Mr. Bojangles (song)

Walker said he was inspired to write the song after an encounter with a street performer in a New Orleans jail. While in jail for public intoxication in 1965, he met a homeless man who called himself "Mr. Bojangles" to conceal his true identity from the police. Mr. Bojangles had been arrested as part of a police sweep of indigent people that was carried out following a high-profile murder. The two men and others in the cell chatted about all manner of things, but when Mr. Bojangles told a story about his dog, the mood in the room turned heavy. Someone else in the cell asked for something to lighten the mood, and Mr. Bojangles obliged with a tap dance.[2][3] The homeless "Mr. Bojangles", who was white, had taken his pseudonym from Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878–1949), the best-paid Black entertainer of his era.[4]

The song is notated in two time signatures: ³
₄ and ⁶
₈.

The song was first recorded by popular Austin performer Allen Wayne Damron during a live performance at the Chequered Flag folk club in Austin in 1967.[5] Jerry Jeff Walker recorded his single version (with Bobby Woods, Charlie Freeman, Sandy Rhodes, Tommy McClure, Sammy Creason, and a string orchestra) in Memphis, Tennessee on June 7, 1968, and it was released by Atco Records (Atco #6594) on June 20. He also recorded a non-string version in New York City for his album Mr. Bojangles with David Bromberg, Gary Illingworth, Danny Milhon, Bobby Cranshaw, Jody Stecher, Donny Brooks, Ron Carter, Bill LaVorgna, and Jerry Jemmott. It was released by Atco (Atco #33-259) on September 25, 1968.

Since then, it has been recorded by many other artists, including US country rock band Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whose version (recorded for the 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy) was issued as a single and rose to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971.

The NGDB's single version begins with the Uncle Charlie interview (subtitled "Prologue: Uncle Charlie and his Dog Teddy") that also precedes the song on the Uncle Charlie album. It was originally backed with another interview with Uncle Charlie, also taken from the album. When "Mr. Bojangles" started climbing the charts, the B-side was re-pressed with the same song without the interview. NGDB guitarist Jeff Hanna performed most of the lead vocals on the track, with bandmate Jim Ibbotson performing harmony vocals; the two switched these roles on the last verse.[6]

Live versions of the song appeared on Walker's 1977 album A Man Must Carry On, and his 1980 album The Best of Jerry Jeff Walker and he sang it with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 2015 concert album entitled Circlin' Back.

Walker's song has been recorded by many popular artists: Kristofer Åström, Chet Atkins, Hugues Aufray (French version, 1984), Harry Belafonte, Bermuda Triangle Band, David Bromberg, Garth Brooks, Dennis Brown, George Burns, JJ Cale, David Campbell, Bobby Cole, Edwyn Collins, Jim Croce, Jamie Cullum, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., John Denver, Neil Diamond, Cornell Dupree, Bob Dylan, Glenn Yarbrough, Bobbie Gentry, Arlo Guthrie, Tom T. Hall, John Holt, Whitney Houston, Queen Ifrica, Billy Joel, Dave Jarvis, Elton John, Frankie Laine, Lulu, Rod McKuen, Don McLean, MC Neat, Bebe Neuwirth, Harry Nilsson, Dolly Parton, Johnny Paycheck, Esther Phillips, Ray Quinn, Mike Schank, Helge Schneider, Nina Simone, Corben Simpson, Todd Snider, Cat Stevens, Jim Stafford, Jud Strunk,[7] Radka Toneff, Bradley Walsh, Robbie Williams, and Paul Winter. In 2016, Bradley Walsh recorded the song for his debut album, Chasing Dreams. Christian McBride included the song in his 2017 album Bringin' It.[8]

• The song is also widely associated with Sammy Davis Jr., who made the song part of his stage shows and live television performances for nearly two decades.
• Composer Philip Glass makes reference to "Mr. Bojangles" in his 1976 minimalist opera Einstein on the Beach.
• A dance choreographed by Bob Fosse to the song appeared in the 1999 West End and Broadway theatre show Fosse, having previously been featured in Fosse's 1978 show Dancin'.
• Jim Carrey also performed this song as an impression of Sammy Davis Jr. in his early stand-up and in his first movie Copper Mountain (1983).
• The Sammy Davis Jr. version of the song was used over the end credits of the 1999 documentary film American Movie.
• In the 2004 episode of The Simpsons titled "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore", Homer sings a version of the song while panhandling.
• The song was featured in the final episode of the 2019 FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon; FX released a version sung by executive producer Lin-Manuel Miranda.[9]