Mess Around

"Mess Around", written by Atlantic Records president and founder Ahmet Ertegün under the pseudonym of A. Nugetre, or "Nuggy" was one of Ray Charles’ first hits. Ertegün claims his inspiration for writing "Mess Around" was Pete Johnson. Earlier versions of the tune, a New Orleans boogie piano riff, can be heard throughout the early 1930s and 1940s the earliest of all being "Cow Cow Blues" from Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport in 1928. Dr John has spoken about the origin of this tune on his "Dr John Teaches New Orleans Piano" series of DVDs.

The lyrics urge listeners to dance ("mess around"), along with a few other key phrases, notably the "girl with the red dress on", harkening back to "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie", the early boogie woogie classic. "Mess Around" became a big R&B charted hit when released as a single in early 1953.

Cover versions and cultural references

Indiana

Indiana ⁱ/ɪndiˈænə/ is a U.S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816.

Before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Since its founding as a territory, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York, Central Indiana by migrants from the Mid-Atlantic states and from adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.

Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the NASL's Indy Eleven, the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA's Indiana Fever, the Indianapolis 500, and Brickyard 400 motorsports races.

Le Youth

Wes James, better known by his stage name Le Youth, is an American electronic musician, DJ, and producer. He is known for combining R&B with 90's house music and he had a monthly radio show called Le Youth's Friday Night House Party on Capital Xtra James was raised in Ohio and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Music career

2013-present: Breakthrough

Le Youth gained attention on the internet when his track "Cool" featuring a sample from Cassie Ventura's Me & U rapidly received over 200,000 plays on Soundcloud in a short period of time. The single was picked up by Ultra Records and the Cool EP was released on July 2, 2013. The music video for the song was directed by Renata Raksha and was released on April 9, 2013. On July 22, 2013 "Cool" was selected as the Record of the Week on BBC Radio 1.

Discography

Singles

References

Footnotes