“Benares Song: There Is No Whiskey In This Town” by Bertolt Brecht (w) and Kurt Weill (m) [1927] performed by Gabriele Ramm, Horst Hiestermann, Peter Nikolaus Kante, Walter Raffeiner, Trudeliese Schmidt, and Hans Franzen with Jan Latham-König and König-Ensemble [1978]
In 1927, the first project on which Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill ever collaborated was called Mahagonny. The project resulted in two separate works, a large opera experimental opera called Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (premiered 1930) and a smaller “scenic cantata,” Mahagonny Songspiel. Weill added music to a recent set of five related Brecht poems. Two of the songs were parodied in English translation by Brecht’s writing parter Elisabeth Hauptmann. Those two songs were “Alabama Song: Oh, Show Us The Way To The Next Whiskey-Bar!” and “Benares Song: There Is No Whiskey In This Town.”
You all no doubt recognize “Alabama Song” from the classic Doors version, although I suspect that like me, many of you were long unaware of the song’s original setting. (See for example this video of a 1958 performance by Lotte Lenya—who had been the original cast singer). Listen above “Alabama Song“‘s more somber companion piece “Benares Song,” which was sung during the lowest moment of the full opera. When initially performed in the Songspiel setting, the words “But even in Mahagonny there are moments of nausea, helplessness and despair” were projected behind the scene as a title.
“The Middle Class (Les bourgeois)” by Mort Shuman, Wolfgang Knittel from Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris [1968]
The music of Frenchman Jacques Brel was brought to American audiences in humorous translations in the 1968 off-broadway show Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. For a detailed account of how and why Brel’s music ended up in a musical, read the top review on Amazon (and download the album if you want—Brel was a great songwriter). While the concept of the bourgeoise doesn’t really equate to American notions of the middle class, the song remains pretty sharp. Maybe it would have translated better in modern terms: the one percent.
“Too Darn Hot” by Eddie Sledge, Lorenzo Fuller, and Fred Davis [1948]
This Cole Porter classic from the 1948 musical Kiss Me Kate sums up the feelings of much of the country today. I just biked home from work through a swampy 115 heat index. For those of you who have no clue about US geography, no, Minnesota does not still have snow on the ground and yes, it actually gets hot here in the summer!
“People are wrong when they say opera is not what it used to be. It is what it used to be. That is what’s wrong with it.” - Noël Coward
So Coward changed it. Working occasionally in the emerging genre of musical theatre, his productions were both unique and incredibly influential. Academy, Golden Globe, Tony, and Grammy Award winner Tony Rice had this to say about Cowards’ legacy: “The wit and wisdom of Noël Coward’s lyrics will be as lively and contemporary in 100 years’ time as they are today.” (via)
We find no better example of that timelessness than the song “Mad About the Boy,” which remains Cowards’ most popular composition. Its description of teen celebrity lust is ageless. In its original connotation the female lead sang about her favorite matinee idol—that is, a male celebrity who is attractive and inoffensive enough to star in a matinee, but lacking the true talent to land a role in the main show. Transported to the present day, “Mad About the Boy” could easily be about Justin Bieber.
The Gertrude Lawrence recording above was among the first hit recordings of the song.
Jerome Kern and P. G. Wodehouse originally composed the jaunty “Napoleon” as an interpolation for the 1916 Broadway production of Emmerich Kalman’s Viennese operetta Miss Springtime, although ultimately it was not used in that production. The song, which contains a splendidly absurd Wodehousian portrait of the French Emperor, eventually found it’s way onto the stage one season later in the score of Have a Heart, the first show to team Kern, Wodehouse, and librettist Guy Bolton. Billed as the “up-to-the-minute musical comedy,” it was a farcical bit of folderol about a married couple who rekindle romance on a second honeymoon; the intimacy of its story and staging was characteristic of the Kern-Bolton-Wodehouse style. Although critics found much to admire, Have a Heart was a rare commercial failure for the team.
Among the few remaining souvenirs of the Broadway production is this recording of “Napoleon” by comedian Billy B. Van, who played a frantic hotel elevator operator. It is one of the earliest recordings of a Kern theater song performed by an original New York cast member.
Among many other creations, you might recognize P. G. Wodehouse as the man behind the characters Jeeves and Wooster.
We Five were more than just a one-hit wonder folk group (you know, “You Were On My Mind”). Their harmonies and early adventures into folk-rock were an undervalued influence on other San Francisco groups like The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead. The group even tackled traditional fare like “Small World,” a show tune from the 1959 Styne-Sondhiem musical Gypsy made more popular by Johnny Mathis.
“Here’s to Your Illusions” by Barbara Cook and Jerome Courtland [1951]
Random Music History Song of the Day (catch-up edition)
We’re finally caught up on posts. :)
At the peak of McCarthyism, Barbara Cook made her Broadway debut in a musical by bitter blacklisted songwriter E. Y. Harburg. Flahooley flopped because its plot was, well, more of a direct shot at McCarthy than an actual story (also targeted in the play: the atom bomb and capitalism - or, exactly what you would want to criticize during Communist witch hunts!). A laughing doll, a genie, a toy shop, an Arabian princess, etc.: music by Sammy Fain could only do so much to rescue the plot from Harburg’s lyrics and dialogue. The love song “Here’s to Your Illusions” stands out as the best of the bunch, if only because McCarthy’s shadow didn’t make an appearance. Although her first run on Broadway lasted only 40 shows, it didn’t prevent Cook from winning a Tony Award six years later for her role in The Music Man.
Finally, given what I just wrote in the Cab Calloway post about the quasi-mythical “pure,” “innocent,” conservative, boring culture of the 1950s, isn’t this exactly what you were imagining popular music from the era would sound like?!
In December of 1952, at the behest of record producer and future Verve founder Norman Ganz, Fred Astaire joined a sextet of gifted jazz musicians to record a sort of career retrospective. The result was a limited edition four-LP box set - The Astaire Story - that has come down to us as one of the great documents of American music. A look at the history behind any of the songs Astaire introduced or made famous leads one from American Songbook legends (e.g. Porter, Gershwin/Gershwin, Kern, Youmans, Mercer, Fields, etc.) through famous American musicals to classic Hollywood films.
“I Won’t Dance” for example, was written by notable composer Jerome Kern with equally-distinguished songwriters Oscar Hammersein II and Otto Harbach. Although written for an earlier musical (Three Sisters, which flopped in 1934), the song was included a year later in the film production of the musical Roberta, the third film to feature the pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Anything involving Fred Astaire of course leads to a discussion of the famous era of filmed dancing, with Astaire sharing top honors along with esteemed colleagues Bill Robinson (aka Mr. Bojangles) and Gene Kelly. Most of the songs Astaire made famous were originally arranged as dance showcases. “I Won’t Dance” was no exception.
The arrangement used in the 1952 retrospective was minimized compared to the original film version, allowing the great jazz musicians space to work. Just listen. While the rhythm section of Oscar Peterson (piano), Ray Brown (double bass), and Alvin Stoller (drums) swings calmly, the improvised countermelodies spun by Flip Phillips’ tenor saxophone and especially Charlie Shavers’ muted trumpet make this recording what it is just as much as if not more than Astaire’s charming vocals.
“Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love” by Mary Martin with Eddy Duchin’s Orchestra [1938]
Random Music History Song of the Day
Mary Martin is probably best known for her work in the years 1959 and 1960. Martin starred as the lead character in the 1960 television special Peter Pan (a role she had played numerous times previously on Broadway and television) and she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical the same year for her portrayal of Maria in the original Broadway production of The Sound of Music. Most memories of Martin in that role were superseded when Julie Andrews gave her definitive performance in the 1965 film version.
One must look to an entirely different generation, though, to find the beginning of Martin’s career, back to a time without Julie Andrews or color TV. Mary Martin made her Broadway debut in Cole Porter’s 1938 musical Leave It to Me! alongside legendary singer/actress Sophie Tucker, famous actors William Gaxton and Victor Moore, and then-unknown dancer Gene Kelly (also making his Broadway debut). In the musical, she introduced Porter’s new song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” which soon became a standard, while Sophie Tucker introduced “Most Gentleman Don’t Like Love.” Mary Martin recorded both as a commercial single “cast recording” with the “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” as the A-side. The single reached #9 in early 1939. In the long run, “Most Gentleman Don’t Like Love” made little impact and has largely been forgotten. It’s still worth a listen if only for a brief mental excursion to another era.
“I Wan’na Be Like You” by Louis Prima (King Louie) [1967]
All music was once new. Much of what we now consider "old" was innovative, challenging, or even dangerous when it was composed, published or released. Other music was simply for fun - pure entertainment. It all has its place in the history of human culture.
Here at Music History you will see and hear daily music posts, randomly selected from my eclectic collection, plus related artwork, and reblogs from any and all genres of music.
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