CLANCY HAYES:
San Francisco Minstrel
Clancy was a gifted minstrel, surviving his entire life as a troubadour.
He had special a knack with song, making commonplace pop tunes unforgettable, salvaging dozens from obscurity, and writing his own.
He didn’t compete for the spotlight,
but when the limelight fell on Clarence Leonard Hayes he shone like no other.
Clancy Hayes Archive under construction, here.
Clancy Hayes: San Francisco Minstrel
All songs are Clancy Hayes vocal, piano, guitar, washboard or drums, except as noted.
CLANCY HAYES 1A.mp3
SWEET SUE -- Clancy Hayes solo c. early 1960s
PEORIA -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1949
ALEXANDER’S RAGTIME BAND -- Clancy solo, c. 1946
FRANKIE & JOHNNY -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band
DANCING FOOL -- Clancy Hayes, 1963
WILLIE THE WEEPER -- personnel unknown
KANSAS CITY STOMPS -- Bay City Boys
WOLVERINE BLUES -- Bay City Boys
CLANCY HAYES 1B.mp3
BALLIN' THE JACK -- . . . with Tommy Gwaltney & the Blues Alley Cats, late 1960s
ZYZZY ZUM ZUM -- Tune Termites, c. 1939
HUGGIN' & A CHALKIN’ -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s
OCEANA ROLL -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s
MOBILE -- solo at Earthquake McGoons, c. mid-1960s
AUNTIE SKINNER’S CHICKEN DINNER -- Yerba Buena Jazz Band, c. 1949
I’M COMING VIRGINIA -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964
OH! BY JINGO -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964
WISE GUYS -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964
TRAVELIN’ SHOES -- Clancy Hayes solo, c. early 1960s
CLANCY HAYES 2A.mp3
SAILING DOWN CHESAPEAKE BAY -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, c. 1950
ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE - solo
AUNT HAGAR’S BLUES -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1949
KANSAS CITY STOMPS -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1950
ACE IN THE HOLE -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band Jazz Band, 1951
ALCOHOLIC BLUES -- Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1950
KEEPIN’ OUT OF MISCHIEF NOW -- Clancy w/ Bay City Jazz Band, McGoons Club, private tape
CLANCY HAYES 2B.mp3
CONEY ISLAND WASHBOARD -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, mid-1950s
TEN TO ONE ITS TENNESSEE -- Clancy with unknown personnel, c. 1947
OTTO’S NEW AUTO -- Clancy with unknown personnel, c. 1947
SWINGIN’ ON THE GOLDEN GATE - ABC RADIO NETWORK, c. 1943-44, private tape
INTRO - SWINGIN’ ON THE GOLDEN GATE
PAPER MOON
BLUE SKIES (INSTR)
THE OPERA SONG -- featuring the Mad Hatters
ITS NEVER TO LATE TO PRAY -- Clancy vocal w/ chorus
ABC SIGN OFF
OCEANA ROLL -- Clancy Hayes, 1963
BEALE STREET MAMA -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, mid-1950s
BEALE STREET BLUES -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, 1955
ST. JAMES INFIRMARY -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band, 1955
CLANCY HAYES 3A.mp3
MY LITTLE BIMBO -- w/ the Original Salty Dogs, 1964
2:19 BLUES -- possibly Bunk Johnson trumpet & Jack Teagarden, trombone, private tape, c. 1944
ACE IN THE HOLE -- Bunk Johnson & the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1944
TUNE TERMITES CLIP
HUGGIN’ AND A CHALKIN’ (excerpt) -- Hoagy Carmichael w/ the Vic Schoen Orch, 1946
PARSON’S KANSAS BLUES -- private tape, c. 1947-48
TRAVELIN’ SHOES -- Bob Schulz’s Frisco Jazz Band
SWINGIN’ DOORS -- Clancy Hayes & Band, c. late 1950s
CLANCY HAYES 3B.mp3
BILL BAILEY -- Bob Scobey’s Jazz Band JB, 1955
BROKEN PROMISES -- South Frisco Jazz Band
STANDARD SCHOOL BROADCAST (excerpts) New Orleans, private tape, mid-1950s
NARRATOR Clancy Hayes
BASIN STREET BLUES -- trombone & vocal, Jack Teagarden
STRUTTIN’ WITH SOME BARBEQUE
UP A LAZY RIVER -- vocal, Louis Armstrong
PANAMA
GEO. WASHINGTON ABRAHAM LINCOLN ULYSSES S. ROBERT E. LEE - date unknown
CLANCY’S PIANO RAG -- piano solo, 1972
CLANCY’S LAST RAG -- piano solo, 1972
TEN TO ONE ITS TENNESSEE -- solo w/ piano, 1947
Liner notes from:
“SATCHEL OF SONG: CLANCY HAYES’ Private Collection: 1939 - 1972"
Produced by Dave Radlauer
for The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation
Clancy Hayes was a true minstrel: a one-of-a-kind singer, banjo player, composer and all-around entertainer. All of his remarkable talents as singer, drummer, pianist, lyricist, banjo/guitarist, and bandleader shine in this collection; not always true of his other recordings. While his commercial recordings are dear to devoted fans of Clancy there is a more intimate and relaxed side of the man heard in these private tapes that will thrill the true Clancophile and reveal the man’s greatness as an entertainer to the uninitiated.
Clancy supported himself his entire life as an entertainer beginning in the 1920’s in the Midwest, arriving in San Francisco in 1926 where he was heard on radio from 1928 through the 1950s. He was among the founding creators of the West Coast Traditional Jazz revival with Lu Watters and Turk Murphy. In the 1950s he became nationally known as a member of Bob Scobey’s Frisco Jazz Band, joined in the Standard School Broadcasts with Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines, and mentored younger musicians.
Brush Soundmirror tape recorder similar to Clancy's
Clancy purchased one of the first available tape recorders around 1946 and began recording himself and his friends onto the earliest crude paper-backed magnetic tape with his beloved Brush Soundmirror. Hayes’ personal tape library grew, becoming a rich treasure trove of solos, rehearsals, and jam sessions with rarely heard musicians like clarinetist Hotz O’Casey, piano player Burt Bales, brothers Joe and Al Zohn, trombonist Bill Bardin and cornetist Vince Dodson.
Clancy’s private collection highlights his greatest strengths as a performer of song and melody: amiability and informality. Clancy is like a good friend sharing yet another of the thousand-and-one tunes from his bottomless satchel of song.
Clancy's personal microphone
used for private recording sessions
After his passing in 1972 these tapes lay quietly unheard for decades, containing the legendary “Tune Termites” broadcasts, live performances, original songs and private moments.
Among the unique rarities and touching moments issued here for the first time are:
* The legendary “Tune Termites: boring from within.” Weekly radio broadcasts from the ‘30s and ‘40s of campy original material written and narrated in rhyme, sung by Clancy as he played drums with pianist Glen Hurlburt.
* Solo performances of his best original lyrics: “Ten to One It’s Tennessee,” “George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Robert E. Lee,” “Travelin’ Shoes,” “Huggin’ and a Chalkin’” and “Hassan, the One Man Caravan.”
* Some of his best ever solo efforts accompanying himself on guitar or piano during a pleasant Christmas eve at home entertaining his family.
* Mid-1960s gems documenting Clancy’s last decade including a grand “Willie the Weeper.”
* Clancy’s last moments on tape -- from a reel marked “Clancy - jaw removed” -- apparently from the early ‘70s after his cancerous jaw had been removed. Spirits undimmed and game to the end Clancy sat calmly at home (sparring with his parrot, here omitted) recording these final piano rags.
Broadcast clips:
CLANCY PARSONS KANSAS BLUES Pt. 1 (mp3)
CLANCY PARSONS KANSAS BLUES Pt. 2 (mp3)
Special note on band personnel:
Please note that for the band tunes the possible personnel listed are only educated guesses made with the assistance of Clancy’s old buddies, Bob Helm and Bill Bardin. All recordings were made in or around San Francisco; the band tunes probably at radio station KPO, Ma Watters’ at 24 Steiner, or at Pat Patton’s flat.
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