"Shine" is a popular song with lyrics by Cecil Mack

Cecil Mack

Cecil Mack was an American composer, lyricist and music publisher....

 and Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...

 songwriter Lew Brown

Lew Brown

Lew Brown was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States.Brown was born as Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russian Empire...

 and music by Ford Dabney. It was published in 1910 by Gotham-Attucks and used by Ada Walker in His Honor the Barber, an African-American road show.

It was later recorded by jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and jazz influenced artists such as Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

, Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

 and Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...

, usually without the explanatory introduction. It also featured as one of the songs sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) and the band at Rick's Cafe in the movie Casablanca

Casablanca (film)

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...

. According to Perry Bradford

Perry Bradford

Perry Bradford was an African American composer, songwriter, and vaudeville performer....

, himself a songster and publisher, the song was written about an actual man named Shine who was with George Walker

George Walker

George Walker may refer to:In arts and letters:*George Walker *George Walker , English chess player and writer*George Walker , American composer...

 when they were badly beaten during the New York City race riot

Race riot

A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...

 of 1900.http://www.jass.com/cmack.html

John William Sublett (aka John W. Bubbles

John W. Bubbles

John William Sublett , known by his stage name John W. Bubbles, was an American vaudeville performer, dancer, singer and entertainer.-Life and career:...

) animates "Shine" brilliantly in a song-and-dance number in the 1943 movie, Cabin in the Sky

Cabin in the Sky

Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...

.

Albert Nicholas

Albert Nicholas

Albert Nicholas was an American jazz reed player.Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown of New Orleans. Late in the 1910s he played with Buddy Petit, King Oliver, and Manuel Perez...

, clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, with The Big Chief Jazz Band recorded it in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 on August 29, 1955. Released on the 78 rpm record Philips

Philips

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....

 P 53037 H.

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

 recorded the song complete with introduction in 1978.

Louis Armstrong version

The song was performed in a film short Rhapsody in Black and Blue by Armstrong. A 1931 recording by Armstrong with his Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra is a subset of the complete lyric of the 1910 version and the expanded later version, with added scat singing

Scat singing

In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...

 and long instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 ending:

[Instrumental opening ~35 sec.]


Oh chocolate drop, that’s me

’Cause, my hair is curly

Just because my teeth are pearly

Just because I always wear a smile

Like to dress up in the latest style

’Cause I’m glad I’m livin’

Take troubles all with a smile

Just because my color shade

Is different maybe

That’s why they call me "Shine"


[repeat words with scat and straight jazz instrumental ~2 min.]

SHINE (That's Why They Call Me Shine)
(Cecil Mack, Lew Brown)

Ry Cooder version with original introduction

On his 1978 album Jazz, Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

 performed the song in a "52nd Street" small band setting, with the introductory verse that explains what the song is all about. He noted that it had been written in 1910 near the end of the "Coon song

Coon song

Coon songs were a genre of music popular in the United States and around the English-speaking world from 1880 to 1920, that presented a racist and stereotyped image of blacks.-Rise and fall from popularity:...

 era", and described it as a unique comment on the black face

Black Face

Black Face is the south wall of an east-west ridge in Arena Valley, south of East Beacon, in the Quartermain Mountains, Victoria Land. The feature is a prominent landmark and is formed by a dolerite dike which rises over above the floor of the valley...

sensibilities of that genre.

• INTRODUCTION:

When I was born they christened me plain Samuel Johnson Brown

But I hadn't grown so very big, 'fore some folks in this town

Had changed it 'round to "Sambo"; I was "Rastus" to a few

Then "Chocolate Drop" was added by some others that I knew

And then to cap the climax, I was strolling down the line

When someone shouted, "Fellas, hey! Come on and pipe the shine!"

But I don't care a bit. Here's how I figure it:


Well, just because my hair is curly

And just because my teeth are pearly

Just because I always wear a smile

Likes to dress up in the latest style*

Just because I'm glad I'm livin'

Takes trouble smilin', never whine

Just because my color's shady

Slightly different maybe

That's why they call me shine.

• ALTERNATIVE LINE:

Wear my jeans like a man of means (he always dresses in the latest style).