I Found a Million-Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store)

By Harry Warren, Mort Dixon & Billy Rose
1931

Interestingly, the lyric to this song was originally written to a different melody in 1926, but it was in '31 that Harry Warren took it and adapted it to his melody for the musical Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt, in which it was introduced by the immortal Fanny Brice. I was just today lucky enough to find Bing Crosby's original 1931 rendition on 78 at a record convention, and I was re-acquainted with how disarming and sweet this song really is. Pure bliss.

Lyrics:

It was a lucky April shower,
It was the most convenient door.
I found a million dollar baby
In a five and ten cent store.

The rain continued for an hour.
I hung around for three or four.
Around a million dollar baby
In a five and ten cent store.

She was selling china
And when she made those eyes,
I kept buying china
Until the crowd got wise.

If you should run into a shower,
Just step inside my cottage door,
And meet the million dollar baby
From the five and ten cent store.

Love comes along like a popular song,
Any time or anywhere at all.
Rain or sunshine,
Spring or fall.
Say, you'll never know when it may say hello
In a very unexpected place.
For example, take my case.

She was selling china,
And when she made those eyes,
I kept buying china
Until the crowd got wise.

If you should run into a shower,
Oh, step inside my cottage door.
And meet my million dollar baby
From the five and ten cent store.

Recorded By:

Nat King Cole
Perry Como
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
Jack Leonard

Bye, Bye Blackbird

By Ray Henderson & Mort Dixon
1926

A true anthem of the Roaring '20s, this tune was introduced by Gene Austin, but perhaps the most famous rendition was Josephine Baker's. Ironically, given the Nazi party's disdain for jazz, it was even adopted as part of Joseph Goebbel's propaganda campaign, given new words intended to demoralize Allied troops. It failed.

Lyrics:

Pack up all my cares and woes,
Feeling low, here I go.
Bye, bye blackbird.

Where somebody waits for me.
Sugar's sweet--so is she.
Bye, bye blackbird.

No one seems to love or understand me,
And all the hard luck stories they keep handing me.
Where somebody shines the light,
I'll be coming home tonight.
Blackbird, bye bye.

Recorded By:

Nina Simone
Joe Cocker
John Coltrane
Liza Minelli
Peggy Lee

River, Stay 'Way from My Door

By Harry Woods & Mort Dixon
1931

From the same duo responsible for "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" some four years earlier, this Tin Pan Alley ditty was in the then-common sub-genre of "Negro spiritual"-type tunes written by white composers. Ironically, it would be legendary African-American actor/singer Paul Robeson who introduced it with a hit record in 1931.

Lyrics:

You keep goin' your way,
I'll keep goin' my way.
River, stay 'way from my door.

I just got a cabin,
You don't need my cabin.
River, stay 'way from my door.

Don't come up any higher,
I'm so all alone.
Leave my bed and my fire,
That's all I own.

I ain't breakin' your heart,
Don't start breakin' my heart.
River, stay 'way from my door.

Lord, ain't I been faithful?
Ain't I worked, ain't I toiled in the sweat and sun?
Lord, ain't I come to you?
Ain't I come to you and thank you?
Thank you for all the good things you've done?
Listen Lord, I know you made that river,
But won't you please try to remember that you made me?
Oh Lord, can't you hear me pray to you?
Make that river, make that river hear my plea.

No, I ain't breaking your heart,
So don't start breaking my heart.
Oh, river stay away from my door.

Recorded By:

Kate Smith
Frank Sinatra
Charlie Rich
Sammy Davis Jr.
Fiona Apple