"More addictive than a goddam video game" - Balloon Juice
"One of my very favorite music blogs ever..." - Singer/Songwriter Emma Wallace
"Fascinating... really GREAT!!! You'll learn things about those tunes we all LOVE to play and blow on... SOD is required reading for my advanced students. It's fun, too!" - Nick Mondello of AllAboutJazz.com
"I never let a day go by without checking it." - Bob Madison of Dinoship.com
"I had dinner the other night with some former WNEW staff members who spoke very highly of your work." - Joe Fay
For this, the momentous 500th post here at Standard of the Day, let's fondly recall one of the absolutely unparalleled gems of the Great American Songbook, from the incomparable brothers Gershwin. George originally envisioned the melody as uptempo, but after playing around with it, he thankfully realized it would work much better as a ballad (to say the least!) Ira's lyric is an anthem of longing and fragility, traditionally associated with a female voice ever since being introduced by Gertrude Lawrence in the Broadway musical, Oh, Kay! Lyrics:
There's a saying old, says that love is blind Still we're often told, seek and ye shall find So I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind
Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet He's the big affair I cannot forget Only man I ever think of with regret
I'd like to add his initial to my monogram Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb
There's a somebody I'm longin' to see I hope that he turns out to be Someone who'll watch over me
I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood I know I could, always be good To one who'll watch over me
Although he may not be the man
Some girls think of as handsome To my heart he carries the key
Won't you tell him please to put on some speed Follow my lead, oh, how I need Someone to watch over me.
Recorded By: Frank Sinatra Chris Connor Sarah Vaughan Sammy Davis Jr. Ray Coniff
By Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman 1968
In honor of the great composer Michel Legrand, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 86, I'm spotlighting the song that was perhaps rivaled only by "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" as his greatest hit. Written for the soundtrack of the Steve McQueen heist film The Thomas Crown Affair at the request of director Norman Jewison, it began life as a French song with lyrics by Eddy Marnay. Husband-wife lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman were brought in, and handpicked the haunting, circular melody from among Legrand's numerous compositions, adding lyrics meant to reflect the mental turmoil of the film's main character. Introduced in the movie by Noel Harrison, it won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and was performed by Sting for the 1999 Thomas Crown Affair remake. Lyrics:
Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said? Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand? Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong? When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel As the images unwind, like the circles that you find In the windmills of your mind!
Having now seen the excellent Stan and Olliefor the second time, I'm in a Laurel and Hardy frame of mind, which brings me to this old chestnut identified closely with the boys thanks to the unforgettable performance of it in their 1937 classic Way Out West. By that point, however, the tune was already an oldie, having been inspired by the 1908 novel of the same name. The favorite song of poet Gertrude Stein, it was first recorded by Albert Campbell and Henry Burr. Thanks to an upsurge in Laurel and Hardy popularity in Britain during the 1970s, Stan and Ollie's version rocketed all the way to the #2 position on the UK singles chart in 1975. Lyrics:
On a mountain in Virginia stands a lonesome pine Just below is the cabin home of a little girl of mine Her name is June and very, very soon she'll belong to me For I know she's waiting there for me neath that lone pine tree. In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia On the trail of the lonesome pine In the pale moonshine our hearts entwine Where you carved your name and I carved mine.
Oh, June - like the mountains, I'm blue Like the pine - I am lonesome for you In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia On the trail of the lonesome pine.
Recorded By:
Manuel Romain Edna Brown and James F. Harrison The Dinning Sisters Rex Allen The Diamonds
For the fifth time here at Standard of the Day, I'm spotlighting a song from Irving Berlin's Top Hat--and if that's not a testament to the film's greatness, I don't know what is. This time it's the movie's title number, performed with gusto by Fred Astaire, as so many Berlin gems were. With its internal rhyme and clever wordplay, the lyric is one of Berlin's most memorable, and became an iconic theme for the legendary Astaire, greatest of the on-screen dancers and the man who wore the attire better than anybody.
Lyrics:
I just got an invitation through the mails "Your presence requested this evening It's formal, a top hat, a white tie and tails" Nothing now could take the wind out of my sails Because I'm invited to step out this evening With top hat and white tie and tails.
I'm puttin' on my top hat Tyin' up my white tie Brushin' off my tails I'm dudin' up my shirt front Puttin' in the shirt studs Polishin' my nails
I'm steppin' out, my dear To breathe an atmosphere That simply reeks with class And I trust that you'll excuse my dust When I step on the gas For I'll be there Puttin' down my top hat Mussin' up my white tie Dancin' in my tails!
Recorded By:
Louis Armstrong Tony Bennett Ella Fitzgerald Mel Torme The Boswell Sisters
By Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal and Pierre Norman 1930
Iconic Frenchman Maurice Chevalier was one of the leading film heartthrobs of the Depression era, and this song was one of the reasons why. Introduced by him in the romantic comedy The Big Pond, in which he sung it to the beautiful Claudette Colbert, the song is an ebullient love anthem, with a Kahal lyric that extols the virtues of the beloved in the manner of a Shakespearean sonnet. Chevalier's recording was a major hit, and was famously lampooned the following year by the Marx Brothers in Monkey Business, which features a scene in which the boys try to pass themselves off as the crooner to get through customs.
Lyrics:
If the nightingales could sing like you They'd sing much sweeter than they do For you brought a new kind of love to me
And if the sandman brought me dreams of you I'd want to sleep my whole life through You brought a new love to me
I know that I'm the slave, you're the queen Still you can understand that underneath it all You're a maid and I am only a man
I would work and slave the whole day through If I could hurry home to you You brought a new kind of love to me
Recorded By:
Frank Sinatra Doris Day Benny Goodman Peggy Lee Vera Lynn
By Herbert Stothart, Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar 1928
An iconic number for the original "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" girl Helen Kane, who first performed it in the Broadway musical Good Boy, this infectiously cute number was the product of the legendary Ruby/Kalmar team (pictured) that had written for the Marx Brothers, among many others. Kane's rendition propelled her to superstardom, and was copied many times since, including by Betty Boop, the cartoon character she inspired, and by Marilyn Monroe, who memorably performed it in Billy Wilder's classic comedy Some Like It Hot. A young Debbie Reynolds, portraying Helen Kane in the 1950 Ruby/Kalmar biopic Three Little Words, also took a crack at this late Roaring '20s anthem.
Lyrics:
I wanna be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you I wanna be loved by you alone--Boop Boop a Doop! I wanna be kissed by you just you, nobody else but you I wanna be loved by you alone
I couldn't aspire To anything higher Then to fill a desire to make you my own
I wanna be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you I wanna be loved by you alone
I couldn't aspire To anything higher Then to fill a desire to make you my own tada tada ta tada
I wanna be loved by you just you, nobody else but you I wanna be loved by you Alone Boop Boop a Doop!
Recorded By:
Annette Hanshaw Sinead O'Connor Frank Sinatra Barry Manilow Tina Louise
On January 1, for the first time in 20 years, a motherlode of intellectual property entered the public domain--books, songs, movies, etc. from 1923 are now available to use for free. Among them is this charming novelty song that was number one on the charts for five weeks in its original recording by Billy West. Interestingly, the melody has been identified by some as a combination of Handel's Hallelujah chorus, "My Bonnie", and a few other tunes. The lyric supposedly was written by Cohn as a tribute to a Greek fruit seller he knew who began every statement with, "Yes!" Despite not really being recorded much in the past 50 years, the song remains a part of popular culture, and has been referenced in The Simpsons, The Muppet Show, The English Patient and Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It ("Yes! We have Nosferatu. We have Nosferatu today!")
Lyrics:
There's a fruit store on our street It's run by a Greek. And he keeps good things to eat But you should hear him speak! When you ask him anything, he never answers "no". He just "yes"es you to death, and as he takes your dough He tells you "Yes, we have no bananas We have-a no bananas today. We've string beans, and onions Cabbageses, and scallions, And all sorts of fruit and say We have an old fashioned to-mah-to A Long Island po-tah-to But yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today."
Business got so good for him that he wrote home today, "Send me Pete and Nick and Jim; I need help right away." When he got them in the store, there was fun, you bet. Someone asked for "sparrow grass" and then the whole quartet All answered "Yes, we have no bananas We have-a no bananas today. Just try those coconuts Those walnuts and doughnuts There ain't many nuts like they. We'll sell you two kinds of red herring, Dark brown, and ball-bearing. But yes, we have no bananas We have no bananas today."
Yes, we are very sorry to inform you That we are entirely out of the fruit in question The afore-mentioned vegetable Bearing the cognomen "Banana". We might induce you to accept a substitute less desirable, But that is not the policy at this internationally famous green grocery. I should say not. No no no no no no no. But may we suggest that you sample our five o'clock tea Which we feel certain will tempt your pallet? However we regret that after a diligent search Of the premises By our entire staff We can positively affirm without fear of contradiction That our raspberries are delicious; really delicious Very delicious But we have no bananas today.
Yes, we gotta no banana No banana We gotta no banana today. I sella you no banana. Hey, Marianna, you gotta no banana? Why this man, he no believe-a what I say. Now whatta you want mister? You wanna buy twelve for a quarter? No? well, just a oneofadozen? I'm-a gonna calla my daughter. Hey, Marianna You gotta piana Yes, banana, no No, yes, no bananas today We gotta no bananas. Yes, we gotta no bananas today.
Recorded By:
Eddie Cantor Louis Prima Benny Goodman Spike Jones Anthony Newley
With the death late last month of Norman Gimbel, prominent lyricist of the 1950s-1970s, let's take a look at one of his most successful and controversial creations. The generation of "Killing Me Softly", one of the '70s most hypnotic and poignant ballads, is fraught with conflict: Singer-songwriter Lori Lieberman recorded the original version, claiming to have based it on a poem she wrote after being moved by a concert performance by Don McLean, which she then brought to Fox and Gimbel to turn into a song. Fox and Gimbel would later claim to have written the song with little input from Lieberman, and that McLean had nothing to do with it. This heated debate continued right up to Gimbel's death, with McLean recently reporting that he received a cease and desist letter from the lyricist regarding McLean's claims that the song was inspired by him. McLean maintains his version of the story to this day. Meanwhile, the most successful version would be recorded in 1973 by Roberta Flack, who took it all the way to number one for over a month.
Lyrics:
Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style And so I came to see him, to listen for a while And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song
Recorded By:
Johnny Mathis Perry Como The Fugees Anne Murray Shirley Bassey
If you'll indulge me with a belated Christmas standard, I'd like to place the (not-too-hot) spotlight on "Frosty the Snowman", mainly due to my two-year-old son's current obsession with both the song and the 1969 Rankin-Bass animated special narrated by Jimmy Durante. Introduced by the great singing cowboy Gene Autry, Frosty was a follow-up to Autry's mega-hit of the previous Christmas, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". In addition to the song, which has become a modern Christmas classic, the snowman's popularity has endured due to a series of animated cartoons based on him, most notably the aforementioned 1969 chestnut, as well as a beloved Little Golden Book edition of the story, also published in 1950. The lyrics supposedly takes place in Armonk, New York, a town which has an annual parade in Frosty's honor to this day.
Lyrics:
Frosty the Snowman Was a jolly happy soul With a corncob pipe and a button nose And his eyes made out of coal
Frosty the Snowman Made the children laugh and play And were they surprised when Before their eyes He came to life that day
There must have been some magic In that old silk hat they found For when they placed it on his head He began to dance around
Frosty the Snowman Was alive as he could be And the children say He could laugh and play Just the same as you and me
Frosty the Snowman Knew the sun was hot that day So he said let's run And we'll have fun Now before I melt away
So down to the village With a broomstick in his hand Running here and there all around the square Saying catch me if you can
He led them down the streets of town Right to the traffic cop And he only paused a moment when He heard him holler stop
Frosty the Snowman Had to hurry on his way But he waved goodbye Saying don't you cry I'll be back again some day
Thumpety thump thump Thumpety thump thump Look at Frosty go Thumpety thump thump Thumpety thump thump
Over the hills of snow Recorded By:
Nat King Cole Perry Como Guy Lombardo Jimmy Durante The Ronettes
The world of popular standards has lost one of the last major vocalists to come along at the tail end of the "golden age" of American vocal pop, the mid 20th century. Nancy Wilson, who often referred to herself as a "song stylist", straddled many different genres over the course of her nearly 60-year career, including R&B (she won her first Grammy in 1965 for Best R&B Recording, with "How Glad I Am"), jazz (her last two Grammys came in 2005 and 2007 for Best Jazz Vocal Album), and even more contemporary forms of pop, funk and soul during the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Coming along just as American popular music was undergoing a drastic sea change in the 1960s, Wilson was something of a throwback to the singers who inspired her as a child, including Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstine.
Born February 20, 1937 in Chillicothe, Ohio, she was already steeped in the Great American Songbook by the time she was a teenager, and won a talent competition at the age of 15 that led to semi-regular television appearances and club tours before she had even graduated high school. Some advice from jazz legend Cannonball Adderley (with whom she would later collaborate on a titanic 1962 album), led to her relocating to New York City, then a hub of the recording world. By the age of 22, she had released her first album for Dot Records, entitled Like in Love. Soon, she would be signed to Capitol Records and releasing multiple albums per year throughout the 1960s, including The Swingin's Mutual (1961) with George Shearing; The Nancy Wilson Show (1965), a collection of recordings from her Emmy-winning variety show; and the timeless But Beautiful (1969).
With a voice that seemed a blend of Dinah Washington and Lena Horne, Wilson was a bit of an anomaly at a time when rock n' roll and Motown sounds were taking over the airwaves. She scored four top 10 albums during the 1960s, and had a huge single hit with "Tell Me the Truth", which led to an acclaimed engagement at the Coconut Grove. Nevertheless, after the 1960s, she struggled to keep the hits coming amidst the changing musical landscape. She tried her hand at some more contemporary genres, sometimes to the frustration of her older fans, including the 1978 album, Life, Love and Harmony. She remained a fixture in small clubs all over the world, and by the 1980s was recording her albums in Japan, where live in-studio recording--the preferred method for Wilson and many other jazz artists--had not yet been totally supplanted by the more compartmentalized and over-produced methods prevalent in the States during the rock era.
A fixture at jazz festivals throughout the 1990s and even into the 21st century, she was also the host of NPR's music series Jazz Profiles. She continued recording for smaller prestige jazz labels like MCG Jazz, releasing her final album, Turned to Blue, in 2006. Just five years later, she performed live for the last time, at Ohio University, not far from the place of her birth. She was hospitalized for lung complications in 2008, and had been battling a long illness when she passed away on Thursday, December 13, 2018 at the age of 81 at her home in Pioneertown, California. She leaves behind three children and five grandchildren. Her husband, the Reverend Wiley Burton, died in 2008 of renal cancer.
The inheritor of a proud tradition of interpreters of popular song which thrived throughout most of the 20th century, Nancy Wilson was an unforgettable performer and a link to a time when melody, lyrics and phrasing still mattered in mainstream American pop. She kept the torch burning well past the time that her kind of music had vanished from the charts. Her loss will be keenly felt, but we still have the music to remember her by.
With all the recent hullabaloo over the Frank Loesser song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (whose entry you can find here), I thought today I'd spotlight a different Loesser tune, this time from his masterpiece musical, Guys and Dolls. Introduced by the irrepressible Stubby Kaye in the original run of the stage show as well as the 1955 movie, it's a spirited and catchy number that epitomizes the spirit of that classic show. As recently as 1993, this song also charted when recorded in a slowed-down version by ex-Eagle Don Henley, for the soundtrack of the Steve Martin film Leap of Faith.
Lyrics:
I dreamed last night I got on the boat to heaven And by some chance I had brought my dice along And there I stood, and I hollered, "Someone fade me" But the passengers they knew right from wrong
For the people all said "Sit down, sit down you're rockin' the boat" The people all said "Sit down, sit down you're rockin' the boat And the devil will drag you under By the sharp lapel of your checkered coat Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down Sit down you're rocking the boat"
I sailed away on that little boat to heaven And by some chance found a bottle in my fist And there I stood nicely passin' 'round the whiskey But the passengers were bound to resist
For the people all said "Beware you're on a heavenly trip" The people all said "Beware, beware you'll scuttle the ship And the devil will drag you under By the fancy tie 'round your wicked throat Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down Sit down you're rockin' the boat"
And as I laughed at those passengers to heaven A great big wave came and washed me overboard And as I sank, and I hollered, "Someone save me" That's the moment I woke up, thank the Lord
And I said to myself "Sit down, sit down you're rocking the boat" Said to myself "Sit down, sit down you're rocking the boat For the devil will drag you under With a soul so heavy you'd never float Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down Sit down you're rockin' the boat"
Recorded By: Sammy Davis Jr. Louis Armstrong Don Henley The Four Lads Rebecca Kilgore & Dave Frishberg
From the same team responsible for "Body and Soul" and "I Cover the Waterfront" came this song, which turned out to be Bing Crosby's first solo #1 hit when he recorded it for Brunswick Records in March 1931. It would continue to be closely associated with Bing, although it eventually became a widely recorded jazz standard. Interestingly, the harmonic progression of this tune can be found in several other compositions, including Gigi Gryce's "Sans Souci" and Alexander Courage's classic theme to the original Star Trek TV series. It is also a favorite of Woody Allen's, popping up in three of his films: 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery (Coleman Hawkins version), 1997's Deconstructing Harry (Django Reinhardt version) and 1999's Sweet and Lowdown (Dick Hyman version).
Lyrics:
You came to me from out of nowhere you took my heart and found it free Wonderful dreams, wonderful schemes from nowhere Made every hour sweet as a flower to me
And if you should go back to your nowhere Leaving me with a memory I'll always wait for your return out of nowhere Hoping you'll bring your love to me
When I least expected, kindly faith directed You to make each dream of mine come true And if it's clear or raining, there is no explaining Things just happened and so did you
You came to me from out of nowhere You took my heart and you found it free Wonderful dreams, wonderful schemes from nowhere Made every hour sweet as a flower to me
Recorded By: Dave Brubeck Lena Horne Ella Fitzgerald Vic Damone Art Tatum
One of the catchiest songs of the World War II generation, and a song that remains in the mainstream consciousness to this day, "Jeepers Creepers" was written for the movie, Going Places, in which Louis Armstrong is the trainer of a horse named Jeepers Creepers (an old slang euphemism for Jesus Christ), who can only get the horse under control by playing the song for him. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Song, losing to "Thanks for the Memory". Since then it has been revisited countless times, in Warner Bros. cartoons, and in later films (including Yankee Doodle Dandy, in which a bunch of teens sing it, much to the chagrin of James Cagney's old-fashioned James M. Cohan). It even had an unlikely renaissance in the 2001 horror film of the same name, in which the song heralds the appearance of the murderous creature known as "The Creeper". With its bouncy Warren tune and irresistible Mercer lyrics, it's not tough to see why it has endured so long.
Lyrics:
Oh, jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers? Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those eyes? Oh, gosh all, git up, how'd they get so lit up? Gosh all, git up, how'd they get that size?
Oh, golly gee, when you turn those heaters on Woe is me, got to put my cheaters on
Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers? Oh, those weepers, how they hypnotize! Oh, where'd ya get those eyes?
Recorded By: Johnny Mercer Frank Sinatra Al Caiola Dave Brubeck Tony Bennett
With today being the birthday of the legendary songwriter Arthur Schwartz (father of longtime radio legend Jonathan Schwartz), it seems only right to spotlight a classic Schwartz song. This is one of the most famous collaborations Schwartz made with his regular lyricist partner, Howard Dietz. Although today it's considered one of Schwartz' great triumphs, the song came from a show that was mostly unremarkable: Revenge with Music, in which it was introduced by Georges Metaxa and Libby Holman. But there was certainly something special about the haunting tune, which was later brought back in the 1953 movie musical The Band Wagon, which featured a cavalcade of Schwartz/Dietz songs.
Lyrics:
You and the night and the music Fill me with flaming desire Setting my being completely on fire You and the night and the music Thrill me but will we be one After the night and the music are done?
Until the pale light of dawning and daylight Our hearts will be throbbing guitars Morning may come without warning And take away the stars
If we must live for the moment Love till the moment is through After the night and the music die Will I have you?
Recorded By: Mel Torme Frank Sinatra Julie London Jackie Gleason Orchestra
Vic Damone
A tribute to the finest genre of popular music in history, pop's direct link to the classical tradition, and one of our nation's most important contributions to world culture, the Great American Songbook. Each day (more or less), I spotlight a different popular standard. And yes, I'm straight. So is your grandfather. He loves this music, too--just ask him!
By George and Ira Gershwin
Posts
