1928 Music – Pop Standards and Artists

1928 Pop Standards and Artists

Al Jolson
My Mammy
Music by Walter Donaldson and lyrics by Joe Young, this song was one of Al Jolson’s most popular recordings and one that he would be remembered for, as he would film it three times. First in 1927s The Jazz Singer, second in 1928s, The Singing Fool and third in 1939 in a film entitled The Rose of Washington Square.
Curiously it was not Jolson who originally introduced the song. It was William Frawley of TVs I love Lucy who first sang it in a Vaudeville style act. Jolson heard the song and made it his own.

Al Jolson
Sonny Boy
The song was written by Ray Henderson, Bud De Sylva, and Lew Brown, and sung by Al Jolson in 1928’s The Singing Fool. The song would hit number one and stay there for 12 weeks. The recording Jolson made would make a million copies sold mark. Sonny Boy would become a hit for Eddie Fisher in the 1950s and would be used and referred to often in television show Queer As Folk.

Bertolt Brecht
Mack The Knife
Composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for the musical The Three Penny Opera. The show was originally performed in Germany, but the song made it to The United States. When the show itself made its appearance in the U.S. it had a very short run in 1933, only to be resurrected in 1956 where it played off-Broadway for over six years.

Mack The Knife would hit the charts on both the United States and The United Kingdom when Bobby Darin Recorded it in 1959. Others to record the song would be Louis Armstrong and Jerry Orbach, best known as Lt Lenny Briscoe in TVs long-running Law and Order.

Cliff Edwards
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics) This song’s origins are actually a bit obscured. There is some evidence to suggest that Fats Waller wrote the music and sold it to Mchugh. But whatever it’s beginning, the song would be recorded again and again by such artists as Judy Garland and Doris Day.

Bing Crosby
Ol’ Man River
This song had been around for a year before it became popular in 1928. It was part of the Musical Show Boat which debuted in 1927 and had many firsts including being the first Broadway Show to allow white and black people onstage together. One of the most important things about this 1928 recording is that it put Bing Crosby on the charts for the first time. Crosby would go on to become a recording, movie and TV star. Ol’ Man River was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein.

George Metaxa
Sweet Sue Just You
This song as originally recorded in 1928 was played sweetly. With music by Victor Young and lyrics by Will J Harris, the song would become more popular in the mid-1930s when the song would be played in more of a swing style. The song was recorded many times by artists like Bing Crosby. It was used to prove Lucy Ricardo’s inability to sing in the I Love Lucy episode Breaking The Lease.

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians
I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream
These days the song is remembered more for its title than any other reason. The song was written by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert A. K. King. The title, at least, has been used in TV shows as different as The Two Fat Ladies and Barney.

Helen Kane
I Wanna Be Loved By You
Written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, for the 1928 musical “Good Boy”. The song became a hit when recorded by Helen Kane who would go on to be known as the Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl. Miss Kane would be the inspiration for the cartoon character Betty Boop. The song has remained a standard and may best be remembered as sung by Marilyn Munroe in the movie Some Like It Hot

Marion Harris
The Man I Love
This song was originally written for the musical Lady Be Good, by George and Ira Gershwin and entitled The Girl I love. The song was cut from the show. It would be later rewritten as The Man I Love and then cut from the 1927 anti-war musical Strike Up The Band. Florenz Ziegfeld would also try to use it in his show Rosalie and for a third time, the song would be cut. It became popular as an independent song and would be recorded often. The song was used most recently in an episode of Agatha Christie’s Marple called At Bertram’s Hotel.

Nat Shilkret
The Sidewalks of New York
“The Sidewalks of New York” is a song about life in New York City during the 1890s. It was created by lyricist James W. Blake and vaudeville actor and composer Charles B. Lawlor in 1894. The song is also known by the title East Side West Side. The song became a popular recording in 1928 but would go on to be recorded by Mel Torme, Duke Ellington and The Grateful Dead.

Top Artists and Songs of 1928