Jimmy Van Heusen a friend to Bing and Frank

Popular music composer, Jimmy Van Heusen (1913-1990), had a unique position in the swing/big band era as a friend to both of the two top crooners of the era. Jimmy, first, was a good friend to Bing Crosby. They worked together on most of the Road pictures and "Going My Way.' Second, he was a very close friend and, by some accounts a mentor to Frank Sinatra. Jimmy was proud to say he loved three things (note:This was before his first and only marriage at the age of 56)...Booze, broads and Sinatra. Van Heusen's role in Frank's career and life was major. Jimmy told me a number of stories of their relationship during the time I was preparing to underwrite (DuPont) a network television special for the 1980 season. The program was to be a tribute to the music of Jimmy Van Heusen. The stars were to be Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra. Unfortunately, Frank received a movie offer that he couldn't refuse (The First Deadly Sin). It turned out to be his final film. Back to the major influence: During the Ava Gardner divorce period, Jimmy said that he saved Frank twice from suicide attempts...it doesn't get any more major than that.
In regard to music, Jimmy and Frank seemed to be joined at the hip. Frank, according to my count, recorded more Van Heusen tunes than any other composer. Cole Porter, was probably, second. Jimmy, of course, was handsomely rewarded, beyond substantial royalties, with Oscars and an Emmy. Here is a list of the Van Heusen songs sung by Frank Sinatra that has been compiled by jimmyvanheusen.com. Pictured are Jimmy (seated) and Sammy Cahn.
 Song Title
A Friend of Yours                                                                 
Accidents Will Happen
All My Tomorrows
All The Way
All This and Heaven Too
An Old Fashioned Christmas
Aren't You Glad You're You
Barbara
Bells of Christmas (Greensleeves)
Boys' Night Out
But Beautiful
California
Call Me Irresponsible
Come Blow Your Horn
Come Dance With Me
Come Fly With Me
Come Waltz With Me
Deep In A Dream
Dick Haymes, Dick Todd and Como
Do You Know Why
Don't Be A Do-Badder
Early American
Empty Tables
Everybody Has The Right To Be Wrong
Here's That Rainy Day
High Hopes
How Are You Fixed For Love
I Could Have Told You
I Couldn't Care Less
I Like To Lead When I Dance
I Thought About You
I Wouldn’t Trade Christmas
If You Please
If You Stub Your Toe On The Moon
I'll On Miss Her When I Think Of Her
Imagination
Indiscreet
It Could Happen To You
It Gets Lonely Early
It's Always You
It's Nice To Go Traveling
Life Is So Peculiar
Like Someone In Love
Look Of Love
Look To Your Heart
Looking For Yesterday
Love and Marriage
(Love Is) The Tender Trap
Mister Booze
Moonlight Becomes You
My Kind Of Town
Name It and Its Yours
Nancy
Not As A Stranger
Nothing In Common
Oh,You Crazy Moon
Only The Lonely
Our Town
Pocketful of Miracles
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Ring a Ding Ding
Same Old Song and Dance
September of My Years
Shake Down The Stars
Star
Style
Sunday, Monday Or Always
Sunshine Cake
Sure Thing
Swinging On A Star
The Impatient Years
The Last Dance
The Man With The Golden Arm
The Second Time Around
The Twelve Days of Christmas
There's A Flaw In My Flue
They Came To Cordura
Tina
To Love and Be Loved
When Is Sometime
When No One Cares
You Lucky People You
You My Love
You Never Had It So Good
You'll Get Yours

The Andrews Sisters-'Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree' a WW2 favorite

 

The most played music of the World War Two period was, what I call the "parting: song. These songs were the lament of lovers parted by military duty. Would they ever meet again? Would the girl back home wait for the boy's return?  One of the most popular songs of this type "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me" was a big hit for  the Andrews Sisters, Patti, Laverne and Maxine.

Here is part of the lyrics;

Don't sit under the apple tree

With anyone else but me

Anyone else but me

Anyone else but me

NO! NO! NO!

Don't sit under the apple tree

With anyone else but me

Till I come marching home.



Don't go walking down lovers lane

With anyone else but me

Anyone else but me

Anyone else but me

NO! NO! NO!

Don't go walking down lovers lane

With anyone else but me

Till I come marching home.

In the 1940's, the Andrews Sisters were, without a doubt, America’s most popular female singing group. Patty, the youngest sister, was a loud and energetic blond who headed the group with her confident vocals. The middle sister was Maxine, a brunette, whose harmonic range gave the impression of four voices instead of three. Finally, completing the trio was the eldest, Laverne, a strong willed red head with a witty sense of humor and an eye for fashion.



They had major hits in nearly all types of music ranging from swing to country-western.  The trio were successful in radio, Hollywood movies ( several Abbott and Costello comedies) and on Broadway.

Here are the Andrews Sisters singing "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (with anyone else but me)" 

 TO SHOP FOR MUSIC CLICK HERE

Frank Sinatra Biography-1

Frank Sinatra Biography-1

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One of Frank Sinatra's classic recordings-Fools Rush In

One of Frank Sinatra's classic recordings-Fools Rush In

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Frank Sinatra's version of Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You"

FRANK SINATRA CD

Here is Frank Sinatra singing Cole Porter's "I Get A Kick Out Of You."It is one the greatest recordings from the Great American Songbook. Note that Frank enjoyed  playing with the lyrics.
First, here are the original lyrics;

My story is much too sad to be told,
But practically ev'rything leaves me totally cold
The only exception I know is the case
When I'm out on a quiet spree
Fighting vainly the old ennui
And I suddenly turn and see
Your fabulous face.

I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all,
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?

Some get a kick from cocaine.
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrific'ly too
Yet I get a kick out of you.

I get a kick ev'rytime I see
You standing there before me.
I get a kick though it's clear to me
You obviously don't adore me.

I get no kick in a plane,
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do,
Yet I get a kick out of you.

The top songs on this date by year

Here is the list of "number one", or top songs on this date by year from 1940 to 1960. The number after the song title indicates the number of weeks the song held the top spot.
This list provides a good view of the changes in musical taste over these two decades. At the start, the big bands were king. In the middle years, vocalists rise to the top, and in the last years of the 50's, rock takes over, with Elvis the "King of Rock."

1940 Glenn Miller - In The Mood 12
1941 Artie Shaw - Frenesi 13
1942 Glenn Miller - A String Of Pearls 2
1943 Harry James - I Had The Craziest Dream 2
1944 Glen Gray - My Heart Tells Me 5
1945 Andrews Sisters - Rum and Coca-Cola 7
1946 Vaughn Monroe - Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! 5
1947 Count Basie - Open The Door, Richard 1
1948 Art Mooney - I'm Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover 3
1949 Evelyn Knight - A Little Bird Told Me 7

1950 Red Foley - Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy 4


1951 Patti Page - Tennessee Waltz 9
1952 Johnnie Ray - Cry 11
1953 Teresa Brewer - Till I Waltz Again With You 5
1954 Eddie Fisher - Oh! My Papa 8
1955 McGuire Sisters - Sincerely 6
1956 Nelson Riddle - Lisbon Antigua 4
1957 Elvis Presley - Too Much 3
1958 Elvis Presley - Don't 5
1959 Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee 4
1960 Mark Dinning - Teen Angel

Frank Sinatra podcast available to download

Frank Sinatra podcast available to download

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He changed the face of modern pop music

He changed the face of modern pop music

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Will Scorsese trash Frank Sinatra?

Will Scorsese trash Frank Sinatra?

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Writer to present Frank Sinatra program in New Jersey

International lecturer/presenter Rick Busciglio of Memory Lane Presentations (and The Great American Songbook blog writer) will offer "Frank Sinatra -- The Man and His Music" on Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 2 pm at the Sussex-Wantage Library in Wantage, New Jersey.


This audio/video presentation will cover Sinatra's life, starting with the early years in Hoboken, winning on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, the Big Band years with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, his four marriages, the movies, the records, his friends, and some of the high and low career points of his life. There will be featured excerpts of 30 of Sinatra's greatest songs, including Night and Day, I've Got the World an a String, My Way and New York, New York.

Mr. Busciglio is a former broadcast executive, radio disk jockey, TV presenter and cruise entertainer. He involves the audience with his detailed stories and anecdotes of the many stars that he has worked with in his 45-year broadcast career. This program is sponsored by Friends of the Wantage Library.

It's free, but reservations are required. Call the library at (973) 875-3940 or visit its Web site. Location: near McCoy's Corner on Route 639, near the intersection of Rt 565 Wantage, New Jersey.

Andrew Lloyd Webber tribute in South Florida

Nobody sets the stage for Broadway like Bob Lappin & The Palm Beach Pops in their renowned tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, March 2-8, 2010. This concert series features Broadway stars soprano Tamra Hayden of Les Misérables and tenor David Burnham, Helen Hayes Award winner for Best Actor and star of Wicked. Audiences will delight in breathtaking selections from famed Broadway shows Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and other classics from the Great American Songbook.


On Broadway, Tamra Hayden played Cosette in Les Misérables and Texas in Cabaret (Studio 54). Tamra toured nationally in Les Misérables as Cosette (a role she has performed over 1800 times!), Phantom of the Opera as Christine, and Fiddler On The Roof as Hodel opposite Theodore Bikel.

She also toured regionally with the original Broadway Company of It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues (Seattle, Missouri and Arizona Reps). A versatile singer and actress, Tamra has performed a wide variety of roles including Sarah Winchester in the World Premiere of The Haunting of Winchester (San Jose Rep), Marta in Company (Denver Center Theater Company), Alice Roosevelt in Eleanor: An American Love Story (Ford Theater), and Julie Jordan in Carousel (Casa Manana).

David Burnham just returned from New York where he played Fiyero in the Broadway production of Wicked having created the role in the original Los Angeles workshop productions. David was a member of the original Broadway cast of the 6-time Tony Award winning musical The Light In The Piazza, performing on both the Tony Awards and the PBS telecast "Live From Lincoln Center". David was the 2007 recipient of the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for best actor as well as the 2007 best actor Garland Award for his portrayal of Fabrizio Nacarelli in the national tour of The Light In The Piazza.

On film, David was the voice of the Prince in the Warner Bros. animated feature "The King & I," and can also be heard as Willy in Disney's "Home On The Range". Recordings include the soundtracks to "Ghepetto", "The King & I", and "Home on the Range". Also the recordings "Strouse, Schwartz, & Schwartz", "Lerner, Loewe, and Lane" and "Lee Lessack's - In Good Company."

Tickets:

A Tribute to the Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber & Les Misérables

·March 2 & 3 at 8:00 p.m. – Kravis Center for the Performing Arts – Dreyfoos Hall, West Palm Beach

·March 4, 5 & 8 at 8:00 p.m. – Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium at FAU, Boca Raton

·March 7 at 8:00 p.m. – Eissey Campus Theatre (Palm Beach State College), Palm Beach Gardens

Tickets $29-$89; Call 561-832-7677 or visit www.palmbeachpops.org/webber

Black history month-Louis Armstrong

"Louis Armstrong was the greatest of all Jazz musicians. Armstrong defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazingly quick, inventive musical mind still dominate Jazz to this day."

 Armstrong was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Year's Eve. At the school he learned to play cornet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. He didn't own an instrument at this time, but continued to listen to bands at clubs.

 By 1917 he played at dive bars in New Orleans' Storyville section. In 1919 he left New Orleans for the first time for St. Louis. He played on Mississsippi river boat lines.  In 1921,  he returned to New Orleans and  in 1922 Louis was invited by his mentor Joe Oliver,  to join his band in Chicago. This was a dream come true for Armstrong and his amazing playing in the band soon made him a sensation among other musicians in Chicago. The New Orleans style of music took the town by storm and soon many other bands from down south made their way north to Chicago.

 He moved to New York in 1924 to play in Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. During that time he also did dozens of recording sessions with  numerous Blues singers, including Bessie Smith's 1925 classic recording of "St. Louis Blues."  In 1925 Armstrong moved back to Chicago.

Armstrong recorded his first Hot Five records. This was the first time that Armstrong had made records under his own name.  Strangely, the band never played live, but continued recording until 1928. That year Louis met his future manager, Joe Glaser.  Hired in 1935,Glaser guided Louis' career for the rest of his life. He had Armstrong's complete trust...including total control of Louis' schedule and finances. As Louis toured the world decades later, his many letters to Joe were a combination of descriptions of sightseeing trips, "personal encounters" (his wives rarely traveled with him) and pleas to "send money."

By 1929 Louis was becoming a very big star and was almost always on the road. He crisscrossed the U.S. dozens of times and returned to Europe playing in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Holland and England. In 1935 he returned to the U.S. and hired Joe Glaser to be his manager.  Glaser was allegedly connected to the Al Capone mob, but proved to be a great manager and friend for Louis. The band was renamed " Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra" and was one of the most popular acts of the Swing era. Glaser put the band to work and they toured constantly for the next ten years.

During this period Armstrong became one of the most famous men in America.   For the next nine years the Louis Armstrong Orchestra continued to tour and release records, but as the 1940s drew to a close the public's taste in Jazz began to shift away from the commercial sounds of the Swing era and big band Jazz. 

The so-called Dixieland Jazz revival was just beginning and Be Bop was also starting to challenge the status quo in the Jazz world. The Louis Armstrong Orchestra was beginning to look tired and concert and record sales were declining. Critics complained that Armstrong was becoming too commercial. So, in 1947 Glaser replaced the orchestra with a small group that became one of the greatest and most popular bands in Jazz history. The group was called the Louis Armstrong All-stars and over the years featured exceptional musicians like Jack Teagarden and Earl Hines. The band toured extensively travelling to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America for the next twenty years until Louis' failing health caused them to disband.
Armstrong became known as America's Ambassador of Swing.

In 1963 Armstrong scored a huge international hit with his version of "Hello Dolly". This number one single even knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts. In 1968 he recorded another number one hit  "What A Wonderful World". He co-starred in a major motion picture, "High Society" with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly. In 1971 the world's greatest jazz musician died in his sleep at his home in Queens, New York.

Here is Louis Armstrong, late in his career, singing on television his hit "What A Wonderful World."

 
 

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Rosemary Clooney...girl singer

ROSEMARY CLOONEY

Rosemary has become, and rightly so, one of the iconic singing stars of the 20th century. Rosie shines right up there with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland.

Her early success at Columbia Records, under the direction of A&R chief Mitch Miller, however was with songs such as "Come On A My House" and "Mambo Italiano."  Sadly, many in my lecture audiences mention these very commercial pop recordings when I start to discuss Rosemary.

She was so much more. My favorite comment: "Rosemary Clooney, an American musical treasure and one of the best friends a song ever had."

Many, forget that over her almost six decades of performing she did it all;  vocalist with sister, Betty in Tony Pastor's band, Columbia recording star, movie star ("White Christmas" with her good friend, Bing Crosby), later in her career,  jazz star for Concord Records, AND, what she was most proud of, mother of five (including my friend Monsita).

Listen to Rosemary Clooney sing the very beautiful "Tenderly." Many have recorded this now American Songbook standard, but Rosemary's version, to me, is so superior to the others.

Oh. yes...if you wish to purchase the CD click on MEMORY LANE.

Sinatra fights discrimination on the road (On The Sunny Side of the Street)

Life on the road for the big bands was difficult at the best of times, but for the integrated bands travel, particularly in the South with the "Jim Crow" laws, could be overwhelmingly cruel. Black members were rarely  permitted to stay in the same hotels or eat in the same restaurants as the white members.

One story concerns Frank Sinatra during his Dorsey years in the early 40's, and the band's arranger Sy Oliver, who was black. While the band was checking into a hotel, the clerk dispensed room keys to Sinatra and the other white members, but froze when he spotted the black arranger in the group. He refused to give him a key and indicated that he was not welcome in the hotel. Francis Albert Sinatra, no stranger to ethnic discrimination from his days in Hoboken, New Jersey, reportedly reached across the counter, grabbed the clerk by the tie, pulled him across the counter and simply said, "He stays". Sy Oliver stayed.

 Second only to Frank's monumental  contribution to popular music, he should  be remembered (and honored) for his lifelong fight against racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.

 Listening suggestion: Oliver's's arrangement of "On the Sunny Side of the Street" was his biggest hit for Tommy Dorsey.

'Route 66'...who wrote it?

Nat "King" Cole

Well if you ever plan to motor west,
Just take my way , that's the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Well it winds from Chicago to LA
More than two-thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Well it goes through St. Louie down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty.
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona,
Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernardino.

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
And think you'll take that California trip.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.


  The song "Route 66" was written by Bobby Troup, and was a number one Hit Parade winner for Nat Cole. Here is the story behind the song:

At a party in Hollywood in the 1970's I was introduced to Mrs. Bobby Troup. I was very surprised with the introduction because I knew that Bobby Troup was married to a magnificent singer (and beauty) by the name of Julie London... and this lady was clearly not Julie London. First name Cynthia. This Mrs. Bobby Troup told me this tale about when she was the first wife of Troup: 

They were living modestly in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at the end of World War II and Bobby Troup had decided that 'if I'm going to make it in the music business I've got to go to LA.' So they drive cross country to Los Angeles and while they motor on a long boring stretch of US Route 66, they play word games coming up with the lyrics to a song ('I get my kicks on route 66')... which, of course, was the classic 'Route Sixty-Six.' 

When they arrived in Los Angeles and rented a small apartment they were almost penniless. Bobby Troup set their lyrics to music, peddled it around and eventually convinced Johnny Mercer's new record company Capital to record it with their top star, Nat Cole. Within weeks after its release the song was a nationwide hit - in fact it reached #1. AND the royalties from this one song provided enough money to buy a house. A few years later, Troup produced Julie London's million selling hit record 'Cry Me A River.' He divorced Cynthia and married Julie five years later."

Here are two videos; the first is my lecture about the birth of the song aboard a cruise ship (Celebrity's Constellation), the second is the Nat "King" Cole trio performing "Route 66."

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'Stompin' At The Savoy' who wrote it?

BENNY GOODMAN

The listed composers for the big band hit "Stompin' at the Savoy" are: lyrics by Andy Razaf, music by Benny Goodman, Chick Webb and Edgar Sampson.

This 1934 standard was however, totally and completely composed by Edgar Sampson. So why is Benny Goodman's name listed as a co-composer of the music? The answer is simply "money."  We find that Goodman and Webb had their names added to the song when their bands promoted and  recorded it. Unusual?  No, not at all... it was all too common in the music business to share the composing royalties with performers and managers.

Al Jolson is listed as a composer on a number of the songs he featured in his act.  Many question Irving Berlin....did he personally write more than 1500 successful songs? At one of my recent lectures an attendee claimed a relative had sold a song to Berlin for $25.


The tune, of course, is named after the famous Savoy Ballroom in New York's Harlem. Again, the music was written and arranged for Chick Webb's band by Sampson, who was the band's alto saxophonist. It was recorded as an instrumental by both Webb and Benny Goodman, whose recording was the bigger hit. Lyrics were added by Razaf later.

 Stompin' At The Savoy

Benny Goodman

Lyrics by: Andy Razaf

Music by: Benny Goodman (?)

Music by: Chick Webb (?)

Music by: Edgar Sampson



Savoy, the home of sweet romance,

Savoy, it wins you with a glance,

Savoy, gives happy feet a chance to dance.



Your old form just like a clinging vine,

Your lips so warm and sweet as wine,

Your cheek so soft and close to mine, divine.



How my heart is singing,

While the band is swinging,

I'm never tired of romping,

And stomping with you at the Savoy.

What joy - a perfect holiday,

Savoy, where we can glide and sway,

Savoy, let me stomp away with you;



The home of sweet romance,

It wins you at a glance,

Gives happy feet a chance to dance.

Just like a clinging vine,

So soft and sweet as wine,

So soft and close to mine, divine.



How my heart is singing,

While the band is swinging,

I'm never, never, never tired of romping,

And stomping with you at the Savoy.

What joy - a perfect holiday,

Savoy, where we can glide and sway,

Savoy, let me stomp away with you;



  To purchase the Goodman CD click on MEMORY LANE SHOP.

Swingin' On A Star...the most ridiculous song ever written?

In 1945, the Oscar winning Best Song  was Swinging on a Star. It was written for the Bing Crosby starring film Going My Way by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. It was recorded in 1944 by Crosby. Legendary crooner Andy Williams and his brothers backed up Bing.

The song writer, Jimmy Van Heusen, was at Crosby’s house one evening for dinner and to discuss a song for the movie Going My Way. During the meal, one of the children began complaining about how he didn’t want to go to school the next day. The singer turned to his son and said to him, “If you don’t go to school, you might grow up to be a mule. Do you wanna do that?” Van Heusen thought that this clever rebuke would make a good song for the movie. He pictured Bing, playing a priest, talking to a group of children acting much the same way that his own child acted that night. When he took his idea to his partner, Johnny Burke, Johnny was quick to approve, and they wrote the song.

On the surface it may be the most ridiculous song ever written, but it is also one with an important message: of going to school, and getting an education or else who knows what will happen to you.
Here is Bing Crosby... Swinging On A Star;

Nancy with a laughing face...the true story

The authorship of the Sinatra classic, "Nancy...with a laughing face" is discussed/covered  at great lengths on both the internet and in several books covering the tunes of the great american songbook. In every case, they have it mostly wrong. Here is my personal story:

"In 1979, I was working with songwriter Jimmy Van Heusen (PHOTO) on a TV special with Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope that was never produced. Jimmy told me that one day (circa 1942) he and his lyricist Johnny Burke were working at 20th Century-Fox composing for a film. While Burke was out of their writer's bungalow, Phil Silvers, the comedian, a friend to both, entered and suggested to Jimmy that they write a song for Johnny's wife, Bessie, who was soon to celebrate a birthday. Silvers provided the lyrics, later revised by Van Heusen and Burke. 

At the party they sang "Bessie... with the laughing face" It was such a hit that they used it at other female birthday events. When they sang it as "Nancy... with the laughing face" at little Nancy Sinatra's birthday party, Frank broke down and cried thinking that it was written specially for his daughter - the trio wisely didn't correct him. Jimmy assigned his royalties to Nancy after Frank recorded it for Columbia."
Here is a video clip from one of my shipboard lectures for Celebrity Cruises. It covers not only the writing of the song "Nancy," but, a frank discussion of Frank Sinatra and the "mob."

Glenn Miller's 'String of Pearls' number one hit on this date

GLENN MILLER

The number one recording on February 15, 1942 was Glenn Miller and his Orchestra's instrumental version of "String Of Pearls." Music composed by Jerry Gray ( born Generoso Graziano) there are lyrics by Eddie deLange). This was one of the most played recordings of the World War Two period. It was as big a hit in Great Britain as in the US.

Listen to "String Of Pearls."

 

Grammy Hall Of Fame - 2010 inductees from the swing era

The list of Grammy Hall Of Fame - 2010 inductees includes a good number of performers from the swing era. Included are recordings by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Harry James, King Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Johnny Mercer. Dooley Wilson's recording (from the soundtrack of "Casablanca") of Herman Hupfeld's "As Time Goes By" has finally made the Hall of Fame. It is one of the top three songs from films of the 20th Century (American Film Institute's list). The other two are "Over The Rainbow" and "Singing In The Rain," two songs made famous by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. This duo is represented on the new list by their soundtrack recording of "For Me And My Gal," Gene Kelly's first starring role. Here is the list;

As Time Goes By - Dooley Wilson (1944) Birdland - Weather Report (1977) California Girls - The Beach Boys (1965) Catch A Fire - Bob Marley & The Wailers (1973) Class Clown - George Carlin (1972) Crazy He Calls Me - Billie Holiday (1949) Dippermouth Blues - King Oliver & His Jazz Band (1923) Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Duke Ellington (1940) Ella and Basie - Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie (1963) Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano (1970) For Me And My Gal - Judy Garland & Gene Kelly (1942) His Eye Is On The Sparrow - Mahalia Jackson I Feel Like Going Home - Muddy Waters It's A Man's Man's Man's World - James Brown (1966) Jazz Samba - Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd (1962) Kansas City Stomps - Jelly Roll Morton (1928) Lazy River - Louis Armstrong (1931) ...Plays WC Handy - Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars (1954) Mr Bojangles - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1970) Pearl - Janis Joplin (1971) Riders On The Storm - The Doors (1971) Twist And Shout - The Isley Brothers (1962) Who Do You Love - Bo Diddley (1956) You Made Me Love You - Harry James & His Orchestra (1941) Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - Johnny Mercer

Frank Sinatra's signature song...'My Way'

FRANK SINATRA...My hero as a child in New Jersey was the Hoboken born singer/actor Francis Albert Sinatra. You may have heard of him. Frank was leading the music scene in seven different decades! His first commecial recording was back in 1938 when he was the lead vocalist for a newly formed band that had a leader who was even skinnier than he was. His name: Harry James (his real name!).

Harry started Frank on his road to music immortality and quickly agreed after one year to release Sinatra to join the top band of Tommy Dorsey. Frank and Harry were close friends for the rest of their lives. Frank soon became the number one male band vocalist under Tommy's leadership. It was from Tommy, that Frank learned the importance of breath control for a singer. All of these points are stories for another day.

To start...here is a short tale about the song that became his signature song in the last phase of his extraordinary career..."My Way." A song whose 40th anniversary is being heralded with the reissue of the 1969 album. "My Way." It was quite possibly the single most popular number from the final act of Sinatra's career. And in concert after concert over a 25-year period, he never hesitated to tell audiences exactly what he thought of it: -- "I hate this song -- you sing it for eight years, you would hate it too!" (Caesars Palace, 1978) -- "And of course, the time comes now for the torturous moment -- not for you, but for me." (L.A. Amphitheater, 1979) -- "I hate this song. I HATE THIS SONG! I got it up to here [with] this God damned song!" (Atlantic City, 1979) And yet, in many of those same introductions, he told the crowd that the song had been "very good to me -- and singers like me." "My Way" helped keep the Chairman on the road in the '70s, '80s and '90s.

Sinatra quickly learned that audiences wouldn't let him off the stage until he gave them "My Way." Even when he tried to end a show without it, he was dragged back on to do it as an encore. Per the WSJ, "My Way" did the most to cement Frank Sinatra's position as the leading interpreter of what was becoming known as The Great American Songbook. It was written by two guys who belonged to the rock 'n' roll camp, one of whom (Paul Anka) was a Canadian of Lebanese descent, while the other (Claude François) was of French and Italian background and had been born and raised in Egypt. Both were better known as singers than songwriters -- Mr. Anka having started as a teenybopper idol of the early Elvis era, and François specializing in Eurotrash "covers" of American and British hits.

Sinatra must have been elated in the 1980s when he was finally able to switch to "New York, New York" as his concert closer. As late as 1986, "My Way," which led an entire generation to believe that Sinatra was a raging egomaniac, was the last song in the world for which Frank Sinatra would have wanted to be remembered, even though he sang it , acted it, really, so vividly and convincingly that it became one of the major milestones of American popular music." This is the start of a writing journey about the man the New York Times called "The Greatest Entertainer of the 20th Century.'

Remember Bea Wain ?

Singer Bea Wain tells this wonderful story about the signing of autographs. It is an old question: "Who did sign that photo in your autograph collection? The artist or the secretary?" In most cases, a secretary signs photos for performers. The only time you can be sure your signed photo bears the actual signature is when you actually see it signed....but even then "Is it really the person you think it is?" Read on!

Once, at the Victor session held on June 3, 1938, Carole Bruce sang in place of Bea Wain. "Carol was a lovely singer. She was a fairly good friend of mine, and she ended up on Broadway. She did the musical shows," Wain said. "But I had strep throat. I was sick. And that's when we were at Glen Island Casino. And I was terrible. I was in bad shape, and I couldn't sing. I had to take off a couple of weeks. Larry Clinton hired Carol to replace me, and she sang at Glen Island for a couple of weeks . . . When the band went on the road, it was Larry Clinton and Bea Wain - my name was in the contracts, which I didn't know until much later. And if I didn't appear, they didn't get paid. So, when he went on the road and I was sick with the strep throat, Carol went, and she had to sign my name, on autographs."

Glenn Miller received the first ever gold record for "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

In 1942, Glenn Miller received the first ever gold record for selling a million copies of "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

As a music historian, I must share with you the truth about this famous train. Are you ready? It NEVER left track 29! The train never traveled between New York and Chattanooga. The train's run was between Cincinnati, Ohio and Chattanooga.

The song was introduced in 1941 by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the song was featured in the movie "Sun Valley Serenade" and performed by Tex Beneke and the Modernaires. Harry Warren wrote the original music score, while Mack Gordon contributed the words. The song, "Chattanooga Choo Choo," traveled fast throughout the circles of Europe during World War II, and today it is an international favorite.


To buy a Glenn Miller CD or a copy of the "Sun Valley Serenade" click here

POPS: A LIFE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG

From the new biography of Louis Armstrong (Lewis not Louie), POPS: A LIFE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG by Terry Teachout, here are several notable excerpts;

1- "His trumpet playing was a revelation and, indeed, a revolution, an audacious breaking away from the New Orleans collaborative, contrapuntal jazz style in which he had grown up. his achievement shook the jazz world to its foundations. No one had ever played quite this way before."

2- Artie Shaw: "I heard this cascade of notes coming out of a trumpet. No one had ever done that before." Pianist Teddy Wilson, summing up Armstrong's style, said: "... [he]... had this high development of balance. Lyricism. Delicacy. Emotional outburst. Rhythm. Complete mastery of his horn."

3- "Armstrong was also a uniquely gifted singer, with an unmistakable gravelly voiced style, who left his imprint on popular singing for decades to come."

4- "He became an onstage clown, mugging and grinning, wiping away sweat with his ever-present white handkerchief, Uncle-Tomming as hard as he could. Armstrong had sold out, taken the easy path, led by his evil manager, gangster Joe Glaser. He could still hit any number of high C's to excite musically ignorant crowds, but, as jazz people would put it, Pops was no longer saying anything with his horn. Jazz had moved on."

5-"He saw himself not just as a musician or a singer, but also as an all-around entertainer, in the old flamboyant style. He believed it was his job to please an audience by any means, a view not shared by a younger generation of black musicians, especially beboppers like Miles Davis."

One reviewer's comment; "Pops" is is a serious attempt to set straight the tangled story of Armstrong's career and to ascertain his rightful place in American popular culture. The author examines claims and counterclaims made about Armstrong's deservedly high status as a trumpet player and singer and makes hard judgments, some of them going against the grain of received critical opinion."

The top 24 songs of 1942

Here are the top "Hit Parade" songs of 1942, the first full year of the USA's participation in the Second World War. The big bands had 19 of the 24 spots. Glenn Miller had a total of 4!;

01 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – Don’t Sit Under The Apple Tree.

02 – Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Somebody Else Is Taking My Place.

03 – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra – Who Wouldn’t Love You.

04 – Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra – My Devotion.

05 – Harry James & His Orchestra – Sleepy Lagoon.

06 – Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra – Tangerine.

07 – Johnny Mercer – Strip Polka.

08 – Dinah Shore – Blues In The Night.

09 – Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Jersey Bounce.

10 – Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra – Trav’lin Light.

11 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – I’ve Got A Gal In Kalamazoo

12 – Harry James & His Orchestra – I Don’t Want To Walk Without You.

13 – Kay Kyser & His Orchestra – Jingle Jangle Jingle.

14 – Alvino Rey & His Orchestra – Deep In The Heart Of Texas.

15 – Freddie Slack & His Orchestra – Cow-Cow Boogie.

16 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – A String Of Pearls.

17 – Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra – I Left My Heart At The Stage Door Canteen.

18 – Kate Smith – (There’ll Be Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs Of Dover.

19 – Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra – Flying Home.

20 – Harry James & His Orchestra – One Dozen Roses.

21 – Bing Crosby – Be Careful It’s My Heart.

22 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – Moonlight Cocktail.

23 – Judy Garland & Gene Kelly – For Me And My Gal.

24 – Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra – There Are Such Things.

The top 24 songs of 1941

Here are the 24 top songs from the 1941 "Hit Parade;

1. Take the “A” Train — Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
2. Let Me Off Uptown — Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
3. Oh! Look at Me Now — Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra
4. Green Eyes — Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra
5. I Hear a Rhapsody — Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra
6. You Made Me Love You — Harry James & His Orchestra
7. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy — The Andrews Sisters
8. Daddy — Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra
9. God Bless the Child — Billie Holiday
10. Yes Indeed! — Tommy Dorsey And His Orchestra
11. I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire — The Ink Spots
12. Maria Elena — Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra
13. Chattanooga Choo Choo — Glenn Miller Orchestra
14. There’ll Be Some Changes Made — Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
15. Star Dust — Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
16. Racing With the Moon — Vaughn Monroe And His Orchestra
17. I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time — The Andrews Sisters
18. I Got it Bad And That Ain’t Good — Duke Ellington And His Famous Orchestra
19. New San Antonio Rose — Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
20. Dolores — Bing Crosby
21. Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy) — Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra
22. Perfidia — Xavier Cugat & His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra
23. Elmer’s Tune — Glenn Miller Orchestra
24. ‘Til Reveille — Kay Kyser & His Orchestra "

The top 24 songs of 1940

Here is a list of the top 24 songs of 1940;

01 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – In the Mood.
02 – Vaughn Monroe & His Orchestra – There I Go.
03 – Mildred Bailey & Benny Goodman & His Orchestra – Darn That Dream.
04 – Bing Crosby – Sierra Sue.
05 – Connee Boswell – On The Isle Of May
06 – Bob Eberly & Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra – The Breeze And I.
07 – Bonnie King & Bob Crosby & His Orchestra – Down Argentina Way.
08 – Artie Shaw & His Orchestra – Frenesi.
09 – Ray Eberle & Glenn Miller & His Orchestra -Blueberry Hill.
10 – The Ink Spots – Maybe.
11 – Jack Leonard & Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra -All The Things You Are.
12 – Bing Crosby – Only Forever.
13 – Ray McKinely & Bill Bradley & His Orchestra – Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar).
14 – The Andrews Sisters – Ferryboat Serenade (La Piccinina).
15 – Coleman Hawkins & His Orchestra – Body And Soul.
16 – Lil Green – Romance In the Dark.
17 – Tony Martin – It’s A Blue World.
18 – The Ink Spots – We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, And Me).
19 – Glenn Miller & His Orchestra – Pennsylvania 6-5000.
20 – Bing Crosby – Trade Winds.
21 – Mary Ann Mercer & Mithcell Ayres & His Fashions in Music – Make-Believe Island.
22 – Frank Sinatra & The Pied Pipers & Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra – I’ll Never Smile Again.
23 – Judy Garland – I’m Nobody’s Baby.
24 - Cliff Edwards, Backup Vocals by the Ken Darby Singers – When You Wish Upon A Star.

When did the Big Band Era End ?

When did the Big Band Era end? By late 1946, it was becoming apparent that the band business was having problems. The Second World War was over and the returning troops were heading for the altar, starting families, and buying cars and houses. This is when massive housing developments, such as Levittown on New York's Long Island, started replacing former farmland. Dancing, a major weekend activity prior to the war, was replaced with more home centered activities, e.g. diaper changing! Many of the returning musicians no longer wanted to be on long road tours with the bad food, and low pay. This resulted in the closing of many ballrooms across the country. In December 1946, eight top bandleaders announced they were calling it quits -- Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Les Brown, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Ina Ray Hutton and Tommy Dorsey. Essentially, this was the official end of the Big Band Era. However, many of the top bands reformed shortly thereafter, with limited touring.

It's about time somebody got things going again", Tommy Dorsey said at the time. "You can't expect to have any real interest in dance bands if the bands don't go around the country and play for the kids."

I believe that the beginning of the end of the era was actually earlier. It was on New Year's Eve 1942 when FRANK SINATRA stepped on the stage at the Paramount Theater in New York as a solo act for the first time. From 1945 to 1955, the era of the pop vocalist replaced the bands. In 1955, Elvis and company kicked off the era of "rock 'n roll."

Artie Shaw's 'Begin The Beguine' in the Grammy Hall of Fame

The Artie Shaw band recording of "Begin the Beguine" was the turning point in his musical life: Artie Shaw, like so many other band leaders, wanted to be famous, but unlike the rest, he hated everything about fame. Take "Begin the Beguine" one of his biggest hits, for example. It was such a big hit that he had to play it over and over to his chagrin.

So why is 'Begin the Beguine" one of the best records of the Swing Era? Because it is simply one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded. It's the perfectly sculpted fox trot tempo that coaxed people on the dance floor. It's also the crisp call and response between the reeds and horns and Shaw's sublime solo. In short, "Begin the Beguine" sums up all that was great about the Swing Era, all from a song that wasn't even supposed to be a big hit.


Cole Porter, the composer of "Beguine", wrote the song after a stop at Martinique on a cruise around the world. Porter heard the beguine rhythm and adopted it for a huge production number for his new musical Jubilee. At 108 bars, it was an extraordinarily long song. When Moss Hart heard it for the first time he said, "I thought it had ended when he was halfway through."

When it opened it 1935, Jubilee was a flop. However, "Beguine" was the one song that stuck out in reviewers minds. The Times for one found "hints of distant splendors" in the melody. Porter expected "Just One of Those Things," another song from the show to be a VERY big hit. (It had to wait for Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle)

However, by 1938 fans were asking Shaw if he knew how to play "Beguine," and Shaw asked his arranger Jerry Gray to come up with a chart for the popular tune. Gray's original version stuck with the beguine rhythm, but Shaw didn't feel it would work for the ballroom crowd. According to guitarist Al Avola, Shaw kept Gray's chords and changed it to a swinging four-four time called bending the Charleston." "We played it that night at the Roseland State Ballroom,"'Avola reported, and the first time we played it we could just feel the vibrations. We knew it was going to be big."

However, "Beguine" wasn't thought to be a big hit by the bigwigs at Bluebird, the record company Shaw had recently signed with. During that same year Shaw wanted it as a B side to "Indian Love Call," but recalled, "the recording manager thought it was a waste of time and only let me make it after I had argued it would make a nice quite contrast to ˜Indian Love Call."

It wasnt long before record buyers began to flip over the record to play the B side, and "Beguine" quickly overshadowed every hit from that year. It sold millions of copies, was featured on jukeboxes around the world and, as Shaw said, "that recording of that one little tune was the real turning point in my life."?

Frank Sinatra...The Greatest Singer In Pop History?

Millions of words have been written about Frank Sinatra.....some of it actually true. One thing that cannot be challenged is his place as a superstar of the popular music world. When Frank died in 1998, the New York Times provided a beautiful tribute to him acknowledging his unique achievements. Here is a small portion;

"Widely held to be the greatest singer in American pop history, Frank Sinatra was also the first modern pop
superstar. He defined that role in the early 1940s when his first solo appearances provoked the kind
of mass pandemonium that later greeted Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

During a show business career that spanned more than 50 years and comprised recordings, film and
television as well as countless performances in nightclubs, concert halls and sports arenas, Sinatra
stood as a singular mirror of the American psyche.

His evolution from the idealistic crooner of the early 1940s to the sophisticated swinger of the '50s
and '60s seemed to personify the country's loss of innocence. During World War II, Sinatra's tender
romanticism served as the dreamy emotional link between millions of women and their husbands and
boyfriends fighting overseas. Reinventing himself in the '50s, the starry-eyed boy next door turned
into the cosmopolitan man of the world, a bruised romantic with a tough-guy streak and a song for
every emotional season.

In a series of brilliant conceptual albums, he codified a musical vocabulary of adult relationships with
which millions identified. The haunted voice heard on a jukebox in the wee small hours of the morning
lamenting the end of a love affair was the same voice that jubilantly invited the world to "come fly with
me" to exotic realms in a never-ending party.

Sinatra appeared in more than 50 films, and won an Academy Award as best supporting actor for his
portrayal of the feisty misfit soldier Maggio in "From Here to Eternity" (1953). As an actor, he could
communicate the same complex mixture of emotional honesty, vulnerability and cockiness that he
projected as a singer, but he often chose his roles indifferently or unwisely.

It was as a singer that he exerted the strongest cultural influence. Following his idol Bing Crosby, who
had pioneered the use of the microphone, Sinatra transformed popular singing by infusing lyrics with a
personal, intimate point of view that conveyed a steady current of eroticism." NY Times 1998-Except