Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Here's the last cd of this set. What Have We Got To Lose? Stringing Along On A Shoestring, When My Ship Comes In and If I Had A Million Dollars all echo what a lot of people were thinking.  Our Penthouse On Third Avenue features one of my favorite singers, who to my ear just seems to sing perfectly. Almost as good as the Bea Wain vocal on Our Penthouse On Third Avenue is the photo of her (sorry, no scan). The editors chose Ramona's version of Raising The Rent because it includes the verse lyrics. Roy Bargy (p), Benny Bonacio (cl) and Bunny Berigan (tr) accompany here. Ramona also sings Now I'm A Lady, which is a tune Mae West sang in a film but never recorded. Gotta Go To Work Again from Ted Wallace is a tune that was used as instrumental background music in the film My Man Godfrey. This version features an unknown male vocal. Chick Bullock makes his appearance on the 3rd of 4 of these cds, so obviously the editors have good taste. Are You Making Any Money? (is all I want to know) was written by Herman Hupfield, of As Time Goes By fame. Even without Chick singing, it's a great tune and is the first song of his I'd ever heard (on another Depression collection found early in this blog). I'm not a big Disney fan, but Artie Shaw really made Whistle While You Work swing. Closing out the decade, the Mills Brothers and Louis Armstrong recorded WPA in 1940, and to close out the entire set is the extremely pollyanish, premature and rather insulting tune (considering it was recorded on February 3, 1930 just 3 months after Black Thursday) Happy Days Are Here Again. According to the liner notes, the song was taken to George Olsen, who was playing the Hotel Pennsylvania, who told his band to "play it to the corpses". It took a few choruses for the audience to warm to the tune. This version is by Ben Selvin and an all but anonymous studio orchestra. The book to this box set features a lot of great pictures of artists, sheet music, magazines, record sleeves, etc. It also has a selected bibliography for reading about the Great Depression, and an even bigger filmography. All in all, this set deserves its place as a resource for any study of the era. Very well done. Enjoy! +

Tracks

01 - Phil Harris Coconut Grove Orchestra - What Have We Got To Lose?
02 - Henry 'Red' Allen - Stringin' Along On A Shoe String
03 - Eddie Cantor - When My Ship Comes In
04 - The Boswell Sisters - If I Had A Million Dollars
05 - Gene Kardos Orchestra - Our Penthouse On Third Avenue
06 - Ramona & Roy Bargy - Raising The Rent
07 - Chick Bullock's Levee Loungers - Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore
08 - Connie Boswell - The Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
09 - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - Now I'm A Lady
10 - Adrian Rollini & Orchestra - I Gotta Get Up And Go To Work
11 - Ted Wallace Orchestra - Gotta Go To Work Again
12 - Chick Bullock's Levee Loungers - Are You Making Any Money?
13 - Ozzie Nelson Orchestra - Got The Jitters
14 - Don Bestor Orchestra - Rain
15 - The Ink Spots - With Plenty Of Money And You
16 - Teddy Hill - I'm Feeling Like A Million
17 - Red Norvo Orchestra - Slummin' On Park Avenue
18 - Artie Shaw New Music - Whistle While You Work
19 - Louis-Mills Armstrong Brothers - WPA
20 - Kay Kyser & His Orchestra - Hey Pop! I Don't Wanna Go To Work
21 - Horace Heidt & Orchestra - Dawn Of A New Day
22 - Ben Selvin & His Orchestra - Happy Days Are Here Again