The story of One For My Baby

A number of great tunes were penned in bars. The most famous is "One For My Baby." It is the anthem of lonely drinkers (or drunks). Songwriter Johnny Mercer penned One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) on a napkin while sitting at the bar at New York City's famous bar- P.J. Clarke's.

The bartender at that time was named Tommy Joyce, and Johnny Mercer reportedly apologized to Joyce, saying "I couldn't get your name to rhyme". Thus, we have the classic line "set'em up Joe."

The "One For My Baby" music was written by Harold Arlen, (lyrics by Johnny Mercer) for the musical The Sky's the Limit (1943) and first performed in the film by Fred Astaire.

Frank Sinatra's recording is probably the best known...and also the best.

Frank Sinatra was an extremely generous tipper (where wasn't he?)  at P.J. Clarke's, and was considered the "owner" of Table 20. When he cruised New York bars, he would start out at Sardi's, but he would always end up at P.J. Clarke's.

Who wrote the classic saloon song...One for my baby? - National Swing and Big Band | Examiner.com

Johnny Mercer

Who wrote the classic saloon song...One for my baby? - National Swing and Big Band | Examiner.com

Margaret Whiting who had hit with Moonlight in Vermont has died

Big Band Era singer Margaret Whiting has died at age 86 at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home in Englewood, N.J.

Her musical talent may have been inherited; her father Richard Whiting, was a famous composer of popular songs. In her childhood her singing ability was already noticed, and at the age of only seven years she sang for Johnny Mercer, for whom her father worked. In 1942, Mercer started Capitol Records with two partners, and signed her as one of their earliest recording artists.

Her first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras:
*"That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack And His Orchestra (1942)
*"Moonlight In Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra (1943)
*"It Might As Well Be Spring", with Paul Weston And His Orchestra (1943)
In 1945 she began to record under her own name, making such recordings as:
*"All Through The Day" (1945, becoming a bestseller in the spring of 1946)
*"In Love In Vain" (1945):(these two from the movie "Centennial Summer")
*"Guilty" (1946)
*"Oh, But I Do" (1946)
*"A Tree In The Meadow" (a number 1 hit in the summer of 1948)
*"Slipping Around", a duet with country music star Jimmy Wakely (a number 1 hit in 1949)
*"Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1949)
*"Blind Date", a novelty record with Bob Hope (1950)
*"Faraway Places (With Strange Sounding Names)"

One of her biggest hits was "Moonlight In Vermont." The top paper in Vermont is the Burlington Free-Press. Here is a portion of their story about Whiting and the impact of the song on the state;
"The singer who popularized the tune “Moonlight in Vermont” and in the process helped craft the image of the state as a rustic haven illuminated by a silvery glow is dead.

Whiting was a young Hollywood singer who had never been to Vermont when she first recorded “Moonlight” in the midst of World War II. The bittersweet ballad was broadcast on Armed Forces Radio and brought images of a quietly beautiful Vermont to people around the globe.

The song contributed to the Vermont brand, starting with the impact it had on World War II soldiers, said Harry Orth of Shelburne, professor emeritus at the University of Vermont and co-author of the Vermont Encyclopedia.

The song is beautiful yet reflective, said Orth, who wrote the entry about “Moonlight in Vermont” in the Vermont Encyclopedia.

“It’s a very contemplative song,” he said. “You could really see some soldier leaning back in a bunk or in a foxhole and just wishing he could be in such a wonderful place.”
The song was written by Karl Seussdorf and John Blackburn. Neither one was a Vermonter — which might explain why sycamore trees appear in the “Moonlight” lyrics but make so few appearances in the Vermont woods." Source: The Burlington Free-Press

Visit THE MEMORY LANE SHOP to buy Margaret's music.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Margaret Whiting who had hit with Moonlight in Vermont has died - National Swing and Big Band | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/swing-and-big-band-in-national/margaret-whiting-who-had-hit-with-moonlight-vermont-has-died#ixzz1Avlmx7bU

The song 'Laura'...the lyrics written after the movie's release!

 
"Laura" by David Raksin and Johnny Mercer

David Raksin had written the melody to accompany the film, and even without words, it fit perfectly into the haunting atmosphere of the story of Laura Hunt. But without words, it was believed that the song would not go much further.

Even after the film became a hit, and the tune earned its own following, musicologist Alec Wilder in his book, American Popular Song, remembers first hearing the melody.
"Unanimously it was concluded (by the publishers) that so complex a melody would be highly impractical to publish."

It needed a lyric, and the obvious choice to write the words about "Laura" was Johnny Mercer. This was a period, the mid-40's, when Hollywood and theater musicals were becoming more integrated with story, character and song. Mercer was unbeatable in writing good songs, whether or not they were part of a libretto. 
In 1945, Mercer was in New York with Harold Arlen writing a theater score for St. Louis Woman. (The show failed, but great songs came out of it, including standards like, "Come Rain or Come Shine," and "I Wonder What Became of Me.") He received a request from RKO Studios to write a lyric to Raksin's melody.

By now, months had passed and the public was familiar with the film and its theme. The melody, "Laura," was closely identified with the popular mystery. Mercer was faced with writing a lyric that would continue the theme of a haunting woman thought to be dead, a woman to whom men were irresistibly drawn. The result was one of Mercer's most popular and enduring songs.

Here are the Mercer lyrics;

Laura is the face in the misty light
Footsteps that you hear down the hall
The laugh that floats on a summer night

That you can never quite recall

And you see Laura on a train that is passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seem
She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura but she's only a dream


She gave your very first kiss to you
That was Laura
But she's only a dream

Here is Frank Sinatra's beautiful version.

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The Top Songs of 1944-Bing Crosby's 'Swinging On A Star' number one

Here are the Top Ten Songs of 1944;

1) Bing Crosby, "Swinging on a Star"
2) Andrews Sisters, "Shoo-Shoo Baby"
3) Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters, "Don't Fence Me In"
4) Jimmy Dorsey, "Besame Mucho"
5) Harry James, "I'll Get By"
6) Merry Macs, "Mairzy Doats"
7) Bing Crosby, "San Fernando Valley"
8) Bing Crosby, "I Love You"
9) Mills Brothers, "You Always Hurt the One You Love"
10) Dinah Shore, "I'll Walk Alone"

Bing Crosby starred in the movie "Going My Way" (Swinging On A Star-Oscar winning song by Jimmy Van Heusen). Only two big band tunes, from Jimmy Dorsey and Harry James, made the top ten list. "I'll Get By" has since become one of the best love songs of the century.Here is Bing in a clip from "Going My Way" singing "Swinging On A Star."
Read about the creation of the song by Jimmy Van Heusen.

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.