Today in Music (1939): “September Song” charted

September Song Walter Huston

Writer(s): Kurt Weill (music), Maxwell Anderson (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: January 28, 1939 Peak: 12 PM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.78 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Kurt Weill (best known for “Mack the Knife”) and Maxwell Anderson wrote “September Song” for the Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday. It was one of the earliest musicals “based on a historical subject that commented on contemporary issues. The theme of democracy versus totalitarianism was presented I the reign of Governor Peter Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam in 1647.” TY2 Walter Huston played Stuyvesant and spoke/sang “September Song” in the show. He “confesses his fears of growing old in this tender ballad sung to the young girl he intends to marry.” TY2 He played the part so convincingly, audiences were rooting for the wrong side. TY2 Huston also had a chart version with the song, reaching #12. It was his only chart entry. While he may not have had much of a career as a recording artist, Huston had done vaudeville as a younger man and later became known as a great character actor on Broadway and in films, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. He was the father of film director John Huston. PM The song charted four more times – Frank Sinatra (#8, 1946), Dardanelle Trio (#11, 1946), Stan Kenton (#17, 1951), and Liberace (#27, 1952). Roy Clark, Jimmy Durante, Stan Kenton, Willie Nelson, and Lou Reed have also recorded the song. It was one of only 16 named to ASCAP’s “All-Time Hit Parade.” TY2 A film version of Knickerbocker Holiday was released in 1944 with Charles Coburn playing Stuyvesant and performing “September Song.” Maurice Chevalier sang it in the movie musical Pepe (1960). Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 170. TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 244-5. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 221 and 576. Related Links: First posted 5/15/2025.

Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett and His Large Band released

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band Lyle Lovett

Released: January 23, 1989 Peak: 62 US, 10 CW, 88 CN Sales (in millions): 0.5 US Genre: alt-country/Americana

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. The Blues Walk (Brown) [2:25] Here I Am [4:01] Cryin’ Shame [2:28] Good Intentions [3:13] I Know You Know [3:57] What Do You Do/The Glory of Love (Hill/ Lovett) [3:06] I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You [3:14] (12/10/88, 45 CW) Stand by Your Man (Sherrill/ Wynette) [2:44] (3/4/89, 82 CW) Which Way Does That Old Pony Run? [4:08] Nobody Knows Me [3:06] (6/17/89, 84 CW) If You Were to Wake Up [4:07] Once Is Enough [4:26] Songs written by Lyle Lovett unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 40:55

Rating: 3.960 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “While from the outset Lyle Lovett sounded like a hard artist to pigeonhole, his sponsors at Curb Records and MCA Records seemed determined to sell him as a country artist, though the blues and retro-jazz leanings of Lovett’s second album, Pontiac, suggested that strategy would only be practical for so long. With his third album, 1989’s Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, Lovett seemingly sidelined any career aspirations as a mainstream country act he or his handlers may have held.” MD “The album kicks off with a lively cover of Clifford Brown’s The Blues Walk, and the next five tunes all bear the smoky, late-night vibe of a low-key jazz joint, with top marks going to the hilariously off-kilter Here I Am, the witty scenario of potential infidelity What Do You Do/The Glory of Love, and the marvelously sly Good Intentions.” MD “The second half of the album is steeped in twang, but it was hardly more comforting for country radio programmers; I Married Her Just Because She Looks Like You is a ‘sweet on the outside and sick on the inside’ tale of romantic obsession, Nobody Knows Me bears a punchline that makes ‘God Will’ sound generous, and Lovett’s straight-faced cover of Stand By Your Man stubbornly refuses to either announce itself as a joke or suggest another interpretation.” MD “Wherever you choose to file it, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band made it clear that Lovett was only getting better with each album; the songs are uniformly well-crafted, Lovett’s vocals are full of subtle nuance, and his band is in brilliant form throughout (with special kudos to Lovett’s frequent vocal foil, Francine Reed). If you’re going to burn your bridges, you could hardly find a better way to do it than this.” MD

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Lyle Lovett MD Mark Deming, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 5/18/2022.

Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” charted

Paradise City Guns N’ Roses

Writer(s): Slash, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler (see lyrics here) Released: November 30, 1988 First Charted: January 14, 1989 Peak: 5 BB, 4 CB, 9 GR, 4 RR, 14 AR, 6 UK, 10 CN, 48 AU, 15 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.2 UK, 1.59 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 821.89 video, 1038.08 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. 1987’s Appetite for Destruction became the best-selling debut album in U.S. history, selling 18 million copies. It has sold around 30 million copies worldwide. It wasn’t an overnight success, however. The band didn’t really take off until “Sweet Child O’ Mine” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – more than a year after the album’s release. Then “Welcome to the Jungle” was re-released and hit the top 10. The album had seemingly run its course by then since the group released GN’R Lies, a collection of four new songs and the group’s four-song EP Live Like a Suicide. However, after reaching the top-ten a third time with the power ballad “Patience,”Guns N’ Roses dipped back into the Appetite album for “Paradise City,” which became the album’s third top-ten hit. Slash, the lead guitarist for the band, says the song was written in the back of a rental van. The group were returning from a gig in San Francisco and playing acoustic guitarist. Slash came up with the intro and Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin joined in. After Slash started humming a melody, singer Axl Rose chimed in wit the line, “Take me down to the paradise city.” Slash responded with the line “Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.” WK According to McKagan, the song grew out of one of their first rehearsals and some lyrics from one of his notebooks. SF Verses about “the rough life on the streets” were inspired by Los Angeles, but “the chorus was based on Axl Rose’s memories of the Midwest, with images of green grass, innocence and possibility.” SF Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/10/2024.

N.W.A. released Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton N.W.A.

Released: January 10, 1989 Peak: 6 US, 9 RB, 35 UK, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.3 UK, 3.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Straight Outta Compton Fuck tha Police Gangsta Gangsta (3/25/89, 91 RB, 70 UK) If It Ain’t Ruff Parental Sicretion Iz Advised 8 ball Something Like That Express Yourself (8/5/89, 45 RB, 26 UK) Compton’s in the House I Ain’t tha 1 Dopeman Quiet on tha Set Something 2 Dance 2 Total Running Time: 60:16

Rating: 4.053 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings) Quotable: “Virtually all gangsta rap remains a response to or an elaboration of this one album” – Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light, Time Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Straight Outta Compton “is one of the most seminal albums in the history of rap and greatly influenced countless gangsta rappers.” AMG “N.W.A didn’t invent gangsta rap – Ice-T and Schooly D had already embraced first-person narratives focusing on the harsh realities of ghetto life – but the L.A. group made it even more violent.” AMG As a result, N.W.A’s “unapologetically frightening” AMG Straight Outta Compton “was the hip-hop shot heard ‘round the world.” TL “N.W.A’s name – that’s short for ‘Niggaz with Attitude,’ in case you forgot – was the first sign that this was no ordinary group.” TL They “took listeners on an arresting journey through L.A.’s tough Compton ghetto. Critics of this highly controversial album contended that N.W.A was glamorizing Black-on-Black crime – the rappers countered that they weren’t encouraging violence, but rather were presenting an audio documentary of life as they knew it growing up in Compton.” AMG The album is awash with “wicked rhymes by Ice Cube” AZ with his “unflinching ghetto reportage.” TL There’s also the “jittery, cinematic production” TL “courtesy Dr. Dre,” AZ “group founder Eazy-E’s oddly menacing high-pitched snarl, and support from MC Ren and DJ Yella.” TL “It made for a true gang-bangin’ all-star team.” TL It all comes “barreling into your face, just daring you to ignore the streets of Compton (or any American city) even one day longer.” AZ “From Fuck tha Police (which earned them a warning letter from the FBI),” TL “to the angry, unflinching realism of Gangsta Gangsta, to the pro-free speech Express Yourself, this is slammin’ and ruthless.” AZ “Almost twenty years later, virtually all gangsta rap remains a response to or an elaboration of this one album.” TL Unfortunately, the genre would “subsequently…be plagued by numerous soundalike MCs who lacked even a fraction of N.W.A or Ice-T’s originality. But in the innovative hands of N.W.A., it was bold, inspired and arresting.” AMG Notes: “Straight Outta Compton was released in an edited version with all of the profanity removed, and instead changed around so that the album became a parody of edited albums by using hilariously silly replacements for swears and graphic descriptions.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for N.W.A. AMG All Music Guide review by Alex Henderson AZ Amazon.com review by David Cantwell TL Time magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light Last updated 4/19/2022.