J. W. Myers - The Bowery Grenadiers (1907)
J. W. Myers sings "The Bowery Grenadiers" on Edison Gold Moulded Record 9524 (1907).
The song was composed and popularized by J. W. Kelly.
The song comes from the time in the late 19th century when big U.S. cities recruited neighborhood gangs as volunteer fire brigades.
The brigades fought each other between fighting fires.
Now here I am, a tough young
fellow, and an emigrant from the
South. You can see I'm educated by
the expression of me mouth. Around
town here we are famous. We've
been organized ten years, and the
talk of the town for miles around is
the Bowery Grenadiers!
Well, we licked the Brooklyn Guards.
We know how to play our cards.
We can run like the devil,
If the road is level,
For about a hundred yards.
The girls, the little dears,
Fall in love up to their ears
To see the style
And smell hair oil
Of the Bowery Grenadiers.
Then the gang turns out to hear
the band, and the music's grand,
when we take our stand. We
wear kid gloves so we won't get
tanned in the Bowery Grenadiers.
John W. Myers, usually identified on records as J. W. Myers, was arguably the leading baritone balladeer in the first decade of commercial recordings, working regularly from the early 1890s to 1904 or so, after which a drop in his output is dramatic.
Born in Wales, Myers immigrated to America at age 12 and worked at various jobs, eventually becoming a theatrical manager in New York.
A catalog issued in 1898 by Columbia's New England headquarters--the Eastern Talking Machine Company at 17 Tremont Street, Boston--lists over fifty Myers titles and states, "J. W. Myers, the famous baritone, whose records have achieved a wonderful popularity, has recently made a contract to sing exclusively for the Columbia Phonograph Company."
Although Columbia's 1898 catalog identifies Myers as exclusive to that company, Myers cut dozens of titles for Berliner, having sessions as late as November 1897, March 1898, and December 1898. Columbia at that time made only cylinders. His contract may have allowed him to make discs for Berliner.
The May 10, 1901, catalog of Zon-o-phone discs issued by the National Gramophone Corporation lists seven titles sung by Myers.
He cut over 100 titles in the early days of the Victor Talking Machine Company, beginning on February 20, 1901, with performances issued on seven-inch discs. Sessions in October 1902 would be his last for Victor for a few years.
For Edison he cut a couple dozen titles, most of them in 1901, beginning with "Light of the Sea" (7820). He was a versatile artist, covering sentimental standards ("We'll Be Sweethearts to the End," 9498), bass-baritone classics ("Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," 7840), and comic numbers.
After "The Bridge" (8010) was released in 1902, he stopped making Edison records for a few years, finally returning with "Night Time" (9470), issued in February 1907.
The song was composed and popularized by J. W. Kelly.
The song comes from the time in the late 19th century when big U.S. cities recruited neighborhood gangs as volunteer fire brigades.
The brigades fought each other between fighting fires.
Now here I am, a tough young
fellow, and an emigrant from the
South. You can see I'm educated by
the expression of me mouth. Around
town here we are famous. We've
been organized ten years, and the
talk of the town for miles around is
the Bowery Grenadiers!
Well, we licked the Brooklyn Guards.
We know how to play our cards.
We can run like the devil,
If the road is level,
For about a hundred yards.
The girls, the little dears,
Fall in love up to their ears
To see the style
And smell hair oil
Of the Bowery Grenadiers.
Then the gang turns out to hear
the band, and the music's grand,
when we take our stand. We
wear kid gloves so we won't get
tanned in the Bowery Grenadiers.
John W. Myers, usually identified on records as J. W. Myers, was arguably the leading baritone balladeer in the first decade of commercial recordings, working regularly from the early 1890s to 1904 or so, after which a drop in his output is dramatic.
Born in Wales, Myers immigrated to America at age 12 and worked at various jobs, eventually becoming a theatrical manager in New York.
A catalog issued in 1898 by Columbia's New England headquarters--the Eastern Talking Machine Company at 17 Tremont Street, Boston--lists over fifty Myers titles and states, "J. W. Myers, the famous baritone, whose records have achieved a wonderful popularity, has recently made a contract to sing exclusively for the Columbia Phonograph Company."
Although Columbia's 1898 catalog identifies Myers as exclusive to that company, Myers cut dozens of titles for Berliner, having sessions as late as November 1897, March 1898, and December 1898. Columbia at that time made only cylinders. His contract may have allowed him to make discs for Berliner.
The May 10, 1901, catalog of Zon-o-phone discs issued by the National Gramophone Corporation lists seven titles sung by Myers.
He cut over 100 titles in the early days of the Victor Talking Machine Company, beginning on February 20, 1901, with performances issued on seven-inch discs. Sessions in October 1902 would be his last for Victor for a few years.
For Edison he cut a couple dozen titles, most of them in 1901, beginning with "Light of the Sea" (7820). He was a versatile artist, covering sentimental standards ("We'll Be Sweethearts to the End," 9498), bass-baritone classics ("Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep," 7840), and comic numbers.
After "The Bridge" (8010) was released in 1902, he stopped making Edison records for a few years, finally returning with "Night Time" (9470), issued in February 1907.