Man Smart, Woman Smarter

Man Smart (Woman Smarter) ( 3:03)

“Man Smart (Woman Smarter)” was first recorded and probably composed by Norman Span (King Radio) in 1936. It’s a cool song that works into many different musical genres and was first made famous by Harry Belafonte in 1956 (on Billboard’s Top Pop Albums chart for 31 weeks.)  

I first learned this song from the Grateful Dead repertoire who play it with a New Orleans ”Iko Iko” type of arrangement. In any case, I’ve always liked their version, and the lyrics resonated with me because I’ve always felt the world would probably be a little kinder if the women had more say.

One of the more unique versions is performed by Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz), Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), Fred Mertz (William Frawley) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) in the 1957 episode of I Love Lucy entitled “Ragtime Band”. Check it out on youtube.

Anyway, here is my version, recorded live at one of our Patient Appreciation Parties a while back.  Interestingly, I spent a little time recently overdubbing parts of my vocal to improve on the mix. As usual (see my song parody “Mr. Botox Man” of Johnny Rivers “Secret Agent Man”), I start it out on the fast side and try to keep up.

Enjoy, Dr. Weiss

Some information from Wikipedia

Dedicated to all women