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Moxie

Arthur Fields

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Recorded in New York City in 1921 featuring Arthur Fields vocals, accompanied by the Gennett studio band.

Originally developed by Doctor Augustin Thompson in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1876 and introduced to consumers as "Moxie Nerve Food" the patent medicine was said to provide temporary relief from paralysis, softening of the brain, nervousness, insomnia and a number of other maladies. Produced from gentian root a plant indigenous to South America the health elixir's popularity would go on to inspire an historic soft drink. Adding carbonated water to his formula by 1884 the Doctor was selling "Moxie" in bottles as well as in a soda fountain syrup. Claiming to have named the beverage after his friend Lieutenant Moxie who first discovered the plant and it's medicinal importance Thompson's drink became so popular that its name also took on a new definition in American English conveying an individual's courage, daring or determination.

Committed to 78 rpm disc in 1921 by celebrated vocalist and man-about-town Arthur Fields this witty number is actually a jingle for Moxie praising the prominent beverage with passages like "as a drink you're a hummer, in winter or summer". To top it all off the song's lyrics even offer the product's well known advertising slogan "Just Make It Moxie for Mine".