_That's Fat, Jack_

[Wilson Gray]

by

Jimmie Lee [Cheatum] & Artis [Brewster/Bruster]
Modern 905, released 1953 (recorded 1952)

Artis__:
See that girl
All dressed in brown?
She's the kind 'll
Keep your money down

Chorus:
That's *fat*, Jack!
That's *fat*!
[Repeat twice]
Man, that *sho'* is *fat*! (emphasis original)

Jimmie Lee__:
See that man
All dressed in blue?
He's the kind 'll
Make you say "I do"

Chorus:
[Etc.]

Jimmie Lee - not far removed from "Jamie Lee," I reckon - is the
female singer, Artis Brewster/Bruster the male singer. The latter also
enjoyed some local (East Texas) renown as a boogie-woogie pianist.

The back-up band was Jay Franks & The Rockets of Rhythm. Ike Turner
was the pianist. Some suggest that both the name of his own band, "The
_Kings_ of Rhythm," and the title of his first hit, "_Rocket_ 88," may
have been a consequence of a pleasant experience with the Franks band.

The band's guitarist was Harrison D. "Peppermint Harris" Nelson, Jr.,
whose fame is second only to that of Ike, in this particular sub-genre
of black music. Peppermint. like Jimmie Lee & Artis, a native of
Texarkana, is even cited by the Texas State Historical Association,
but not JL&A.

Other than her name, birthplace, and discography, nothing more at all
is known of Jimmie Lee beyond the fact that she was a member of an
old-school duo.

Prince [Rogers _Nelson_] is occasionally rumored to be a distant
relative of Peppermint.

Back to the song. There are a few more verses equally as uninteresting
as the two provided. And, as is so often the case, there's nothing in
it to cause me to see any useful connection - or any other kind, for
that matter - therein between my cousin's 1950 _phatt_ and the
whenever _phat_.

Of course,

Youneverknow.
--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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