Will Friedwald’s 2002 book Stardust Melodies tells the stories behind twelve great songs, “each of which,” according to Friedwald, “has enough of a history, a long enough list of recordings, and a wide enough variety of interpretations in many different styles.” The songs date from 1914 to 1938. Ain’t no glam rock here.
Here are the first six songs featured, with some comments:
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“Star Dust” (Hoagy Carmichael/Mitchell Parish), 1927 This often-recorded classic (over 500 recordings by the mid-sixties) is known as much for Carmichael’s perambulating melody as for Parish’s dreamy lyrics. The first three words of the lyrics, “Sometimes I wonder,” were used as the title of Carmichael’s 1965 biography. Hoagy is quoted as saying, “I had no idea what the title meant, but I thought it was gorgeous.” My favorite version of the song is that of The Mills Brothers, for sentimental reasons, but there are so many great versions, including one by my favorite vocal group, The Boswell Sisters, and versions by Nat King Cole, by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and by Frank Sinatra.
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“St. Louis Blues” (W.C. Handy), 1914 This blues classic is actually more complex than most blues songs, with multiple sections that don’t repeat, going from major to minor. My favorite version is that of Bessie Smith, but I have many versions–I even have an LP called 14 Blue Roads to St. Louis, which is nothing but “St. Louis Blues,” by artists ranging from Benny Goodman to Dizzy Gillespie. I like Louis Armstrong’s version of the song on his Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy album. I even like Nat Cole’s version from the soundtrack to the biopic in which Nat is W.C.
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“Mack the Knife” (Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht, English lyrics by Marc Blitzstein), 1928 The swingy lounge hit for Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong started out as “Moritat,” from the German musical The Threepenny Opera. Composer Kurt Weill later came to the US, where several songs from his work for musical theatre became standards, including “Speak Low” and “September Song.” The original German incarnation of the song doesn’t swing, but it has that curious cabaret feel Weill did so well. The jazzy versions (all recorded after Weill was dead) gloss over the gruesome lyrics about a knife-wielding tough guy. Ella Fitzgerald has a nice live version on Ella in Berlin in which she blanks on the lyrics and improvises her own words about forgetting the lyrics. It was of this song’s popularity that Weill’s widow Lotte Lenya said, “A taxi driver whistling Kurt’s tunes would have pleased him more than winning the Pulitzer Prize.”
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“Ol’ Man River” (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II), 1927 This song from the musical Showboat is closely identified with Paul Robeson and Jules Bledsoe, who both sang the song on Broadway as the character Joe. The Negro-dialect lyrics written by a white man have dated poorly, but it should be noted that Hammerstein was involved in several shows that addressed racism, including this one. Friedwald mentions quite a few versions of the song that I don’t have (including Stan Freberg’s mock-PC version called “Elderly Man River”), but a favorite I do have is by, of all people, Milton Nascimento, a Brazilian singer.
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“Body and Soul” (Johnny Green/Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton), 1930 This “most played melody in all of jazz” has one widely-acknowledged definitive version: Coleman Hawkins’ 1939 recording. That one’s my favorite. Nuff said.
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“I Got Rhythm” (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin), 1930 One of many great Gershwin standards (another, “Summertime” is also on Friedwald’s top 12 list), “I Got Rhythm” was introduced by Ethel Merman in the musical Girl Crazy. I have a classic Louis Armstrong version of the song, but I don’t have any other great versions of it–but there are many out there. Friedwald also notes the many jazz variations that use the “I Got Rhythm” chords and structure, including “Lester Leaps In” (one of my favorites), “Anthropolgy,” and “Cottontail.”
That’s the first six. Truly some great pre-rock songs.
Running/Breathing 