May 2007 #2

Aaron Asks:

Years ago I had a Greatest Hits of Al Hirt cassette which had a song called “Bad Penny Blues” on it. What a great tune! Sadly, that tape is long since lost, and I cannot currently find any album or collection of Hirt’s that contains that song. I’ve checked the usual sources, with no luck. Do you have any other suggestions on finding this track? Thanks!

Alan answers:

I remember playing a lot of Al Hirt at my first-ever radio job many, many years ago (“Java” was a favourite). All we had were some ancient vinyl records, one of which contained “Bad Penny Blues,” written and released by Humphrey Lytellton in 1956 (which, by the way, is credited with being the inspiration for the piano bit in “Lady Madonna.”) There are many versions of the Lytellton recording available, but apparently none available of Al Hirt’s recording. Does anyone have any leads?