Who's Sorry Now - The Happy Six (1923)

"Who's Sorry Now?" is played by The Happy Six (led by Harry A. Yerkes)

Columbia A3861

March 12, 1923

The music of "Who's Sorry Now?" was written by Ted Snyder;

Lyrics are by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby.

The song was published in 1923.

You smiled when we parted. It
hurt me somehow. I thought
there was nothing worthwhile.

The tables are turning, and
you're crying now while I am
just learning to smile.

Who's sorry now? Who's sorry now?
Whose heart is achin' for breakin' each vow?
Who's sad and blue? Who's cryin', too,
Just like I cried over you?

Right to the end--just like a friend--
I tried to warn you somehow.
You had your way. Now you must pay.
I'm glad that you're sorry now.

Harry A. Yerkes controlled many bands and small units. His recording activities may exceed those of any other bandleader of the acoustic era (that is, before the advent of the microphone).

He was a skilled musician, as we can hear on his xylophone solo "Happy Heine," from December 1905 or January 1906 (Columbia 3348) and his bell solo titled "Simplicity--Intermezzo" (Columbia 3361, later A878).

Yerkes Jazarimba Orchestra discs were issued in November 1917 on the Starr Piano Co. label as well as the related Gennett Art Tone label. One title is George M. Cohan's "Over There."

The ensemble recorded two titles for Columbia slightly earlier but the company did not issue these until April 1918 (A2482). Many bands bearing Yerkes' name (and several that did not) recorded for Columbia from 1918 onwards, at least until 1923.

The July 15, 1919 issue of Talking Machine World reports, "The Columbia Graphophone Co. has just made a contract with Harry A. Yerkes, of Yerkes' Novelty Orchestra, for the exclusive right to record the work of the saxophone sextet with the understanding that the organization shall be known as the Columbia Saxophone Sextette." Before this, Yerkes led sessions with such very different companies as Victor, Gennett, Vocalion, Grey Gull, Lyric, and Paramount.

Tom Brown, a white New Orleans trombonist who took part in all Yerkes sessions requiring a trombone, including sessions for the All Star Trio and Their Orchestra, reported that Yerkes managed the All Star Trio. A typical record is "I Might Be Your Once-In-A-While" (Emerson 10151, recorded around February 1920), on which alto saxophonist Wheeler Wadsworth, who had worked in Chicago with Tom Brown in 1916, plays two improvised choruses.

George Green's xylophone offers interesting variations on many of the themes, and on "Twelfth Street Rag" (Victor 18713, HMV B-1262) the Trio becomes a quartet with the addition of an extra pianist, composer Max Kortlander, who joins the regular man Victor Arden to produce some attractive music.

The full orchestra under Harry A. Yerkes' nominal direction seldom produced much jazz, nor did the early 1920s recordings of Yerkes' S. S. Flotilla Orchestra--we instead hear typical dance band performances.