Muskrat Ramble was written by Edward "Kid" Ory in the early 1920s and first recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five (including Ory on trombone and Lil Hardin Armstrong on piano) in 1926. It became one of Armstrong's most popular numbers with all of his successive ensembles, and a standard for jazz groups ever since. In 1950, the Disney lyricist Ray Gilbert -- most famous for Zip-a-Dee Do Dah -- added lyrics to the instrumental without Ory's consent. ASCAP later ruled that Gilbert was therefore entitled to one-third of the royalties, even for instrumental performances. That seems incredibly unfair to Ory, but I have not found any record of a subsequent challenge. Perhaps that was because the lyrics allowed numerous recordings by vocalists, thus increasing the royalties for everyone (but that's just a guess). Ory's daughter did bring a copyright claim in 2001, almost three decades after his death, but not against Gilbert. That story is at the bottom of the post.
Louis Armstrong with Kid Ory, 1926 (audio only)
Jethro Burns lived in Evanston for many years (always gotta point that out)
It is only a little embarrassing to admit that I first heard Muskrat Ramble in Freddy Cannon's 1961 vocal, attributed on the label to "Kid Ory - Ray Gilbert," after which my father alerted me to the jazz version. Note that Gilbert's line about the "Dixieland Five" is an oblique reference to Armstrong's Hot Five:
Some of the vocal versions have gotten pretty corny, including this one, which I guess is sort of required for barbershop quartets:
But this one isn't corny at all:
Audio only
In 2001, Babette Ory, who had inherited the rights to "Muscrat Ramble" from her late father, sued "Country Joe" McDonald for copyright infringement, claiming that he had lifted the chorus to Country Joe and the Fish's 1967 anti-war song "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag," which he plainly did. You can hear it note-for-note on the clip below, from their performance at Woodstock (the first chorus begins at :15). The case was dismissed, however, because she (and her father, who died in 1973) had waited 34 years to file suit.
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