Milwaukee Record is proud to present Public Domain. The music video series features Milwaukee musicians setting up at Colectivo Coffee to adapt some of the world’s best-known songs in ways they’ve never been heard before. Watch the entire series here.
In 1919, composers Charles Warfield and Clarence Williams wrote “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home.” Or maybe it was just Warfield, depending on who you’re asking. Though the song’s origin is widely disputed, its influence on the world of music is irrefutable. Once Bessie Smith took hold of the source material in 1923, she transformed it into one of the most popular jazz standards of all time.
Since Smith’s version charted in the early ’20s, “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” has also been covered by the likes of Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sam Cooke, Miles Davis, Dean Martin, Leon Redbone, Della Reese, Dick Van Dyke, Nat King Cole, and countless others. Recently, Milwaukee’s own Devil Met Contention became the latest act to extend the song’s legacy with their emotional, electronically-tinged, and blistering rendition of “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home,” which they performed at The Back Room @ Colectivo.
The video was shot, directed, and edited by Cheston Van Huss. Public Domain is sponsored by Colectivo Coffee Roasters, Lakefront Brewery and Transfer Pizzeria Café. You can also stream Devil Me Contention’s version of “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music.