I'm Coming Virginia

"I'm Coming Virginia" is a song composed in 1926 by Donald Heywood with lyrics by Will Marion Cook. It is often wrongly attributed to vocalist Ethel Waters, who first recorded it on September 18, 1926 with Will Marion Cook's Singing Orchestra. Waters is credited with popularizing it. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, pianist Fats Waller and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Bing Crosby all recorded it in 1927. The song has become a jazz standard, popular with Dixieland musicians.

History

Ethel Waters first recorded it for Columbia Records on September 18, 1926[1] and she identified Heywood and Cook as the authors in her autobiography. It was Waters who popularized the tune. The following year, Waters first sang it during her Broadway premiere in a production of Africana at Daly's Sixty-third Street Theatre.[2]

After the Waters release, the tune was adopted by numerous Dixieland groups, who increased the tempo. Cornetist Bix Beiderbecke recorded the song in 1927 with Frankie Trumbauer, and it was subsequently widely recorded in the late 1920s and 1930s[2] by artists such as Fats Waller (with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in New York on 11 May 1927),[3] Bing Crosby with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra on April 29, 1927[4] in one of Crosby's earliest recordings,[5] Django Reinhardt, Artie Shaw, Art Tatum (The Genius of Art Tatum, 1953-4) Maxine Sullivan, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong. Teddy Wilson had a widely successful recording of the song in late 1937.[6] In 1938, Benny Goodman featured it in his renowned concert of that year. Paul Whiteman re-recorded the song, and had a second hit with it in December.[6] In following decades it was recorded by Erroll Garner, Gene Krupa, Al Cohn, and Steve Lacy.[2] Billie Holiday adopted the tune, and performed it "Chicago style".[7] Though the song declined somewhat in popularity after the 1950s, it remains a staple of Dixieland musicians.[2]

Jimmy Rushing also recorded "I'm Coming Virginia" with his big band in 1958.[2] In 1974,[8] guitarist Charlie Byrd performed a rendition of the tune at the Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach, California, which appeared on his Byrd by the Sea album. Billboard praised the sensitivity and delicate nature of the album recording.[9] Violinist Stephane Grappelli recorded it with George Shearing for their 1976 album The Reunion.[10] In 2000, bassist Michael Moore's trio recorded it for the History of Jazz, Vol. 1 compilation.[2]

Structure

Alec Wilder says of the song in American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950:

In 1927, 'I'm Coming Virginia,' with music by Donald Heywood was another lively rhythm song. The main strain is a series of strong rhythmic imitative phrases which establish the swinging character of the song, but I find the release and its continuous motion into a variant of the A sections the most interesting. I shouldn't have said 'A sections' since the first section, though it repeats the first phrase of the song, then moves away and almost immediately into what I suppose should be called 'the release.' It's a twenty-four measure song, and the only feeling of stopping and starting up again (too often the awkwardness of pop songs) is in the seventh-measure cadence. But even this, due to adroit use of harmony, conveys continuous motion. It's an unusual and a very good song.

The song, popular with Dixieland musicians,[2] features lyrics such as "And if I can win ya, I'll never more roam, I'm coming Virginia, My Dixieland home."[11]

References
  1. "The Online Discographical Project". 78discography.com. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  2. "I'm Coming Virginia (1927)". Jazzstandards.com. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  3. Nicholson, Stuart (1 January 2000). Essential Jazz Records: Volume 1: Ragtime to Swing. A&C Black. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-7201-1708-0.
  4. "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  5. "Victor matrix BVE-38135. I'm coming, Virginia / Paul Whiteman Orchestra". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890–1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. pp. 256–257. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
  7. Chronopoulos, Gene (April 2010). It All Started with Billie Holiday: A Memoir of Jazz. iUniverse. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-4502-0671-6.
  8. "Charlie Byrd:I'm Coming Virginia". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  9. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2 November 1974. p. 65. ISSN 0006-2510.
  10. Horricks, Raymond (1983). Stephane Grappelli, Or, The Violin with Wings: A Profile. Da Capo Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-306-80257-7.
  11. Simpson, Lewis P.; Stanford, Donald E. (1 March 1988). Selected Stories from the Southern Review. LSU Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-8071-1490-2.
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