music Archives - Page 84 of 265 - Ramblin' with Roger

1931: Bing Crosby and Guy Lombardo

hold that tiger!

By 1931, in the midst of the Depression, the music business plummeted. According to A Century of Pop Music by Joel Whitburn, record sales hit only six million in 1932 compared “to the peak of 140 million only five years earlier. The opportunity to hear all the popular songs on the radio for free… also contributed to the desperate slump.”

Into that market came Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby. Bing Crosby was “the king of popular records during the 1930s following his departure from the Paul Whiteman band, with nearly 150 charted hits from 1931-1939 alone.”

Meanwhile, “the mellow sweet-band sounds of Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians were top sellers throughout the decade.” Jazz purists might have preferred the sounds such as the ensemble led by Duke Ellington, whose Mood Indigo got up to #3 in 1931.

Some songs

The Peanut Vendor (El Manicero) – Don Azpiazu with Antonio Machin (Victor), seven weeks at #1. An early foreign language hit.
Good-night, Sweetheart – Wayne King with Ernie Birchill (Victor), seven weeks at #1.

Sweet and Lovely– Gus Amheim with Donald Novis (Victor), six weeks at #1.

Dream A Little Dream of Me – Wayne King with Ernie Birchill (Victor), four weeks at #1. You may know the cover by Mama Cass Elliot 37 years later.
Tiger Rag – the Mills Brothers, (Brunswick), four weeks at #1. I have this on a collection called 100 Years of Black Music. This a consequential track. See this Fleischer cartoon.

Der Bingle

By the River St. Marie – Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo (Columbia), three weeks at #1. Later covered by Frankie Laine.
Out of Nowhere – Bing Crosby (Brunswick), three weeks at #1.
At Your Command – Bing Crosby (Brunswick), three weeks at #1.
(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time – Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo (Columbia), three weeks at #1.
I Found A Million Dollar Baby (In A Five and Ten Cent Store) – Fred Waring with Claire Hanlon, three weeks at #1. Waring was the arranger of a lot of the songs I sang in my high school choir and especially glee club.

Good Night Sweetheart – Guy Lombardo with Carmen Lombardo (Columbia), two weeks at #1.
Just One More Chance – Bing Crosby (Brunswick), two weeks at #1.

Diamond Dave

Just a Gigolo – Ted Lewis (Columbia), two weeks at #1. From Songfacts: “In 1931, ‘Just A Gigolo’ became Bing Crosby’s first-ever hit song as a solo artist (#12 Pop.) It was originally adapted from an Austrian hit ‘Schoner Gigolo,’ written in 1928 and was first sung in America by the French star Irene Bordoni.

‘It was restyled by trumpeter-singer Louis Prima in 1956 with an uptempo arrangement combining ‘Just a Gigolo’ with another song, ‘I Ain’t Got Nobody.’ While still a member of Van Halen, David Lee Roth released a solo EP of standards in 1984, including his interpretation of Louis Prima’s version of this track.”

When The Moon Comes Over The Mountains – Kate Smith (Columbia), two weeks at #1.

Minnie the Moocher (The Ho De Ho Song), Cab Calloway (Brunswick). I recently wrote about call-and-response. This song definitely qualifies!
Stardust – Isham Jones (Brunswick)

The trials of the ‘Scottsboro Boys’

Leadbelly song

As the story goes, “No crime in American history– let alone a crime that never occurred– produced as many trials, convictions, reversals, and retrials as did an alleged gang rape of two white girls by nine black teenagers on a Southern Railroad freight run on March 25, 1931.

“Over the course of the two decades that followed, the struggle for justice of the ‘Scottsboro Boys,’ as the black teens were called, made celebrities out of anonymities, launched and ended careers, wasted lives, produced heroes, opened southern juries to blacks, exacerbated sectional strife, and divided America’s political left.”

Britannica notes: “Despite testimony by doctors who had examined the women that no rape had occurred, the all-white jury convicted the nine, and all but the youngest, who was 12 years old, were sentenced to death.

“The announcement of the verdict and sentences brought a storm of charges from outside the South that a gross miscarriage of justice had occurred in Scottsboro. The cause of the ‘Scottsboro Boys’ was championed, and in some cases exploited, by Northern liberal and radical groups, notably the Communist Party of the U.S.A.

Here’s a video from Ancient History, though it’s not so ancient.

SCOTUS

History.com notes: The trials and repeated retrials of the Scottsboro Boys sparked an international uproar and produced two landmark U.S. Supreme Court verdicts, even as the defendants were forced to spend years battling the courts and enduring the harsh conditions of the Alabama prison system.

One of the cases was Powell v. Alabama (1932), in which SCOTUS ruled that the Scottsboro defendants had been denied the right to counsel. This violated their right to due process under the 14th Amendment. “The Supreme Court overturned the Alabama verdicts, setting an important legal precedent for enforcing the right of African Americans to adequate counsel, and remanded the cases to the lower courts.”

The second, again overturning the guilty verdicts, was in Norris v. Alabama (1935). The “systematic exclusion of blacks on Jackson Country jury rolls denied a fair trial to the defendants… This second landmark decision in the Scottsboro Boys case would help integrate future juries across the nation.”

You can “meet” the individuals involved through the American Experience piece Who Were the Scottsboro Boys?

In 2013(!), Alabama posthumously pardoned three of them after 80 years, “essentially absolving the last of the Scottsboro Boys of criminal misconduct and closing one of the most notorious chapters of the South’s racial history.”

Music

Here are the lyrics to the song Scottsboro Boys by Hudie Leadbetter, known as Leadbelly. Listen to the song.

There was a Broadway musical of this story in 2010. Music and lyrics were by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who had done Cabaret and other successful shows. It ran for 29 previews and 49 performances. Watch the 2011 Tony Awards performance.

The FABulous Irish JEOPARDY!

Oxalis triangularis

I have a confession. I’ve never drunk green beer. As someone who is 25% Irish, this may be a sin against Saint Patrick. Of course, the reason is that I don’t drink ANY beer.

You may know that I’m somewhat of a fan of the game show JEOPARDY! So I looked back at the questions referencing the Emerald Isle on the show in 2020. The answers to the first set are below.

BESTSELLING NONFICTION $800: “Say Nothing” by Patrick Radden Keefe examines the historic “Troubles” in this smallest of the 4 U.K. political divisions
TRIANGULAR $400: Oxalis triangularis is the purple clover, or purple this, a word associated with Ireland.
I’M JUST THE “GO” BETWEEN $2000: This patriotic phrase means “Ireland forever”.
EUROPEAN HISTORY IS A DOWNER $200: A lack of genetic diversity in this crop in 1840s Ireland was a major cause of disaster for the population.

HODGEPODGE $200: An early depiction of a demon holding this customary farm implement is on a thousand-year-old high cross in County Louth, Ireland.
ISLAND PEOPLE $800: She was in 13 consecutive S.I. swimsuit issues and despite her name, does not speak with a brogue.
THE IRISHMAN $1600: In 2018 Gerry Adams resigned as head of this 2-word Northern Ireland unification party after 35 years
GOATS (GREATEST OF ALL TIME) $2000: In a 2010 poll this Nobel Peace Prize winner and politician ranked as Ireland’s greatest person.
NATIONS’ SECOND-LARGEST CITIES $400: Put a stopper in this second city of Ireland, found on an island in the River Lee.

A post-Beatles interlude

Both John and Paul wrote and performed songs about the Irish. Each song is very… earnest.

The Luck of the Irish – John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Elephant’s Memory – from the 1972 album Some Time in New York City
Give Ireland Back to the Irish – Paul McCartney and Wings, single, went to #21 on the Billboard charts in 1972. And this the instrumental B-side.

The answer to these is Ireland

ANTIQUES $2000: Treasured Belleek ware pottery was manufactured starting in the 1850s at Fermanagh on this island.
CATHOLIC NATIONS $800: St. Columba’s House and St. Kevin’s Kitchen are 2 historic churches in this European nation that’s about 80% Catholic.
NATIONS IN THE NATIVE TONGUE $200: Éire.
HYDE $600: Founder of the Gaelic League, Douglas Hyde was also the first president of this republic.
MARY: ME $1200: And here’s to you, Mary Robinson, president of this European country from 1990 to 1997.

Answers from the top quiz: Northern Ireland; Shamrock; Erin go Bragh; Potatoes; Pitchfork; Kathy Ireland; Sinn Fein; John Hume; Cork (County Cork is where my people came from.)

Stats!

Proxy title songs of albums

“It’s time for a few small repairs”

Back in the olden days, when people used to buy albums, there were naming protocols. Often the first album was named for the band. Those albums are called self-titled or eponymous. Here are some of the best.

Variations are albums that have the group name in the title. Herb Alpert’s Ninth, Chicago V, Meet the Supremes, Beatles for Sale, the new McCartney III.

Particularly in the early days of the LP, there would be a track that was designated to be the “hit” or the most significant. This is called the title song, and there are scads of them. Are You Experienced -Jimi Hendrix, Let It Be-The Beatles.

There’s another category, and I don’t know what it’s called. It’s the songs that have the title of the album in the lyrics, but the name of the album is NOT the name of the song. I’ve called it Proxy title songs of albums, but if there’s a better designation, I’m amenable.

The list came from a Facebook music group and a couple of folks from Quora, but not the guy who suggested I “look on the Internet.” Some I already knew.

The music

I’m Lucky – Joan Armatrading from Walk Under Ladders. “I’m lucky. I can walk under ladders.”

E.T.I. (Extraterrestrial Intelligence) – Blue Öyster Cult from Agents of Fortune. “Don’t report this, agents of fortune.”

Sunny Came Home – Shawn Colvin from A Few Small Repairs. “It’s time for a few small repairs.”

Drive, She Said – Julian Cope. “Here piggy Peggy sooey suicide.”

Alison – Elvis Costello from My Aim Is True is mentioned in the track Alison. “Oh, Alison, my aim is true.”

Skateaway – Dire Straits from Making Movies. “She’s making movies on location.”

You Learn – Alanis Morissette from Jagged Little Pill. “Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill).”

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana from Nevermind. “I found it hard, it’s hard to find. Oh well, whatever, never mind.”

Brain Damage – Pink Floyd from Dark Side of the Moon. “I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.”

Dancer – Queen from Hot Space. “Hot space let’s go!”

Groups beginning with the letter S

Without a Trace – Soul Asylum from Grave Dancer’s Union. “I joined the Grave Dancers Union, I had to file.”

We Built This City – Starship from Knee Deep in the Hhoopla. “Knee-deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight.” Oy.

Doctor Wu – Steely Dan from Katy Lied. “Katy tried. I was halfway crucified… Katy lies, you can see it in her eyes.” (Close enough.)

Sister Moon -Sting from …Nothing Like the Sun. “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.”

The Six Teens – Sweet from Desolation Boulevard. “And dream they saw their name in lights On Desolation Boulevard.”

Girlfriend Is Better -Talking Heads from Stop Making Sense. “I got a girlfriend that’s better than that.”

Walk On – U2 from All That You Can’t Leave Behind. “The only baggage you can bring Is all that you can’t leave behind.”

Mean Streets – Van Halen from Fair Warning. “Wait a minute, ah (This is home) Somebody said ‘Fair warning’, Lord.”

Could This Magic? – Van Halen from Women and Children First. “Better save the women and children first.”

Stinkfoot – Frank Zappa from Apostrophe (*). “Well I told ’em right then, Fido said. It should be easy to see. The crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.”

Since I wrote this, I found a slew more of these. Expect a follow-up.

Paul Whiteman and the hits of 1921

Van and Schenck

Paul Whiteman had five of the 12 #1 hits for the year 1921, all instrumentals. Who WAS this guy? “Whiteman’s skill at the viola resulted in a place in the Denver Symphony Orchestra by 1907, joining the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1914.

In 1918, Whiteman conducted a 12-piece U.S. Navy band, the Mare Island Naval Training Camp Symphony Orchestra (NTCSO). After the war, he formed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.”

Here’s some info from the Syncopated Times. “Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra was the most popular band of the 1920s and represented the apex of jazz to the general public.

“Over the years, critics and some musicians like Eddie Condon, have not had kind words to say about the band and have tended to represent Whiteman as a bad influence on the music in his attempts to ‘Make a lady out of Jazz.'” What the heck does THAT mean?

“In the 1920s he dominated the scene and hired the best White hot musicians like Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Jack Teagarden, and many more to play in his band.

The standards

“So, what was it that has led Whiteman’s name to be dragged through the mud in the annals of jazz history? Paul Whiteman being the most popular Jazz band leader of the Jazz Age is blamed for the racism in America that denied African-American musicians the credit that they deserved in the history of Jazz.”

On the other hand, he made it palatable for the (white) masses. That said, by all measures, he was very good at it. Here’s a pathfinder from the University at Albany about Whiteman.

“The Paul Whiteman Orchestra introduced many jazz standards in the 1920s, including ‘From Monday On,’ written by Harry Barris and sung by the Rhythm Boys featuring Bing Crosby and Irene Taylor; and ‘Rhapsody in Blue,’ composed by George Gershwin who played piano on the Paul Whiteman recording in 1924.”

They’re #1

Again, I used the Discography of American Historical Recordings, which I discussed here. I found all of the tracks except Wabash Blues and Margie.

Wang Wang Blues – Whiteman (Victor), six weeks at #1, gold record.
Wabash Blues – Isham Jones (Brunswick), six weeks at #1, gold record.
Cherie – Whiteman (Victor), six weeks at #1.

Song of India – Whiteman (Victor), five weeks at #1.
Say It With Music – Whiteman (Victor), five weeks at #1.
My Mammy – Whiteman (Victor), five weeks at #1.
Margie – Eddie Cantor (Emerson), five weeks at #1. “After all is said and done, there is really only one. Oh! Margie, Margie, it’s you.” This is VERY familiar. I have a Ray Charles version of this, but that’s not where I first heard it.

All By Myself – Ted Lewis Jazz Band (Columbia), four weeks at #1.
O-H-I-O (Oh-My!-O) – Al Jolson (Columbia), four weeks at #1.

Make Believe – Nora Bayes (Columbia), three weeks at #1.
Look For The Silver Lining – Marion Harris (Columbia), three weeks at #1.

Ain’t We Got Fun – Van and Schenck (Columbia), two weeks at #1. Related to Arthur?