The Bullfrog Blues
In Fox Trot Time

As performed in the
1914 Musical Extravaganza
CHIN CHIN
Arranged by
Tom Brown and Gus Shrigley

Based on the 1905 Hit from
THE WIZARD OF OZ
"The Bullfrog and the Coon"
Music by Joseph S. Nathan
Lyrics by Felix Feist

The song The Bullfrog and the Coon was introduced into the musical The Wizard of Oz in 1905. In the show it was sung by the Lady Lunatic, Cynthia Cynch.

It was recorded on both disc and cylinder a number of times by pioneer recording artist Ada Jones; and it even made it onto a Mira music box disc. The song was also recorded twice by the popular saxophone sextette, The Six Brown Brothers, first in 1911 as The Bullfrog and the Coon-Medley available on our Wizard of Oz CD and later as the much jazzier Bullfrog Blues.

The Six Brown Brothers also had a close association with Wizard of Oz stars, Montgomery and Stone, with whom they appeared in Chin Chin. They later appeared in Fred Stone's shows, Jack O' Lantern and Tip Top. The recording offered here is from Bruce Vermazen's wonderful new CD, Those Moaning Saxophones, featuring the Six Brown Brothers best recordings. Vermazen says of this recording, "Bullfrog Blues modernizes The Bullfrog and the Coon with an opening strain that uses a blues harmonic pattern, but the second strain clearly recalls the 1901 song, and Vern Brown repeats his bullfrog sounds. The second strain also beguiles the listener into thinking it will be another blues, then turns into two eight-bar phrases with some funny business in the second one."

Bruce Vermazen has also just written a definitive new book on the legendary Saxophone team for Oxford University Press called That Moaning Saxophone - The Six Brown Brothers and the Dawning of a Musical Craze. It's terrific!

You can download or play an mp3 of this jazzy version of the classic ragtime number and you can download the sheet music in PDF format which will allow you to save it on disc or print copies for yourself.

mp3 file Copyright © 2004 Archeophone Records.

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