Saturday Blues!

Buster Brown - Fannie Mae

When Buster Brown ended up with a #1 R&B and Top 40 pop hit in 1959 with "Fannie Mae," he became one of the oldest artists to have a #1 R&B hit (he was near 50 years of age; only Rufus Thomas would hit #1 at an older age, when at age 53 he would hit with "(Do The) Push and Pull" in 1971), and he did so with his first commercial recording (prior to "Fannie Mae" Brown's only recordings had been done for the Library of Congress in 1943). "Fannie Mae," a rocking blues with strong sax and harmonica work (maybe the horn line inspired the "sha na na" chants from the Silhouette's "Get a Job"?) and Brown's Sonny Terry-styled whooping vocals, was released on Bobby Robinson's Fire label and would go on to become a blues standard. Further success did not follow and Brown would fade into obscurity after a Chess session in 1964. I recall reading in a record guide somewhere that "Fannie Mae" was the last R&B #1 hit to also have a 78 RPM record release, so there may be some value to any 78s that can be found of the record!