“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, written by Eddie Green and popularized by the singer Bessie Smith in 1927.

Hi there!  I missed out.  I wanted to watch “Bessie” with Queen Latifah on HBO, May 16th, but my landlady cancelled our cable, boo hoo.  I received a comment today about “Bessie”, so of course I had to see if I could find it on the net.  For this post, however, I decided to post a video of Bessie Smith singing the song my father wrote way back in 1917.

There were also a few other people who recorded the song, for instance:

A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
By Eddie Green
Marion Harris – 1919
Wilbur C. Sweatman’s Jazz Orchestra – 1919
Viola McCoy – 1927
Eddie Condon & His Band – 1940
Butch Stone – 1942
Frank Sinatra – 1951
George Lewis – 1953
Big Maybelle – 1956
Brenda Lee – 1959
Also recorded by: Trinity; Di Anne Price; Bix Beiderbecke; Fats Waller; Rosemary Clooney; Les Brown;
Champion Jack Dupree; Barbra Streisand; Frances Faye; Hank Thompson; Lizzie Miles; Louis Prima;
Carol Channing; Nancy Wilson; Ralph Sutton; Juanita Hall; Kid Ory; Judith Durham; Dorothy Loudon;
Bob Wills, to name a few.

I should be finished with the first draft of my book about Eddie at the beginning of June.  I have the feeling that this year will be a good time for this book to become available.  To my knowledge, Eddie’s song has been performed in two recent movies, “Bessie” and “Blue Jasmin” (a Woody Allen movie).  I love the fact that this song has endured and remained relevant all these years.  Eddie died in 1950, so he was only aware of a few of these people performing the song.   While he was alive  he knew a few of the people on the above list, like Fats Waller and Frank Sinatra.  Oh yeah, and Sophie Tucker, he knew Sophie, she used Eddie’s song as her “torch” song (if you are too young to remember Sophie Tucker, look her up, she was what they called a “real hot mama” back in the day.

My father continues to provide the inspiration that helps me stay focused on this book-writing process, as do those who read my posts and those who comment.    Eddie has shown me that there are obstacles in life, Eddie had them as a Black man living his life in the early 20th century through 1950, but he never stopped moving forward,  he went on to write 29 more songs, to perform on Broadway and radio, and even to write, produce and star in his own movies, as I have mentioned in previous posts and will elaborate on in future posts.  I am experiencing a sense of optimism through tracing Eddie’s life and I hope I am able to pass this feeling on.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

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