Flat Feet

It doesn't seem like something to celebrate of dance to, but I am celebrating songs about flat feet this Tuesday. For a while now I have been frustrated about what to do about my son's mandatory military service. The law is twisted in such a way that even if he tries to give up his South Korean citizenship his application to give up his citizenship can be denied if it seems like he is giving it up to avoid mandatory military service.

This made things complicated. We can't just go back to America to solve his military problem. The best thing to do is finish his military service in Korea. Then we realized he has flat feet. It still has to be approved by the military doctor as not fit for regular service, but if he is approved his life in the military will be different. He was worried about being picked on because of his European last name and dual citizenship. But now if he has flat feet he has only four weeks of mandatory training and then he will serve in a social service center nearby our house for a year and a half. That's a lot more doable and worthy of a flatfoot song.

Flat Foot Floogie

This is the song most people think of first when they hear "flat foot".

This is originally Slim and Slam's song from 1938 (with a Floy Floy). Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers performed this song shortly after Slim and Slam recorded. I like the interaction between Louis and the band. It starts out with a groovy bass rift with the quartet then Louis steps in and let's loose with a kind of scat and trumpet solo.

The song always gets me on my feet. Stay 'till the end and see how many nicknames for flatfoot you can hear from Satchmo.

Flatfoot Sam

This is a 1957 recording by T.V. SLim (Oscar W. Wills). Listening to this makes me think I'm in some kind of drive in movie theater or sock hop. It's the kind of rockin' Blues that is typical of that period. Listening to lyrics you can hear kind of the Blues of Flatfoot Sam.

It seems that Flatfoot Sam's problem all started with getting his automobile with no money down. Today he could have blogged his story and made the money back, but knowing Sam he would loss it again. He is always in some kind of "jam".

Flatfoot Suzie with her Flat Yes

This album was released in August 1948 by Big Bill Broonzy. That's ten years after "Flat Foot Floogie". It's possible that "Flat Foot Suzie was the original as all these artists have roots in Mississippi but the evidence I found was that this was recorded ten years later.

Big Bill Broonzy also known as Lee Conley Bradley was a Blues man and a janitor. He took jobs at clubs, made recordings and worked day jobs cleaning buildings. I find it difficult to create anything when I'm working. He must have been exausted every day, but this is what gave him the blues. Born in 1893, he was one of the first musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.

Bonus Track: Flatfoot Sam (Remastered)

This is "Flatfoot Sam" with another Blues Group decades later. These guys are called "The Blues Band". They are a British Blues Band. This song was part of "The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album" recorded in 1980 and remastered in 2011.

It's got the same rock beat, but missing the fifties voice and saxophone from the T.V. Slim recording. Instead it's got an electric guitar solo and a harmonica. It doesn't have the fifties feeling, but it's got a new Blues twist and the harmonica has almost a Celtic feeling, like I want to dance a jig. Anyway, that's the end of the flat foot songs. I guess flat feet are not much of a topic anymore, but these flat feet are gonna get my son out of a jam.

These tunes are are posted for week 134 of Three Tune Tuesday iniated by @ablaze. I hope you enjoyed the tunes. I don't know much about flat feet or how flat the feet need to be to get out of army service, but it looks like he has a chance.

Share your tunes and let's see if flat feet will dance to them.