More Cole Porter

Porter was both composer and lyricist. "When it comes to lyrics," wrote one critic, "Cold porter is so far ahead of the other boys in New York that there is just no race at all." In the following selection, we don't hear any lyrics. Instead we hear his bright and sassy, haunting and pretty melodies. These are some of the most enduring songs of all time and are at the very heart and soul of what an "American Popular Standard" is all about.
This medley is by Robert Bentley and his Orchestra and was recorded for a Readers Digest Musical Treasure Chest called "Magical Melodies." I don't know anything about Bentley or this collection, except that Readers Digest produced some of the finest sounding vinyl collections anywhere. I picked it up at a Goodwill Store for a dollar.
Here are the featured songs:
Night and Day
Easy to Love
I've Got You Under My Skin
What is this Thing Called Love?
I Get a Kick Out of You
Just One of Those Things

We'll have to do this in two parts.
Part 1:

Part 2:

It's been a while...

...but let's listen to a Cole Porter number. I just heard this at "40s on 4" and enjoyed it so I thought I'd post it here.

"Anything Goes" was  written in 1934 for the show by the same name and made  famous by Ethel Merman.

Friday with Frank #3a

A ring-a-ding-dinger to 

swing your way into the weekend.

 

Friday with Frank #3

Here is one of the best of the medleys Frank performed on his 1960s television specials. This one is from "Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing" and was aired by NBC on November 25, 1968.

The medley consists of parts of four songs.
First heard is the verse of Rodgers and Hart's "Glad to Be Unhappy" from the 1936 musical "On Your Toes."  Then we hear Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke's "Here's That Rainy Day" from the 1953 Broadway show "Carnival in Flanders." Next up is "It Never Entered My Mind," another Rodgers and Hart classic. In his later years, Frank used a Nelson Riddle arrangement of the song, along with "The Gal That Got Away" in his concerts. You can find it on the "She Shot Me Down" album. Back to this medley, Frank next sings Allie Wrubel and Herb Magidson's "Gone With The Wind" from 1936, before reprising a bit of "Here's that Rainy Day" and driving away.

Well, since I mentioned it, we might as well take a listen to the "Gal That Got Away/It Never Entered My Mind" medley. "The Man That Got Away" was written by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin for Judy Garland's "A Star is Born." Frank changed the words a bit and recorded it originally in 1954. This performance of the medley is from Carnegie Hall in 1980.

 

And because he only sang a part of the verse from one of my favorite songs, let's hear the whole thing. Rodgers and Hart's "Glad to Be Unhappy," recorded in 1955 and arranged by Nelson Riddle for the "In the Wee Small Hours" album - widely recognized as being the first concept album ever recorded, where all the songs revolve around a certain theme, in this case, lost love.

Top 10 Songs on this day, 1938

According to Mr. Chuck Cecil's The Swinging Years

FDR was the White House, Hitler was Fuhrer of Germany, Spain was racked by civil war, and Japan was waging an undeclared war on China. "Our Town" opened on Broadway. Ella Fitzgerald was the girl singer for the Chick Webb Orchestra. Dick Tracy premiered on the radio.

10. "Whistle While You Work" by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Candians

 9. "The Dipsy Doodle" by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Edith Wright

 8. "Thanks for the Memory" by the Benny Goodman Orchestra with (the liltin') Martha Tilton.

 
 7. "True Confessions" by Mal Hallett and his Orchestra with Jerry Perkins

 6. "Goodnight Angel" by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra with Bob Allan

  5. "I Double Dare You" by  Russ Morgan and his Orchestra with Beatrice Parks

  4. "There's a Gold Mine in the Sky" by Bing Crosby with organist Eddie Dunstetter

  3. "You're a Sweetheart" by Tommy Dorsey and his Clambake 7 with Edith Wright

  2. "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" by the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra

And the number 1 song on this day, 1938 was

"Rosalie" by Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra

It was a fairly new Cole Porter tune made famous by the movie of the same name starring tap dancing queen Eleanor Powell and tenor Nelson Eddy. I couldn't find a version of Sammy Kaye's arrangement on line, but here is the song as song and danced in the film.

My "You and I"

Here's my copy  of Bing's "You and I." I didn't play it on my Brunswick, but on a little portable player I got at an antique store in South Carolina many years ago. It's sitting on my Brunswick.

 

The song was written by Meredith Willson and recorded by Glenn Miller. Willson went on to gain fame by, among other things, writing the words and music to the Broadway musical, "The Music Man." One of his tunes from that show, "Til There Was You," was recorded by The Beatles.

One source says that the song was the theme for the Maxwell House Coffee Hour for a while, but I haven't been able to find any recordings of that program on line to support it. And there's supposed to be a recording by (the liltin') Martha Tilton, but I haven't found that one either.

There have been at least two more recent songs with the same name, a duet my Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle and a very recent song by Lady GagGag.

Not "Me and You" or "You and Me," but...

..."You and I." By Bing. I just like this song. I have this 78, and the only way I can listen is on my wind-up Brunswick. If I get around to it, I'll record it, post in on YouTube, and replace this with mine. Until then...

Friday with Frank #2

Last Night When We Were Young.
Violets for Your Furs.
Here's That Rainy Day.

Frank will give you details about the songs and the arrangement. This is from a May 9, 1975 recording of a Sinatra concert in Montreal. (Pssst. Don't tell nobody, but you can get the whole concert right HERE.)

Frank sang this same medley for his 1973 television special, "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back," which, along with an LP by the same name, announced his return from his very short retirement. You have to buy an entire DVD boxed set (it's worth it), but you can get it HERE.

At Last

Etta James died today. Her signature song was a Harry Warren and Mack Gordon tune written for the 1941 Glenn Miller movie "Orchestra Wives." The string of Warren/Gordon songs is incredible. Warren also teamed up with Al Dubin and produced scores of hits as well.

Here is the original version, performed in the movie by Ray Eberle and Lynn Bari. And that trumpet solo is NOT the actor George Montgomery, but the late great Billy May (not the ad man) who went on to be an arranger and lead his own orchestra.

Not surprising, I actually like the earlier version better. But over the years, Etta made the song her own and brought it to generations of new listeners. I think I read some place it was the most played songs at weddings. Not sure how someone figured that out.

Here's Etta, with a live performance.

More Perfection

Jerome Kern's music.
Oscar Hammerstein III's lyrics.
Nelson Riddle's arrangement.
Frank Sinatra's baton.
Peggy Lee's voice.

The Folks Who Live On The Hill - 1956

Friday with Frank #1

"I Wish I Were in Love Again," by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart - my favorite composer and probably the most clever of all the lyricists. From Frank's 1956 LP, "A Swingin' Affair," arranged by Nelson Riddle.

75 Years Ago Today...

...this was the number one song in the nation.

"Pennies From Heaven" was written in 1936 by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke.

It premiered in the 1936 film of the same name starring Bing Crosby (watch it HERE), and appeared again in a 1981 film of the same name starring Steve Martin.

Over the years, it has progressed from Crosby's ballad arrangement, to a soft swing arrangement for Sinatra, to a wild rocking rendition by Louis Prima.

 

The Granddaddy of Them All

Back in the early 1980s, a television special counted down the most popular songs of the Twentieth Century. STARDUST, by Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish, was voted number one and, at that time, had been recorded by more artists than any other song. There is a legend that Parish wrote the lyrics on the cover of a matchbook, but I just don't see how that could have been possible. Below are several versions for you to enjoy.

The Original: Hoagy Carmichael and his Pals - 1927

Isham Jones - 1930. 

Bing Crosby - 1931

Glenn Miller and his Orchestra - 1940

Artie Shaw and His Orchestra - 1940

Tommy Dorsey and his  Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra and the Pied  Pipers - 1940

Doris Day - 1952

Michael Buble - 2009

 

Let's take the lyric out of its traditional verse structure and write it as prose:
     "And now the purple dusk of twilight time steals across the meadows of my heart. High up in the sky the little stars climb, always reminding me that we're apart. You wander down the lane and far away, leaving me a song that will not die. Love is now the stardust of yesterday, the music of the years gone by.
     "Some times I wonder why I spend the lonely night dreaming of a song. The melody haunts my reverie and I am once again with you, when our love was true and each kiss an inspiration. But that was long ago, and now my consolation is in the stardust of a song."

Frank Sinatra, the best lyric interpreter ever, was in such awe of it that he recorded a 1961 arrangement that featured only the verse and omitted the chorus. ("What's a verse? What's the chorus?" We'll answer those questions later, but you'll hear Stardust's verse below.)

Frank Sinatra - 1961

Without a doubt, the most well known and perhaps best loved version of the song is the one recorded by Nat "King" Cole in 1956. 

Nat "King" Cole - 1956

What is an "American popular standard"?

Our favorite boy singer explains.

Surrounded by Ervin Drake's "It was a Very Good Year," we hear Johnny Richards and Carolyn Leigh's "Young at Heart" from the movie of the same name, Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin's "The Girl Next Door" from the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis," Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Last Night When We Were Young" written for baritone Lawrence Tibbett, and Gordon Jenkins's "This is All I Ask" originally recorded by Burl Ives.

Let's get started: Midnight Sun

One of my all-time favorite performances. Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke's music, Johnny Mercer's lyrics, Frank DeVol's arrangement, and Ella Fitzgerald's vocals all add up to sheer perfection. This should give you some idea of what's to come in this blog. Enjoy!

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice, warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace rising to a snowy height.
Each star its own aurora borealis, suddenly you held me tight
I could see the Midnight Sun.

I can't explain the silver rain that found me--or was that a moonlit veil?
The music of the universe around me, or was that a nightingale?
And then your arms miraculously found me,suddenly the sky turned pale,
I could see the Midnight Sun.

Was there such a night, it's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
But after you were gone, there was still some stardust on my sleeve.

The flame of it may dwindle to an ember, and the stars forget to shine,
And we may see the meadow in December, icy white and crystalline,
But oh my darling always I'll remember when your lips were close to mine,
And we saw the Midnight Sun.