Shortnin' Bread

File:"Short'nin' Bread", 1928.png.]]

The origin of "Shortnin' Bread" is obscure. Despite speculation of African-American roots, it is possible that it may have originated with Riley as a parody of an African-American plantation song, in the minstrel or coon song traditions popular at the time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/minstrel-show|title="Minstrel show : American Theater"|website=Britannica.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://blackmusicscholar.com/the-history-of-ragtime-cakewalk-and-coon-song/|title="The History of Ragtime: Cakewalk and Coon song"|website=Blackmusicscholar.com|date=28 September 2020 }}

Riley titled the song "A Short'nin' Bread Song—Pieced Out", and wrote the first verse as:

{{poemquote|Fotch dat dough fum the kitchin-shed

Rake de coals out hot an' red

Putt on de oven an' putt on de led

Mammy's gwiner cook som short'nin' breadEitel, The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley, p. 119.}}

The dialect rendered into common English would be:

{{poemquote|Fetch that dough, from the kitchen shed

Rake those coals out, hot and red

Put on the oven and put on the lid

Mommy's going to cook some short'nin' bread}}

The verse includes:

{{poemquote|When corn plantin' done come roun'

Blackbird own de whole plowed groun'

Corn is de grain as I've hearn said

Dat's de blackbird's short'nin' bread}}

Another pair of verses may be later, and exist in several versions:

{{poemquote|Three little children, lying in bed

Two was sick and the other 'most dead

Send for the doctor and the doctor said

"feed them children on short'nin' bread"}}

{{poemquote|When those children, sick in bed,

heard that talk 'bout short'nin' bread.

They popped up well, to dance and sing,

skipping around and cut the pigeon wing.}}

In some versions there are two children instead of three - and the "other" either "bump'd his head" or "was dead". The first doesn't quite scan.{{clarify|date=January 2024}} The children (or "chillun") were once referred to by one of several racist terms.

Other verses include:

{{poemquote|Pull out the skillet, pull out the led,

Mama's gonna make a little short'nin' bread

That ain't all she's gonna do,

Mama's gonna make a little coffee too}}

{{poemquote|I slipped to the kitchen, slipped on the led,

slipped my pockets full of short'nin' bread.

I stole the skillet, I stole the led,

I stole the girl who makes short'nin' bread}}

{{poemquote|They caught me with the skillet, They caught me with the led,

They caught me with the girl who makes short'nin' bread.

I paid six dollars for the skillet, six dollars for the led,

Spent six months in jail eating short'nin' bread.}}

Reese DuPree composed a version recorded in 1927.{{cite web | url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/202748/Du_Pree_Reese | title=Du Pree, Reese |publisher=Discography of American Historical Recordings }}

Titled "Shortened Bread", E. C. Perrow published the first folk version of this song in 1915, which he collected from East Tennessee in 1912.Perrow, [https://archive.org/stream/jstor-534506/534506#page/n14/mode/1up "Songs and Rhymes from the South", p. 142]: "from Tennessee mountain whites, 1912". Archive.org The folk version of the song—as with Riley's—does not have any distinct theme, but consists of various floating lyrics, some relating to "shortnin' bread", some not. The traditional chorus associated with the folk song is:

{{poemquote|Mammy's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin'

Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread (rpt.)}}

File:OldJoeClark-PrettyLittleWidder-ShorteninBread.gif]]

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• Al Jolson{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
• 1926 - Gid Tanner{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1OR1PnIPyI|title=Shortening Bread|date=6 November 2014 |via=YouTube}}
• 1933 – Paul Robeson{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/links/recordings.html|title="Paul Robeson, Green Pastures [X27]"|website=Cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu}}
• 1938 - The Andrews Sisters{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y28w2ErHj4|title=The Andrews Sisters : Shortenin' Bread. Recorded in 1938. Composed By Wood; Wolfe|date=18 September 2015 |via=YouTube}}
• 1961(?) - The Viscounts{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXXKw0tdWa0|title=Shortnin' Bread : The Viscounts|date=7 December 2010 |via=YouTube}}
• 1952 - Sonny Terry, Sonny Terry's New Sound: The Jawharp in Blues and Folk Music (1968){{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fZEIJd5CJY|title=Shortnin' Bread|date=23 May 2015 |via=YouTube}}
• Lawrence Tibbett{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
• Fats Waller{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPmeM_Jcirs|title=Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Shortnin' Bread|date=12 November 2015 |via=YouTube}}
• 1959 - Dave Brubeck{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3BxQtvFo2s|title=Short'nin' Bread (Remastered)|date=24 September 2015 |via=YouTube}}
• 1961 - Frances Faye{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-21okKtBUc|title=Shortnin' Bread by Frances Faye|via=YouTube}}
• Richard White{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
• Clayton McMichen{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
• 1937 – Nelson Eddy, Maytime{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEHsw75FtHA|title=NELSON EDDY SINGS SHORTNIN BREAD jame whitcombe riley 1938|date=11 May 2023 |via=YouTube}}
• 1956 - Etta James, Etta "Miss Peaches" James: Shortnin' Bread Rock / Tears of Joy{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBc08hHewvY|title=Shortnin' bread|date=25 January 2017 |via=YouTube}}
• 1963 – Mississippi John Hurt, D.C. Blues: Library of Congress Recordings{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNG1ScEAX7k|title=Short'nin' Bread|date=8 November 2014 |via=YouTube}}
• 1966 – Lee Dorsey{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4_Bkl_LCTY|title=Shortnin' Bread|date=25 January 2017 |via=YouTube}}
• 1977 - Charles Mingus (parody){{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9stYGxxcujg|title=Charles Mingus - Shortnin' Bread|date=17 August 2008 |via=YouTube}}
• 1979 - The Beach Boys L.A. (Light Album){{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxs2mnrRgsA|title=The Beach Boys - Shortnin' Bread (From the Adult Child album)|date=15 March 2017 |via=YouTube}}
• 1982 – Klaus Flouride{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRtSRv5ODOM|title=Klaus Flouride - Shortnin Bread / The Drowning Cowboy (1982)|date=9 February 2023 |via=YouTube}}
• 1981 – The Kelly Family, Wonderful World!{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFXYRLJUr6Q|title=Shortnin' Bread|date=21 July 2018 |via=YouTube}}
• 1990 – The Cramps, Stay Sick{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYinJU4Df6M|title=The Cramps - Shortnin' Bread (1990)|date=22 December 2010 |via=YouTube}}
• 1997 - Taj Mahal (musician){{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8mgsiMlTEc|title=Shortnin' Bread|date=28 February 2018 |via=YouTube}}
• 1998 – The Tractors, Farmers in a Changing World (reached No. 57 on the Hot Country Songs chart), Heaven's Sake Kids{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VID43_iyUEs|title=Shortenin' Bread by The Tractors|date=5 November 2022 |via=YouTube}}
• 2002 – Laurie Berkner, Under a Shady Tree{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TV2I8a46C4|title=Shortnin' Bread - Dance Performance by Troupe 212 at Laurie Berkner Band Concert|date=21 April 2010 |via=YouTube}}
• 2014 and 2017 – The Wiggles{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y-DWcT_ZRs|title=Mama's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread 🎵 Sing Along Nursery Rhyme with The Wiggles|date=11 April 2017 |via=YouTube}}
• 2023 – Israel's Arcade {{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEzdyFnF-ik|title=Israel's Arcade - Full Live Set|date=24 August 2023 |via=YouTube}}

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{{Further|Ding Dang (song)}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Shortenin' Bread

| cover =

| alt =

| type =

| artist = the Beach Boys

| album = L.A. (Light Album)

| released = {{Start date|df=yes|1979|3|19}}

| format =

| recorded = {{circa| 1979}}

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=50}}

| label =

| writer = Traditional, arranged by Brian Wilson

| producer =

| misc = {{External music video|type=song|header=Licensed audio|{{YouTube|2eToSzhO0WM|"Shortenin' Bread"}}}}

}}

{{listen

| filename = Shortenin' Bread - The Beach Boys.ogg

| title = The Beach Boys with American Spring – "Shortenin' Bread" (Adult/Child bootleg)

| description = Wilson's earliest attempted recording of the song, 1973

}}

"Shortenin' Bread" was recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys numerous times. Only one version has seen official release, as the final track on their 1979 album L.A. (Light Album). The band's principal songwriter Brian Wilson was reportedly obsessed with the song, having recorded more than a dozen versions of the tune.{{cite magazine |last1=Chidester |first1=Brian |date=7 March 2014 |title=Busy Doin' Somethin': Uncovering Brian Wilson's Lost Bedroom Tapes |url=http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/03/busy-doin-somethin-uncovering-brian-wilsons-lost-b.html?a=1 |access-date=11 December 2014 |magazine=Paste}} Beach Boy Al Jardine speculated that Wilson's obsession with the song may have begun after co-writing the song "Ding Dang" with the Byrds' Roger McGuinn in the early 1970s.{{cite journal |last=Beard |first=David |date=Spring 2007 |title=Ding Dang |journal=Endless Summer Quarterly}}

Numerous anecdotes have been reported about Wilson's obsession with the song:

• Alex Chilton, the former lead singer of Big Star, recalled receiving middle-of-the-night phone calls from Wilson asking him to sing on a recording of "Shortenin' Bread"' ("He was telling me I have the perfect voice for it").{{sfn|George-Warren|2014|p=124}}

• The Monkees' Micky Dolenz said that when he tripped on LSD with Wilson, John Lennon, and Harry Nilsson, Wilson played "Shortenin' Bread" on piano "over and over again".

• Biographer Peter Ames Carlin wrote that Elton John and Iggy Pop were bemused by an extended, contumacious Wilson-led singalong of "Shortenin' Bread", leading Pop to flee the room proclaiming, "I gotta get out of here, man. This guy is nuts!"{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=172}}

• Musician Alice Cooper recalled that Wilson considered "Shortenin' Bread" to be the greatest song ever written. According to Cooper, when he asked why, Wilson responded "I don't know, it's just the best song ever written."{{cite web |last1=Music-News.com Newsdesk |date=5 July 2011 |title=Alice Cooper was too afraid to argue with Brian Wilson |url=http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?nItemID=42370 |publisher=MusicNewsWeb}}

A number of Wilson-produced "Shortenin' Bread" and "Ding Dang" variations remain unreleased. Titles include "Clangin'" (recorded with Nilsson), "Brian's Jam", and "Rolling Up to Heaven".{{cite news |last1=Chidester |first1=Brian |date=30 January 2014 |title=Brian Wilson's Secret Bedroom Tapes |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2014-01-30/music/brian-wilsons-secret-bedroom-tapes/ |access-date=11 December 2014 |newspaper=LA Weekly}} A version that was developed from a 1973 session, featuring American Spring as guest vocalists, was completed for the unreleased album Adult/Child in 1977.{{cite web |date=2 September 2003 |title=The Stylus Magazine Non-Definitive Guide: The Lost Album |url=http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/the-lost-album-the-stylus-magazine-non-definitive-guide.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030905223901/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=613 |archive-date=5 September 2003 |access-date=13 July 2014 |website=Stylus Magazine}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=316}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Badman|first=Keith|title=The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/beachboysdefinit0000badm|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-0-87930-818-6}}
• {{cite book|first=Peter Ames|last=Carlin|author-link=Peter Ames Carlin|title=Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eYyovo_AbqAC|year=2006|publisher=Rodale|isbn=978-1-59486-320-2}}
• Eitel, Edmund Henry (ed.) The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley, Vol 5. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company (1913).
• {{cite book|last=George-Warren|first=Holly|title=A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, From Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWo2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT124|date=20 March 2014|publisher=Penguin Group US|isbn=978-0-698-15142-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Lambert|first=Philip|title=Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: the Songs, Sounds, and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7XsZAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-1876-0}}
• Perrow, E.C. "Songs and Rhymes from the South." The Journal of American Folklore, 28:108 (April - Jun. 1915) 129–190.
• Wade, Stephen. The Beautiful Music all Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.
• Waltz, Robert B; David G. Engle. "[http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ballads/R255.html Shortenin' Bread]". The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. Hosted by [http://www.csufresno.edu/folklore/ California State University, Fresno, Folklore], 2007.

• [https://books.google.com/books?id=QYhfG49yVB4C&dq=James+Whitcomb+Riley+shortnin&pg=PA1957 The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley: In Ten Volumes, Including Poems and Prose Sketches, Many of which Have Not Heretofore Been Published; an Authentic Biography, an Elaborate Index and Numerous Illustrations in Color from Paintings by Howard Chandler Christy and Ethel Franklin Betts] – complete text of James Whitcomb Riley's "A Short'nin' Bread Song—Pieced Out".
• A traditional version of lyrics and an MP3 clip are here [http://toneway.com/songs/shortening-bread Shortenin' Bread • Lyrics & Song Clip (free mp3)]

{{The Andrews Sisters}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:American folk songs

Category:Poetry by James Whitcomb Riley

Category:The Tractors songs

Category:Mississippi John Hurt songs

Category:1900 songs

Category:American children's songs

Category:The Beach Boys songs

Category:Brian Wilson

Category:The Beach Boys bootleg recordings

Category:Bread in culture