"Louisiana Fairy Tale" (or "Louisiana Fairytale") is a song written in 1935 by Haven Gillespie, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish and J. Fred Coots, and was originally popularized by Fats Waller.[1][2]
Waller's version opens with him playing a four-bar solo piano lead-in to a clarinet melody backed by drums, guitar, clarinet, trumpet and piano. A muted trumpet bridge precedes Waller's vocal verses, and a Dixieland-style improvisational instrumental jam closes the recording.[3]
The instrumental introduction (32 bars featuring clarinet and the trumpet bridge) was used as the theme for the PBS television series This Old House from 1979 to 2002.[4][5]
In 1990, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington presented Louisiana congresswoman Lindy Boggs with "three gifts" from the collection of the Library of Congress, including "a facsimile of sheet music for a 1935 piece, 'Louisiana Fairy Tale,' accompanied by a cassette of the music with Fats Waller on piano and vocal".[6]
In 2010, the song was part of a mid-week New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival event with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and My Morning Jacket,[7] where the entire piece was performed acoustically and without the use of electricity.[8]
The song has been performed by many artists, including Tom Sancton.[9]
^Stephen Taylor (2006). Fats Waller on the air: the radio broadcasts and discography. Scarecrow Press Inc. p. 200. ISBN 9780810856561.
^"Stories of Standards: "You Go to My Head"". KUVO. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
^Dan Morgenstern (2004). Living with Jazz: A reader edited by Sheldon Meyer. Random House Digital. ISBN 9780307487605.
^"This Old House - FAQs". Archived from the original on 2011-11-29. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
^Thomas E. Ahr (1992). "Show and Tell". Cincinnati Magazine: 27.
^"A "Dear Wife" Comes to Library Reception", Library of Congress Information Bulletin (1990), p. 336.
^"My Morning Jacket at Preservation Hall - Louisiana Fairytale".
^Tad Hendrickson (May 7, 2012). "Louisiana Fairytale by Jim James and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band | Song Stories". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-07-18.
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