Who was the singer that hit the pop charts big with "Mr. Bojangles"?

[DuaneBidoux]

It's been recorded by everyone and his brother but everytime I go on Amazon to listen to one of the versions it's not the same one I always heard on the pop charts.

Any help is appreciated.

[bleever]

1. Jerry Jeff Walker?

He wrote it, IIRC.

[bleever]

7. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band made it a big hit.

[Irishonly]

24. I think you are right

[Ken Burch]

27. You mean the band a former Republican president once introduced as

"The Nitty Ditty Gritty Ditty Great Bird"?

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Bill Robinson.

[pepperbear]

3. written by jerry jeff walker....

on edit....nitty gritty dirt band had major hit with this song

[virginia mountainman]

4. Thar you go!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bojangles_(song)

[Steven_S]

5. Jerry Jeff Walker?

Try a google on this guy..

Probably him.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. David Bromberg does a good cover of it on his "Devil in Disguise" album.

He and Jerry Jeff used to play Mr. Bojangles after the clubs closed and did terrible things to it 'cause they played it so much.

I hope you weren't referring to Sammy Davis Jr.'s version. I didn't care for it at all.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. Sammy Davis, Jr. recorded it, too, but I'll bet you're thinking of the

version by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

[maggiegault]

9. Nina Simone's version is, I think, the best version.

[pscot]

10. let's not forget Pat Boone

n/t

[DeepBlueC]

17. please, let's

[mackerel]

28. LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. William Shatner's version is the one to own!

Right up there with his version of Lucy in the Sky.

[swimmernsecretsea]

23. You been drinkin' your bongwater again? nt

[Pyrzqxgl]

12. Bobby Cole got to 79 on the charts, Jerry Jeff Walker got to 78 both in 1988

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band got up to number 9 on the charts (source Billboard top 100) in 1970

[hwmnbn]

13. I think I know who you're talking about......

He's a long haired hippie guitar player/bluesman.

In his version he had a spoken intro to the song where he says he and Jerry Jeff Walker used to play it every night and he never got tired of it. "Jerry Jeff got tired of it."

Is that the version you are talking about?

MOFO!! I see this guy in my mind, but I can't remember his name. It will bug me the rest of the night, but I'll get it if I have to spend 3 hours looking!!

[Old and In the Way]

14. Probably thinking of David Bromberg

He played with Walker, but Dave is quite the bluesman in his own right. Based on your comments, it was definitely Bromberg. One of my personal favorites...

[hwmnbn]

16. That's it!!.....THAT'S IT!!!

Thanks for helping me escape another senior moment.

I don't know if that's the guy the OP was looking for, but I still remember David's version, that's how good I thought it was. The last I heard about him, he was running a luthier shop in Chicago. But that was YEARS ago.

OK, now I can sleep tonight. :thumbsup:

[Old and In the Way]

18. Dave is alive and kickin'...and still touring

you might want to check out his site. The guy's amazing, I got everything he's ever done.

http://www.davidbromberg.net/base.html

[no_hypocrisy]

19. Bromberg is touring again, sometimes with Angel Band. I went to a concert

on March 1 and he's better than ever.

[lumpy]

22. Didn't Dave Bromberg do a word/song calledTestify?

Believe it was on an Arlo Guthrie program. Is it available?

[mcscajun]

15. The only version I ever heard on mainstream radio was the Sammy Davis Jr. version

watch this -- it's a little more stylized than the radio version, but you get to see Sammy dance. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkASMIiU1Yo

[Orrex]

20. Neil Diamond also covered it

In fact, that was the only version I'd heard during my first fifteen or so years, so I was quite surprised to hear the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's version sometime thereafter.

[Bridget Burke]

21. Jerry Jeff Walker played Sand Mountain Coffee House in Houston....

Back in 1966-67. Then he left for DC to form a Folk Rock band. At his last gig, he played this song he'd just written about a guy he met in jail in NOLA.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band had the hit with Mr Bojangles, but it was it was covered widely. David Bromberg did it in his live show. (& probably on record--although I wasn't that big a fan.)

Jerry Jeff Walker comes from New York State. Like Ramblin Jack Elliot & Bob Dylan--he had to discover his "true" name. His parents just gave him a "starter."

Jerry Jeff was backed by the Lost Gonzo Band during Cosmic Cowboy days. They did some amazing shows. And he did some amazing stuff--but he's mellowed out considerably.

[wishlist]

25. Harry Nilsson's version is one I remember best n/t

[Ken Burch]

26. This is a little politically incorrect, but it's good to know that people thought this in Nashville

(and that some in the music industry in various ways may still think thus), but when Jerry Jeff Walker had written that song and was pitching it to various music publishers and labels in the Music City, he was reportedly told "Son, ain't nobody wants to hear a song about an old d---y and his dead dog".