Cab Calloway 1933 Cartoon of St. James Infirmary Blues
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- čas přidán 13. 03. 2023
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Live performance of this music by my St. James Trio on acoustic piano, sax, and guitar:
• St James Infirmary Blu...
Please have a look, we did our best to recreate this music just as performed by Cab's orchestra.
This is from a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon that tells a condensed and somewhat twisted version of Snow White. In the middle of the cartoon we have Cab Calloway singing St. James Infirmary Blues. This video starts with him and his orchestra, a rare live action scene that's actually from another cartoon of this era, Minnie the Moocher, a song which Calloway is most famous for. He sings that song as a Walrus and it's in a different key than what we see the orchestra performing at the beginning of that cartoon. As it turns out the footage and music that start Minnie the Moocher is clearly the same recording as the song we have here, St. James Infirmary Blues, and later in the edit I join these two pieces of audio together. He starts singing the tune as Koko the Clown, then gets morphed into a ghost. Wonderful animation that capture his annunciation and dance moves, with other wild visuals. Towards the end we see how the animators turned his live action movements into cartoon form. Included scenes from 1980 film The Blues Brothers, where Cab Calloway again performs Minnie the Moocher, which was my initial introduction to this singer and performer.
Original cartoon "Betty Boop in Snow White"
Created by Max Fleischer
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Animated by Roland C. Crandall - Hudba
I find this really strange. Watching the movements of this long dead man that was animated into a dead ghost. It's an echo of the dead in a way.
Not really LONG dead. Cab Calloway died in 1994 at the age of 86. That doesn't seem so long ago to me, but hell, I'm 64. The last 30 years have just gone "pfffft!" from where I stand.
@@racookster didn't realize he lived for so long. But im only 22, so that still happened before my time
“Death comes for us all.” - Master Splinter, TMNT
And pretty surreal how on point the animation is with the man's dancing. The skill was way ahead of its time.
A true ghost then
Almost 100-years-old and it’s still enjoyable: PURE ART
Yes Lawd!:)
Sings to the Pauper Soul , An Elegy For Our Burning World It Should Be
timeless music
Facts
ENJOYABLE IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT @ BEST!!! i just heard this song like 4 months ago
Idk how people find this creepy… I really wish we still had this art style and music style too.
It is! Creeps!
Art at fine.
its supposed to be creepy, but creepy is sometimes good! art can (and..should) make you feel a variety of emotions, i wish people accepted that.
this song, if you look up the lyrics, is about how he is coming to see his wife/girlfriend dying of an std, and because it made him realise he has the std too, he is singing about what clothes he wants to be burried in to feel dignified. hows that for creepy?! 😍
It's creepy if you pay attention to the background as he's singing
Just because you like it and wish it was still around doesn't make it less creepy.
This song is the definition of bittersweet: tragic lyrics but embellished by his stunning voice
Whats it about?
@@Yoni123 From what I understood in the lyrics, it speaks of a man who lost his spouse/girlfriend, she died and is currently being embalmed at St James Infirmary Blue, so the man expresses his sorrow
@@Lexie01 thanks. Im not a native speaker and was mostly concentrating on the great animation. I'll take a closer listen to the lyrics
@@Lexie01
It isn’t “Infirmary Blue”, it is “St. James Infirmary” and he HAS the blues regarding the place and circumstances.
@@Peter-ff1tp Oh yes you're right, I made a mistake on the place 😅
There will never be another entertainer like Cab Calloway. R.I.P.
Although that is true, we say that of all great Artists. They are all unique.
also best live musician ive ever saw
Cab Calloway .. the original hep cat👏🎶💃🏼🎶💝
Years later he was revered in the Blues Btothers! Loved him!
Listen to his song “ The Funny Reefer Man”.
It's funny to think that people went to the cinema to watch this and almost 100 years later I can watch it without even getting out of bed. Damn I'm high.
😅😂😂😂❤I can dig it
It's kind of sad. Have been a while since I went to cinema...or watched a movie with out looking at my phone.😢
It's kind of sad. Have been a while since I went to cinema...or watched a movie with out looking at my phone.😢
As high as you are, you’re probably not higher than Cab and his band 🌴 🥬 🔥
narcissism
This footage fundamentally connects the history of animation with music, creating an incredible piece of art to watch. I'm amazed every time I see it
Back in the day, animation would be used to promote musicians of the time, the Fleischers promoted a lot of black performers, a risky but very progressive for the time
Yes......and they say that music videos were introduced in the 70s!!?
one thing most people miss is that the background coincides exactly with what the ghost is singing, very VERY ahead of its time
Cool, I hadn’t noticed the background the dancing was so entrancing!
Wow I had to take a second look ... Nice
How is it ahead? I'd say it's reflective of its time. Creative people are in all eras.
And back then, these cells were each done by hand!!
Koko the clown*
My mom saw him in concert. She said he came dancing out in a sparkly pink suit and it was spectacular!
I can definitely see Cab Calloway pulling off a sparkly pink suit and make it look classy.
Cab was one of the flyest of his time ✨
Oh yeah he had some moves
Oh cool, did he actually do the bit at 1:05 fr?
His dance moves are as smooth as flowing water.
The power of rotoscoping!
Folks, I'm goin' down to St. James Infirmary,
See my baby there;
She's stretched out on a long, white table,
She's so sweet, so cold, so fair.
Let her go, let her go, God bless her,
Wherever she may be,
She will search this wide world over,
But she'll never find another sweet man like me.
Now, when I die, bury me in my straight-leg britches,
Put on a box-back coat and a stetson hat,
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain,
So you can let all the boys know I died standing pat.
An' give me six crap shooting pall bearers,
Let a chorus girl sing me a song.
Put a red hot jazz band at the top of my head
So we can raise Hallelujah as we go along.
Folks, now that you have heard my story,
Say, boy, hand me over another shot of that booze
If anyone should ask you,
Tell 'em I've got those St. James Infirmary blues.
Let her go, let her go, oh bless her
Wherever she may be
She will search this wide world over
But she'll never find another sweet man like me
The lyrics of the song sound sad for some reason.
@@user-uz3vn1nu4o Possibly because the song is about a man mourning over his wife's corpse.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Thank you for these lyrics!
Anytime sir
Cab Calloway is a legend. That kind of vocal range combined with that dancing talent comes along once in a lifetime
Dang, now if THAT isn’t some top-notch smooth dancing and singing, I don’t know WHAT is! Cab Calloway was such a legend!
The last time we saw him was in blues brothers singing Minnie the moocher rest in peace a legend and a great singer cab calloway
He started the moon walk that Michael did, but it wasn't called that then.
This is the definition of spooky.
Not terrifying, but not tame. That erie feeling of uneasiness not out of fear but out of observation.
I think its a combination of the rather grim subject matter along with the uncanniness of the animation and the character's design.
Edit: Oh, and how slow and mournful the song is. All that together definitely makes this quite unsettling.
@@PonderousEclectica4383 Yes
The pictures in the background are spooky. I like it.
But it's not spooky at all, not even a little bit.
@@nirorit Fear, like taste is subjective
I love surrealism. I grew up with these cartoons despite them being draw at the time of my grandparent's childhood. I loved how the world presented seemed to follow its own rules. I think this led to a lifelong love of surrealist artists such as Dali, Giger, and Varo.
Same here! Born in 1981 but these are the cartoons I watched. I've been a music fanatic since, despite music not being big in my home. Now my 8 and 5 year olds are watching them, thanks CZcams! This is currently their favorite.
Cab Calloway is a man that is an absolute classical treasure. Too bad if if you speak his name today 90% of people don't know who he is and how much he contributed to the music industry.
I will always hear him and thank him for sights and sounds I will never hear and see again. Rest in Heaven Sir.
Niiiice!! Loved the correlation between the original singer's moves and the animation.
Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked it
I'm pretty sure the original animations where rotoscoped from Cab Callaway's moves. Maybe someone else that knows more can correct me if I am wrong?
@@PacoElMapache I believe you are correct. I did see that somewhere. He, reportedly, was quite surprised they had done it.
@@anitaodom5155 Wow that's awesome, I didn't know that
Was rotoscoping a thing back then? So early in animation? I thought it was invented later
You can't beat the classic cartoons.
I mean they made a massively popular game based on these esthetics and animation,I'm glad they are getting this much appreciation
Yes we can lol
@@muffinconsumer4431no we cant
The culture of today would cancel this due to it being a white man. They would claim white supremacy or some other BS.
The animation is so smooth, it's amazing to look at. Crazy to think how old this cartoon is.
Better than some of today’s animation
@@robertmoffit1135 yes, totally
@@robertmoffit1135 it's better than all of it.
@@robertmoffit1135Back then, animation was made for everyone and companies tend to give a lot more funding to their animation studio. Also studios tend to make shorts that are significantly shorter than most cartoons while also having more money to spend. It was until the advent of television where studios wanted longer content and on a lower budget. Live action shows can be able to budget their production cost, but a lot of studios outside of Hannah Barbara struggled a lot to make animated content without going over their budget. Eventually, animation had to rely on kids to buy their toys and merch during the 80s which create the animation is for kids mindset. It was until the 90s where artist can make their own shows without toys and newer technology and techniques made animation a lot cheaper and more efficient to make. The process of making cartoons during the 60s to now is radically different to making cartoons before television.
Animation back then can be seen as better than modern animation simply because they had much better funding and their tools are a lot more hands on compared to modern animation. Granted there's a lot great modern animated content, but people tend to compare the best of the best old cartoons with the entirety of modern cartoons which includes both the best and worst that were made. I'm sure there's plenty of old cartoon that were pretty bad and they were quickly abandoned and forgotten while the much better ones are still preserve to this day.
@@allendepacheco3419Also their were lot of talented animators who will work for min wage
It’s 1933 and that ghost is moonwalking all over the place… Cab Calloway had sauce for generations
Calloway said this dance at the time was called "the buzz" -- and early verison of the moonwalk.
Good job splicing the different versions of the song that are on the internet! It almost sounds like a single recording!
Thanks, I was psyched when I discovered they must be from the same recording!
I just love how it all flows together like some twisted dream
This man was a LEADER!!! He could lead a band, he could sing and dance and engage an audience!! What a performer!!!
i love how smooth animation were back then, so hypnotizing to look at
Even after 90 years, this song is smooth and boss.
Makes me happy that things like Cuphead exist to keep this combined style of art and music alive.
[LYRICS]
Folks, I'm goin' down to St. James Infirmary
See my baby there
She's stretched out on a long, white table
She's so sweet, so cold, so fair
Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Wherever she may be
She will search this wide world over
But she'll never find another sweet man like me
Now, when I die, bury me in my straight-leg britches
Put on a box-back coat and a Stetson hat
Put a twenty-dollar gold piece on my watch chain
So you can let all the boys know I died standing pat
Folks, now that you have heard my story
Say, boy, hand me over another shot of that hooch
If anyone should ask you
Tell 'em I've got those St. James Infirmary blues
An' give me six crap shooting pall bearers
Let a chorus girl sing me a song
Put a red hot jazz band at the top of my head
So we can raise Hallelujah as we go along
Folks, now that you have heard my story
Say, boy, hand me over another shot of that booze;
If anyone should ask you
Tell 'em I've got those St. James Infirmary blues
"Pat?"
@@TotalDec
If you stand pat, you refuse to change your mind about something. On the other side, the men stood pat and were unyielding. It makes it hard for the Fed to do anything but stand pat till the economy's direction becomes clearer.
Clearly standing fast
@@TotalDeche had money in his pocket, he wasn't broke.
:)
This is what CZcams is for, wonderful!
Rotoscoping really revolutionized the animation landscape back in the day.
It's a cheat. Tracing over a real person, not drawing it all from scratch.
@@Nonamearistonowadays id call it lazy. but for frame by frame animation a century ago? ill give them a pass
I just love this man's soulful voice!! It's a 90-year old cartoon that directly mimics this incredibly talented man's movements and artistry. There are so many aspects that are seen in modern dance and I think that's really awesome. Idk if he was the first, but damn he was good!
Cab was an entertaining genius. He did what he was born to do.
Man, this causes nostalgia for something I didn't experience, I like watching cartoons from the 30s, I like this song
I've been obsessed with this song and it's history for a while now and I also happen to love animation so this is really hitting a good spot for me
Very cool
Listen to the white stripes version as well
The most haunting version is Louis Armstrong in the 60s. Slowest song I ever heard. Piercing trumpet. My favorite is Eric Clapton & Dr. John in 1996, with a funky Latin rhythm (I know how that sounds but check it out, it’s scorching). Now I know which version they were covering-Cab Calloway-it never did sound much like Louis’ or Bessie Smith’s. The vocal swings are so distinctive!
@@TheCapedWanderer Thanks I have some versions to check out! I have performed this song with a couple other players around my piano, and will be posting that video next 🙂
Now that's talent!!!! Not the garbage that passes today.
i love everything about this so, so much
Man, I love the surreal, eerie designs and rotoscoping of Fleischer Studios. The true pioneers of animation. I wonder if this counts as the most earliest music video?
CZcams: Ghostmane " Mercury"
Really nice job on the edit.
Thanks for watching!
Imagine being born in the 1800's and seeing your kid watch this.
@@CABULOSO_RLKyes and if you were born in 1899 you would likely have a 5 year old watching this in 1933 as he was saying
Your kid would be at least 33 not really a kid
@@loki-og1cs How are you all not getting this? lol
@@loki-og1cswhat they were trying to said is that: You- born in 1899 would be 34 by the time this animation aired, and have a 5 years old kid, the kid then watch this animation. Is it really that hard to understand?
That’s how you drop a mean verse in the 30s.
Rest in Paradise God bless your soul legend cab Calloway 🕊🌷👊🏾🖤🤲🏾🌁
For real I can’t stop watching this. It’s just… I don’t know, captivating. The movement mixed with the music and the imagery in the background, I just keep coming back
Cabtivating
This isn't creepy, it's an amazing work of art 💪🏻
I’m an estate broker and I had a little home listed for sale in a rustic hilly area back in 1979. The lady introduced me to her best friend and neighbor, Cab Calloway. He was elderly, but quite agile and very funny.
that's awesome.
Cab was the man! What a true legend!!❤
I did get to see Cab Calloway perform one time, I do feel lucky.
I love animation style. It's so smooth! All the transitions, the lip syncing to every word, honestly incredible and takes a HUGE amount of work and time. In this era too, that kind of animation was truly ahead of its time by some incredibly talented artists. The song is quite morbid, yes, but beautifully sung and perfect for the cartoon.
i’ve always loved cab calloway as a kid. i was a big blues and jazz fan with billie holiday and ella fitzgerald as my introduction to the genre. i’m glad people are noticing him now.❤😊
I wish they had given the animators credit by name. The animation of this time was intensive. Each frame hand painted and there was hundreds if not thousands of them 😊
What a strange but profound legacy this man has left.
Cab Calloway is the very essence of smooth!! And how cool is it that this stunning animation still exists…a wonderful treat for the eyes and the ears…and the heart - thank you for this post!💕
It's just mesmerizing to see something that seems contemporary yet pre-dates all the stuff in the late 20th century that I remember as a child with nostalgia.
ART, ART !❤ , Karita.
WHY IS THIS SONG SO SHORT!?!? DAMMIT! I wish the were more!
2 minutes and 40 seconds is pretty standard though
@@lordsupersucc I just looped it.
This song legitimately made me fall in love with Cab Calloway
I just 💌 CAB & BETTY B. collabs, but THIS IS the BEST!
They really took that walk into the cartoon!
Charming and unsettling. Completely mesmerizing!
Thank you for posting this amazing piece! A haunting rendition of a haunting song captured in equally haunting animation. And Betty Boop and Coco the Clown as I've never seen them before.
Watched this on acid a few days ago. Was not disappointed!
Considering there was no motion capture back then this was quite impressive
This animation is rotoscoped which is basically a 2d version or motion capture
@@sonicfanboy3375 but every frame was hand drawn
@@WM_NonsenseBut the animators are drawing the cartoon characters above the photos rather than making an animation from scratch. Rotoscoping are just tedious to do rather than being harder to drawing characters with no reference to follow. Sure it's hard since there's no undo button but that can be applied to every form of animation before digital art became a thing. Hell even digital art still require you to be skillful in drawing even with more accessibility
@@allendepacheco3419 hand animators did use references- an actor would do the motion and they would draw from it. you can see examples of this in Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty. Still took an immense amount of skill and patience though
@@froggdoggs8551 I think that still rotoscoping unless the animators didn't use rotoscoping projectors to trace over footages of actresses.
I think I used a poor choice of words. Animators do use references when it comes to any type of movement, but rotoscoping tend to be a lot more direct as you are tracing something on top of the person. An animator drawing series of images by watching a video isn't as involved as tracing a cell paper on a video frame by frame.
Absolutely love this guy! Baltimore missed a great historical opportunity by tearing down his home!
THEY WHAT ?!
@@Thewritingelf Cab’s childhood home was torn down.
Sounds so cool despite being nearly 100 years old. Such a sexy tune ❤
The elaborate detail of the background is astounishing... especially compared to the cheap stuff Warner pulled out in the 70ies
Love that the background goes with the song, such a vibe
Hard to believe this guy was also in The Blues Brothers about 50 years later.
This man had some lungs on him. What a damn good singer he was.
I just love these 30s/40s blues songs! I didn't pay attention to the animation at first bc I was so carried away by the music. These guys knew exactly what they were doing
Could you tell me what is blue song? I searched on Google but I only found blue song (i'm blue da bee da). Is it a hidden meaning for something?
I'm not good at English but I have seen a lot of people mention that i'm blue song but have no idea.
@@qmt1610 a genre of music. its called the Blues
Is actually quite an amazing video . Especially when you think of the limited technology back in those days. And n top of that it's animated! Pair with the master that was Cab Callaway. Very cool!
I'm so glad I took my son to see cab Calloway when he was 7 years old. He didn't have a set program. He just went from song to song and his orchestra followed along
Man, I wish we still had animation like this. Nothing even comes close anymore.
1980s, 1990s and early 2000s animations became better. But after 2009 animation started to suck.
@@carloswater7 I think they mean this trippy
Then, animation had HEART! Later, it just was a technical exercise.
Yea this is so absurdly smooth even being so old, incredible
We do. Your just not looking hard enough lol. It’s rotoscope. It’s widely used today a lot actually.
Holy crap..this is almost 100 years old!😮
Excellent! Thank you I loved this great video wonderful sonic quality and vintage cab Calloway!!
IS ANYBODY CATCHIN THIS??? WE NEVER COULD, & STILL CAN'T B TOUCHED
quite poetic that he was animated as a ghost yet his legend still still lives on decades later
That was awesome! So amazing that voice and those dance moves. Cab Calloway was a musical genius. ❤❤😊😊
This is gorgeous
This is just absolutely MESMERIZING
Beautiful. Such vocal power with even more control. Just beautiful
One hell of a tribute you've put together here. Gem of a voice with the animation to match. What a masterpiece.
forgot about this for a long time after losing my old music library. came across it again by accident and have never felt so thankful. despite me only being 25 we watched a lot of these old cartoons on VHS. my parents were pretty old for my age group and i’m thankful for the pieces of history i got to experience as a kid.
cab is such an incredible singer
Love the way he dances
I had no idea that the Ghostemane cartoon was an actual cartoon but it is a very pleasant surprise.
Fantastic cartoon, so creative... I love this stuff since my childhood! :D And I saw Cab Calloway live in the 80s in germany, unforgettable!
The animation for the line about the $20 gold piece on his watch chain is sublime. What amazing work.
Sometimes art works from the 1930's feel like they come from another world
Beautiful voice, intense, scratchy, exciting, the fusion with the cartoon is fantastic
I love how perfectly it fits when he sings "booze" and his head turns into a bottle w/ his mouth as the, well, mouth of the bottle
Definition of art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted
Cab Calloway was a phenomenal entertainer, and I'm so glad he's preserved in a great film, The Blues Brothers!
Vine por el cover de Carlos Feral, una increible interpretacion de este temazo
I love this! It walks the line between silly and unsettling so well!
I used to watch these when i was a child! Gotta love Betty Boop-boop-a-doop ❤❤❤❤
We used to watch these on Saturday mornings Great fun.
Cab was so smooth. No autotune kids...didn't even exist. Just pure refined talent.
I just love that reverse shot looking out at the audience with Cab moving along. The switch in perspective is gorgeous!
ngl Cab had some fricking cool moves
Cab never performed the same song twice. Every performance was unique
One of the hardest levels in cuphead
The song pacing in this is perfect.
One of the best songs of all time! Imagine how this looked in the 1930s...
This right here... This is what I call art