Here It Is Monday And I've Still Got A Dollar

It's 1931 and Tin Pan Alley is working overtime trying to psyche America out of the Great Depression, but there were rebuttals. There's No Depression In Love and Now's The Time To Fall In Love were countered with I'm An Unemployed Sweetheart and Last Dollar. Unlike the current Depression, in the 1930s America wore its heart on its sleeve. I think the people who chose the tunes for this set must have had fun - following Lee Morse's contribution, the next four tracks feature the elusive 'Dollar' before giving in to the fatalistic resignation of Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams, followed by darkness and ultimately Alone Together (sans sous, people tended to stay home more). Coinciding with Hoover's attempts at injecting optimism as a panacea, not even Ted Lewis was convincing enough as Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee slams the remedy with biting satire followed by Sittin' On A Rubbish Can and Underneath The Arches (a roof was a luxury, no doubt). Two desperate pleas follow before ending with It Must Be Swell To Be Laying Out Dead - and this was popular music! According to the book (again, pick up a copy of this set), an "RCA Victor executive heard the tune and ordered its immediate withdrawal from the market, and all existing copies and masters were destroyed. Even the blue file cards at the company's archives in Manhattan have no listing of the song." The record was re-released with another song in its place. As if denying reality could change it! Not all of the sides here are listed chronologically, but the playlist tells an interesting tale nonetheless. Not to be overlooked, of course, is the fantastic music. Enjoy! +


Tracks

01 - Vincent Rose Orchestra - There's No Depression In Love
02 - Victor Young Orchestra - Now's The Time To Fall In Love
03 - Lee Morse - I'm An Unemployed Sweetheart
04 - Emil Coleman's Orchestra - I Got Five Dollars
05 - Paul Specht Orchestra - I Found A Million Dollar Baby
06 - Eddie Droesch Orchestra - Last Dollar
07 - Chick Bullock's Levee Loungers - Here It Is Monday And I've Still Got A Dollar
08 - Mildred Bailey - Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams
09 - Sam Lanin's Orchestra - Whistling In The Dark
10 - Ben Selvin & His Orchestra - Dancing In The Dark
11 - Victor Young Orchestra - Alone Together
12 - The Mills Brothers, The Boswells, Bing Crosby - Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries
13 - The Boswell Sisters - (We've Got To) Put That Sun Back In The Sky
14 - Ambrose Orchestra - Shoo The Hoodoo Away
15 - Ben Selvin & His Orchestra - Whistle And Blow Your Blues Away
16 - Ted Lewis Orchestra - Headin' For Better Times
17 - Enric Madriguera's Hotel Biltmore Orchestra - Let's Have Another Cup Of Coffee
18 - Julia Gerity - Sittin' On A Rubbish Can
19 - Henry Hall & The BBC Dance Orchestra - Underneath The Arches
20 - Bing Crosby - Brother Can You Spare A Dime?
21 - Freddy Martin Orchestra - Remember My Forgotten Man
22 - Alex Bartha's Hotel Traymore Orchestra - It Must Be Swell To Be Laying Out Dead

Hittin' The Ceiling

I've wanted to post this for a long time, and now it's been a full 15 years since it was first released and this blog is nearly 5 years old. It feels like a good time. Not enough can be said about this box set, in my view. And that's not merely for the several Chick Bullock sides, though that surely only boosts the overall value. The track and artist selection is exceptional, the sides are very clean, and the book is very informative as well as pure eye candy for audiophiles of this era. I heartily recommend picking up a copy for yourself, you won't be disappointed. "Bear Family Records presents an 88-track anthology of what are now termed Depression Era phonograph recordings cut between May 31, 1929, and April 10, 1940. This stretch of time takes in the last few months of the U.S.A.'s already flawed and disintegrating prosperity, the devastating Wall Street crash of October 29, 1929, and the nation's agonizingly gradual economic recovery throughout the 1930s. Musically, this massive compilation maps the mainstream mingling of real jazz with the predominant dance band and pop vocal aesthetic of the decade. Even months before the day when, as visiting Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca put it, the New York Stock Exchange "...lost various billions of dollars, a rabble of dead money that slid off into the sea," Tin Pan Alley composers were already fixating upon what was to become the ever more elusive pursuit of happiness by penning an almost alarming number of "happy" songs, such as "Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again." As the social fabric of a nation came apart at the seams and swiftly began to unravel, a subgenre of melodies with conspicuously comforting and persistently optimistic lyrics filled the air with phrases like "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries," and "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee." Sobering responses to the disparity between harsh realities and sugary reassurances included "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," "Remember My Forgotten Man," "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," "Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz!" (almost angrily delivered by an exasperated Eddie Cantor), and a remarkably cynical opus entitled "It Must Be Swell to Be Laying Out Dead." With the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933 and the implementation of his New Deal programs (see Louis Armstrong's "W.P.A."), a series of frustratingly slow-paced improvements inspired monetarily motivated ditties with giddy titles like "We're in the Money," "We're Out of the Red," "What Have We Got to Lose?," "Buy America!," and the quaintly romantic "With Plenty of Money and You," sung to perfection near the end of this collection by the Ink Spots. The Great Depression has inspired a number of fascinating musicological retrospectives; this one belongs among the best of the lot." (Allmusic.com). Enjoy! +

Tracks

01 - Smith Ballew Orchestra - Hittin' The Ceiling
02 - Ambrose Orchestra - I'm In The Market For You
03 - Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra - Happy Days Are Here Again
04 - Marion Hardy Alabamians - Song Of The Bayou
05 - Eddie Cantor - Eddie Cantor's Tips On The Stock Market
06 - Hotel Pennsylvania Music - A Cottage For Sale
07 - Ted Wallace & His Campus Boys - Get Happy
08 - Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra - Sweeping The Clouds Away
09 - McKinney's Cotton Pickers - Laughing At Life
10 - Sam Lanin's Orchestra - It's A Great Life (If You Don't Weaken)
11 - Hotel Pennsylvania Music - Cheer Up Good Times Are Coming!
12 - Eddie Cantor With Phil Spitalny's Music - Cheer Up!
13 - Ted Lewis Orchestra - Singing A Vagabond Song
14 - Jack Teagarden Orchestra - Son Of The Son
15 - Al Jolson - Hallelujah! Im A Bum
16 - Annette Hanshaw - Big City Blues
17 - Blue Steele Orchestra - There's A Tear For Every Smile In Hollywood
18 - Ruth Etting - Ten Cents A Dance
19 - Ruth Etting - Cigarettes Cigars
20 - Johnny Marvin - Just A Gigolo
21 - Libby Holman - Love For Sale
22 - Smith Ballew Orchestra - We Can Live On Love

Shoo The Hoodoo Away

Three posts in a week! Here is an LP-rip from a 1960s EMI release of Ambrose and His Orchestra recordings during their stay at the Mayfair Hotel between 1928-1932. To quote the liner notes by none other than Brian Rust himself, "the songs on this record are a random collection: choosing a representative cross-section from so much bounty was something of a problem. Where to start? Finally, we settled for something for everyone: something for those who like a good tune offered in quiet good taste; something for those who prefer something a little more adventurous musically; something for those who enjoy and appreciate the finer points of a good solo passage by a brilliant star of the Ahola or Polo calibre; something everyone knows because the melody has lingered on; and something which for some reason is not heard nowadays much, if at all, but which will arouse happy memories of those great days of peace and optimism." A bounty indeed! As Rust later suggests, 'Leven Thirty Saturday Night is a fantastic tune, and I'll add that Sam Browne doesn't disappoint on any of the eleven vocals he handles here. I took a high-res photo of both front and back covers which should make it easy to read the full notes by simply opening the image found in the file. My copy is amazingly clean, and there was only the very slightest editing done. It sounded great to me, hopefully others will agree. Enjoy. +

Tracks

Side One

1. The Free And Easy (vocal: Sam Browne) (Turk-Ahert)
2. Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) (vocal: Sam Browne) (Kalmar-Ruby)
3. Singapore Sorrows (Le Soir-Doll)
4. Happy Go Lucky You (vocal: Sam Browne) (Murray-Goodhart-Hoffman)
5. Exactly Like You (vocal: Sam Browne) (Fields-McHugh)
6. A Bench In The Park (vocal: Sam Browne) (Yellen-Ager)

Side Two

1. 'Leven Thirty Saturday Night (vocal: Sam Browne) (Burnett-Grantham-Kirkpatrick)
2. Love Letters In The Sand (vocal: Sam Browne) (Coots-Kenny)
3. My Baby Just Cares For Me (vocal: Sam Browne) (Kahn-Donaldson)
4. Cryin' For The Carolines (vocal: Sam Browne) (Lewis-Young-Warren)
5. Shoo The Hoodoo Away (vocal: Ella Logan and Sam Browne) (Snyder-Harris)
6. Moanin' For You (vocal: Sam Browne) (Goulding-Dougherty)

Underneath The Arches

Flanagan & Allen were a British duo of music hall comedians, very popular during the pre-war and World War II period. Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Underneath the Arches - Flanagan & Allen, Henry Hall & BBC Dance Orchestra
2. Dreaming - Flanagan & Allen, Henry Hall
3. Wanderer - Flanagan & Allen, Henry Hall & BBC Dance Orchestra
4. Can't We Meet Again?
5. Million Tears
6. Home Town - Flanagan & Allen, George Scott-Wood & His Orchestra
7. Music, Maestro, Please!
8. Umbrella Man
9. Nice People
10. Run, Rabbit, Run!
11. (We're Gonna Hang Out) The Washing on the Siegfried Line
12. F.D.R. Jones
13. If a Grey-Haired Lady Says "How's Your Father?"
14. On the Outside Looking In
15. Yesterday's Dreams - Flanagan & Allen, Jay Wilbur & His Band
16. Down Forget-Me-Not Lane - Flanagan & Allen, Jay Wilbur & His Band
17. Rose O'Day (The Filla-Ga-Dusha Song) - Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra, Flanagan & Allen
18. What More Can I Say? - Bert Ambrose & His Orchestra, Flanagan & Allen
19. I Don't Want to Walk Without You
20. Miss You
21. Two Very Ordinary People - Flanagan & Allen, Jay Wilbur & His Band
22. Shine on Harvest Moon
23. Flying Through the Rain
24. Round the Back of the Arches - Flanagan & Allen, Jay Wilbur & His Band
25. We'll Smile Again

Man About Town

Bert Ambrose led a very popular band at the May Fair Hotel and the Embassy Club in London. Vera Lynn got her start with the Ambrose Orchestra during this period. Enjoy. +

Tracks

1. Man About Town
2. You Are My Lucky Star
3. I'll Step Out Of The Picture
4. Wotcha Got A Trombone For?
5. The Piccolino
6. Why Was I Born?
7. One-Way Street
8. Knock, Knock, Who's There?
9. Cheek To Cheek
10. Squibs
11. La Chchuracha
12. Who's Been Polishing The Sun?
13. I'm Gonna Wash My Hands Of You
14. Yip! Neddy
15. College Rhythm
16. Stay As Sweet As You Are
17. Home James And Don't Spare The Horses
18. Wood And Ivory
19. Dames
20. I Only Have Eyes For You
21. Then I'll Be Tired Of You
22. Just A'Wearyin' For You