Columbia records classic songs

Columbia Records is the oldest record company in the world, I was reading a fascinating book on the history of the label called 360 (the labels 360 approach to releasing music of all genres) and found some of its original hits online from the past and put them on my blog. These charming old records helped build the greatest music label of all time! Amazing, the first records they cut were on metal cylinders recorded via a gramophone style device :) pure mono

Here are some of the songs that helped establish Columbia records as the longest running Music record label in History bar none!

Fun little ditty by Bert Williams, famous black comic of the late 19th-early 20th century performing a routine recorded in 1913. Enjoy!

NOBODY (Alex Rogers / Bert Williams) Arthur Collins - 1905 Bert Williams - 1906 Bert Williams (feat. in the Broadway Show "Ziegfeld Follies") - 1913 Shelton Brooks - 1941 Bing Crosby - 1947 Jimmy Dean - 1962 Nina Simone - 1964 Avon Long (feat. in the Broadway Show "Bubbling Brown Sugar") - 1976 Billy Daniels (feat. in the London Show "Bubbling Brown Sugar") - 1977 Audrey Morris - 1984 Also recorded by: The Four Lads; Mary Coughlan; Carol Burnett; Ry Cooder; Max Morath: .......... and others. When life seems full of clouds and rain And I am full of nothin' and pain Who soothes my thumping, bumping brain, uummm? Nobody! When winter comes with snow and sleet And me with hunger and cold feet Who says, "Here's twenty-five cents, go ahead and get somethin' to eat, go on why doncha"? Nobody! I ain't never done nothin' to nobody I ain't never done nothin' to nobody, no time So until I get somethin' from somebody sometime I'll never do nothin' for nobody, no time When I was in that railroad wreck And thought I'd cashed in my last check Who took the engine off my neck? Nobody! One time when things was lookin' bright I started to whittle on a stick one night Who cried out, "Stop now, that's dynamite"? Not a soul! I ain't never done nothin' to nobody I ain't never done nothin' to nobody, no time So until I get something from somebody, sometime I'll never do nothin' for nobody, no time (Transcribed from the Bert Williams recording by Mel Priddle - May 2007)



I've been away from you a long time.
I never thought I'd miss you so.
Somehow I feel
Your love is real.
Near you I want to be.
The birds are singing it is song time.
The banjo's strumming soft and low.
I know that you 
Yearn for me too.
Swannee, you're calling me.

Swanee, how I love you, how I love you
My dear old Swanee.
I give the world to be
Among the folks in D-I-X-I-
Even though my mammy's
Waiting for me,
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee.
The folks up north will see me no more
When I get to that Swanee shore.

(whistling)
I miss the old folks at home.

Swanee, how I love you, how I love you
My dear old Swanee.
I give the world to be
Among the folks in D-I-X-I-
Even though my mammy's
Waiting for me,
Praying for me
Down by the Swanee.
The folks up north will see me no more
When I get to that Swanee shore.

SOUSA The Stars and Stripes Forever - "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band