And there's a fun story how Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band heard Jerry Jeff Walkers original on the radio and love it, but knew nothing about it until a bit of serendipity gave the NGDB all they needed to introduce Mr. Bojangles to the nation.
'Mr. Bojangles' couldn't have happened without the radio
Dave Paulson
The Tennessean
This edition of "Story Behind the Song" is a first for the series: We're not speaking to the writer of the song, but the artist who made it a hit. Jeff Hanna of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band told Bart Herbison (of Nashville Songwriters Association International) how "Mr. Bojangles" made its way from Jerry Jeff Walker to them.
Bart Herbison: This is the only one of these we’ve done in years with somebody that didn’t write that song. I remember we were at John Rich’s house one night … and you sat down and told me this story of how “Mr. Bojangles,” written by Jerry Jeff Walker, got to you guys.
Jeff Hanna: Well, we were recording an album, this was like late ‘69, early ‘70, in Los Angeles. … I’m driving home late one night. I’m flipping through the dial and I hear this song that just blew my mind, it was so beautiful, and poignant. Pulled the car over to the side of the road so I could hear better, and cranked it up, of course FM radio late night, no back announcing. I had no idea who it was. I just knew that I was tearing up hearing this tune about this old guy and a dog, you know, and this beautiful story. So I come into rehearsal the next day, “Guys, I heard this tune it’s like, it’s a perfect fit for what we’re doing! I know how to do it! You know, we’ll use a mandolin, we’ll use the accordion, and it’ll work, it’ll be great, and uh, but I don’t know the name of the song.” And I’m describing the tune and Jimmy Ibbotson jumps up and says, “I know the song! I know the song!” We run outside to the parking lot, he pops the trunk on his (car). Under the spare tire in his trunk, in a rusty pool of water, is a 45. Jerry Jeff Walker, “Mr. Bojangles.”
BH: The only record there?
JH: Ibby had it when he left New Castle, Indiana. He went to school at DePauw, and he was driving to Los Angeles to become a star, to make his mark in the music business, you know. And this woman gave him the record, “And this is going to mean something to you someday.” That was her line.
BH: Did you ever tell that story to Jerry Jeff? What did he say?
JH: He just laughed. He said, “It’s just, it’s the folk process.” I got to tell you one quick thing about Ken, though, because this was a scratchy record, and you know, we found a record player that had the big spindle in the middle that you play 45's on. And we’re stacking pennies on the needle of the record player to get it to track cause it’s so just ...
BH: Warped?
JH: It’s scratched to pieces, right. And we messed up a couple of spots in the lyrics, recorded it that way, and the big hit has mangled lyrics on a couple of lines. … Jerry Jeff again, he said it’s "the folk process."
BH: But you know, he put that on other records. His got a lot more popular after that album came out, that Dirt Band album came out.
JH: Well, it was good for everybody.
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https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/story-behind-the-song/2017/12/08/mr-bojangles-nitty-gritty-dirt-band-jeff-hanna-story-behind-song-jerry-jeff-walker/930339001/
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