Scrapper Blackwell - 'Nobody knows you when you're down and out'......

 

Nobody knows you when you're down and out.

I first heard of this song way back when Radio London was pirating off Frinton! I think it was either Ed Stewart or Paul Kaye, who mentioned that in the very early days, on the small boat taking them out to the broadcaster ship, they'd take up a guitar and sing these marvellous words!

A few years later, I paired up with a lovely jady who was one of the singers in the Hastings Jazz Club in The Regent Hotel, on the front! She had a fabulous jazz voice, and Billie Holiday was her shining performer and she made superb copies of all the great lady's songs, one of which was this one!

Although I only had a fairly cheap six string guitar back then, the simple chords of C, E, A7 would resonate to perfection and we'd often do the song together at parties, pubs etc.!

There are so many versions of the song, it's impossible to pin down the original, but this version is just fabulous!

(Just as an aside, a friend told me that when my lady singer friend began to turn a few heads in later years, she was offered a song to record, but Shirley Bassey decided that she wanted it, so my chum lost out sadly! 'Big spender' was an immediate huge hit...)!