Al Jolson Let Me Sing and I’m Happy This song is another written by
Irving Berlin. As the new decade started, Berlin had his hand in shaping American music, especially American popular songs. Let Me Sing and I’m Happy is sort of an ode to anyone who loves to sing. People who sing in Community Theater, in choirs, and in the shower, and this song was made for them. The song was recently resurrected for the stage musical Irving Berlin’s White
Christmas.
Benny Menoff and his Orchestra
Happy Days Are Here Again
The song was copyrighted in 1929 by Milton Ager (music) and Jack Yellen (lyrics). The song is best remembered as the campaign song for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It has often been called the unofficial anthem for the Democratic Party. The song would be resurrected in the early 1960s by Barbra Streisand first as a single and then on her first album. Her take on the song would make it a ballad instead of the upbeat happy, hopeful song it was originally written as. Streisand would sing the song as a duet with Judy Garland. The song would be a Garland’s Get Happy medley in counterpoint to Streisand’s Happy Days. The performance would be recreated for an episode of GLEE and song by Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel
Earl Burnett and his Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel Orchestra
Puttin on the Ritz
This song was another hit for Berlin and is most associated with Fred Astaire. The title refers to the idea of getting dressed up to go out to someplace really nice or “swanky,” as the slang was used at the time. The Ritz was and is a very upscale hotel. The song would continue to be used. In films, it would be sung by Clark Gable in the film Idiot’s Delight. It would again be filmed in Mel Brookes’ Young Frankenstein. Puttin on the Ritz would hit the charts again in 1983 as recorded by Taco. It would be peak at # 4
Nat Shilkret
Get Happy
Get Happy was composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics written by Ted Koehler. It was originally performed in the musical The Nine Fifteen Revue by Ruth Etting. The song is most associated with Judy Garland from the film Summer Stock, which co-starred Gene Kelly. In 1939, Arlen would write the music for another Judy Garland standard, Somewhere over the Rainbow.
Red Nichols
Embraceable You
Written by George and Ira Gershwin for an operetta called East is West. Ginger Rogers would perform it again in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy. The song would continue to be recorded by artists like Frank Sinatra, Liberace, and Liza Minnelli. Liza’s mother, Judy Garland, performed the song in the film version of Girl Crazy.
Ruth Etting
Ten Cents A Dance
Written by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, the song was published in 1930 and was first performed by Ruth Etting in the musical Simple Simon. The song is a lament sung by a woman who makes her living by dancing with strange men for money.
Ted Lewis and his Orchestra
On The Sunny Side of the Street
On The Sunny Side Of The Street was composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields and introduced in the Broadway musical Lew Leslie’s International Revue, starring Harry Richman and Gertrude Lawrence. The song would be recorded many times by artists such as Willie Nelson, The Manhattan Transfer, and Rod Stewart.
Duke Ellington
Three Little Words
With music by Harry Ruby and lyrics by Bert Kalmar, the song would be used again and again and eventually become the name of a movie based on the lives of the songwriting team that created it. In the middle of the 1970s, the Advertising Council used a fully orchestrated version of the song in a series of Public Service Announcements about seat belt safety; the slogan for these commercials was “Seat belts: a nice way to say ‘I Love You’.”
Paul Whiteman
After You’ve Gone
Was actually written in 1918 by Turner Layton, with lyrics written by Henry Creamer and was originally recorded by Marion Harris in 1922. It would be recorded by Benny Goodman, Fats Waller and Phil Collins. It would be used by Ethel Merman in the TV show That Girl when Merman describes to Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) how she was fired from her first night club job for singing too loud.
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