Dudley Mecum (1896–1978) was an American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

., He was based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and had a musical group, '' Dudley Mecum's Wolverines.'' In the 1920s, he also performed with a number of other ensembles such as

Merritt Brunies Merritt Brunies (December 25, 1895 - February 5, 1973), was an American jazz trombonist and cornetist. Brunies was born into a well-known musical family in New Orleans, Louisiana; among its members were George Brunies and Albert Brunies. Merritt ...

and his ''Friar's Inn Orchestra.'' Mecum wrote the lyrics for the song "

Angry Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical ef ...

" which was composed by Merritt Brunies, Henry Brunies, and Jules Cassard in 1925. By 1929 Mecum had become a full-time songwriter. His other published pieces included "How's Your Folks and My Folks", recorded by the pianist and vocalist

Art Gillham Art Gillham (January 1, 1895, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri – June 6, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia) was an American songwriter who was among the first crooners, a pioneer radio artist, and a recording ...

while testing new electric microphone technology, "I've Got the Blues for Tennessee", co-written by Mecum with Cal DeVoll and Wallace Bradley. Mecum also performed as vocalist on the popular recording of the tune "

42nd Street 42nd Street most commonly refers to: *42nd Street (Manhattan), a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan It may also refer to: *42nd Street (film), ''42nd Street'' (film), a 1933 American Warner Bros. musical film with lyri ...

" by the

Don Bestor Don Bestor (September 23, 1889 - January 13, 1970) was an American bandleader, probably best known for directing the orchestra in the early years of ''The Jack Benny Program'' on old-time radio.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustra ...

orchestra in 1933.

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1896 births 1978 deaths Songwriters from Illinois Musicians from Chicago 20th-century American composers The Wolverines (jazz band) members 20th-century American songwriters {{US-songwriter-stub