Play the Jukebox: Juke Box Saturday Night

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We are finally not under a flood watch! So thankful that the threat has passed us by. Let’s celebrate with some music! Here’s a nickel, go pick a song…no, wait, I’ll pick it. Y’all would go for that Foreigner song (“Juke Box Hero”). Here’s today’s song. Juke Box Saturday Night - Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and the Modernaires And now, your history lesson on the origins of the term jukebox. A jukebox was a record machine found in a juke joint. Oh, what’s a juke joint? Well, remember back in the first two-thirds of the 20th century, life in America was segregated. Since blacks couldn’t go into white establishments, they created their own bars for dancing, drinking, and unwinding after work. They were called juke joints. Juke was a derivative of joog, a Georgia seacoast Creole-English word for “rowdy” or “bawdy.” You’re welcome. Now, on to Glenn Miller. You may remember that I used him in the musical aviation deaths list last year. This was one of his last singles before he joined the Army Air Corps. He had applied to join in February, 1942, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. However, Miller was old (almost 38), married (the draft took single people first), and terribly nearsighted. He was listed as 3-A (meaning someone “with a child or children; registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents” according to draft history websites), meaning he was unlikely to serve. Miller pushed for service, and was finally inducted into the Army Air Corps as a captain in October 1942. In this song, you’ll hear a reference to Harry James with a trumpet solo. When Miller left the Chesterfield cigarettes CBS radio show (yes, kids, cigarette companies used to sponsor programs!), he enlisted James as his replacement. James never forgot the kindness. My parents were kids when this song came out, but that doesn’t stop me from loving it. Remember that Duke Ellington said, “There’s only two kinds of music: good and bad.” No room for “old” in that description. Juke Box Saturday Night Written by Paul McGrane and Albert Stillman Recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with the Modernaires Released as a single, 1942 JUKEBOX LYRICS: title Money, we really don’t need that: