Category: 1950-1954

“Peas and Rice” (1950) – Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson * Written by Milton Larkin * 78: “Peas and Rice” / “If You Don’t Think I’m Sinking (Look What a Hole I’m In)” * Label: King

“Kidney Stew Blues,” from 1947, is the best-known track by the Houston, Texas-born alto sax-blowing blues shouter Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. It’s “Peas and Rice,” though, the follow-up menu offerering written by the Navasota-born bandleader Milt Larkin, that really showcases the signature rasp-gasp Vinson would use for phrase endings. (His nickname comes from an early misadventure with some destructive hair-straightening product, according to a 1975 interview in Blues Limited magazine. After shaving his head he enjoyed the attention brought on by the new look.) The first appearance of “Peas and Rice” on LP was on a 1959 King label compilation called Battle of the Blues Vol. 4, which includes tracks by Vinson, Roy Brown, and Wynonie Harris. Information about the two female cover models with boxing gloves remains elusive.

“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.

“Walking in Jesus Name” (1952) – The Stewart Four * Writer unknown * 78: “On the Battlefield” / “Walking in Jesus Name” * Label: Church of God in Christ

Emerging from the contradictory little trail of written info about this 78 is a consensus that it appeared in 1952 when young Sylvester Stewart, later to be known as Sly Stone, was nine years old. The lone voice you hear is his, and so, too, might be the guitar, but that might also assume overdubbing. Would such studio layering be going on in a genre and era in which direct recording was the norm? Stewart’s shy but soulful delivery is a marvel, and it sounds like he’s right up close to the mic and trying not to wake anybody up. It’s an unusual sound in the exultant gospel realm, but it foretells the quirky in-your-ear vocals we’d later hear on There’s a Riot Goin’ On. The other side of the record lets us hear the other Stewart siblings (Rose, Freddie, and Vaetta—each of whom would later take part in their big brother’s Family Stone band) singing backup. Look at a photo of the four siblings with mother Alpha Stewart at the piano as you listen.

“Ling, Ting, Tong” (1954) – The Five Keys * Written by Mable Godwin * 45: “Ling, Ting, Tong” / “I’m Alone” * Label: Capitol

The “Hong Kong” sound settles in early with a yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer) that is possibly just piano strings. Although the Five Keys (from Newport News, Virginia) kill it on this single, and its arrangement pops like fifties neon-lit Chinatown on Saturday night, the cartoonish cultural stereotype approach dooms it to the artifact bin. A 2010 Playstation video game called Mafia II, even so, has used it within the context of its subject’s already politically incorrect context. Songwriter Mable Goodwin (from Suffolk, Virginia) was a beloved mainstay as a singer and pianist at Arthur’s Tavern in Greenwich Village from 1960 to 1993. Her only additional writing credit of note was another politically incorrect boo boo recorded by the Five Keys: “Me Make Um Pow Wow.”