"Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" - Ronell Johnson

“Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” (PDF) from the Ronell Johnson album, That Gentilly Swing

It is only fitting for “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” - a song about hearsay, reputation, and second-hand accounts - to have a questionably curious backstory. Who was “Kate?” How did she learn to shimmy? Why did it attract so much attention? Music reporter Steve Terrell suggests that “Kate” could refer to the infamous New Orleans brothel madam Kate Towsnend - which could explain the character’s salacious performance - but the actual dance shares similarities with Native American, African, and Middle Eastern traditions. Regardless, the inherent playfulness of the song reflects the laissez faire attitudes of the early twentieth century.

Published in 1922 by the Piron-Williams Publishing Company - one of the earliest Black-owned music publishers in America - “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” credits the New Orleans jazz violinist Armand Piron as its songwriter, yet a detailed account of its origin remains untold. The most presumptive story is that Louis Armstrong had performed an early version of “Sister Kate” - along with an accompanying dance that only heightened the song’s popularity - and he claimed to have sold the publishing rights to someone who is believed to have been Piron’s business partner, pianist Clarence Williams. But what have you heard?

Here is a YouTube video of Ronell Johnson performing his version of the story:

Recommended reading: The Strange and Shameful Saga of Sister Kate by Steve Terrell. - http://www.steveterrellmusic.com/2016/02/throwback-thursday-strange-and-shameful.html