It was
Chris Kenner's lot
to be remembered as a one-hit artist and a one-hit songwriter. Unlike
many such figures, however, the hit he had as an artist was entirely
different than the classic composition for which he's most renowned.
The huge success of both of those tunes has tended to obscure his
considerable talents as both a singer and songwriter, and as a man who
was a key link between the 1950s New Orleans R&B/rock'n'roll sound
and the 1960s brand of New Orleans soul. Both of those Kenner classics
are contained on the CD reissue of his sole album, which was actually a
collection of singles that were several years old by the time the Land of 1000 Dances LP was issued
in 1966.
Although Land of 1000 Dances was released on
Atlantic, as the original liner notes disclosed, "all of the recordings
in this album were originally issued on Instant, the New Orleans label
owned by Joe Banashak." In fact, it was actually a compilation of the
A- and B-sides of six of the first seven singles Kenner had issued on
the Instant label between 1961 and 1963 (though, oddly, neither of the
songs from his fifth 45, "Johnny Little"/"Let Me Show You How (To
Twist)," were included). Why was Atlantic putting out the material in
LP form so relatively long (by 1960s standards) after it was first
released? It might have had something to do with the belated success of
the title track, which, after Kenner had a modest national hit with it,
became a yet bigger hit for Cannibal & the Headhunters in 1965—and
then, a yet much bigger hit in 1966 for Atlantic soul star Wilson
Pickett. The cover illustration—in which Kenner was nowhere to be seen
in a rather abstract collage of dancers—perhaps inadvertently
reinforced the impression that at this point, the song was bigger than
the singer.
Kenner had only scored one major hit under his own
name by the time the Land of 1000
Dances LP came out, but he'd actually been recording for
almost a decade. The New Orleans singer started in a gospel quartet
(also including R&B guitarist Earl King, perhaps best known for
doing the original version of "Come On," later covered by Jimi Hendrix
on Electric Ladyland) before
moving into R&B with a debut single on the small Baton label in
1957. A 45 for Imperial shortly afterward, "Sick and Tired," was a #13
hit on the R&B charts the same year, but was eclipsed by the
success of a Fats Domino cover, which made #22 on the pop charts in
1958. Dropped from Imperial, Kenner continued to record for the small
Pontchartrain and Ron labels before cutting "I Like It Like That" for
Joe Banashak's Instant label in 1961, with the great Allen Toussaint as
arranger and producer.
With its irresistible, impeccably smooth interplay
between Kenner and the backup vocalists, its infectious stop-start
tempos, and its witty near-punch line of a title phrase, "I Like It
Like That" stormed up to #2 in the pop charts. Like many dance-oriented
tunes of the time, it was made into a two-part song of sorts on the 45,
though part two amounted to little more than a nearly identical
arrangement minus Kenner's lead singing, its place taken by a honking
saxophone. Kenner, however, was unable to wholly capitalize on its
success. Several of his associates later remembered him as an erratic
live performer who missed some gigs and sometimes forgot the words to
his own songs, in part because of his excessive drinking. "I Like It
Like That," however, wasn't forgotten, and the Dave Clark Five made it
into a Top Ten hit all over again in 1965 at the height of the British
Invasion.
Kenner's follow-up, "A Very True Story"/"Packin'
Up," didn't chart, and it might come as a surprise to some soul fans to
learn that his third single, "Something You Got" (backed by "Come and
See About Me," which is no relation to the similarly titled 1965
Supremes smash "Come See About Me"), didn't chart either. The song
became a fairly familiar standard, however, in part because it was a
pretty big hit in New Orleans itself, and in part because fellow New
Orleans singer Alvin Robinson had a #52 hit with a slower
interpretation in 1964. The song was also covered in 1966 by Them, with
Van Morrison on lead vocal, though it should be noted that although
Them released a song called "I Like It Like That" on their 1965 debut
LP, that was a Van Morrison original, not a cover of the Kenner
classic. A fourth Kenner single, 1962's "Time"/"How Far," made no
commercial impact, though "Time" in particular showcases his vocal
talents in on a slower, more gospel-influenced number than the more
good-time uptempo soul dance songs with which he had his biggest
records.
Incidentally, it has long puzzled some fans why Fats
Domino is listed as a co-author of "Something You Got" with Kenner, and
why Fats and Chris share co-writing credits on a few other songs Kenner
recorded, such as "Packing Up." Kenner and Domino are also often listed
as co-writers of "Land of 1000 Dances" (though, as it happens, the
Atlantic Land of 1000 Dances
LP lists only Kenner on its composing credits for the title track).
According to the chapter on Kenner in Jeff Hannusch's I Hear You Knockin': The Sound of New
Orleans Rhythm and Blues, this was because upon its initial
release, Kenner's sixth single, "Land of 1000 Dances" (backed by
"That's My Girl"), "failed to catch on, even in New Orleans. This was
much to the chagrin of Joe Banashak, who suggested that Kenner try to
get Fats Domino to record it for Fats's new label, ABC. On the advice
of his lawyer, Charles Levy, Fats agreed to cover the tune in return
for 50% of the song's publishing and writer's credit. Kenner was broke
again and was only too happy to get some advance money. But if that
wasn't enough, Kenner also cemented a similar deal with Fats for the
rights to 'Something You Got' and 'Packin' Up.'"
Domino's cover didn't attract much attention, but
before the song could fall into obscurity, Kenner's original recording
began—more than a year after its release—to pick up some unexpected
regional action in other areas of the country, as well as a
distribution deal for the 45 with Atlantic. Eventually it peaked at #77
in Billboard in 1963, despite
the surprising absence of a single instance in which the title "Land of
1000 Dances" is sung on the recording. Here's another mystery I Hear You Knockin': The Sound of New
Orleans Rhythm and Blues clears up, revealing that the master
recording "contains a ten-second introduction that was omitted from the
issued record. On it Kenner moans in true gospel fashion, 'I'm gonna
take you, baby, I'm gonna take you to a place. The name of the place is
the land of a thousand dances,' and then the band falls in."
"The Land of a 1000 Dances" was soon on its way to
one thousand cover versions (at least if we count all the ones by bar
and club bands that never recorded) when it was revived in 1965 by the
Los Angeles Mexican-American band Cannibal & the Headhunters, which
got to #30. That group was also responsible for adding the "na na na na
na" chant, absent from Kenner's recording, that became standard in
subsequent versions of the song, including the one that Wilson Pickett
took to #6 in 1966. Since the mid-'60s, several notable recording acts
have cut the song, including Jimi Hendrix, Roy Orbison, Tom Jones, the
Action, the Walker Brothers, Johnny Rivers, the Rascals, and (as part
of her epic song-poem "Land") Patti Smith.
Kenner, however, didn't get to enjoy its success as
much as one might expect. None of his subsequent dozen or so singles in
the 1960s, most of them for Instant (and only one of them, "Come Back
and See"/"Go Thru Life," included here), would reach the national
charts. Worse, around the end of the '60s, Kenner served a three-year
jail sentence at Louisiana's notorious Angola prison (where Leadbelly
had famously done time) on a charge of statutory rape of a minor. A
mid-1970s return to performing and recording ended when he died,
apparently of a cardiac arrest, on January 25, 1976 in New Orleans. --
Richie Unterberger
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