OMG

The competition's getting really fierce at the Iowahawk Endowment for the Arts $33.18 Steel Cage Art Death Match. Some great new entries: I'm partial to The Battle Hymn of the Obamatons - First verse & chorus:

Barack Hussein Obama is the coming of the Lord!
He has taken o’er the banks where all the cap’t’list wealth is stored,
He runs all the auto comp’nies save those bastards out at Ford!
His lies keep rolling on!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Barack Obama is our ruler!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
His lies keep rolling on!

Whole song here. The downsized auto worker in me couldn't resist that one, but go see them all - you'll laugh & laugh.

Wain Wednesday 14

"The Cat Next Door"

by
Louis Wain

Musical Accompaniment:

"Love Thy Neighbor" - Bing Crosby (1934)

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
Mack Gordon, Harry Revel
1934

Never treat others with scorn;
We're only here 'cause we're born.
Although you're way up,
You may not stay up:
Stop tootin' your horn!

Like most of the wealth you possess
High on the hill of success,
On friendship you never should frown:
You'll need the same friends
On the weary way down ...

Love thy neighbor,
Walk up and say, "How be ya?
Gee, but I'm glad to see ya, pal -
How's tricks? What's new?"

Love thy neighbor,
Offer to share his burden.
Tell him to say the word'n,
You will see him through.

'Specially if there should be
A beautiful girl next door;
Say to that girl next door,
"Now, don't think I'm bold
But my mother told me to ..."

Love thy neighbor,
And you will find your labor
A great deal easier, life'll be breezier
If ... you love thy neighbor.

Heed the wisdom of Der Bingle, lest you should end up like this.

Valentine's Day

I've edited this post to keep it on top until

the 14th. Scroll down to see

if I've actually had time to write something *new*.

It's coming, and there's not a darned thing we can do about it.

So ... which side are you on?



I CAN'T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE
Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh
1928

Gee, but it's tough to be broke, kid,
It's not a joke, kid, it's a curse.
My luck is changing, it's gotten
From simply rotten, to something worse.

Who knows, some day I will win, too,
I'll begin to reach my prime.
Now, though, I see what our end is,
All I can spend is my time ...

I can't give you anything but love, baby;
That's the only thing I've plenty of, baby.
Dream a while, scheme a while, you're sure to find
Happiness, and I guess, all those things you've always pined for.

Gee, I'd like to see you lookin' swell, baby;
Diamond bracelets Woolworth doesn't sell, baby.
'Til that lucky day, you know darned well, baby -
I can't give you anything but love.

Ukulele Ike - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

Ella Fitzgerald & Her Orchestra - Taking A Chance On Love

Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Who's Afraid Of Love?

Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra - Lover

Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Believe It, Beloved

Bing Crosby - Like Someone In Love

Count Basie & His Orchestra - Exactly Like You

Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (v. Peggy Lee) - Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

Doris Day - Somebody Loves Me

Jo Stafford & The Paul Weston Orchestra - Blue Moon

Mezz Mezzrow - Everybody Loves My Baby

The Leo Reisman Orchestra - Isn't This A Lovely Day?

Bing Crosby & Jimmy Dorsey - Too Marvelous For Words

Nat "King" Cole - Embraceable You

The Mills Brothers - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

Isham Jones & His Orchestra - My Baby Just Cares For Me

Judy Garland - You Made Me Love You



DOWN WITH LOVE
E.Y.'Yip' Harburg, Harold Arlen
1937

You, sons of Adam; you, daughters of Eve,
The time has come to take your love-torn hearts
Off your sleeve.
Look, look about you
What do you see?
Love-sick, love-lorn, love-wrecked, love-worn
Boo-hoo-manity!
There'll be no peace on earth until this curse
Is wiped off from this love-mad universe.
Are we mice or men? Can't you see the light?
Come, you fellow victims, let's unite!

Down with love,
With flowers and rice and shoes;
Down with love,
The root of all midnight blues.

Down with things
That give you that well-known pain;
Take that moon and
Wrap it in cellophane.

Down with love,
Let's liquidate all its friends;
Moons and Junes and roses and
Rainbow's ends.

Down with songs
That moan about night and day;
Down with love,
Yes, take it away, away!

Away, take it away
Give it back to the birds and the bees
And the Viennese.

Down with eyes romantic and stupid
Down with sighs, down with Cupid.
Brother, let's stuff that dove -
Down with love!

Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra - Down With Love

Jane Froman with Al Goodman - Boy! What Love Has Done To Me!

Fred Astaire & The Johnny Green Orchestra - A Fine Romance (A Sarcastic Love Song)

Johnny Long & His Orchestra - No Love, No Nothin'

The Mills Brothers - Loveless Love

Eddie Condon & His Orchestra - When Your Lover Has Gone

Ella Fitzgerald & Her Orchestra - You Don't Know What Love Is

Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra - Love Ain't Nothin' But The Blues

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra - Easy To Love

Anita O'Day & The Will Bradley Orchestra - What Is This Thing Called Love?

Mary Martin - Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love

Bunny Berigan & His Orchestra - I Can't Get Started

Billie Holiday - Love Me Or Leave Me

Stan Kenton & His Orchestra - Willow, Weep For Me

Fats Waller & His Rhythm - You've Been Taking Lessons In Love

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Mood Indigo

Eddie Cantor - Makin' Whoopee


I'll leave it to you to guess which camp I'm in.

Wain Wednesday 11

by
Louis Wain

Musical Accompaniment:

"Can't We Be Friends?" - Red Nichols & His Orchestra (1929)


CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?
Paul James, Kay Swift
"THE LITTLE SHOW OF 1929"

I took each word she said as gospel truth
The way a silly little child would;
I can't excuse it on the grounds of youth,

I was no babe in the wild, wild wood.
She didn't mean it, I should have seen it,
But now it's too late.

I thought I'd found the girl of my dreams,
Now it seems, this is how the story ends --
She's gonna turn me down and say,
"Can't we be friends?"

I thought for once it couldn't go wrong,
Not for long! I can see the way this ends --
She's gonna turn me down and say,
"Can't we be friends?"

Why should I care,
Though she gave me the air?
Why should I cry, heave a sigh,
And wonder why?

I thought I'd found the gal I could trust,
What a bust! This is how the story ends --
She's gonna turn me down and say,
"Can't we be friends?"

Thou Swell, Thou Witty

Samantha Burns' faux Arthurian-speak quoted in my post below made me think of one of my favorite songs.

It's "Thou Swell," by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, from the musical "A Connecticut Yankee" (1927). The musical was based on the Mark Twain (another of my favorites) novel, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." It's tough to translate dialect of the Round Table into lyrics of an American popular song of the Roaring 20s, but Larry Hart does it beautifully. It sounds fresh and funny today, 80 years later. Married to Rodgers' music, it's a class act for a variety of vocal stylings. And the tune by itself stands as a great and swinging instrumental. One of my absolute faves, on all counts.

Sound files for "Thou Swell":

Louisiana Sugar Babes

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra

Bix Beiderbecke & His Gang

And a few of 30-second clips from Amazon:

Ella Fitzgerald with Buddy Bregman

Sarah Vaughan (live)

Nat 'King' Cole (live)

Count Basie & Joe Williams

Stephane Grappelli & Yehudi Menuhin

THOU SWELL
"A Connecticut Yankee"
Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
1927

He:

Babe, we are well met,
As in a spell met,
I lift my helmet,
Sandy; You're just dandy.
For just this here lad.
You're such a fistfull.
My eyes are mistful,
Are you too wistful to care,
Do say you care to say;
"Come near lad."
You are so graceful,
Have you wings?
You have a face full of nice things;
You have no speaking voice, dear,
With ev'ry word it sings

Refrain:

Thou swell! Thou witty!
Thou sweet! Thou grand!
Wouldst kiss me pretty?
Wouldst hold my hand?
Both thine eyes are cute too;
What they do to me.
Hear me holler, I choose a
Sweet lollapaloosa in thee.
I'd feel so rich in a hut for two;
Two rooms and kitchen I'm sure would do;
Give me just a plot of,
Not a lot of land, and
Thou swell! Thou Witty! Thou Grand!

She:

Thy words are queer, Sir,
Unto mine ear, Sir,
Yet thou'rt a dear, Sir, to me;
Thou could'st woo me;
Now could'st though try, knight.
I'd murmur "Swell", too,
And like it well too;
More thou wilt tell to Sandy.
Thou art dandy;
Now art though my knight.
Thine arms are martial;
Thou hast grace;
My cheek is partial to they face;
And if thy lips grow weary,
Mine are a resting place.

Refrain:

Thou swell! Thou witty!
Thou sweet! Thou grand!
Wouldst kiss me pretty?
Wouldst hold my hand?
Both thine eyes are cute too;
What they do to me.
Hear me holler, I choose a
Sweet lollapaloosa in thee.
I'd feel so rich in a hut for two;
Two rooms and kitchen I'm sure would do;
Give me just a plot of,
Not a lot of land, and
Thou swell! Thou Witty! Thou Grand!

Video:

At the first Bern International Jazz Festival in 1986, Dick Hyman and Dick Wellstood play "Thou Swell" on two Bosendorfer grand pianos. And don't I wish I could play like that. *sigh*

You Gotta Eat Your Spinach, Baby

POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL - 1936

Little Barbara Barry (Shirley Temple) is sent off to school by her busy, widowed father, who's a soap manufacturer. When her nurse is injured at the train station en route, Barbara finds herself alone in town. She is found by a pair (Jack Haley and Alice Faye) of down-on-their-luck radio song-and-dance performers. Barbara masquerades as their daughter, and they get work sponsored by a rival soap company. Barbara is ultimately reunited with her father when he hears her on the radio.

My favorite scene is the performance of this number:

YOU GOTTA EAT YOUR SPINACH, BABY
Mack Gordon, Harry Revel

Alice Faye, Jack Haley & Shirley Temple (Film Soundtrack) - 1937

HALEY:
I want your cheeks to be rosey,
Your lips like the color of wine.
Darling, the way that people will say that
"My, but you're looking so fine!"

FAYE & HALEY:
Oooooooooohhhhhhhh ...

FAYE:
I want you strong as Apollo,
A sturdy and masculine sheik.
Darling, the way that people will say that,
"My, what a gorgeous physique!"
If you want to be like I want you to be,
Follow this carefully:

You've gotta eat your spinach, baby,
That's the proper thing to do.
It'll keep you kind of healthy too
And what it did for Popeye, it will do for you.

You've gotta eat your spinach, baby,
To give you lots of TNT.
For whenever you're caressing me,
Then you'll need every vitamin from A to Z.

Please take my advice;
Kissing is dangerous, doctors all agree.

HALEY:
I'll take your advice,
But don't ever kiss anybody but me.

FAYE:
You've gotta eat your spinach, baby,
If you do you can't go wrong.
For it's gonna make you nice and strong;
And the stronger you are, the longer you'll live,
And the longer I'll have to love you.

TEMPLE:
Pardon me, did I hear you say Spinach?

FAYE & HALEY:
Spinach!

TEMPLE:
I represent all the kids of the nation,
Who sent me to see you about it.
I bring the message from the kids of the nation
To tell you we can do without it.

Kindly listen to me,
I'm not alone in my plea.
There are dozens and dozens and dozens of us,
Nephews and nieces and cousins of us,
They want me to say ... Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

No spinach, take away that awful greenery!
No spinach, give us lots of jelly beanery.
We positively refuse to budge,
We'd like lollipops and we like fudge,
But no spinach, Hosanna!

FAYE & HALEY:
You've got to eat your spinach, baby.

TEMPLE:
No, no, no, no, I'm singing to you.
No, no, no, no, Hallelujah!
Spinach, stay away from my door!

FAYE & HALEY:
We'll tell the bogey man,
The big big, bad bad, bogey bogey man.

TEMPLE:
Oh, that's just a bluff -
You know we don't believe that stuff.

FAYE & HALEY:
You gotta eat your spinach, baby,
Children have to do as they are told.

TEMPLE:
Yes Sir, yes Ma'am.

FAYE & HALEY:
Children shouldn't be so very bold.

TEMPLE:
Yes Sir, yes Ma'am.

FAYE & HALEY:
Or you'll grow up to be a meanie when your old.

TEMPLE:
Yes Sir, yes Ma'am.

I will to tell all the kids of the nation
Who sent me to see you about it,
Children have to do as they are told.

HALEY:
Umm-hmm.

TEMPLE:
Children shouldn't be so very bold.

HALEY:
Umm-hmm.

TEMPLE:
Or you will be a meanie when you're old.
So, okay...

ALL:
Spinach!

They just don't make 'em like that any more - songs or little girls.

I couldn't find a sound file of the movie version, but here's one from the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (1936, vocal Edythe Wright).

See, it did work for him!

Puttin' On The Ritz II

A bit of a more traditional take on "Puttin' On The Ritz." From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Puttin' On The Ritz" is a popular song written and published in 1929 by Irving Berlin. The title derives from the slang expression "putting on the Ritz", meaning to dress very fashionably. The expression was inspired by the swanky Ritz Hotel. The song gives Gary Cooper as an example of someone who puts on the Ritz.

The original version of Berlin's song referred to the then-popular fad of well-to-do white New Yorkers visiting African-American jazz music venues in Harlem. Berlin later revised the lyrics to be more generally applicable to going out on the town in style.

Here's a sound file with the original flavor, by Harry Richman & Earl Burnett (1930). Below are the lyrics as they're generally sung today.

PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ
Irving Berlin - 1929

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue?
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air?

High hats and Arrow collars,
White spats and lots of dollars.
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time!

If you're blue
And you don't know where to go to,
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Diff'rent types who
Wear a day coat, pants with stripes
And cutaway coat, perfect fits,
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Dressed up like a million dollar trouper,
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper -
Super-duper!

Come let's mix
Where Rockefellers walk with sticks
Or um-ber-ellas in their mitts,
Puttin' on the Ritz.

Christmas Songs

WINTER WONDERLAND
Dick Smith, Felix Bernard
1934

Over the ground lies a mantle of white,
A heaven of diamonds shines down through the night.
Two hearts are thrillin'
In spite of the chill in the weather.

Love knows no season, love knows no clime,
Romance can blossom any old time.
Here in the open
We're walkin' and hopin' together...

Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'?
In the lane, snow is glistenin';
A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is a new bird.
He sings a love song as we go along,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he is Parson Brown.
He'll say, "Are you married?" We'll say, "No man,
But you can do the job when you're in town."

Later on, we'll conspire
As we dream by the fire,
To face unafraid the plans that we've made
Walking in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he's a circus clown.
We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman
Until the other kiddies knock him down.

When it snows, ain't it thrillin'
Though your nose gets a chillin'?
We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Hear it - Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers
(no verses, unfortunately)

Singing this song is one of my favorite memories of public school choir class (and one of my early fascinations with verses in popular song - I really like these). I was in jr. high, and we were putting on a Christmas program with the high school choir. I remember practicing this number over and over and loving every minute of it. Can they even sing this in public school any more? It's not overtly religious, of course, but there's that questionable "Parson Brown" ... It would probably be okay if they switched it to "Imam Brown," since school tots are encouraged to be multi-cultural, as long as it's not Christian. I'm sort of a heathen, but I do resent the scouring of Christ from the Christmas, er, holiday season. An aside on good Parson Brown - another memory is of the cut-up of the sr. high choir trying to bribe the soloist who would be singing that passage to sing Parson Fuzz when we did the concert, for some unknown reason. (He didn't succeed). I think he was the same wag who made brownies containing ex-Lax for the after-concert party.

Another favorite I remember from that choir season is the beautiful "Oh, Holy Night." I remember the choir director pounding her fist on the piano, yelling, "Rest, rest, REST!" while trying to get us to get our timing right and not come in too early (we'd loused it up a couple dozen times at that point):

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth. (Rest, rest, REST!)
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;
Oh night divine, Oh night, Oh night Divine.

I'm SURE that one's not allowed ... which is a shame.

Goody, Goody!

I am not a vindictive person. Sometimes I even try to whip up a good retaliatory fever against someone who richly deserves it, but it's just not in me. I'd rather just hope the fates catch up with them and forget the whole thing. Vengeance is Divine, not mine.

Still, I just love this song. Of course, it's too jaunty to be very wrathful, too cute to be truly spiteful.

GOODY GOODY

Johnny Mercer and Matt Malneck
1935

You told me that there wasn't a lesson in lovin'
You hadn't learned - Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah?

You told me that you keep playing with fire
Without getting burned - Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah?

So you met someone who set you back on your heels -
Goody, goody!
So you met someone and now you know how it feels -
Goody, goody!
So you gave him your heart too, just as I gave mine to you,
And he broke it in little pieces, now how do you do?

So you lie awake just singin' the blues all night -
Goody, goody!
So you think that love's a barrel of dynamite.
Hooray and hallelujah, you had it coming to ya.
Goody, goody for him - Goody, goody for me -
And I hope you're satisfied, you rascal you!

Sound files:

Benny Goodman, Helen Ward vocal (1936)

Ella Fitzgerald (date unknown)

Video:

A fifteen-year-old Frankie Lymon, sans Teenagers, in a live TV performance in 1957. He muffs the lyrics toward the end, but his great smile and stylish delivery carry him through.

I'm Gonna Sit Right Down ...

In the pantheon of popular songsmiths, you've got your Gershwins, your Porters, your Berlins ... hmmm, I say that as though there could ever be more than one of any of those fellows. The fact that that we had even one of each is a miracle, of course. But I digress ... Pretty much everyone has at least heard those names, and their work is loved by millions. But there were a lot of other writers, who, although their songs continue to be recorded and performed today with great regularity, are not exactly household names. One such guy is Fred E. Ahlert, a composer who wrote (along with several lyricists, most commonly Roy Turk) some of jazz's most enduring standards.

Ahlert was born in New York, New York, September 19, 1892, and lived and worked there his entire life. He graduated from law school at Fordham Law, but then took a job with the music publishing house Waterson, Berlin and Snyder. He started work writing arrangements for popular bands, then began to write music for vaudeville acts. He soon was submitting his compositions to Tin Pan Alley publishers. One of his early hits (1922) was intriguingly titled "I Gave You Up Before You Threw Me Down." (I don't know that one, but will be seeking it out on the strength of that title alone!)

One of his smash hits was "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" (lyric by Joe Young), immortalized by the one-and-only Fats Waller. Fats recorded it several times, and made the tune so much his own that many thought it was his own composition. It was covered by Billy Williams in 1957, and went to #3 on the charts that year and million+ sales. Williams' version can be heard on the soundtrack of the 1998 movie "You've Got Mail" (during the credits roll). Click here for one by Mr. Waller. This particular version is one of his more subdued performances.

Ahlert met Roy Turk in 1928, and that year they had success with "I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)," at hit for Ruth Etting. And here's another version, from 1941 by the Harry James Orchestra (vocal Dick Haymes).

In 1929, Ahlert and Turk wrote one of my favorites, "Mean To Me."

MEAN TO ME

Sweetheart I love you,
Think the world of you,
But I'm afraid you don't care for me.
You never show it,
Don't let me know it;
Everyone says I'm a fool to
Be pining the whole day through.
Why do you act like you do?

You're mean to me,
Why must you be mean to me?
Gee, honey, it seems to me
You love to see me crying.

I don't know why

I stay home
Each night when you say you'll phone.
You don't and I'm left alone
Singing the blues and sighing.

You treat me coldly
Each day of the year.
You always scold me
Whenever somebody is near, dear.

It must be great fun to be mean to me;
You shouldn't, for can't you see
What you mean to me?

Here's an nifty instrumental version by Napoleon's Emperors, and another by Ruth Etting. I prefer the more up-tempo Emperor's version, but I like the fact that Etting does the verse, which isn't performed too often.

1930 produced what is probably Ahlert and Turk's most recognized number for the casual listener, thanks in large part to the very popular recording by Nat "King" Cole in 1952, "Walkin' My Baby Back Home." It was also a hit in '30/'31 for Ted Weems and Nick Lucas. Here it's done by Annette Hanshaw; I love the was she starts out, especially -- once again -- the inclusion of the cute verse, but she gets a little too "creative" with the melody on the last couple choruses and spoils the effect, IMHO. Also, here's a version by Louis Armstrong's Orchestra.

WALKIN' MY BABY BACK HOME

I've an agreeable baby
Likes everything that I do.
Dances most ev'ry night
Movies are his delight -
I sorta go for them, too.
But when movies and dances are done
That's when we have real fun ...

Gee, it's great after bein' out late
Walkin' my baby back home.
Arm-in-arm, over meadow and farm
Walkin' my baby back home.

We go along harmonizin' a song
Or he's reciting a poem.
Owls go by and they give me the eye
Walkin' my baby back home.

We stop for a while, he gives me a smile
I snuggle my head to his chest.
And then when he pets, believe me, he gets
My powder all over his vest!

After I kinda straighten his tie
I have to borrow his comb.
One kiss, then I continue again
Walkin' my baby back home.

I'm afraid of the dark, so I make him park
Outside of my door till it's light.
I said if he'd try to kiss me, I'd cry -
He dries my tears all through the night.

Hand-in-hand to a barbecue stand
Right from my doorway we roam.
Eat and then it's a pleasure again
Walkin' my baby back home.

1931 also produced "Where The Blue Of The Night (Meets The Gold Of The Day)," a top-five hit for Bing Crosby. Here's a waltz-tempo version by Abe Lyman's California Ambassador Hotel Orchestra. Also during 1931, “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)”, the 1931 # 2 hit by Wayne King and 1946 # 16 hit by Tommy Dorsey. Here is a version by the Nat Cole Trio.

In 1933, Ahlert became a Director of ASCAP, a position he would hold for 20 years (except for the 1948-’50 when he was elected to the position of President). He continued to write songs, contributing numbers to Hollywood musicals. He died in 1953 at age 61. For a guy whose name does not roll trippingly off everyone's lips, he left behind a fine volume of work.

Lyricist And Writer Betty Comden Dies

From the NYT:

"Betty Comden, who with her longtime collaborator Adolph Green wrote the lyrics and often the librettos for some of the most celebrated musicals of stage and screen, died yesterday in Manhattan. She was 89 and lived in Manhattan.



Photo NY Times

The cause was heart failure, said Ronald Konecky, her lawyer and the executor of her estate.

During a professional partnership that lasted for more than 60 years, and which finally ended with Mr. Green’s death in 2002, the Comden-Green blend of sophisticated wit and musical know-how lit up stage shows like 'On the Town,' 'Wonderful Town,' 'Peter Pan” and “Bells Are Ringing.' Their Hollywood credits included the screenplays for two landmark film musicals, 'Singin’ in the Rain' and 'The Band Wagon.' "

Photo NY Times

Composer Leonard Bernstein, choreographer Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green rehearsing "On The Town," for Broadway, 1944.

The movie version of "On The Town," with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, is one of the first movie musicals I remember being crazy about. The "New York, New York" number is so infectious. I love watching Sinatra, Kelly and Jules Munshin as sailors on leave, singing (and dancing) Gotham's praises:

New York, New York, a wonderful town;
The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down,
The people ride in a hole in the ground,
New York, New York,
It’s a wonderful town!

Another of my favorite Comden/Green numbers is a Jule Styne collaboration, from the 1956 show "Bells Are Ringing" (and the 1960 film of the same name), "Just In Time." It's a great, swingable number.

Just in time,
I found you just in time.
Before you came my time
Was runnin' low.

I was lost,
The losing dice were tossed;
My bridges all were crossed,
Nowhere to go.

Now you're here
And now I know just where I'm goin',
No more doubt or fear -
I've found my way.

For love came just in time,
I found you just in time;
And changed my lonely life
That lucky day.

I couldn't find a sound file of that number to post, but there are a lot of excellent recorded versions out there (I'm partial to Dean Martin's and Bobby Darin's), but here's a song from the same show.

"The Party's Over" - Doris Day

Comden lacked the colloquial charm and perfect genius of Dorothy Fields, but she was a solid writer and another great rarity in that field, a female lyricist.

UPDATE: 11-27-06 An addendum, from the weekly popular song column of the masterful Mark Steyn -- to see the entire piece, click here and look for "Steyn's Song of the Week." However, it will only be up on his site for one week. The quote is Abbott on Comden and Green:

So let me end with a quote from George Abbott, the veteran Broadway director who helped make On The Town a hit for its neophyte composer, lyricists, choreographer and producers. They’d sent him the script as the longest of long-shots. He read it on the train. “I like the smell of this,” he said. “Let’s do it tomorrow.” And he got off the train. Half a century later, I put to Mister Abbott the points I made above – ordinary situation, ostensibly regular boy-meets-girl love song but dramatically enlarged by the great geopolitical conflict in which they were caught up, their romance now freighted with uncertainty, etc. Mister Abbott, at the age of 106, brushed this aside.

“We didn’t think about that,” he said. “We thought, ‘What’s funny?’”

Which is always good advice.

Very true.

Personality

Personality - Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers

PERSONALITY
Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen
For the film ROAD TO UTOPIA
1946

When Madam Pompadour was on a ballroom floor
Said all the gentlemen "Obviously, "
"The madam has the cutest … personality."

And think of all the books about Du Barry's looks
What was it made her the toast of Paree?
She had a well-developed … personality.

What did Romeo see in Juliet?
Or Pierrot in Pierrette?
Or Jupiter in Juno? You know!

And when Salome danced and had the boys entranced,
No doubt it must have been easy to see
That she knew how to use her … personality .

A girl can learn to spell and take dictation well
And never sit on the boss's settee,
Unless she's got a perfect … personality.

A girl can get somewhere in spite of stringy hair
Or even just a bit bowed at the knee,
If she can show a faultless … personality.

Why are certain girls offered certain things
Like sable coats and wedding rings?
By men who wear their spats right? (That's right!)

So don'tcha say I'm smart and have the kindest heart
Or what a wonderful sister I'd be:
Just tell me how you like my … personality.

Baby, you've got the cutest … personality!

Salome Dancing Before Herod (detail)
Gustave Moreau 1876

Crazy Rhythm, From Now On We're Through!

I say we're through, but I'm wrong. This is one of those songs that gets stuck in my head and just stays there. At least it's a song I truly love, unlike a lot of the earworms I pick up. It seems to me to be a quintessential late-20's song (not that I was there to observe); peppy, fun, eminently danceable. Barely-out-of-his-teens composer Roger Wolfe Kahn, along with Joseph Meyer, penned a number that sounds youthful and fresh nearly 80 years later. Whenever I hear it, I am whistling or singing it for the rest of the day. I also love the slangy lyrics: "I'm too high-hat, you're too low-down;" "It's not the right life, but think of the pay!"

Two sound files - The first has a vocal; they don't sing the verses, but the melody is there. The second is all instrumental.

Crazy Rhythm by Harry Reser's Syncopaters.

Crazy Rhythm by Fred Elizalde and His Anglo American Band

And don't get me started on Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm, which gives me the same trouble. (I'll save that for another post!)

Crazy Rhythm

Lyrics by Irving Caesar,
Music by Joseph Meyer and Roger Wolfe Kahn
1928

VERSE 1: I feel like the Emperor Nero when Rome was a very hot town.
Father Knickerbocker, forgive me, I play while your city burns down.
Through all its night life I fiddle away,
It's not the right life, but think of the pay!
Some day I will bid it goodbye, I'll put my fiddle away and I'll say:

CHORUS: Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway, I'll go my way, you'll go your way;
Crazy rhythm, from now on we're through.
Here is where we have a showdown: I'm too high-hat, you're too low-down;
Crazy rhythm, here's goodbye to you!

They say that when a high-brow meets a low-brow walkin' along Broadway,
Soon the high-brow he has no brow - Ain't it a shame? And you're to blame!
What's the use of prohibition? You produce the same condition;
Crazy rhythm, you’ve gone crazy, too!

VERSE 2: Ev'ry Greek, each Turk and each Latin, the Russians and Prussians as well,
When they seek the lure of Manhattan, are sure to come under your spell.
Their native folksongs they soon throw away,
Those Harlem smoke songs, they soon learn to play.
Can't you fall for Carnegie Hall? Oh! Danny, call it a day and we'll stay.

CHORUS: Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway, I'll go my way, you'll go your way;
Crazy rhythm, from now on we're through!
Here is where we have a showdown, I'm too high-hat, you're too low-down;
Crazy rhythm, here's goodbye to you!

They say that when a high-brow meets a low-brow walkin' along Broadway,
Soon the high-brow he has no brow. Ain't it a shame? And you're to blame.
What's the use of prohibition? You produce the same condition;
Crazy rhythm, from now on, we're through!

Another Type Of Poetry, Another Great Pianist

BUT NOT FOR ME

George and Ira Gershwin
1930

Old Man Sunshine, listen you:
Never tell me dreams come true.
Just try it, and I'll start a riot.

Beatrice Fairfax, don't you dare
Ever tell me he will care.
I'm certain it's the final curtain.

I never want to hear from any cheerful Pollyannas
Who tell you fate supplies a mate -
It's all bananas ...

They're writing songs of love, but not for me;
A lucky star's above but not for me.
With love to lead the way, I've found more clouds of gray
Than any Russian play could guarantee.

I was a fool to fall and get that way;
Hi-ho ... alas ... and also lack-a-day.
Although I can't dismiss the mem'ry of his kiss
I guess he's not for me.

I'm a total sap for those tunes collectively known as "The Great American Songbook." Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Walter Donaldson, Hoagy Carmichael, Harry Warren ... I could go on and on (and probably will). Since I'm about as musically talented as a grapefruit and can't carry a tune in a bushel basket, I can't amuse myself by actually performing these great numbers, but I love 'em and have reached the point with CDs where I may have to construct outbuildings to house them.

I also love the lyrics, and am compelled to write them down and babble about my favorites to friends and fam who may or may not be the least bit interested. The lyrics are art unto themselves, beautifully crafted and often married so seamlessly to the tune that it's hard to imagine one without the other. George Gershwin had his brother Ira to co-write; Berlin and Porter were the rarities that wrote their own lyrics. The other tunesmiths sought help from greats such as the amazingly prolific Johnny Mercer, Dorothy Fields and Lorenz Hart (three of my favorites), Al Dubin, Mack Gordon, Andy Razaf and many more. Some lyricists of the period have only a handful of lyrics that are still popular today, and some like Mercer have scores.

Here is a sample of the number above - I couldn't find one that was postable that used the verse, but this has the spectacular Teddy Wilson at the piano, with Helen Ward on vocal.

But Not For Me

Enjoy!