We’re setting the time machine back 20 years to a snowy Saturday night in Charleston.
The Flood was on stage at the West Virginia Cultural Center for a FOOTMAD (“Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance”) concert, sharing the bill with another great band, Stewed Mulligan.
As reported here earlier, it had been a fun evening of jug band songs and general silliness, blues and fiddle tunes and old-time string band music, so when Michelle Hoge started a classic 1940s jazz standard, a hush fell over the audience.
In seconds, people were softly humming along, then they smiled so much during Doug Chaffin’s sweet mandolin solo that he had to take a second chorus.
Finally, by the time Michelle got to the end of the number, people were on the feet to cheer her. What a sweet memory.
About the Song
A celebrated ballad that successfully bridged the gap between 1940s R&B and 1960s pop, “Since I Fell for You” evolved from a modest hit into a timeless standard.
Pianist/bandleader Buddy Johnson in late 1945 wrote the song that his publisher categorized as a “jump blues.”
Johnson famously had a passion for classical music but played to the tastes of his Southern audiences andc composed the song for his sister, Ella Johnson, to sing.
While their original recording had some impact, it was Annie Laurie’s 1947 version — recorded with Paul Gayten — that attracted serious attention, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard “Race Records” chart.
The song found its definitive voice, though, in 1963 thanks to singer Lenny Welch, who was familiar with the song through a 1954 doo-wop cover by The Harptones and suggested it to Archie Bleyer, the president of Cadence Records.
When Bleyer bought the original sheet music, Welch was surprised to find a distinct piano introduction that had been omitted from the versions he had heard previously. This recovered intro became a highlight of Welch’s recording.
Recorded on Aug. 13, 1963, Welch’s version broke out in California markets before sweeping across the U.S. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Easy Listening chart, selling over a million copies.
Welch’s smooth, middle-of-the-road vocals cemented the song’s status as a pop classic. Since then, the song has attracted covers across the genres, including jazz greats like Dinah Washington, country stars like Charlie Rich and Ronnie Milsap and contemporary icons like Bonnie Raitt.
Further Floodifying the Song
While the Feb. 11, 2006, show featured in the audio at the start of this report was The Flood’s first public performance of the song, “Since I Fell for You” stayed in the band’s repertoire for years. However, its title didn’t always come readily to mind. Click the button below for a funny exchange at a rehearsal a few years later:
Meanwhile, a dozen years after the song’s Flood debut at FOOTMAD, the band was back in Charleston, this time at Taylor Books, where Pamela Bowen shot this video:
Framing Michelle’s vocals were solos by Floodster Emeritus Paul Martin and guest artist Jim Rumbaugh.
