Tracks Unwrapped
Short'nin' Bread
Exploring the stories behind the music
Perhaps the best known recording of Short'nin' Bread is Fats Waller's cheeky recording of 1941. His vocal energy is clearly responded to by trumpeter John Hamilton (not Herman Autrey on this occasion), saxophonist / clarinettist Gene Sedric and guitarist Al Casey, who then really party with Fats as the recording closes.
The origins of the song are rather obscure but go back quite a way. It dates back "at least to 1900, when James Whitcomb Riley published it as a poem. While there is speculation that Riley may have based his poem on an earlier African-American plantation song, no definitive evidence of such an origin has yet been uncovered." (Wikipedia). Apparently it appeared in the Southern States of America and was popularized by Lawrence Tibbett in the early 20th century. It was sung by Nelson Eddy in 1937/38 and became a chart success by the Andrews Sisters that year and was then covered by various rock groups such as Paul Chaplain and the Emeralds and The Viscounts. The recording by the Andrews Sisters is probably the one that most approaches a jazz / swing version with a band that included Frank Froeba (piano); John McGee, Vic Schoen (trumpets); Tony Zimmer (clarinet); Dave Barbour (guitar); George Mazza (trombone); Haig Stephens (bass) and Sammy White (drums). The lyrics vary, but an early version is quite different to those by Fats Waller:
Put on the skillet, put on the lid
Mama's gonna make a little short'nin' bread
That ain't all Mama's gonna do
She's gonna make a little coffee, too
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Mama's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin', etc ...
Three little children, lyin' in bed
Two were sick and the other 'most dead
Sent for the doctor and the doctor said
"Feed those babies some short'nin' bread"
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Slipped to the kitchen, slipped up the led
Slipped up the pockets full of short'nin' bread
She stole the skillet, she stole the led
Stole the gal makin'…
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Oh, Mama's baby loves short'nin' etc...
The short'nin' bread is always the thing to have, the thing to have, ah-da-dah
They must have their bread
They caught me with the skillet, they caught me with the lid
They caught me with the gal makin' short'nin' bread
Paid six dollars for the skillet, paid six dollars for the led
Spent six months in jail eatin' short'nin' bread
Mama's little baby loves short'nin' bread​​
A skillet is a cast iron cooking pan and in the song we think 'led' refers to the lid. On a helpful web page by Azizi Powell (here) Fats Waller’s lyrics have been transcribed, and Azizi Powell goes on to offer some explanation to them.
Short'nin' bread.
Short'nin' bread.
Short'nin' bread.
Mama’s gonna make some short'nin' bread.
Get that wood out out of the shed.
Oh mercy! Lookee there.
Boys, mother’s gonna make some short'nin' bread.
Two Senegambians layin in bed.
One turned over to the op * and said
“Fine, fine, fine fine bread”
Spoken “Serve it. Serve it mama. Serve it!”
Hey delivery man, where have you been?
Oh mercy, it sure is a sin.
Mama mama don’t be fast.
Do not show your big fine……short'nin' bread.
* [Fats pronounces 'op' as 'ope' - I haven't been able to find a reference to the use of this word as Fats used it; presumably it means 'other' but that is a guess].
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Here is an extract from Azizi Powell's comments (but do read them all if you get the chance): ‘In a number of ways Fats Waller's Short'nin' Bread significantly diverges from the song as attributed to the early 20th century United States black faced minstrel and/or southern African American folk tradition. In contrast to those who adhere to the traditional words of the song, the African American jazz artist Waller point(ed)ly doesn't use the referent "mammy", a word which had come to be seen [at least by Black people] as disrespectful to Black women. Instead Fats Waller used the words "mama" and "mother". Furthermore, as another sign of respect for Black people, Waller uses the African geographical/cultural term "Senegambians" to refer to the people laying in the bed......’.
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‘In most versions of "Short'nin Bread" that line is usually now given as "two little children" or "two little boys" laying in bed. However, previously that same line was given as "two little chilluns" and even earlier what is now known as "the ‘n’ word" was used instead of the words "black boys". What isn't recognized about the traditional versions of "Short'nin Bread" is that the story is about Black children suffering from near starvation. That is why the boys are laying in bed "one just sick and the other 'most dead". That is why the doctor recommends that they be fed short'nin' bread, and that is why the boys are revived after eating that bread. .......’
‘......Rather than focus on children laying in bed near starvation, in verses #2 & #3 Fats Waller departs from the traditional "Short'nin' Bread" storyline by adding sexual allusions. In both of those verses, the term "mama" is used in placed of "woman". In verse #2, the implication is that a man and a woman are laying in bed and the woman's buttocks referred to as bread. And verse #3 uses the then popular profanity avoidance technique of setting up a rhyme that ends with a taboo word but then saying a politically correct word. In that line the word "ass" is the obvious word that rhymes with the word "fast"......’.
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In the 1977 documentary Triumph Of The Underdog, Charles Mingus, frustrated because the microphone hasn't been turned on, does not avoid 'popular profanity' and goes one further when he plays Who Says Mama's Little Baby Likes Short'nin' Bread?
On his page, Azizi gives a link to more about Senegambians where we find that the word ‘Senegambia’ was used by the British as early as 1765 to refer to their settlements on St. Louis and the Island of Gorée in Senegal, as well as the British settlements on James Island in The Gambia. ‘The Gambia and Senegal are almost moulded into one territorial distinction. The former being the smallest nation, is surrounded entirely by its much larger sister state on all sides of its national boundary. And although both were under different colonial masters, (French-Senegal, English-Gambia) both nations share deep historical, cultural and ancestral ties.
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Even more significant is the fact that the Island of Bathurst was built by immigrants from the Island of Goree (Senegal), which was the last port of call for the Africans that were being hauled off to slavery to the outer world in the mid-1700’s - until abolition of the trade in 1860.’
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Wikipedia tells us that: ‘About 24% of the African slaves brought to America, were from Senegambia. The Africans from Senegambia were found nearly everywhere in the United States before the American Civil War, both in the North and South. Senegambia was strongly Muslim. This means that many African slaves in the US had been exposed to Islam much more than the rest of the Americas. Because of the need for field workers up to two-thirds of Africans taken captive were men. In the Senegambia region due to the high demand by buyers, men and boys were taken from all over the region.'
That doesn't tell us why Fats Waller particularly chose 'Senegambians' for his lyrics. Juliet E.K. Walker, in her book The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race ..., Volume 1 writes that planters in the American slave markets preferred Senegambians as they had a good reputation for expertise in equestrian, cattle-raising tradition and rice tillage. We are unable to ask Fats Waller why, but Ate van Delden in his book Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler, quotes reviewer Louis Sobol talking about the Tap Room, a club Adrian Rollini started up in 1934 in the basement of the President Hotel in New York .....'on this night , Fats Waller is at the piano and Ellen Logan chants ... Four thinnish Senegambians who wait on you furnish most of the paid entertainment ....They wail weird blues, they dance, they moan, but they deliver your mug of beer at the same time.
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Earlier, in 1898, African-American violinist and composer Will Marion Cook had staged Clorindy, or The Origin Of The Cakewalk, a one-act musical that was the first Broadway musical with an all-black cast and that featured ragtime music - you can read more about it here ... 'The 'hot song' repertory was a popular contemporary staple. These songs exploited the connection between sexuality, body heat and uninhibited black fun. A Hot Time In The Old Town of 1896 is another example. As the end of the summer of 1898 approached. Clorindy was transformed and renamed Sengambian Carnival, becoming a musical pot pourri with a tinge of African identification ...'
Here's a video of a Cakewalk from the 1936 film San Francisco:
Betty Smith recorded Hot Time In The Old town Tonight in 1927 and years later the song became a regular feature in Ottilie Patterson's vocals with the Chris Barber band.
At least we know that Senegambians were present in the entertainment industry before and during the time Fats Waller recorded Short'nin' Bread and perhaps that gives a clue to inclusion of them in the lyrics.
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Today, the music of Senegambia is reflected by the Senegambian Jazz Band from Australia whose 'sound has developed through melding the traditions of West African melodies and rhythms with everything from jazz, latin and funk to “doof doof”. With 6 musicians from 5 countries, The Senegambian Jazz Band’s music is a melting pot of sounds, influences and cultures intricately woven to create a magical sonic experience, unlike anything in the Australian music scene.' Here is a video of them playing Sarayela from their self-titled 2017 album:
Which leaves us with the shortening bread. On her website Chickens In The Road, Suzanne McMinn writes: '.....What is short’nin’ bread? ....... we researched it and discovered there is really not a lot of clear documentation, at least not that
anyone agrees on, but there are a lot of theories that you can find proposed around the internet. (Which is a sometimes good, sometimes iffy, source of information.) What can be ruled out, with most accord, is any relation to the Scottish shortening bread, or shortbread. .......notice how simple the ingredients are - cornmeal, flour, salt, egg, baking powder, shortening, molasses, sugar, and water.
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Slaves would have used the least expensive grain available to them, which would most often be cornmeal, with the addition of some more refined flour in a smaller quantity if they had it. They either used baking soda or baking powder, but may have even made it at times without any leavening agent at all if it wasn’t available, sort of like a fried flatbread. The short’nin’ would have been lard, which they probably just called pig fat. They would have most ready access to some type of unrefined cane, such as molasses, for sweetener, but sugar isn’t entirely out of the question as an ingredient in times and places where it was available. Any sweetener at all is a debatable issue in this recipe as some quarters believe it to be a “poor man’s” cornbread, but the sense of the song tells another story–this was a treat. ....'
Suzanne's recipe for Short'nin' Bread is here.
Randy Kerr has written to us about Short'nin' Bread these days saying: "If you want to find more information about this tasty fried treat, search "hush puppies". Everybody really does love hush puppies (shortening bread). Recipes abound on the web. That name came from the practice of tossing these deep fried balls of cornmeal mush to hungry hounds, while telling them, 'Hush puppies." At least that is the story that is learned by every child of the American South. Today, they are traditionally eaten with fried fish, likely because the lard is already hot from frying the (most often) catfish."​
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"Blackman reports here, "Shortening bread is a fried batter bread, the ingredients of which include corn meal, flour, hot water, eggs, baking powder, milk and shortening" What Blackman describes is, of course. Hush Puppies. My Mother adds diced onions, and sometimes sliced scallions (green onions). Unquestionably, the reason why shortening bread/hush puppies are loved, in a way that any bread, even corn bread, is merely enjoyed, is on account of hush puppies being fried. Many would agree that no group more favors fried food than Southerners in the U.S., where anything can be, and frequently is, deep fried; from ice cream to pickles to whole turkeys. Frying of the latter, when carried out indoors, is the cause of inevitable house fires, in nearly every town throughout the South, during the Holiday Season."
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Finally, unless anyone would like to write to us with more thoughts, here are the Three Sounds - Gene Harris (piano); Andrew Simpkins (bass) and Bill Dowdy (drums) playing the number from their Beautiful Friendship album. "This strangely packaged LP gives no indication that the trio is actually augmented by additional musicians, most of whom are unidentified, though Bud Shank, Buddy Collette and Larry Bunker are mentioned briefly in Leonard Feather's liner notes ..." (allmusic).​
'What kind of bread is that? It must be good bread!'
11.2024