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.