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SAM COOKE, "Tennessee Waltz" | Ain’t That Good News, 1964
Sam Cooke, recording his last album before his untimely death in December 1964, makes a distinct change to the classic “Tennessee Waltz.” Originally written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart nearly two decades prior as a saccharine country-western tune (and often re-recorded in the same style by many stars in the decades that followed), the song is shifted by Cooke into a twist-and-shuffle, double-time pace; and he replaces old-timey terms of endearment like “darling” and “loved one” with “baby.” The small changes have a strong effect. With happy horns to go with Cooke’s inimitable, hot-sugar-rasp vocal stylings, the song sounds celebratory. Even some of the lyrics seem, at face value, to recall a sublime memory. Like: “That beautiful, that wonderful, that marvelous, that glorious, that beautiful Tennessee Waltz.” But we soon understand the real story: On a warm spring night, at one of those barn hops where everyone takes off their shoes, Cooke is bopping around with his “baby” ... and then his “old friend” shows up. All it takes is a single dance. “Dirty dog,” Cooke sings, “stole my baby.” It’s in the delivery of that last word — life is not always an untroubled journey. But Cooke sings it in a way that lets us know he’ll remember the song more than the heartache, that ultimately — because of the heartache — he is alive and well.
