragtime music with the radio
Before he was six, he blew the crystal to bits
And now he don?t play piano no more.
Depression came, the banks went lame and Samuel Leigh decided to change his game.
He saw a fiddle in a second-hand store and walked right in the door.
But he needed more cash and so he made a deal.
His old piana and his fishing reel.
He bowed the string and made the fiddle sing
And now he don?t play piano no more.
Play for me. Play Sammy boy, play it for me
Songs, them that you used to do
Songs like the ones that I learned from you
Da, da da da da da da da da. Songs that I can sing too.
He toured the halls and the big hotels, playing requests for the clientele
But ragtime music on a violin, must sound nothing but thin
So back he went down to the second-hand store
But his old piana weren?t there no more
They sold it to a guy named Raymond Nance
And now Sammy Leigh?s learning to dance
Instrumental.
Things got tough, he weren?t getting? too far, so he played piana in a Boogie Woogie bar
But Meade Lux Lewis and bootleg gin, why this just wasn?t for him
And Baby Face Nelson didn?t dig the band
And asked politely if they?d leave the stand
Then he slammed the lid on the Ragtime Kid
And now he don?t play piana no more.
Play for me. Play Sammy boy, play it for me
Songs, songs that you used to do
Just like the ones that I learned from you
Da, da da da da da da da da. Songs that I can sing too.
© Kirk Duncan Music Ltd 2006.