Antedating of "knock me a kiss"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 2/14/06, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> HDAS has
>
> 1944 ... Knock me a kiss ...
>
> According to the AMG, a tune titled "Knock Me A Kiss,"
> written by Mike Jackson, was recorded by Jimmie
> Lunceford & His Orchestra on May 29, 1935, for the
> Decca label.

I think you're misreading the Allmusic info. The song appeared on the
compilation "Harlem Shout", which contains material recorded between
May 29, 1935 and Aug 9, 1945. Other sites say that the "Knock Me A
Kiss" 78 was recorded and released in 1942:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4831334953
http://dev.coolforever.com/m/browse.cfm/item/50554/

But according to Wikipedia the song was originally recorded by Louis
Jordan's band in 1941:

-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Jordan
By the time the group returned to New York in late 1941, the lineup
had changed to Jordan, Bartley, Martin, trumpeter Eddie Roane and
pianist Arnold Thomas. Recording dates in November 1941 produced
another early Jordan classic, "Knock me a kiss", which became a
significant jukebox seller, although it did not make the charts.
However Roy Eldridge subsequently recorded a version, backed by the
Gene Krupa band, which became a hit in June 1942, almost a year after
the Jordan recording came out; it was also covered by Jimmie
Lunceford.
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--Ben Zimmer

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