#35 'Saturday Night Fry Fish' by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1949)

SONG

"Well, it put a smile on my face straight away! Love the rhythm of the verses too. This tune makes me want to dance. Quality! Yeah, this is one to listen to folks! In fact, I would definitely listen to this one again." - LC

Written by: Louis Jordan and Ellis Walsh.
Producer: Uncredited.
Label: Decca.

FACTS

• This song tells the tale of a police raid on a New Orleans house party.
• It spent 12 weeks at the top of the US R&B chart and was one of Louis Jordan's last hits.
• By 1951, his 10-year chart run had begun to decline as rock 'n' roll, a genre he'd help to create, was becoming more and more popular.
• It also reached 21 in the main chart, which, at the time, was quite an achievement for a record by an artist who was non-white.
• Four decades later, his music was rediscovered when Clarke Peters created the musical Five Guys Named Moe, basing it around Jordan's songs; the musical transferred from the London fringe to lengthy runs in the West End and on Broadway. 
• BBC comedy-show host Stephen Fry adapted the song's title into a play on his own name and used the result for his six-part 1988 programme Saturday Night Fry. 
• American radio station WHRV, broadcasting from Norfolk, Virginia, uses the song's name for its Saturday night early-jazz program hosted by Neal Murray.