1927 Music – Pop Standards and Artists

1927 Pop Standards and Artists

Ben Bernie
I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
Written by Harry Woods and Mort Dixon the song has a long history of being remade. It was used in more than one of Warner Brothers Merrie Melody cartoons. The song is a staple for St. Patrick’s Day and was even parodied in 1973, the title changed to I’m Looking over My dead Dog Rover. The song has been adopted as an anthem for Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union and The Son’s of Ben, the team supporters, sing it at every home game. In 2012 the song was recorded again by Willie Nelson.

Ben Bernie
Ain’t She Sweet.
Was written by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen, both of whom have places in the Song Writers Hall Of Fame. The song would continue to record across the 20th century by such artists as Pearl Bailey, Guy Lombardo, and The Beatles.

Ben Selvin
Blue Skies
Blue Skies was written by Irving Berlin who plays an important role in the first half of the 20th century in American Pop Music. It would go across the century and into the 21sr century being recorded again and again by such artists as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Debbie Boone and Rod Stewart.

The song was written by Berlin as an added song to the Rodger’s and Hart Musical, Betsy. The song would live on, but the musical closed after 39 performances.
Blue Skies would go to be performed both on television movies and Broadway shows. The song had a movie named after it and joined other Berlin songs that have that honor such as White Christmas, Easter Parade and There’s No Business Like Show Business. Most recently the song was brought back to life in a production number for the Broadway production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.

George Olson
The Best Things in Life Are Free.
This song is from the 1927 musical Good News, book by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson. The story surrounds a college football player who needs to pass an exam in order to play in the big game that weekend. He gets a tutor to help study and during their study time, this song is sung.

This is another song that would make its way across the rest of the 20th century. Being recorded by June Allyson Joe Stafford, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. There would be a film named after the song in 1956, based on the lives of the writers.

Gertrude Lawrence
Someone to Watch Over Me
Someone To Watch Over Me was written by George and Ira Gershwin for the musical Oh Kay, which still is done, on occasion, by community theatre groups. The song would be introduced by Gertrude Lawrence, who would remain a top Broadway name for many years. She would eventually go on to play the lead of Anna Leonowens in Rodger’s and Hammerstein the King and I. The King and I was written specifically for her and at her request. The interesting thing about the show is Gertrude Lawrence would fade and he C0-Saty Yul Brynner would begin to rise. The King and I would be his most remembered role.

The song would grow in popularity and be regularly rerecorded by such singers as Rosemary Clooney, Linda Ronstadt, Sting, Brian Wilson and as late as 2011 by Susan Boyle. The song was performed 3 times on American Idol. It was used as an instrumental in the second season of GLEE and Lady Gaga would perform the song on the Today Show. Proving this song is timeless. The video provided is Julie Andrews singing the song in the movie STAR which was the life of Gertrude Lawrence.

Hoagy Carmichael
Stardust
Stardust was originally an instrumental written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927. Two years later lyricist Mitchell Paris would write lyrics for the song based on ideas that both he and Carmichael had discussed. The song would go on to be recorded by Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Ringo Starr and as recently as 2009 by Michael Buble.

Whispering Jack Smith
Me and my Shadow
The song was originally written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer. The truth may be that Jolson contributed very little to the song. The song is a standard that was still being played on the radio as late as the 1960s. Artists that recorded the song include Michael Ball and Antonio Banderas, Perry Como, Lou Rawls and Mandy Patinkin.

Paul Whiteman
Side by Side
“Side by Side” is a popular song from 1927 with lyrics by Gus Kahn and music by Harry M. Woods. It is still considered a standard though not as well know today as in the 20th century. The song has been recorded by many artists including Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello for Hudson Hawk, Hayley Mills and Paul Anka, but is probably best known in a 1953 recording by Kay Starr.

Vaughn De Leath
Are You Lonesome Tonight
Vaughn De Leath was also known as The Original Radio Girl actually recorded this song twice in 1927 on June 13 as a solo and again on September 21 as the vocalist for The Colonial Club Orchestra. The song would continue to be popular but rise to mega popularity when Elvis Presley recorded it in 1960. It would remain number one on the Billboard charts for 6 weeks.

Vernon Dalhart
Lucky Lindy
Lucky Lindy was written in honor of Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight between New York and Paris in a single-seat single-engine plane called The Spirit of St Louis on May 21 thru the 22, 1927. He was 25 years old and would have careers as an aviator, author, explorer and social activist.

Top Artists and Songs of 1927