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"I Ain't Got Nobody" (sometimes referred to as "I'm So Sad and Lonely" or "I Ain't Got Nobody Much") is a popular song copyrighted in 1915. It was first recorded by Marion Harris, and became a perennial standard, recorded many times over the following generations, in styles ranging from pop to jazz to country music. The 2008 film Be Kind Rewind uses the version recorded by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, although two covers were recorded for the film as well: a piano solo version by Jean-Michel Bernard, and a Fats Waller-esque version by Mos Def.
| "I Ain't Got Nobody" | |
|---|---|
 Sheet music cover | |
| Song | |
| Published | 1915 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Composer(s) | Spencer Williams |
| Lyricist(s) | Roger A. Graham |
| Audio | |
Recording of I Ain't Got Nobody, performed by Marion Harris (1921) | |
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There are competing claims to the copyright, and thus who composed it is not clearly known.
Two copyrights from 1911 are attributed to Clarence Brandon and Billy Smythe, both St. Louis musicians. If true, this would be the first version of the words and music to "I Ain't Got Nobody". They claimed they published it that same year.[1]
Chicago and Saint Louis ragtime pianist and blues composer Charles Warfield (1878–1955) claimed to have originally written the song[2] and a copyright dated April 1914 attributes Warfield as the composer, David Young as the lyricist, and Marie Lucas as the arranger. This song is titled "I Ain't Got Nobody and Nobody Cares for Me".
A copyright entry from 1916 under a shorter title attributes the composition to Davy Peyton and Spencer Williams, and the lyrics to publisher Roger Graham.[3][1]
In 1916, Frank K. Root & Co., a Chicago publisher, acquired the Craig & Co. copyright, and, later that year, also acquired the Warfield-Young copyright.[4][5]
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 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
"I Ain't Got Nobody" is best known in a form first recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "Just a Gigolo". Prima started pairing the songs in 1945 and the idea was revisited in the popular arrangement in a new, jive-and-jumping style, created by Sam Butera for Prima's 1950s Las Vegas stage show. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with Capitol Records, which aimed to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled The Wildest! and released in November 1956, opened with "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", which then became Prima's signature number and helped relaunch his career. Butera is noted for his raucous playing style, his off-color humor, and the innuendo in his lyrics. The arrangement he made with Prima of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" has been covered by David Lee Roth and The Village People.
The Village People recorded a disco version of the "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" medley for their 1978 album Macho Man. Although the two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, further popularized by David Lee Roth on his 1985 EP Crazy From The Heat, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition.
In 2017, the Spanish band De Morao Swing Tablao released a version of this song by double pairing it with the popular Spanish song, "María de la O".
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