A song about a girl

July 7, 2018 8:59 PM

Hey Little Liza Jane!

Context from Wikipedia:

"Li'l Liza Jane", also known as "Little Liza Jane" and "Liza Jane", is a song dating back at least to the 1910s. It has become a perennial standard both as a song and an instrumental in traditional jazz, folk music, and bluegrass, and versions have repeatedly appeared in other genres including rock and roll. It is one of the standards of the New Orleans brass band tradition. It is the subject of a forthcoming documentary film, Li'l Liza Jane: A Movie About A Song.

posted by peeedro (15 comments total)

Artists are in the pop-up tooltips links, but for people on mobile devices:
H - Nina Simone (the standard, against all must compare, live version is even better)
e - Sam Chatmon (acoustic delta blues, Alan Lomax recording, adorable cat)
y - J.E. Mainer & His Mountaineers (serious bluegrass)

L - Slim Harpo (swamp blues)
i - Tenneva Ramblers (bluegrass, before it was called bluegrass)
t - The Dirty Dozen Brass Band (New Orleans brass band, animated music video)
t - Buck Owens And The Hee-Haw Gang (country, corny 1970's tv variety show)
l - Cha Wa (New Orleans brass band, extra funky)
e - J.P. Fraley (fiddle virtuoso, instrumental)

L - The Northern Neck Chantey Singers (Menhaden Chantey, previously)
i - David Bowie, 1964 (British invasion, Bowie's first release ever)
z - Bowie again, 2011 (rock/pop)
a - David "Stringbean" Akeman (banjo virtuoso)

J - Scott Dunbar (Mississippi acoustic blues)
a - The Wood Brothers (Americana, new folk & jazz)
n - Preservation Hall Jazz Band (your parent's jazz)
e - Bing Crosby (your grandparent's jazz)
! - Fats Domino (undisputed king of cool)
posted by peeedro at 9:00 PM on July 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

Man, I love Bowie's 2011 version.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:24 PM on July 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

As someone who visits Metafilter almost exclusively via mobile these days, Thanks Halloween Jack! Will explore links when it’s not 3:20 a.m.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 12:20 AM on July 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Listened to a couple of them and Nina Simone and Stringbean (what is he wearing???) stood out for me.

Thanks, great post!
posted by Kosmob0t at 12:56 AM on July 8, 2018

Oh god Nina Simone’s live version. The tension in that song is sublime.

Excellent post, thank you!
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:07 AM on July 8, 2018

Great post, cheers.

“Liza Jane” also forms the basis of a standard cadence (or “Jody”) call in the US Army. Thanks to my drill sergeant at Ft Knox, this will always be The Latrine Song to me: “Uti-lize the/Utilize latriiiine.” It was his way of letting us know when we had a window of time in which we could relieve ourselves, I guess?

I may, uh, may still whistle this every time I duck out to the toilet, twenty-three years later. Thanks Pavlov, thanks Sergeant Daniels.
posted by adamgreenfield at 3:20 AM on July 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Excellent.
posted by Fizz at 5:27 AM on July 8, 2018

I feel like I first heard this song a few years back as a Lisa Loeb cover. Loeb would, maybe still does, play children's sets through the San Bernadino Valley a lot, and my then-young niece was enamored with her, so I was listening to some of her children's stuff to play with my niece on guitar, and came across this. But googling around now tells me maybe that was an Elizabeth Mitchell version? In any case I can't find the Loeb version now.
posted by Navelgazer at 6:39 AM on July 8, 2018

Dr. John (New Orleans, '70s)
posted by box at 6:50 AM on July 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cool! This is great.

Another version: Otis Taylor.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:10 AM on July 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

And yet another, by Elizabeth Mitchell. I bought this album when my first daughter was born, and both of us were delighted that with only a slight slurring of vowels it was possible to sing her name in place of Liza Jane. She's grown out of it now, but I haven't. Thanks for all the others.
posted by YoungStencil at 10:10 AM on July 8, 2018

Note that Loeb and Mitchell have worked together so it's possible you may be remembering right after all.
posted by adzm at 12:46 PM on July 8, 2018

Amazingly, never covered by the Grateful Dead, studio or live.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:31 PM on July 8, 2018

The late great Dave Carter wrote a song called Little Liza Jane that is otherwise unrelated to this one. A slightly corny psychedelic jam about a truck.
posted by clavicle at 8:38 AM on July 9, 2018

This is a delightful post, and I also very much appreciate the guide to the links.
posted by eponym at 5:13 PM on July 17, 2018