“Wine” (1951) – The Hollywood’s Four Flames * Written by Clyde Tillis * 45: “Dividend Blues” / “Wine” * Label: Unique
The Hollywood’s Four Flames featured vocalists Bobby Byrd, Earl Nelson, and Clyde Tillis (each of whom later made records under their own names), and went by a number of similar collective monikers. The “Famous Flames” was the best-known of these, thanks to their late-fifties inclusion of a young James Brown. Confusingly, the singer Bobby Day (“Rockin’ Robin”) had the given name Robert Byrd, and he sang in a group called the Hollywood Flames (“Buzz Buzz Buzz”), so he’ll sometimes, erroneously, get mixed into histories of Bobby Byrd’s group. As for our song in question, it finds a chronological wine-jive slot right between Stick McGhee’s “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” (1949) and Floyd Dixon’s “Wine, Wine, Wine” (1952), later to be followed up by offerings from Three Aces and a Joker (“Booze Party,” 1960) and the Nightcaps (“Wine, Wine, Wine,” 1962). Although this record’s sometimes listed as “W-I-N-E,” there’s no convincing evidence on the label or in the vocals for such hyphens. Be sure to listen until the handclaps hook you in at the 40-second mark.