In January of 1921, with the ODJB's record of this song selling very briskly for Victor, the savvy executives at Okeh brought Joseph Samuels in to make a competing record. As this sample proves, they were more than up to the task. This hit, written by
Irving Berlin and Harry Akst in late 1920, was one of the better examples of white guys trying to write blues. The recording moves well, and the players had some respect for the music they were playing so this translates to a very decent cover version.
This record is a tribute to Okeh's recording engineers, who were always able to get a warm and full-bodied sound on their records, and today it sounds very nice through an electrical pickup. The surface of this record was in decent shape as well, with some
minor crackle coming in toward the end, and noise reduction was used only as necessary.
