Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan (with Pony Poindexter)
After Annie Ross left Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in 1962, she was replaced by Yolande Bavan (1962-64). Before she married Jackie Paris in 1961, Anne Marie Moss replaced Annie Ross in some early 1960s performances. When I saw the Moss-Paris vocal duo perform around 1976, she explained that muffled introductions ("Here's Lambert, Hendricks and Moss") left some audience members thinking they were actually seeing Annie Ross. Click labels for previous LH&R posts.
Come on home,
And be welcome to stay,
Baby, tell me you’re coming home,
Living alone is so lonely,
I never should ever have run you away.
I knew the day we met,
You brought my love alive,
You got me so upset,
I forgot you was really jive.
Still when I took you in,
My heart was ruling me,
Finally I put you out,
Cause you only was foolin’ me.
But if you’re broke again,
And you need a friend,
Come on home.
I know you ain’t no good,
I know you ain’t so bad.
I’d quit you if I could,
But without you I’m going mad.
I’m hopin’ every day,
Maybe you’ll settle down,
Cause I’m in love with you,
And I ain’t ‘bout to turn around.
So if you’re broke again,
And you need a friend,
Come on home.
What are you doin’?
You standing around the corner and meanwhile your home’s gone to ruin,
What are ya, stupid?
There’s many a cat just looking for such as that,
If woman didn’t mean it she’d never be saying it,
Plenty woman wouldn’t take you back if you were bend and down in need, you need to bend down on your knees and tell her really know where it’s at.
Get together, get together,
Get it!
Running, crawling, creeping, stumbling, falling,
Plenty of time for stopping an’ thinking,
While you’re sitting round at home and getting fat and generally playing it cool.
Hurry it up and head for home!
Cos women you’ll find will change their mind,
While you gotta take the time to figure it out,
And tell your baby home is where it’s at.
Figure it out and you’ll get it together.
I figured it out,
Soon as you said it I got it together,
And figured it out;
What am I gonna do?
I’m dying to make it.
Cause lonely nights are terrible, terrible, terrible.
Tired of looking,
Home and cooking,
I go for that, that’s where it’s at.
Got it together and figured it out already,
Got it together and figured out I must eat steady,
Steady with a pot is really better than a hotdog,
Now I’m here with just a sandwich in the sack,
I wanna believe that she’ll take me back,
Now we’ve got another chance to get together.
Nuts with pretending,
What’s with pretending?
I messed around and acted bad,
I lost my pet now my baby’s giving me another chance to get together.
What’s there to talk and talk and talk about?
What’s there to squawk and squawk and squawk about?
What?!
You just got to come home.
Man doing what he want to
Spend all of his time staying at home,
Sweet home,
Home;
You dig me, pretty baby?
You heard right: come on home,
Mama’s gonna treat you’s though you’ll never roam,
Cause what’s gotta be gotta be…
And you, you’re the only man for me.
I don’t want you to be misled,
I mean what I said.
Come on, come on, come on.
I should thought I was putting you out,
I should thought I was happy you went away,
Putting you down was tearing me up,
That’s the reason I’m calling you home to stay.
Everybody’s gonna tell me I’m a doesn’t matter,
I really truly truly truly truly truly can dig it,
I really and truly truly can dig it,
I really can dig it,
I really can dig it,
I really can dig it,
I really can dig it,
Baby, I’m a dunce, I can believe it,
We don’t love.
But once,
So you see, baby
That people call me dumb,
For making up with you,
But when you go I’m numb
So what else am I gonna do?
Maybe I’ll take you back,
Maybe you’ll do me right,
Tired of lonely days,
And of many a lonely night.
So if you’re broke again,
And you need a friend,
Come on home.
And be welcome to stay,
Baby, tell me you’re coming home,
Living alone is so lonely
I never should ever have run you away.
1959 Newport Jazz Festival Streaming of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival begins today with Joe Williams, Count Basie, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross! For previous LH&R posts here, click on "vocalese" in the labels below.
Just as the Basie set had built to an ecstatic peak, Williams introduces special guests Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, who leapt into the limelight just the previous year with their astonishing debut, Sing a Song of Basie on ABC-Paramount (later reissued on Impulse). Comprised of vocalese pioneers Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross, this invigorating trio specialized in setting lyrics (primarily penned by Hendricks) to existing and particularly memorable instrumental jazz solos. Ross was actually one of the first to successfully venture into vocalese with her 1952 hit "Twisted" (based on a famous Wardell Gray tenor sax solo). Her early experiments, along with those of fellow vocalese pioneers King Pleasure and Eddie Jefferson, marked her as a true innovator in vocal jazz. And when Ross joined forces in 1957 with Lambert and Hendricks - each of whom had been making notable strides on their own in the same vocalese direction - a powerhouse act was born. Their appearance at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival came hot on the heels of their second triumphant release, The Swingers on the Pacific Jazz label (later reissued on EMI/Manhattan).
They enter with the jivey "It's Sand, Man" before tackling Basie's "Let Me See," Horace Silver's "Doodlin'" and the invigorating "Taps Miller." Williams joins them for a rousing rendition of Louis Jordan's "Rusty Dusty Blues," with Lambert, Hendricks and Ross providing backing vocal harmony and simulated horn pads. They deliver a soulful reading of Milt Jackson's "The Spirit-Feel," a tune that was also covered by Ray Charles the previous year at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. And they wrap it up with a swinging "Avenue C," a Basie staple chockfull of clever Hendricks lyrics, before segueing to Basie's closing theme, "One O'Clock Jump," putting the capper on what was easily one of the most invigorating and memorable sets of the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival.
--Excerpt from Wolfgang's Vault notes
Usin' the phone booth, Makin' a few calls, Doodlin' weird things, Usin' the booth walls.
Got me a big date, Waitin' for my chick, Puttin' my face on, So she could look slick,
I enjoy procrastinating 'Cause I'm busy while I'm waiting, Doodlin' away, doodlin away
Sittin' and dinin' Dinner beginnin', Started designin' Usin' the linen
Photo: Charles O'Neal
At age 83, Annie Ross is still performing. Here she is in August 2009 after an outdoor Jammin’ on the Hudson at Harlem's Riverbank State Park with the park’s cultural director, Ruth Thomas (l.), and public relations person, Pat Vitucci (r.). Her current solo act includes "Twisted" and "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime". Also at Riverbank State Park is Milo Mottola and Maria Reidelbach's Totally Kid Carousel, the "first carousel in the world designed by kids."