Mississippi Queen

The Monkey Song; Hoagy Carmichael, vocal

In the fall of 1996, one of my irons in the fire snapped and crackled. The entertainment director of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company called to see if I could cover for the piano player in the house band aboard the Mississippi Queen for one cruise. Well, how do you say “no” to that?

Mom and Dad drove me to the twin cities where we met up with the Mississippi Queen and my Uncle D., who had practically foamed at the mouth for years in an effort to harness the opportunity to board one of the paddlewheelers of the DQ Steamboat Company. After bringing my gear aboard and stuffing it into my quarters, we took a quick tour of the boat. Dad and Uncle D. enjoyed seeing the steam engine room. Mom liked the showroom. I liked the paddlewheel bar.

The drummer in the band was my roommate. Although he wasn’t the bandleader, he prepped me for most of the rehearsals and performances. He also shared with me some of the “theme” cruises that had transpired during his time aboard. “Big Band” cruises, “Civil War” cruises, “Southern Mansions” cruises, “Mark Twain” cruises and, of course, “The Great Steamboat Race” cruises.

He told me about one cruise sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute. One of their music specialists, an authority on the Great American Songwriters like Irving Berlin, the Gershwin brothers, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern and the like, had held my drummer buddy spellbound during a lecture about Hoagy Carmichael. At the end of the lecture, the speaker announced that he had brought recordings of Mr. Carmichael’s music and were for sale. Mr. drummer picked up a copy right away.

The boon of this recording lay in the format of the instrumentation. It was just piano. The bonus was the piano player and singer. It was Hoagy Carmichael. This is an American Song lover’s dream – to hear a song the way the composer conceived it and preferred to hear it performed.

Far and above the other songs, my friend’s favorite track was Mr. Carmichael’s version of “The Monkey Song”. I don’t know how to describe this song. It tells a story, for sure, about a musical monkey who can play the drums. The scenario involves a king, a missionary, a donkey and a hippo with various references to Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Buck and Sir Fred Hoyle. The song goes by at a fairly brisk clip. There’s no thinking ahead at what the words might be. You know them or you don’t. This is a song that you sing from muscle memory. It’s the only way.

I have found various performances of this song through the years. One of my favorites comes by way of Stan Freberg when he sang it during one episode of “The Stan Freberg Show” in 1957. That’s about the fastest I’ve ever heard it sung. Other versions that I’ve heard take the cautious and careful road, missing the madcap nature of the song. I DO have a version of Hoagy Carmichael singing about the monkey, but he’s accompanied by a band. I liked his piano version better. But I can’t find it.

In 2009, the Mississippi Queen was gutted and sold for scrap. R.I.P. Miss Mississippi Queen.

Credits: To my friend G. R., who likes monkeys.