{"id":3897,"date":"2012-09-05T12:25:59","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T20:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2017-12-04T08:51:12","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T13:51:12","slug":"is-mr-bojangles-really-about-mr-bojangles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2012\/09\/05\/is-mr-bojangles-really-about-mr-bojangles\/","title":{"rendered":"Is &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; Really About Mr. Bojangles?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/music-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">MUSIC URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; is about the famous dancer Mr. Bojangles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; was written and first recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker in 1968.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/jerry-jeff-walker.jpg\" alt=\"jerry-jeff-walker\" title=\"jerry-jeff-walker\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/jerry-jeff-walker.jpg 280w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/jerry-jeff-walker-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 280px) 100vw, 280px\" \/><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B00123HXF4&#038;asins=B00123HXF4&#038;linkId=bc55dafa6e63a7ad83fdafff8afd0cf3&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true&#038;price_color=333333&#038;title_color=0066c0&#038;bg_color=ffffff\">    <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The song became famous, though, when it was released by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1971 album, Uncle Charlie &#038; His Dog Teddy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/unclecharlie.jpg\" alt=\"unclecharlie\" title=\"unclecharlie\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/unclecharlie.jpg 350w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/unclecharlie-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/unclecharlie-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B000087DSO&#038;asins=B000087DSO&#038;linkId=7849e5d84220230f26e5b7b6aafc5a61&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true&#038;price_color=333333&#038;title_color=0066c0&#038;bg_color=ffffff\">    <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The oddest thing about the song &#8220;Mr. Bojangles,&#8221; which is a nice, melancholy song about a tap dancing fellow named Mr. Bojangles is that while it IS written about a tap dancer named Mr. Bojangles, it is NOT about the famous tap dancer, Mr. Bojangles!<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nBill Robinson, also known as Bojangles, was a famous tap dancer who did the vaudeville circuit for decades before graduating to taking his dancing into the movies, as well, most famously in a series of Shirley Temple films in the 1930s. <\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/bill_robinson.jpg\" alt=\"bill_robinson\" title=\"bill_robinson\" width=\"334\" height=\"420\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/bill_robinson.jpg 334w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/bill_robinson-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 334px) 100vw, 334px\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Robinson died in 1949 at the age of 71. <\/p>\n<p>However, Walker did not write &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; about Robinson, which is what most people, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, felt that he had.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Walker&#8217;s song was basically exactly how the lyrics go:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I knew a man Bojangles and he&#8217;d dance for you<br \/>\nIn worn out shoes<br \/>\nWith silver hair, a ragged shirt, and baggy pants<br \/>\nThe old soft shoe<br \/>\nHe jumped so high, jumped so high<br \/>\nThen he lightly touched down<\/p>\n<p>I met him in a cell in New Orleans I was<br \/>\ndown and out<br \/>\nHe looked to me to be the eyes of age<br \/>\nas he spoke right out<br \/>\nHe talked of life, talked of life, he laughed<br \/>\nclicked his heels and stepped <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Indeed, Walker was in jail in New Orleans (for drunkenness) one weekend in 1965 when the jails were crowded with homeless people (as Walker recalls it, it was a holiday weekend, so the police were keeping the homeless locked up until the holiday weekend ended) and, well, a homeless guy who was nicknamed Mr. Bojangles did a tap dance for everyone in the cells (presumably his dancing is how he got the name &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>The jails were segregated back then in New Orleans, so this Mr. Bojangles wasn&#8217;t even black!<\/p>\n<p>By the way, the above lyrics are actually from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band&#8217;s version &#8211; you can tell because they changed some lyrics due to mishearing Walker in a few places, specifically where he says &#8220;he laughed-slapped his leg a step&#8221; they heard (and wrote as) &#8220;he laughed clicked his heels and stepped.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The legend is&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: False<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is bcronin&#64;l&#101;&#103;&#101;&#110;&#x64;&#x73;&#x72;&#x65;&#x76;&#x65;&#x61;&#x6c;&#x65;&#x64;&#x2e;&#x63;om<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; is about the famous dancer Mr. Bojangles. &#8220;Mr. Bojangles&#8221; was written and first recorded by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9],"tags":[1222,1226,1227,1223,1224,270,1225],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-10R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":359,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/music-legends-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":3897,"position":0},"title":"Music Urban Legends History","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are quick descriptions of each of the previous editions of Music Urban Legends Revealed. 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