"Mr Bojangles": Story of A Song Quiz

Answer: Sammy Davis Jr

Jerry Jeff wrote the song after meeting an itinerant dancer in a jail cell. All of these artistes have covered 'Mr Bojangles'. If you look up the song on YouTube you can watch many of the performances and read the impassioned claims by the proponents of one or other singer.

As a footnote, the song was a chart hit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It has been recorded about 200 times. (Source: All Music Guide)

Answer: Ronald Clyde Crosby

Some sources mistakenly give Jerry Jeff's birth name as 'Norman' Crosby. My source is impeccable: Jerry Jeff himself. He traces the development of his name in his autobiography 'Gipsy Songman'. Jerry Jeff was born in Oneonta, New York, on March 16 1942. He changed his name by deed poll after his first marriage.

Answer: New Orleans

New Orleans is where Jerry Jeff Walker found his feet, musically, and began to make a name for himself. In his autobiography, Jerry Jeff noted: "In a lot of ways, Mr Bojangles is a composite. He's a little bit of several people I met for only moments of passing time."

Answer: Circus Maximus

The band was originally called the 'Lost Sea Dreamers' but changed the name on the insistence of their record company - a band called 'LSD' did not seem such a good idea at the height of the 60s drugs culture. It featured Jerry Jeff along with Bob Bruno, Pete Troutner, David Scherstrom and Gary White. They produced two albums 'Circus Maximus' and 'Neverland Revisited'.

Answer: Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams was a member of 'Take That'. Unfortunately, in introducing the song in a televised concert, Williams spoke about the renowned tap dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, creating the impression for some that he was the subject of 'Mr Bojangles'. The song was written in 1969. Robinson died in 1949.

Answer: His grandmother

While Jerry Jeff's family were living in Oneonta, New York, he used to borrow a Harmony guitar from a neighbour. His Grandma Jessie bought the guitar for him as a Christmas present. He was about 12 at the time.

Answer: Being drunk in public

The arrest came when Jerry Jeff stood up on a table in a restaurant to proclaim undying love for a girl he had only just met. At least he got 'Mr Bojangles' - probably his most famous song - as a result of the experience.

Answer: Minstrel

Jerry Jeff noted that the man he met also talked about his lost loves and his failed marriages - but showed more emotion over the death of his dog.

Answer: David Bromberg

The first public airing of the song was by Jerry Jeff and David Bromberg on a live nighttime WBAI radio show in New York. Jerry Jeff wrote: "Bromberg is the reason man created stringed instruments. David touched them with a lover's fingers and they moaned that true love right back at him." The first recording was made at American Studios in Memphis - home of early Elvis recordings. "They [the record company] had arranged for session people to play backup and thought they would get it without David. Bromberg was there in the control room, listening in horror and close to tears as someone else tried to create the magic...Finally, they decided to put Bromberg in to play his part on twelve-string. That was what the song needed."

Answer: Honky tonks

According to Jerry Jeff: " Lots of street dancers, especially in New Orleans, called themselves Bojangles. They'd step in a door and say, 'Bojangles here' and hit their taps on the floor to see if anybody was interested. 'Bojangles wasn't so much a a name as a category of itinerant street dancer known as far back as the previous century" (From: 'Gypsy Songman' by Jerry Jeff Walker, 1999)