Fables of Faubus

Mingus wrote it as a direct protest against Orval Faubus, the Arkansas governor who in 1957 sent the National Guard to prevent nine African American teenagers from entering Little Rock Central High School. Columbia refused to allow the lyrics on Mingus Ah Um, so it was recorded as an instrumental with double-time sections.

On 20 October 1960 Mingus recorded it with lyrics for Candid, retitled Original Faubus Fables because of contract issues. Mingus and Dannie Richmond sing it in call and response, with Eric Dolphy on alto saxophone and Ted Curson on trumpet. Reviewing it in 1962, Don Heckman called it a classic put-down in which satire becomes a deadly rapier-thrust. Mingus returned to it more often than to almost any other piece. The words varied between versions, and a 1964 live performance from Cornell stretched it to almost half an hour.