Song of the Day 4/10: Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”
I’m not sure which one I had, but it knocked me on my ass the last few days. New Orleans ivory tickler Huey Smith scraped the bottom of the charts with his self-penned tune in 1957.
It’s since been covered by everybody from Jerry Lee Lewis to Aerosmith to the Grateful Dead, but most successfully by Johnny Rivers who, backed by the Wrecking Crew, took it into the Top 10 in 1972, with Larry Knechtel providing a honky-tonk piano part that one-ups the original.
Great fun song and definitely a great vehicle for honky tonk and boogie piano.
I also love ‘Don’t You Just Know It’, replete with all its N’Awlins nonsense patois:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sxnXO2RjVg
When a guy’s backup band is called the Clowns, you know they had to be a great live act.
If not a sober one.