Music Monday #12

The Bees Knees with Norm Roberts

One of the bands I did sound for was The Bees Knees, a retro jump-blues swing band that was active in the early 1980s in the Twin City area. They were a lively outfit, with a ton of good young players rotating through the line up. One member was not so young. Norm Roberts, on guitar, was in his late seventies. He had been performing since the 1930s! Norm had a heart condition, and would often have to stop to pop a nitro pill. I was told to pay attention to his playing and drop him out of the mix when his concentration wavered. Norm’s tenure with the band was notable but brief. His health issues finally got the better of him and he died not long after he left the group.

But when he was a young man Norm wrote novelty tunes; I recently found this recording of his most famous song on YouTube: