Howdy, thanks for giving type dreams a shot and please forgive the lateness of this reply. It’s a crime to have fucked up the credits for that song; many of the songs displayed incorrect credit information in that options menu until tonight, but getting The Crave wrong was somehow especially shameful. Which is to say you’re right, of course, and it does insane things to me knowing that other people get entranced by this tune, too. I TOO ALWAYS lamented the flatness of its portrayal BY MORRICONE in the movie “The Legend of 1900” because piano fights are great, but it was not an exalting portrayal of Mr. Jelly Roll. Even though both Jelly and the hero play it, back-to-back, identically (but with equal dryness, too). Anyway. Jelly’s own recordings are unparalleled of course but sometimes unclear. My favorite is this one which I stole from Matthew Ball. He hasn’t responded but I’ll ask him again for permission to use what you’ve already heard without his permission to hear. I really love this rendition, too - isn’t it great?! I DON’T WANT TO LOVE IT BUT I CAN’T HELP IT. I hope this supremely talented “Boogie Woogie Kid” fellow is feeling generous about his rendition’s use in this typing suite.
So far, it’s a mystery equal to what, exactly, makes his rendition more compelling than the dozens of others… Of which here are some: an ongoing attempt to identify and compare renditions of The Crave across a wide group of pianists on spotify:
Thanks so much for asking, it threatens to validate my obsession with this most ephemeral of melodies.
EDIT: I wanted to make a special acknowledgment here to “crunchydeliciousstomptastic”. So perfect.