Fables of Faubus
"Fables of Faubus" is a composition written by jazz double bassist and composer Charles Mingus. One of Mingus's most explicitly political works,[2] the song was written as a direct protest against Arkansas governor Orval Faubus,[3] who in 1957 sent out the National Guard to prevent the racial integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine African American teenagers, in what became known as the Little Rock Crisis.
| "Fables of Faubus" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Charles Mingus | |
| from the album Mingus Ah Um | |
| Released | 1959 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 8:13 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Composer(s) | Charles Mingus |
| Producer(s) | Nat Hentoff[1] |
The song was first recorded for Mingus' 1959 album, Mingus Ah Um. However, Columbia Records refused to allow the lyrics to the song to be included,[4] and so the song was recorded as an instrumental on the album.[5][6] It was not until October 20, 1960 that the song was recorded with lyrics, for the album Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, which was released on the more independent Candid label.[5] Due to contractual issues with Columbia, the song could not be released as "Fables of Faubus", and so the Candid version was titled "Original Faubus Fables".[7] The personnel for the Candid recording were Charles Mingus (bass, vocals), Dannie Richmond (drums, vocals), Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone), and Ted Curson (trumpet). The vocals featured a call-and-response between Mingus and Richmond.[1] Critic Don Heckman commented of the unedited "Original Faubus Fables" in a 1962 review that it was "a classic Negro put-down in which satire becomes a deadly rapier-thrust. Faubus emerges in a glare of ridicule as a mock villain whom no-one really takes seriously. This kind of commentary, brimful of feeling, bitingly direct and harshly satiric, appears far too rarely in jazz."[8]
The song, either with or without lyrics, was one of the compositions which Mingus returned to most often, both on record and in concert.
Cover recordings and versions
The song has been recorded by other jazz musicians, including Gerry Mulligan, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Hunter, Oliver Lake, Project Trio and the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. The Normand Guilbeault Ensemble released a version called "Fables of (George Dubya) Faubus" in 2004.
On YouTube, there is a version, with the Metropole Orkest (conducted by Jules Buckley), with Christian Scott & Shabaka Hutchings as soloists as part of the BBC Proms of 2017.
The Mingus Big Band's recording of "Fables of Faubus", on their album Gunslinging Birds, features in the background the pianist playing tunes of the American Civil War, like the Confederate "(I Wish I Was in) Dixie" and the Union "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Lyrics
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!
Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit integrated schools.
Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan).
Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower.
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.
Variations
It is worth noting that several slight variations to the lyrics appear in different recordings of "Fables of Faubus" that Mingus made over the years; for example, on the "Original Faubus Fables" version from Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, the line of "Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan" in the first refrain is replaced with "Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us!", while the "no more swastikas" line is sung fourth rather than third in the stanza.
References
- Santoro 2001, p. 173
- Hersch 1998, p. 113
- Hersch 1998, p. 109
- Santoro 2001, p. 154
- Monson 2007, p. 183
- The liner notes to the 1998 reissue of the album state that the piece started life as an instrumental, and only gained the lyrics later.
- Monson 2007, p. 264
- Heckman, Don (August 1962). "About Charles Mingus". American Record Guide: 916–18. As cited in Santoro 2001, p. 198
- Hersch, Charles (1998). Democratic Artworks: Politics and the Arts from Trilling to Dylan. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-3801-5.
- Mingus, Charles (1991). Charles Mingus: More Than a Fake Book. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0-7935-0900-3.
- Monson, Ingrid (2007). Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512825-3.
- Santoro, Gene (2001). Myself When I Am Real. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514711-7.
