*There is a pronounced difference.
It is said that youth must be served, but the extent of what this generation knows of music is such that 1920s-1940s popular music/classic jazz, and hence this post, might as well be in a foreign language. However, for those past being served by the myopic world of current culture, listen up! August 15 is one of those days of a convergence which doesn’t come along every day: it’s the birthday of no less than four Golden Age American songwriters, the titles of whose songs afford me a theme-opportunity beyond the happenstance of their birthdays-in-common.
All four (born on this date from 1892 to 1901) were prolific tunesmiths, but what caught my attention is that each wrote one song with a girl’s name in the title which, in two cases, became standards, and in all four cases, were big hits in their day. The writers: Harry Akst, Sidney Clare, Charles Tobias, and Ned Washington; the songs: DINAH, MISS ANNABELLE LEE, ROSE O’DAY and STELLA BY STARLIGHT.
Although none of these men’s fame survived their era, a number of their compositions did (or, as an Irving Berlin song title put it, The Song Is Ended, But The Melody Lingers On). One such ditty is DINAH, by Harry Akst, a favorite of jazz musicians which has been recorded countless times since the 1920s. I like so many versions of this song that I couldn’t further narrow down this list if you Akst me to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhVdLd43bDI
(Louis Armstrong)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0XQuOd5HI
(New Orleans Jazz Vipers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlPLXNsz4GA
(Bing Crosby/Mills Bros.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkvJQuj2co
(Fats Waller)
The next tune, by Sidney Clare, is a particular favorite of mine.Written in 1927, it was recorded by numerous jazz and dance bands and became a toe-tapping best seller in America and Europe. What’s not to like about her? She’s wonderful, she’s marvelous….MISS ANNABELLE LEE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqavTUwm7sM
(George Fisher Kit Cat Band)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj-nTjL_aTY
(Savoy Havana Band)
Next we have Charles Tobias’s ROSE O’DAY, the most lightweight of the four — due, not to diet, but to being a silly novelty song which nevertheless was one of 1941’s top hits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkH-hmRFA_Y
(Dick Todd)
Last but not lightweight, there’s STELLA BY STARLIGHT, composed by Victor Young as the theme for the 1944 film “The Uninvited,” with lyrics added by Ned Washington in 1946. This beautiful standard has been recorded by dozens of artists, including the following:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwSaY1oSCw4
(Billy Eckstein)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UZ0xqdP2rw
(Anita O’Day)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P94vB3mLRzc
(Frank Sinatra)
That’s all. AS YOU WERE (if you’ve ever been in the military, you know what that means).
Richard Cahill 11:12 am on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
Wish I had the subject for my next 25 posts figured out, Sr. Muse. Probably half of them will be about the Caucasian in Chief, but I don’t know which half.
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mistermuse 11:39 am on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
I can only hope to find songs with girls names for the next 25 letters of the alphabet, Ricardo. I’m already anticipating trouble with “Z” (unless there’s a song titled ZELDA after the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald), assuming I can get that far without allowing for a few Xceptions.
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Richard Cahill 11:53 am on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
There’s Xena, the Warrior Princess. She probably has a theme song. Let me know if you need further assistance
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mistermuse 7:39 pm on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
Thanks, Ricardo, but Xena wouldn’t qualify, as I’m looking for oldies (over 50 years old). If I’m going to stretch the ‘rules,’ I’d rather go with The X-MAS SONG (there must be girls born on Christmas day whose parents named her Christmas).
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Carmen 6:45 pm on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
Well, I can help you out with the third letter of the alphabet . . . Never mind a song, there’s an opera! 🙂
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mistermuse 7:12 pm on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
Are you admitting that you’re a diva, Carmen? (Not that I would hold it against you, because I’m a very broad-minded fellow!) 🙂
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Carmen 7:29 pm on October 1, 2017 Permalink |
I don’t think that’s quite the way that phrase goes, Mister. Isn’t it supposed to be, “If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?” (From a very broad-bodied woman). 😉
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mistermuse 8:08 pm on October 1, 2017 Permalink
That version sounds like something Groucho Marx said in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA — perhaps to Margaret Dumont, a very broad-bodied woman in the same film. In any case, I apologize for asking if you’re diva-ish, because I’m sure there isn’t a devious bone in your broad body….which is more than I can say of myself.
Why do I get myself in these situations anyway? 😦
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Don Frankel 7:42 am on October 2, 2017 Permalink |
Will this be only first names? If not well next up has to be Miss Brown, Miss Brown to you.
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mistermuse 11:16 am on October 2, 2017 Permalink |
You’ve got B covered both ways, Don — Billie and Miss Brown (and a beautiful combination it is). As for “only first names,” that is my intention, but I’m not ruling out last names as a last resort in a particular case.
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