TDWAW - The Mooche or The Mooch

The Mooch or The Mooche? - that is the question

Steven Lasker:

(Mr. Lasker's comments follow an earlier email exchange with Ms Radecki that is not published here.)

The first four versions of "The Mooch" were spelled "The Mooche" on their labels:
- OKeh 8623, recorded 1928 10 01, released 1928 10 05
- Brunswick 4122, recorded 1928 10 17, released 1929 01 03
- Pathe 36899, Perfect 15080, Cameo 9032, Romeo 836, recorded circa 1929 10 19, released 1928 12 00
- Victor V-38034, recorded 1928 10 30, released 1929 03 22
The first version labelled as "The Mooch" dates to 1930:
- Diva 6046-G, Velvet Tone 7072-V, recorded 1930 04 03, released 1930 06 05

Subsequent recordings of the piece, and reissues of those cited above, spell the noun either with or without the terminal 'e'.
However, record companies are not the arbiters of a song's correct title. This is the province of a song's composer(s), author(s) and publisher. Patricia Willard, in liner notes to the 2004 reissue of "Ellington Uptown" (Columbia Legacy CK 87066), wrote that Ellington preferred to spell [The Mooch] without the terminal 'e'.
The song was registered for copyright as The Mooch on 1928 12 31, with two copies of the sheet music received 1929 01 17. The sheet music (copy held here) bears the title The Mooch.
ASCAP's Record of the Works of Ellington, Edward Kennedy "Duke" shows The Mooch. This same spelling is found in the Compositions appendix to MIMM, which is based on ASCAP's list.
A review of online dictionaries reveals that the noun Mooch is consistently spelled without a terminal e; none of the dictionaries show an alternate spelling. Apart from records of Ellington's song, the only appearance I've found of the word Mooche spelled with a terminal 'e' is in the title of "Moose the Mooche," a song by Charlie Parker that he first recorded in 1946 for Dial Records.
Conclusion:
"The Mooch" was the spelling preferred by the song's composer and publisher.

Allana Radecki:

Independent scholar Allana Radecki, formerly an adjunct professor at Indiana University, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and a Master of Arts degree in African American and African Diaspora Studies. She presented her ongoing research into Ellington’s interconnection with jazz dance at the 2009 Echoes of Ellington conference at University of Texas in Austin, and at several conferences and seminars noted below. Her current (2024) book project examines the relationship between Ellington and jazz dance.

Presentations:

University of Kentucky (2008)
Echoes of Ellington (2009)
Institute of Jazz Studies (2018)
The Smithsonian Institute (2019)
The Jazz Educator's Network Conference (2020)
The Tap Dance Research Network United Kingdom and the Educator's Network Online Seminar Series (2023 and 2024)

It seems what spelling you use must relate to what you are referring to: recordings from the beginning use the "e" and what started this, my reference to Alvin Ailey's ballet, "The Mooche" which honors Marie Bryant, Bessie Smith, Florence Mills and Mahalia Jackson.
When I responded to Steven's correction, I just noticed it is how the tune is most often spelled and in the case of my Portrait of Marie Bryant ...I was referring to the Alvin Ailey ballet... This is how it is spelled in the Ailey repertoire and so I must follow suit when talking about the dance piece. It might be more accurate to say my research brings up the fact that there are discrepancies in how "The Mooch" is spelled...
... I agree that [the] composer is the ultimate authority. What does appear to be true is that the tune is spelled both ways, with The Mooche being the more common spelling in books about Ellington and on the recordings. Stratemann, Hasse, Cohen, Teachout etc. use the terminal 'e' It is spelled "The Mooch" in the list of compositions in Music is my Mistress, but Stanley Dance spells it The Mooche in Duke Ellington In Person and The World of Duke Ellington...
...of the five manuscripts of the tune in the [SI-NMAH DEC301] Duke Ellington collection, four are spelled "Mooch" and one is "Mooche". I looked to Mark Tucker's Ellington Reader and among several references in the index, there are two instances where The Mooch is used –Florence Zunsar's 1930 piece from the New York Evening Graphic (p45) and Duke Ellington's 1933 piece for Rhythm magazine My Hunt for Song Titles. This is a favorite of mine because Ellington directs us to see how movement inspires his music East St Louis Toddle-O, The Dicty Glide, and others.
Ellington wrote:
'The word "moocher" became familiar to you some time ago through a popular dance tune [Minnie the Moocher], but I doubt whether many people knew the real meaning of it, which is "swindler." From the same basis, I named a song, The Mooch, but here the meaning is slightly different, representing a certain lazy gait peculiar to some of the folk of Harlem.' (p89)
Tucker footnotes a reference to Jazz Dance by the Stearns, which, in my opinion, stands as the primary source on the history of African American dance. I looked and found several references to The Mooche as a turn-of-the-century dance, contemporary to the Cakewalk, various animal dances, the Black Bottom, etc. which was performed by Bert Williams (the Williams Mooche) described by another dancer known for The Mooche, James Barton, as a lazy grind, or variation of the Congo Grind, more or less a hip swivel. Why the Stearns chose to use the terminal 'e' throughout the text may just have been in keeping with what had, by the 1960s, become convention. Interestingly, they quote song lyrics from Perry Bradford's 1917 Scratchin' the Gravel, one of many songs he wrote which gave dance directions, and it is spelled "mooch" –First you Mooch to the left and you Mooch to the right. (p109)
Maybe Irving Mills is to blame for adding the terminal 'e.'

David Palmquist:

This webpage is a bit of patch-up from an email exchange between Allana Redicki, Steven Lasker and me. If it doesn't flow smoothly, it's due to my editing.
On a personal note, I don't agree with Ellington that a mooch is a swindler. I was raised to understand a "mooch" to be someone who "sponges" off others, taking but not giving, with no suggestion of dishonesty. But I only heard the expression a few times in the 1950s and 60s, from people with very different backgrounds from Duke.
Both spellings appear in printed programmes over the years.
- 1931-09-06 The Mooch
- 1933-07-23 The Mooch
- 1939-04-15 The Mooche
- 1939-09-04 The Mooche
- 1946-11-13 The Mooch
- 1946-11-29 The Mooche
- 1946-11-30 The Mooche
- 1946-12-07 The Mooche
- 1947-08-31 The Mooch
- 1947-09-03 The Mooch
- 1949-04-06 The Mooche
- 1950-06-06 The Mooche
- 1954-03-26 The Mooch
- 1954-05-03 The Mooch
- 1973-11-21 The Mooch
- 1973-11-22 The Mooch
- 1958-04-06 The Mooche
- 1963-09-09 The Mooche
- 1963-India The Mooche
- 1963-11-23 The Mooche
- 1968-09-12 The Mooche
- 1969-09-05 The Mooche
- 1969-11-15 The Mooche
- 1973-11-09 The Mooche
With the variations continuing some 45 years, and since it seems likely Ellington saw the programmes from time to time, I suggest he didn't feel strongly enough about the spelling to make his wishes known.

Sources:

Email Lasker-Radecki-Palmquist
- 2024-06-06
- 2024-06-07
- 2024-06-10

The Mooche or The Mooch How do you spell it? supplement to The Duke – Where and When A Chronicle of Duke Ellington's Working Life and Travels	Since "The Duke - Where and When" is very large, I moved some material to supporting webpages. This one is about a song title. This webpage was created and is maintained by David Palmquist, with considerable input from fellow researchers Last updated 2024-06-12

The Mooche or The Mooch How do you spell it? supplement to The Duke – Where and When A Chronicle of Duke Ellington's Working Life and Travels

The Mooch or The Mooche? - that is the question

Steven Lasker:

Allana Radecki:

David Palmquist:

Sources:

The Mooche
or
The Mooch

How do you spell it?

supplement to
The Duke – Where and When
A Chronicle of Duke Ellington's Working Life and Travels