THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

169-James P. Johnson-The Charleston.

1932-Has never charted in the UK, there was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 0.31. The majority of the older generation always dislike the music that the current younger generation enjoy, which makes me wonder what an Edwardian would have made of this outrageous song and dance of the Roaring Twenties.

James Price Johnson was born on February 1st, 1894, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, he is considered to be one of the most important pianists in the evolution of Popular Music, who bridged the gap between the ‘Ragtime,’ and ‘Jazz’ eras. Among the musicians that Johnson inspired were names such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington,(see also best songs 1039) and Fats Waller, (see also best songs 412) who had been a student of Johnson.’

James P. Johnson was most notably a pioneer of ‘Stride Piano,’ ‘Stride’ employed left hand techniques from ragtime, wider use of the piano’s range, and quick tempos. The term “stride” comes from the idea of the pianist’s left hand leaping, or “striding”, across the piano.The left hand characteristically plays a four-beat pulse with a single bass note, octave, major seventh or major tenth interval on the first and third beats, and a chord on the second and fourth beats. This style of playing was different from the style of ‘Ragtime’ popularised by the previous generation of ‘Ragtime’ performers such as Scott Joplin (1868-1917.)

Johnson was at his most successful during the 1920’s, and early 1930’s, but was commercially less so after, as the onset of ‘Swing Music’s’ popularity took over. Johnson composed film scores for a number of movies, and his songs also appeared in many of the eras most successful films such as ‘Casablanca,’ (‘If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight’) and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ (‘Charleston’) there have also been 18 official Albums of his recordings made available. James P. Johnson suffered a stroke in 1940, but he did return to composing and performing in 1942. In 1951 he suffered a paralysing stroke, which forced him to retire, and he died four years later on November 17th, 1955, at the age of 61.

‘The Charleston’ is probably the most famous song of the ‘Roaring Twenties,’ and was composed by James P. Johnson, who wrote the melody, and Cecil Mack, (1873-1944) who wrote the lyrics. The majority of the recordings of ‘The Charleston’ are instrumental, but there are some that include the lyrics, the vocal version was first performed by Elisabeth Welch (1904-2003) in ‘Runnin’ Wild,’ ‘The Charleston was written to accompany the new dance craze called the ‘Charleston Dance,’ and was featured in the American black Broadway musical comedy show ‘Runnin’ Wild,’ which had it’s premiere at the ‘New Colonial Theatre’ in New York on October 29th, 1923.

‘Charleston! Charleston! made in Carolina. Some dance, some prance, I’ll say, there’s nothing finer, than the Charleston,Charleston. Lord, how you can shuffle. Ev’ry step you do leads to something new, man I’m telling you it’s a lapazoo.’