Tuxedo Junction

Album: Tuxedo Junction: 1939-1940 (1940)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This big band standard started life as an instrumental. Credited initially to Erskine Hawkins, Bill Johnson and Julian Dash, Hawkins introduced it with his Orchestra. A new arrangement by Glenn Miller released in 1940 was far more popular.

    The sheet music was published by Lewis Music Publishing, and at some point, someone at the company decided to record a vocal version. A number of lyricists were approached for this task, and one of them, Buddy Fayne, had the bright idea of asking Hawkins why he had called it "Tuxedo Junction."

    The real Tuxedo Juction was a colloquialism for the area in the Ensley suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, a club vased in the Nixon Building and Tuxedo Park. This venue was on the Chitlin' Circuit, which was a mainstay of black performers in the segregated Deep South.
  • "Tuxedo Junction" has been widely performed and recorded both as an instrumental and as a song. Perhaps the most notable film version is the 1954 biopic The Glenn Miller Story which saw James Stewart playing the lead opposite June Allyson. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Oliver Leiber

Oliver LeiberSongwriter Interviews

Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell NdegeocelloSongwriter Interviews

Meshell Ndegeocello talks about recording "Wild Night" with John Mellencamp, and explains why she shied away from the spotlight.