Led by Shaye Cohn, Tuba Skinny perform 'My Mother's Son-in-Law'.

This song was composed in 1933 by Alberta Nichols, who had studied piano at the Louisville Conservatory. The lyrics were written by her husband, Mann Holiner. It was used in the stage show ‘Blackbirds of 1934’. As a partnership, they wrote over 100 songs, mainly for Broadway shows. Alberta died in 1957. The song can be performed either as 'My Mother's Son-in-Law' or 'Your Mother's Son-in-Law' - according to the gender of the singer. It has a 16-bar Verse (which Tuba Skinny do not play) and a 32-bar a-a-b-a structured Chorus, which in this video Tuba Skinny play - as you can hear - in the tricky key of E minor, though they begin in G minor, before Shaye leads the transition down to E minor at 30 - 33 seconds. They later leap up to A minor for the final chorus, The lyrics: You don't have to have a hanker To be a broker or a banker. No sir-ee, just simply be my mother's son-in-law. Needn't even think of trying to be a mighty social lion, Sipping tea, if you will be My mother's son-in-law. Not got the least desire to set the world on fire. Just wish you'd make it proper to call my old man 'poppa'. You don't have to sing like Bledsoe* and you can tell the world I said so. Can't you see you've got to be my mother's son-in-law? (* Jules Bledsoe - a famous Afro-American singer and the original performer of 'Ol' Man River' - was 36 years old at the time when 'My Mother's Son-in-Law' was written.) When they recorded this song for their 'Garbage Man' CD in 2011, Tuba Skinny played a vigorous version in which Kiowa Wells, their guitarist at the time, featured prominently. They started with several choruses (including one vocal from Erika) in E minor and then switched to A minor for the finish - with Erika singing the words for the final part of the Chorus.