"Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" is a song with music by

Milton Ager Milton Ager (October 6, 1893 – May 6, 1979) was an American composer, regarded as one of the top songwriters of the 1920s and 1930s. His most lasting compositions include " Ain't She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again”. Biography Ag ...

and lyrics by

Jack Yellen Jack Selig Yellen (Jacek Jeleń; July 6, 1892 – April 17, 1991) was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for writing the lyrics to the songs "Happy Days Are Here Again", which was used by Franklin Roosevelt as the theme ...

, written in 1924. The song became a vocal hit for Margaret Young accompanied by

Rube Bloom Reuben Bloom (April 24, 1902 – March 30, 1976) was an American songwriter, pianist, arranger, band leader, recording artist, vocalist, and author. Life and career Bloom was born and died in New York City. He was Jewish. During his career, he w ...

, and an instrumental hit for the Don Clark Orchestra. The song has also been recorded by

Ernest Hare Ernest Dudley Hare (5 December 1900, Highgate, London – 1981, London) was an English stage and film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor perfo ...

(1924), Billy Murray (1924), Clementine Smith (1924), Emmett Miller (1929),

Glen Gray Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.'' The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. ...

and the

Casa Loma Orchestra The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the ...

(1940),

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

(1962),

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

(1973),

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, and h ...

(1978),

Leon Redbone Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian; August 26, 1949 – May 30, 2019) was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognized by his hat (often a Panama), dark sunglasses, and black tie, he was ...

(1978),

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

(1982) and others and has been a popular song in barbershop quartet and chorus competitions. The lyrics describe a man "in the town of

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

..." who was once a fearsome and rough character known for getting into fights, who, after getting married, becomes a peaceable person who devotes his time to domestic activities such as washing dishes and mopping the floor. He was "Stronger than

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

I declare, Til the brown skinned woman, Bobbed his hair."

Recordings

* Billy Murray (1924)

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

: 19503-A * Emmett Miller (1929) accompanied by his Georgia Crackers.

Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

: 41305 * '' Sugar 'n' Spice'' (1962), by

* '' I Love Dixie Blues'' (1973), by

* ''

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

'' (1978), by

(opening track) * '' Champagne Charlie'' (1978), by

* ''

Diver Down ''Diver Down'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on April 14, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. It spent 65 weeks on the album chart in the United States and had, by 1998, sold four million copies in the United St ...

'' (1982), by

* ''Bursting With Pride'', by the Pride of Baltimore ChorusCD 5608 at Singers.com
link

In film

*'' William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe'' (2009), sung by Sam Amidon and Shahzad Ismaily during the credits *''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

'', Season 2

References

External links

* {{authority control 1924 songs Songs written by Jack Yellen Van Halen songs Songs with music by Milton Ager Songs about Louisville, Kentucky