Friday, September 28, 2012

Counterbalance – Top 100 Albums

Counterbalance:

The Top 100 Albums

Counterbalance” was a weekly column featured at PopMatters.com which dissected the top 100 albums of all time, as determined by AcclaimedMusic.net. The first post was on September 9, 2010. Number 100 was posted on September 28, 2012. Writers Jason Mendelsohn and Eric Klinger debated the merits of the albums with some of the most entertaining and insightful critiques I’ve seen. Here are the top 100.

Check out other publications and organizations’ best-of album lists here.

1. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966)
2. The Beatles Revolver (1966)
3. Nirvana Nevermind (1991)
4. The Velvet Underground & Nico Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
5. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
6. Marvin Gaye What’s Going On (1971)
7. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde (1966)
8. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972)
9. The Clash London Calling (1979)
10. The Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)

11. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
12. Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced? (1967)
13. Radiohead OK Computer (1997)
14. The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968)
15. Van Morrison Astral Weeks (1968)
16. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
17. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
18. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975)
19. Patti Smith Horses (1975)
20. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969)

21. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
22. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland (1968)
23. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks (1975)
24. The Doors The Doors (1967)
25. Television Marquee Moon (1977)
26. Prince Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987)
27. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982)
28. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead (1986)
29. The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965)
30. The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (1968)

31. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
32. Massive Attack Blue Lines (1991)
33. The Who Who’s Next (1971)
34. Arcade Fire Funeral (2004)
35. Talking Heads Remain in Light (1980)
36. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed (1969)
37. Ramones Ramones (1976)
38. U2 The Joshua Tree (1987)
39. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
40. James Brown Live at the Apollo Volume 1 (live, 1962)

41. Joy Division Closer (1980)
42. Stevie Wonder Innervisions (1973)
43. The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
44. Neil Young After the Gold Rush (1970)
45. The Strokes Is This It (2001)
46. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
47. The Band The Band (1969)
48. Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
49. Love Forever Changes (1967)
50. Prince & the Revolution Purple Rain (soundtrack, 1984)

51. Sly & the Family Stone There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971)
52. Radiohead Kid A (2000)
53. R.E.M. Automatic for the People (1992)
54. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Trout Mask Replica (1969)
55. The Stone Roses The Stone Roses (1989)
56. The Clash The Clash (1977)
57. Beck Odelay (1996)
58. Fleetwood Mac Rumours (1977)
59. Pixies Doolittle (1989)
60. Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction (1987)

61. Otis Redding Otis Blue (1965)
62. David Bowie Hunky Dory (1971)
63. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (1969)
64. Joy Division Unknown Pleasures (1979)
65. R.E.M. Murmur (1983)
66. Carole King Tapestry (1971)
67. John Coltrane A Love Supreme (1965)
68. John Lennon Plastic Ono Band (1970)
69. Jeff Buckley Grace (1994)
70. Portishead Dummy (1994)

71. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2001)
72. Sonic Youth Daydream Nation (1988)
73. Bob Dylan Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
74. My Bloody Valentine Loveless (1991)
75. Derek and the Dominos Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)
76. Paul Simon Graceland (1986)
77. De La Soul 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
78. Lou Reed Transformer (1972)
79. Elvis Costello & The Attractions This Year’s Model (1978)
80. The Band Music from Big Pink (1968)

81. Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967)
82. U2 Achtung Baby (1991)
The Stooges Fun House (1970)
83. Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy (1985)
84. Primal Scream Screamadelica (1991)
85. Radiohead The Bends (1995)
86. Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995)
87. Miles Davis Bitches Brew (1970)
88. David Bowie Low (1/14/77)
89. The Stooges Raw Power (1973)

90. DJ Shadow Endtroducing… (1996)
91. Kraftwerk Trans-Europa Express (Trans Europe Express) (1977)
92. John Lennon Imagine (1971)
93. Van Morrison Moondance (1970)
94. AC/DC Back in Black (1980)
95. Pixies Surfer Rosa (1988)
96. Neil Young Harvest (1972)
97. Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975)
98. Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
99. Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones (1983)


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First posted 9/28/2012; last updated 11/10/2022.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Consequence of Sound - The Top 100 Songs Ever

Consequence of Sound:

Top 100 Songs Ever

Consequence of Sound has released its list of the top 100 songs of all time. As is nearly always the case for these lists, the term “all time” (or in this case, “ever”) is completely inappropriate. Since Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) is the oldest song on this list, one can only assume that the staff at Consequence of Sound have been misinformed that music wasn’t invented until the 1950s. Either that, or we are supposed to believe that a song like Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” which has never shown up on any of the other hundreds of lists I’ve collected, is far superior than anything in the history of recorded music prior to 1958.

One could also rant at the complete neglect of certain genres. This list is more diverse than some, actually includes R&B, rap, rock, pop, punk, and more within one list. However, there are still some genres, such as country, folk, jazz, gospel, reggae, and other world music which are represented with a token song or completely overlooked.

I could also rant about some of the musical giants glaringly absent from this list (Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra) and specific songs. Consider this – only one song is featured on the CoS list which is also in the top ten of the Dave’s Music Database book of The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era (see the list here). The latter is determined by aggregating hundreds of best-of lists. So here’s just 9 songs whose incredible pedigrees have been ignored by CoS: The Beatles’ Hey Jude”, The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” John Lennon’s “Imagine,” The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

In what is also a frequent annoyance with online best-of lists, it takes scrolling through many a page to take in the entire list. While there are nice pieces about the songs, it would still be nice to give readers easy access to the entire list at once and then let them link to songs.

In any event, Dave's Music Database presents the list here, warts and all. Here’s where you can see the original posts: (100-51) and (50-1).

Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

  1. The Beach Boys “God Only Knows” (1966)
  2. Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime” (1981)
  3. Bob Dylan “ Like a Rolling Stone” (1965)
  4. Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” (1987)
  5. The Beatles “A Day in the Life” (1967)
  6. Velvet Underground “Sister Ray” (1968)
  7. The Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” (1968)
  8. Aretha Franklin “Respect” (1967)
  9. The Notorious B.I.G. “Juicy” (1994)
  10. Radiohead “Idioteque” (2000)

  11. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)
  12. Marvin Gaye “What’s Going On” (1971)
  13. Led Zeppelin “Dazed and Confused” (1968)
  14. The Knife “Heartbeats” (2002)
  15. The Jackson 5 “I Want You Back” (1969)
  16. Bruce Springsteen “Jungleland” (1975)
  17. Otis Redding “Try a Little Tenderness” (1966)
  18. Bob Dylan “Shelter from the Storm” (1975)
  19. Prince “When Doves Cry” (1984)
  20. Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” (1985)

  21. Public Enemy “Fight the Power” (1989)
  22. Pulp “Common People” (1995)
  23. The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966)
  24. The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” (1969)
  25. John Coltrane “Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme, Part 1)” (1965)
  26. Beastie Boys “Shadrach” (1989)
  27. The Who “My Generation” (1965)
  28. Neutral Milk Hotel “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (1998)
  29. Joy Division “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (1980)
  30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along the Watchtower” (1968)

  31. Smith, Patti “Rock ‘n’ Roll Ni**er” (1978)
  32. Black Sabbath “War Pigs” (1970)
  33. Neil Young “Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)” (1979)
  34. Daft Punk “One More Time” (2000)
  35. The Ronettes “Be My Baby” (1963)
  36. The Replacements “I Will Dare” (1984)
  37. Sam Cooke “A Change Is Gonna Come” (1964)
  38. Talking Heads “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” (1983)
  39. The Stooges “Search and Destroy” (1973)
  40. Al Green “Let’s Stay Together” (1971)

  41. Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (1982)
  42. The Clash “London Calling” (1979)
  43. David Bowie “Space Oddity” (1969)
  44. LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends” (2007)
  45. N.W.A. “Fuck tha Police” (1989)
  46. Madonna “Like a Virgin” (1984)
  47. The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations” (1966)
  48. Can “Halleluwah” (1971)
  49. Metallica “One” (1988)
  50. Pavement “Summer Babe (Winter Version)” (1992)

  51. The Who “Baba O’Riley” (1971)
  52. Jay-Z “99 Problems” (2004)
  53. Arcade Fire “Wake Up” (2004)
  54. Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” (1979)
  55. Bob Dylan “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964)
  56. Stevie Wonder “Superstition” (1972)
  57. Thin Lizzy “The Boys Are Back in Town” (1976)
  58. Black Flag “Rise Above” (1981)
  59. Television “Marquee Moon” (1977)
  60. Nick Drake “Pink Moon” (1972)

  61. The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” (2003)
  62. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2003)
  63. U2 “Where the Streets Have No Name” (1987)
  64. OutKast “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” (2000)
  65. Velvet Underground “I’m Waiting for the Man” (1965)
  66. Portishead “Roads” (1994)
  67. Chuck Berry “Johnny B. Goode” (1958)
  68. Leonard Cohen “Suzanne” (1967)
  69. The Cure “Just Like Heaven” (1987)
  70. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961)

  71. Björk “Army of Me” (1995)
  72. James Brown “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (1965)
  73. Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop” (1976)
  74. The Smiths “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” (1985)
  75. Blondie “Heart of Glass” (1978)
  76. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott “Get Ur Freak On” (2001)
  77. Sly & The Family Stone “Hot Fun in the Summertime” (1969)
  78. Run-D.M.C. “Rock Box” (1984)
  79. Fleetwood Mac…The Chain” (1977)
  80. Yo La Tengo “Autumn Sweater” (1997)

  81. Wu Tang Clan “Protect Ya Neck” (1993)
  82. Depeche Mode “Enjoy the Silence” (1990)
  83. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five “The Message” (1982)
  84. Sufjan Stevens “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” (2005)
  85. My Bloody Valentine “Only Shallow” (1991)
  86. The Band “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” (1969)
  87. PJ Harvey “Down by the Water” (1995)
  88. The Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen in Love” (1978)
  89. Kanye West “Jesus Walks” (2004)
  90. The Pixies “Hey” (1989)

  91. Funkadelic “One Nation Under a Groove” (1978)
  92. Aphex Twin “Windowlicker” (1999)
  93. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” (1978)
  94. Underworld “Born Slippy” (1995)
  95. Sleater-Kinney “Dig Me Out” (1997)
  96. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “From Her to Eternity” (1984)
  97. A Tribe Called Quest “Scenario” (1992)
  98. Kraftwerk “Autobahn” (1974)
  99. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” (1988)
  100. Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” (1981)

Resources/Related Links:


First posted 9/21/2012; last updated 8/5/2023.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Marillion released Sounds That Can’t Be Made

Sounds That Can’t Be Made

Marillion


Released: September 17, 2012


Peak: -- US, 43 UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): --


Genre: neo-progressive rock


Tracks:

Song Title [time] (date of single release)

  1. Gaza [17:31] (9/4/12, --)
  2. Sounds That Can’t Be Made [7:16]
  3. Pour My Love [6:07]
  4. Power [6:07] (7/17/12, --)
  5. Montreal [14:04]
  6. Invisible Ink [5:47]
  7. Lucky Man [6:54]
  8. The Sky Above the Rain [10:34]

All songs written by Marillion with lyrics by Steve Hogarth except “Pour My Love” which has lyrics by Hogarth and John Helmer.


Total Running Time: 74:19


The Players:

  • Steve Hogarth (vocals, percussion)
  • Steve Rothery (guitar)
  • Pete Trewavas (bass)
  • Mark Kelly (keyboards)
  • Ian Mosley (drums)

Rating:

2.943 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)

About the Album:

Sounds That Can’t Be Made sounds like vintage Marillion. They’ve returned to prog with a vengeance, delivering an eight-track collection that fires on all cylinders.” AMG On Radiation and Marillion.com, [they] began utilizing drum loops, ambient atmospherics, and U2-isms.” AMG “2001’s Anoraknophobia (the first ever crowd-funded album) went even further by introducing tropes from trip-hop, Brit-funk, hip-hop, and jazzy dub. While 2004’s Marbles was a marked a return to their sprawling cinematic origins, subsequent long players again backslid toward pop mediocrity.” AMG “Tempered by their restless experiments in the pop wilderness, Sounds That Can’t Be Made is evidence that Marillion always knew who they were as a band. If anything, they’ve become better musicians for having taken in all those extant sources.” AMG

Things kick off with “the 17-minute epic Gaza. Delivered from the point of view of a young boy living in the region, it looks at the violence, poverty, and Palestinians’ will to independence without going after the nation of Israel.” AMG It is “perhaps the most overtly political song Marillion has done since 1989…Steve Hogarth explained, ‘This is a song for the people – especially the children – of Gaza. It was written after many conversations with ordinary Palestinians living in the refugee camps of Gaza and the West Bank...It is not my/our intention to smear the Jewish faith or people…and nothing here is intended to show sympathy for acts of violence…but simply to ponder upon where desperation inevitably leads. Many Gazan children are now the grandchildren of Palestinians BORN in the refugee camps – so called ‘temporary’ shelters…Gazia is today, effectively, a city imprisoned without trial.’” WK

“Tempo, texture, and key changes abound throughout as…Hogarth shapeshifts through terrain that recalls Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis at his most emotionally taut. Steve Rothery brandishes a more aggressive guitar attack than he has in years.” AMG

“Two other double-digit-length cuts, Montreal (a tribute to Marillion fans) and closer The Sky Above the Rain, offer myriad layers of inventive keyboards and expansive drum and bass work as Rothery and Hogarth deliver with peak prowess.” AMG

“While Power flirts with sophisticated pop, it’s set free from such constraints by the interplay between Mark Kelly’s keyboards, Ian Mosley’s drum kit, and Pete Trewavas’ lyrical bassline, while Rothery’s guitar playing moves around Hogarth’s singing, filling the margins with colorful tonalities.” AMG

“Closer Lucky Man…begins with majestic aggression and shifts toward a bass-heavy, bluesy melody that evolves into anthemic prog with Hogarth giving his best rockist delivery.” AMG

Marillion used pre-ordering again to fun the album. As with Anoraknophobia, Marbles, and Happiness Is the Road, those who pre-ordered got “the special edition deluxe campaign edition box-set.” WK In this case, it included a DVD with a full-length documentary about the making of the album and numerous sound checks for songs on the album. There were also videos for “Lucky Man” and “Power.”


Notes: A 2013 special edition added a second CD with three songs recorded for a radio session, a demo of “Lucky Man” and live versions of “Sounds That Can’t Be Made” and “Invisible Ink.”

Resources and Related Links:


Other Related DMDB Pages:


First posted 3/6/2022.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Today in Music (1962): Booker T & the MGs topped the R&B chart with “Green Onions”

Green Onions

Booker T. & the MGs

Writer(s): Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr., Booker T. Jones, Lewie Steinberg


Released: July 1962


First Charted: August 11, 1962


Peak: 3 BB, 3 CB, 3 GR, 3 HR, 14 RB, 7 UK, 39 CN, 73 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 1.0 US


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 42.1 video, 239.82 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Booker T. & the MGs were the house band for Stax records, “soul’s biggest hit factory after Motown.” TB The group of session musicians consisted of keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, drummer Al Jackson, and bassist Lewis Steinberg. With Donald “Duck” Dunn later replacing Steinberg, the collective would back classics by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave in the 1960s.

The song “Green Onions” came about when the band were waiting to start a session with rockabilly artist Billy Lee “Red Hot” Riley. SS They started jamming and engineer Jim Stewart “got an earful of a low-down blues that the MG’s were cooking up. He thought it was dynamite. He quickly switched on the tape and caught it all.” SJ Then they played him a dance tune they’d been working on. The latter became “Green Onions.” SJ The single was backed by “Behave Yourself,” the first song the group had played for Stuart. SJ When it was released, Booker had just graduated from high school. SS

The title apparently came about because, according to Cropper, someone said, “Boy, this is some funky music; this music stinks. What’s the stinkiest, nastiest thing you can think of?’” SJ Steinberg “declared green onions the funkiest thing he’d ever smelled.” SS

Author and critic Dave Marsh said the song was “what happens when the best backup band in the universe decides it’s time to be noticed.” DM Thomas Ryan said it was “part R&B, part jazz, the groove was as uncluttered as a rhythm section could get without disappearing altogether.” SS


Resources:


First posted 1/18/2024.

50 years ago: The Four Seasons hit #1 with “Sherry”

Sherry

The Four Seasons

Writer(s): Bob Gaudio (see lyrics here)


First Charted: August 18, 1962


Peak: 15 US, 17 CB, 13 GR, 15 HR, 11 RB, 8 UK, 15 CN, 3 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 17.42 video, 89.5 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The Four Seasons appeared to be an overnight success when “Sherry” bounded to #1 in only four weeks, but Frankie Valli (born Francis Castellucio) had been working for a decade and put together the first version of the Four Seasons in 1955. They took the name from a bowling alley in New Jersey. The group went through various line-ups and recorded under a variety of names as well as singing backup for others, including Bobby Darin, Freddy Cannon, and Danny & the Juniors. FB The line-up which recorded “Sherry” was in place in 1961. It included Bob Gaudio who Valli met in 1958 on a Baltimore TV show on which both of their groups appeared. Also essential to the group was songwriter and producer Bob Crewe, who Valli met that same year when recording the solo song “I Go Ape.” FB

The Four Seasons released “Bermuda” in 1961 through Goldner’s Gone Records. It didn’t chart, but their next effort – through Vee Jay – gave them their breakout hit. FB Vee Jay had success with doo-wop and R&B in the ‘50s, but their only pop hit at the time was Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earl.” When Valli played “Sherry” over the phone for Randy Wood, the company’s West Coast Sales Manager, he loved it and took it to local DJ Dick “Huggy Boy” Hugg. After Hugg played it on his show, the station was flooded with calls. SF

This is the “Belmonts-meets-Beach Boys on Maurice Williams’ turf.” DM That “plunk-plunk rhythm…sets up the real action, in the drums and tambourine which dance their asses off while Frankie Valli’s falsetto heads to the stratosphere.” DM

“Sherry” was written in 15 minutes. Gaudio explained, “I was ready to leave for a rehearsal…and I sat at the piano and it just came out. Not having a tape recorder in those days, the only way I could remember it was to put a quick lyric to it and remember the melody and the words together. I drove down to the rehearsal humming it, trying to keep it in my mind. I had no intention of keeping the lyrics. To my surprise, everybody like the the lyrics so we didn’t change anything.” FB

Apparently everything was in place but the title. Gaudio had used “Terry” as a placekeeper, but the group also considered “Jackie” in honor of then-first lady Jackie Kennedy. SJ When the group performed it for Crewe over the phone, he said he liked it, but wanted to change the name. They also considered “Peri Baby.” WK Crewe’s friend, New York City DJ Jack Spector, suggested “Cheri” after his three-year-old daughter SJ and that’s the name that stuck, albeit with a spelling change.


Resources:


First posted 3/14/2021; last updated 4/16/2023.

100 years ago: “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” hit #1

Waiting for the Robert E. Lee

Heidelberg Quintet

Writer(s): L. Wolfe Gilbert (words), Lewis F. Muir (music) (see lyrics here)


First Charted: September 15, 1912


Peak: 16 US, 13 GA, 114 SM (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.02 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Lyricist L. Wolfe Gilbert was inspired to write this “ragtime classic” TY2 after watching men unloading freight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from the steamboat SS named after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee which transported cotton along the Mississippi River. SM A Cincinnati boat of the same name gained headlines in 1870 when it beat the Natchez VI in a race from New Orleans to St. Louis in a few hours shy of four days. SS

The up-and-coming singer Al Jolson introduced the song at one of his Winter Garden concerts in New York and it was “an immediate crowd-pleaser.” SS He also integrated it into his show The Whirl of Society, which opened in March 1912, but didn’t record the song until 1946 for the soundtrack to The Al Jolson Story. SS Vaudevillian singer Ruth Roye DJ and Eddie Cantor SS also helped popularize the song.

The song charted three times in 1912 by the Heidelberg Quintet (#1), Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan (#3), and Dolly Connolly (#4). It was one of only eight chart entries for the Heidelberg Quintet and their first of two #1’s. PM The group consisted of Billy Murray, John Bieling, Steve Porter, and William Hooley – who all recorded as the American Quartet – plus Will Oakland. SS The name grew out of the group’s first recording session in which they sang the unreleasd “Heidelberg Stein Song.” SS

This was one of the earliest efforts at recording a quintet because of the difficulties in positiong five singers around the recording horn and maintaining a balance among the voices. SS The results here were this “delightfully, rousing ragtime-flavored number bursint with energy and warm nostalgia.” SS

The song was also performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1939 movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and again in 1941 by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for Babes on Broadway. SS It has also appeared in The Jazz Singer (1927), Applause (1929), Hellzapoppin’ (1941), Cairo (1942), and Lake Placid Serenade (1944). TY2

In 1952, a group of composers and musicians voted this the best song of the first half of the 20th century. SS The song was also one of the first ten inductees in 1968 to the American Music Hall of Fame, which became the Songwriters Hall of Fame. SS


Resources:


First posted 2/26/2023.