Okay, How About This One?

We thank all y’all for your feedback last week on our plans for the new album. Your thoughts and suggestions on the tune we asked you about — “(When She Wants Good Lovin’) Baby Comes to Me”— are so helpful. So, now can we get your thoughts on another song we’re considering? “Am I Blue?”, featured in the video above, is a tune we often trot out at the start of a rehearsal so everyone can limber up for the evening. Our manager, Pamela Bowen, who shot the video, says that, while she likes the song well enough, she thinks it probably isn’t lively enough for the new album. Perhaps you’ll agree. Or maybe you’ll think it could have a place as a little transition between more raucous numbers?Do us a favorite. Take a listen and then give us your thoughts about that. Just drop an email to Charlie Bowen at [email protected] the SongAs we reported in an earlier Flood Watch article, “Am I Blue?” was a 1929 composition by Harry Akst, who had already gained fame four years earlier when he wrote what became the great Louis Armstrong’s favorite tune: “Dinah.”Jazz artists from Billie Holiday to Grant Green covered “Am I Blue?” over the past near-century. Proto-rockers Eddie Cochran and Rick Nelson also recorded renditions, both in 1957. Rhythm and blues versions were done by Ray Charles in 1959 and by Fat Domino in 1961. Many women song stylists — Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Brenda Lee, Bette Midler, Dinah Washington, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Rita Coolidge — have covered the song. George Strait even had a No. 1 country hit with it.A lot of those renditions presented the tune slowly and deliberately. As listeners, we have no problem with that, but as players… well, that’s not our style. The Flood generally is not really dirge-friendly.In fact, years ago, our beloved co-founder, the late Dave Peyton, said that if The Flood had a spirit animal, it probably would be Leon Redbone. So, our take on “Am I Blue?” is how we imagine Brother Redbone would do it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com