YEAH MAN: THE MAD SWING & BOLD PROPHECY OF CLEO BROWN’S “WHEN HOLLYWOOD GOES BLACK AND TAN”

 

Behold “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan.” Recorded in 1935 by singer-pianist par excellence Cleo Brown, the piece swings in the most nourishing ways. Our musicology team has been working overtime to present complete lyrics (below) and, as ever, our critical acumen. Let’s examine the mechanisms of a bright tune that will propel us into the air, jumping.

a proper overview of the song

The opening riff circles energetically a few times before the band enters and the song drives toward the vocals. Brown’s voice veers between propulsive forcefulness and angelic flourishes. Meanwhile, she confers a torrential workout upon the keyboard, with her notoriously powerful left hand. As a listener, Dear Reader, you may feel “swung” — but can you imagine what the piano must’ve gone through? It experienced dizzying sensations that few uprights have ever encountered. We love how the call and response verifies the bold vision (in 1935) of a Black and tan Hollywood.

roots in ellington?

The royal Duke Ellington may have partly inspired this song. He first recorded his own composition “Black and Tan Fantasy” in 1927 and then, a couple of years later, starred in the early talkie Black and Tan. This short fictional film would introduce the magnificent actress and dancer Fredi Washington in her big screen debut. Not simply a musical, Black and Tan turns surprisingly elegiac at its conclusion, with the Ellington Orchestra playing “Black and Tan Fantasy” in a dimly-lit apartment setting as the character played by Washington passes away. Added to the National Film Registry in 2015, Black and Tan offers a remarkable conduit for the Ellington composition, which has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. 

a bold vision

If Ellington’s composition began to foreshadow societal change, the Brown recording situated this coming transformation in the “promised land” of Hollywood, among the country’s elite performers. Composed by the brotherly songwriting duo of Leon René and Otis René, “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” introduces a host of burgeoning African American talents. Louis Armstrong, for instance, had already made his mark as a jazz trumpeter and singer. Other names may not be quite as familiar: musician Bob Howard, actor Stepin Fetchit, actress Nina Mae McKinney, and singer Ethel Waters. By comparing these new Black stars to established white talents such as Fred Astaire and Ina Claire, the pianist-singer Brown and her bandmates propound a very compelling Black and tan reality. Notably, “The Mayor of Harlem” may refer to African American dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

here’s good news and it’s the newest

While a boxing match between champion James Braddock and contender Joe Louis may have been “in the air,” the bout itself wouldn’t transpire until 1937, about two years after this song was recorded. In the end, Louis defeated Braddock, capturing the lineal heavyweight title. In time, Louis would become the first national African American hero, after he knocked out the German fighter Max Schmeling on the eve of World War II. In celebrating the rise of Louis and other stars, “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” doesn’t advocate the old dance moves of “wing-and-buckin’” but insinuates that “Everybody will be truckin’” instead. Yeah man! 

the career of miss brown

Born in 1909 in Mississippi, Cleo Brown moved as a young teenager with her family to Chicago in the early 1920s. She learned stride piano from her brother and, before long, began performing in Chicago speakeasies. There, she met the likes of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Over the next several years, she toured regionally with different groups and notably, in 1934, performed at the same club (The Three Deuces) as jazz pianist Art Tatum. In addition to Tatum, she met a who’s who in jazz circles while performing at The Three Deuces. In 1935, Brown moved to New York, where she took over Fats Waller’s radio show, signed a recording deal with Decca, and produced her first recordings. Over the next 15 years, she toured all over the country before dropping out of show business to become a nurse and a church musician. In the 1980s, pianist Marian McPartland rediscovered Cleo Brown living in Denver and brought her to New York to record a segment for McPartland’s show Piano Jazz that aired on NPR. A short while later, the NEA awarded Cleo Brown a Jazz Masters Fellowship. Based upon the NPR broadcast, just about anybody would note the graciousness and kindliness of Miss Brown. She passed away in 1995.

complete lyrics

“When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan”
Cleo Brown, 1935
 

Creole babies from Manhattan
Will be leaving Harlem if they can
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Louis Armstrong with his trumpet
Will be heading westward with his band
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Harlem crooners with a swing
Will be singing at the studio
Makes no difference if you can’t sing
Just say, “Heedie-heedie-hidie-ho!”

When they start to swing that rhythm
I’ll be heading for that promised land
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)

You won’t find them wing-and-buckin’
Everybody will be truckin’
It’s gonna be grand
When Hollywood goes black and tan

The mayor of Harlem says he’ll be there
To give those boys a helpin’ hand
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Old Bob Howard made a promise
To latch onto that baby grand
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
When Hollywood goes black and tan

Stepin Fetchit’s gonna sing and dance
Like Fred Astaire
Nina May don’t have to sing
Cause she can be petite like Ina Claire

Waters [is] gonna do a fan dance
And shake those feathers off her fan
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)
Yeah man! (Oh yeah, man!)

Here’s good news and it’s the newest:
Braddock’s going to meet Joe Louis
It’s gonna be grand
When Hollywood goes black and tan

discography
Personnel: Cleo Brown (vocals, piano); Bobby Sherwood (guitar); Manny Stein (string bass); Vic Berton (drums); backup vocals likely by band. Recorded Nov. 20, 1935, in Los Angeles. “When Hollywood Goes Black and Tan” released as Decca 632 and Brunswick 02123 B-side b/w “When” A-side. Lyrics by Otis René and Leon René. [Interestingly enough, both songs on this release share the same first word, even as they are very different songs. Most of all, never underestimate the B-side!]

sources of information
—Whitney Balliett, American Singers: Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2006.
—Eugene Chadbourne, “Cleo Brown.” AllMusic Guide to the Blues. Backbeat Books, San Francisco, 2003.
—NEA Jazz Masters page for Cleo Brown.
—NPR page for Cleo Brown’s appearance on Piano Jazz.
—Brian Rust, Jazz Records 1897-1942: Volume 1. Arlington House, New Rochelle, NY, 1978.
—Mary Unterbrink, Jazz Women at the Keyboard. McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 1983.
—Wikipedia page for “Black and Tan Fantasy.”
—Wikipedia page for Black and Tan (film).
—Wikipedia page for Cleo Brown.
—Wikipedia page for Leon René.
—Wikipedia page for Otis René.