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I've been researching this 1920's blues song entitled, "I Don't Know Why All You Women, Love These Real Young Men." Has anyone heard of this song or who might have recorded it? I have done some very extensive research from old copyright registrations, all the searchable PROs repertories, archive.org, blues websites, searchable public domain websites, etc.

The only reference I have is a website for a band that used to performed it for years. All but one of the original band members have passed away and he is alive and in his 90s. I'm trying to find a way to contact him or someone in his family just to ask him if he has any info on the orgin of this song.

If anyone has any tidbits of information that would point me in the right direction, I would truly appreciate it.

Best!

Dominique

Hi Dom:

...and I thought I'd heard most of them... LOL! 1920's barely pre-dates me... but I'll do some scouring to see if I can be of assistance. There used to be a "Blues Music Organization" on the web... I think they were based in Minneapolis but they may have vanished due to lack of participation. My odds of success are slim... and my time-frame is limited due to the song-writing plague invading most of my waking hours.

Later... and best of luck, ----Dave

Well,
I have a 2nd Edition of the Publication WHO WROTE THAT SONG. Unfortunately that song is not listed. You may be able to find the First Edition in a Library and see if it is listed. It may be one of those songs that became popular but was never registered anywhere or copyrighted.

I would try to contact Eric Clapton, for he studied the history of Blues. He might be able to at least give some other names to contact.

John

Hi again, Dom:

I devoted about an hour of "lookups" on-line and could not find that great Blues Music Website where "Titles" could be found... or not. I'm guessing they ran out of money.

I'd call Eric Clapton for you but he took me off his "Facebook Page" years ago. (Can't say that I blame him!) LOL!

Sorry, ----Dave

Dave,

Thank you for your time in researching this old song. BTW, you might need to visit the Music Doctor to get treated for that song-writing plague that has invaded you. He might give you a shot of more music!

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's efforts. This is such an obscure song. I was able to talk to Al Baker, who was the original drummer for the band Mike Denny's Good Time Jazz Babies band. He's 93 years old and he said that he does not know any details about the song, other than Mike Denny singing it a ton of times. Mike passed away many years ago and Mr. Baker gave me Mike's wife's phone number to see what she could tell me.

Nancy Baker was very nice and said that she did not know any details about the song. She said that she has some old cassette tapes with recordings of some of the band's shows. She's going to listen to a few to see if Mike mentioned anything about the origin of this song.

Johnny - I just might follow the Eric Clapton lead that you gave.

I'll continue to research this one and if anyone else has any ideas, please pass them on.

Best!

I'm making progress on this search and received a CD with some information that gets me to an artist that performed this song on an old 78 RMP record.

As I mentioned above, my research took me to the only surviving member of the Mike Denny's Good Time Jazz Babies band. He was able to give me the phone number to Mike Denny's widow. She and I had a nice conversation and she told me that Mike recorded several of the band's concerts and that Mike would frequently mention this song.

She found a CD and mailed it to me. After finding where Mike talks about this song on the CD, I could not make out who the artists is that he mentions. So, I edited both the performance of the song and the part where he talks about the song and posted a small playlist for review.

Take a listen and see if you can tell who this female blues artist is that Mike mentions. This would be a huge help in getting me closer to finding out who the original author is of the composition.

http://hearitclearit.com/bih_music.html

If you submit a comment on the page, please come back here and post your comments so that anyone else who might be interested can read it too.

Thanks everyone!!

Sorry, Dom:

I may be old... but not quite that old... LOL! I also wonder if they even bothered to copyright or register it. All that travelling made it really difficult to have time to do the paperwork and postage routine... back in the day. I'm surprised at the clarity you were able to ring out of an old recording like that. Best of luck... but if I were a betting man, I'd bet your odds are about as tough as me getting George Strait to sing one of my country songs... LOL! ----Dave

Dom, I found a Wee Bea Booze...

https://www.slacker.com/artist/wee-bea-booze

nothing about that song yet. Hope this helps.

Ricki

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The title is These Young Men Blues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.shazam.com/track/53858041/these-young-man-blues

Ricki,

You are awesome! I just Googled her name and the "real" title and there it was. It all makes sense now why I couldn't find it with that "other" title. As for her name, I heard what you found but when I Googled it, I was spelling it all wrong and nothing came up so I thought what I heard was wrong.

Wee Bea Booze, "These Young Men Blues"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRkhepGTMPU

Thank you so much!! I did not think it was going to be that easy.

Cool!

May Iris Davis is the songwriter.

Thanks again Ricki.

That's a great song, I love it! Given I'm in geezer territory meself, I can relate !

sad it doesn't have more recognition. It's no doubt public domain, though.


Pat

Pat,

So far, it appear that the composition is not in the public domain. Mae Iris Davis-Allen was born in 1919 and the current cutoff for works falling into the public domain is 1923. I might be possible that she neglected to register this composition, however, she has several other compositions that have been registered with the copyright office and some as far back as 1953 and as recent as 1981.

The odd thing is she never became affiliated with a performing rights organization. I found one of her compositions registered with an ASCAP co-writer and she is not listed. It has Unknown Writer and NS (No Society) for the second writer. I've reached out to the publisher to see if they have any additional information on her.

The search goes on for more documented information on "These Young Men Blues" and ultimately the publisher.

Hi again, Dom:

This "case" was really a surprise to me and I am so pleased Ricki was able to find that "treasure trove" of data regarding your mystery song-writer. At least you now have a trail to follow.

Congratulations, ----Dave

The mystery has been solved. The song, "These Young Men Blues," is owned by Universal Music Publishing Group. I got confirmation from my contact there.

The songwriter that is credited is Jay "Mayo" Williams. This brings up another mystery because Mae Iris Davis is credited as the songwriter on the label on the record. I'll look into this later as I've done what I needed to do for the clearance on this composition for use in the documentary.