Stardust

By Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish
1927

In honor of my grandfather, who passed away on December 4, I give you the single most popular standard of all time, and one of his very favorite songs. Composed on an old upright piano at the Keuka Hotel on Keuka Lake in New York, this unusual melody was based by Carmichael on the idiosyncratic stylings of trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. Carmichael himself was the first to record it, together with the Dorsey brothers. Parish joined Carmichael to come up with the lyrics two years later, making it "a love song about a love song," as Hoagy would characterize it. It was Isham Jones who turned it into a ballad in 1930, and from there it became one of the most recorded songs of all time. In fact, during the big band era, it was the most recorded pop songs, period--more than 1,500 versions are believed to exist.

With its gorgeous verse and a complex refrain, Stardust is the ultimate American standard, and I happily dedicate it to the memory of Anthony Salica.

Lyrics:

And now the purple dusk of twilight time steals across the meadows of my heart.
High up in the sky, the little stars climb, always reminding me that we're apart.
You wander down the lane and far away, leaving a smile that will not die.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday; the music of the years gone by...

Sometime I wonder why I spend the lonely night
Dreaming of a song.
The melody haunts my reverie,
And I am once again with you,
When our love was new, and each kiss an inspiration.
But that was long ago, and now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song.

Beside a garden wall where stars are bright,
You are in my arms.
The nightingale tells his fairytale,
Of paradise where roses bloom.
Though I dream in vain,
In my heart you will remain,
My stardust memory...the melody of love's refrain.

Recorded By:

Louis Armstrong
Nat King Cole
Artie Shaw
John Coltrane
Ella Fitzgerald

Moonlight Serenade

By Glenn Miller & Mitchell Parish
1939

One of the all-time great signature tunes of the Big Band era. It was composed by Miller for his world-famous orchestra, and became one of five Top 20 Billboard hits the band would have in 1939. Originally, it was the B-side of a record called "Sunrise Serenade", but became such a huge hit on its own that it quickly became Miller's theme song. With it's classic Miller-style clarinet-saxophone lead, it perfectly sums up the sweet "Miller sound". Parish would later add lyrics to what was previously an instrumental.

Lyrics:

I stand at your gate.
And the song that I sing is of moonlight.
I stand and I wait
For the touch of your hand in the June night.
The roses are sighing a moonlight serenade.

The stars are aglow.
And tonight how their light sets me dreaming.
My love, do you know
That your eyes are like stars brightly beaming?
I bring you, and I sing you a moonlight serenade.

Let us stray 'til break of day
In love's valley of dreams.
Just you and I, a summer sky,
A heavenly breeze, kissin' the trees.

So don't let me wait.
Come to me tenderly in the June night.
I stand at your gate
And I sing you a song in the moonlight.
A love song, my darling, a moonlight serenade

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
Carly Simon
Santo & Johnny
Count Basie
Gene Krupa

Sophisticated Lady

By Duke Ellington, Irving Mills & Mitchell Parish
1932

The epitome of all that was once classy about popular music, and is no longer. Ellington & Mills originally wrote it as a stand-alone melody, with the title referring to the Duke's memories of his old grade school teachers, who taught in the winter and vacationed in Europe, which to him "spelled sophistication." When Parish added the lyrics later, Ellington described them as "wonderful--but not entirely fitted to my original conception."

Lyrics:

They say into your early life romance came,
And in this heart of yours burned a flame,
A flame that flickered one day and died away.

Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes,
You learned that fools in love soon grow wise.
The years have changed you, somehow.
I see you now...

Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow, nonchalant.
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant.
Is that all you really want?

No, sophisticated lady,
I know you miss the love you lost long ago,
And when nobody is nigh, you cry.

Recorded By:

Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Thelonious Monk
Art Tatum
Sarah Vaughan

Sweet Lorraine

By Cliff Burwell & Mitchell Parish
1928

Legend has it this song played a direct part in turning Nat Cole from a pianist to a singer, and earning him his famous nickname. A lover of the tune since he was a boy, when Cole--then strictly a piano player--was asked by a spectator to sing, he performed it, to everyone's amazement. Thus, a "King" was born. The song had originally been introduced a decade earlier by Rudy Vallee, but Cole would up scoring a much bigger hit with it.

Lyrics:

Just found joy,
I'm as happy as a baby boy
With another brand new choo-choo toy,
When I'm with my sweet Lorraine.

She's got a pair of eyes
That are brighter than the summer skies.
When you see them, you'll realize
Why I love my sweet Lorraine.

When it's raining, I don't miss the sun,
Because it's in my baby's smile.
And to think that I'm the lucky one
That will lead her down the aisle!

Each night I pray
That no one will steal her heart away.
I can't wait until that lucky day,
When I marry sweet Lorraine.

Recorded By:

Stephane Grappelli
Teddy Wilson
Marvin Gaye
Jimmie Noone
Frank Sinatra

Stars Fell on Alabama

By Frank Perkins & Mitchell Parish 

1934

The title was inspired by the famous Leonid meteor shower observed in Alabama in 1833, and was also used for a travelogue published the same year (coincidence?). First recorded by Guy Lombardo's orchestra, it has since become a jazz standard recorded by more than a hundred different artists. The tune is the anthem of Jacksonville State University in Alabama, and the title can now even be found on that state's license plates.

Lyrics:

We lived our little drama,
We kissed in a field of white,
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I can't forget the glamor,
Your eyes held a tender light,
While stars fell on Alabama
Last night

I never planned in my imagination
A situation so heavenly.
A fairy land where no one else could enter,
And in the center, just you and me.

My heart beat like a hammer,
Arms wound around you tight,
And stars fell on Alabama
Last night.
Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
Frank Sinatra
Billie Holiday
Harry Connick Jr.
Jimmy Buffett

Stairway to the Stars

By Matt Malneck, Frank Signorelli & Mitchell Parish 1939

This song began its life in 1934 as the third and final part of an instrumental composed by Malneck & Signorelli called "Park Avenue Fantasy". Five years later, while Malneck was using the tune as his radio show theme, he and Signorelli approached Parish to write lyrics for the third section. The newly refashioned pop song was a megahit for Glenn Miller and his singer Ray Eberle, hitting number one and staying on the charts for 13 weeks.

Lyrics:

Let's build a stairway to the stars,
And climb that stairway to the stars.
With Love beside us,
To fill the night with a song.

We'll hear the sound of violins,
Out yonder where the blue begins.
The moon will guide us
As we go drifting along.

Can't we sail away on a lazy daisy petal
Over the rim of the hills?
Can't we sail away on a little dream,
Settle high on the crest of a thrill?

Let's build a stairway to the stars,
A lovely lovely stairway to the stars.
It would be heaven
To climb to heaven with you.

Recorded By:

Jimmy Dorsey
Stan Kenton
Ella Fitzgerald
Natalie Cole
Sarah Vaughan