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“Shoes on my feet, I don’t have to worry”


Yesterday we met the 1917/1918 Henry Creamer/Turner Layton early blues classic, “Everybody’s Crazy ‘bout the Doggone Blues but I’m Happy,” which we at All Around This World think is grand. Sing along with me to our slightly-shortened version:

Ev’ry body’s crazy ‘bout the doggone blues, but I’m happy, whew so happy
Ev’ry body’s crazy, but if I must choose, no doggone blues for mine.
I get plenty to eat, never have to worry
Shoes on my feet, I don’t have to hurry
Ev’ry body’s crazy ‘bout the doggone blues but I’m happy all the time.

“Blues ain’t nothin’ but the easy goin’ heart disease”


By 1917 the Blues had become a well-known musical craze, famous for its passionate, sorrowful laments. Henry Creamer and Turner Layton, two of the most succsesful African-American songwriters of the time, decided to put their own twist on the genre with, “Everybody’s Crazy ‘bout the Doggone Blues but I’m Happy.” In the song they referenced the genre’s trademark sadness to differentiate it in their lyric: “Blues ain’t nothin’ but the easy goin’ heart disease, Brother stop your moanin’ Blues can’t make you warmer if you’re bound to freeze, Sister stop your groanin’, Why don’t you rise and shine, Take dem blues right off your mind….” Let’s hear the most popular version, performed by Marion Harris.