It was rhythm and blues drummer Panama Francis who said, “The Drummer Drives. Everybody Else Rides.”
by Barbara Brabec
Of course, the title of my memoir, The Drummer Drives! Everybody Else Rides, was prompted by Panama Francis’ wonderful quotation. It hit me dead center the day I accidentally stumbled across it on the Web because it seemed to sum up Harry’s life in a nutshell.
As I’ve explained in the book’s Preface, a good drummer always drives a band, and all the other musicians simply ride along. Francis’ comment spoke to me not only about how my Harry could carry a band with his rock-steady beat, but how he lived his entire life. He was always the bold leader, always the one saying “Follow me, I know the way.” He figured younger musicians should take his advice and follow his lead since he’d “been there, done that,” and since he had ten years on me, he expected me to do the same. I did follow him everywhere he wanted to go, but not always without protest.
Harry wasn’t into rock music, but he liked rhythm and blues, so I figure he surely would have known this famous drummer at least by name and reputation. I hope he would have been pleased that I titled my book about him after another drummer’s quotation that I thought described him so perfectly. In fact, I can imagine how he would have beamed to know this, at which point he might have quipped, “Yeah, in my prime no one could fight the beat I laid down.”
A Google search for “The Drummer Drives” currently yields more than twenty thousand web pages where the first part of the quotation can be found, and about a thousand pages that include the full quotation. Because I was able to acquire the DrummerDrives.com domain name, my book and this companion website now comes up #1 in any search for either part of the Francis quotation, along with a picture of the book and a link to it on Amazon at the bottom of the first page.
Creative Marketing
The drummer drives quotation also appears on a T-shirt designed by a seller on CafePress, so of course I had to buy one when I found it there. I figure that wearing this when I’m out and about might generate an occasional comment from a musician or drummer who stumbles across my path. Obviously, I don’t look like a drummer, but I can easily imagine someone stopping me to ask, “Excuse me, mam, but I like that quote on your T-shirt. Do you have a drummer in your family?” At which point I will whip out my little “Drummer Drives” promotional cards and start a conversation designed to get that person to go to Amazon and buy the book.
Don’t laugh. As any self-employed individual of self-publisher without an ad budget knows, one has to be creative to sell any kind of product or get new clients for an offered service. A little poem I’ve lived by all my self-employed life goes like this:
He who has a thing to sell,
and goes and whispers in a well,
is not so apt to get the dollars,
as he who climbs a tree and hollers!
If wearing a T-shirt with my book’s title on it isn’t a form of hollering, I don’t know what is.
About Panama Francis
Panama Francis (1918–2001) became the first musician to be recognized by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1993 and to be inducted into the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. His drumsticks are on display at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame to commemorate his musical artistry and lifelong contributions to twentieth-century American music.
According to an article you can read in full on Jazzhouse.org, “Panama Francis experienced at first hand the glory days of swing jazz in Harlem in the late 1930s and early 1940s, working with Lucky Millinder’s big band at the famous Savoy Ballroom.”
MP3 downloads of Panama’s playing on his top albums will be found on itunes.apple.com, and several of his albums are also available on Amazon as CDs, LPs, or MP3 files.
A Humorous Harry Brabec Quotation
“They say I’m one of the best drummers in the country.
Not very good in the city, but really good in the country.”
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Tags: Barb's Notes, music quotations
