This two-story house at 119 Atkins Avenue, Asbury Park, played an important role in the careers of two iconic American songwriters. It was here that Fats Waller and Andy Razaf wrote the song “Honeysuckle Rose.” “Honeysuckle Rose” was introduced in the 1929 Off-Broadway revue “Load of Coal”. The song would be recorded nearly 500 times by artists including Fats Waller, Tommy Dorsey, Bunny Berigan, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman. Lena Horne, Nat King Cole and many others. Fats Waller’s own 1934 recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. It would define the careers of both Waller and Razaf who would go on to collaborate on other songs including “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love Baby,” “Black And Blue,” “Blue Turning Gray Over You,” and “When Gabriel Blows His Horn.”
Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo, aka Andy Razaf, was born 1895. His father was the Grand Duke of a kingdom in Madagascar. His mother was the 14-year-old daughter of the U.S. consul to Madagascar. When the French colonized Madagascar, Andy’s mother fled back to Washington DC where Andy was born. His father was killed in a battle with the French. Andy grew up in Harlem and started writing songs as well as singing. He quit school at the age of sixteen to work as an elevator operator in Tin Pan Alley in order to peddle his songs.
Living in Harlem, Andy Razaf, began collaborating on songs with Fats Waller, the acclaimed stride pianist and entertainer. Waller would write the melodies and Razaf would write the lyrics. As a team they were hired to write four songs for the upcoming musical, “Load Of Coal.” Knowing Waller was easily distracted by his active Harlem nightlife, Razaf insisted they write the songs at his (Razaf’s) mother’s place in Asbury Park. By then, his mother had remarried and moved to Asbury Park. As Jennie Coles, she and her husband moved into 119 Atkins Avenue soon after the building was built in 1927. The downstairs served as a tea room and apartment. The Coles rented the apartment upstairs.
Razaf rented a piano and had it delivered to 119 Atkins Avenue. There, he and Waller wrote the songs, “My Fate Is In Your Hands” and “Zonky.” Waller came up with a melody for the third number and Razaf came up with the line “Every honeybee, fills with jealousy, when they see you out with me.” But the two had trouble finishing one part of the song. Waller insisted he needed to get back to Harlem and headed for the train while Razaf finished the lyrics to “Honeysuckle Rose.” The final part of the melody was finished over the phone.
Fats Waller would go on to become one of the best known entertainers of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Andy Razaf would go on to write lyrics for over a thousand more songs including “In The Mood,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy” and “Memories Of You.”
The building at 119 Atkins still stands, looking much as it did in the late 1920’s. – Charlie & Pamela Horner, “Springwood Avenue Harmony: The Unique Musical Legacy of Asbury Park’s West Side, Volume 1, 1871 – 1945.”