100 years ago: Ted Lewis “All by Myself” hit #1

All by Myself Ted Lewis

Writer(s): Irving Berlin (see lyrics here) First Charted: August 15, 1921 Peak: 14 US, 12 GA, 15 SM (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 (sheet music) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: This Irving Berlin tune “is a meditation on solitude and the misery of growing old alone.” TY2 It may have been autobiographical as Berlin lost his bride shortly after their honeymoon and never remarried. TY2 It was introduced in vaudeville by Charles King DJ and in The Music Box Revue of 1922, which was part of a series of musical theater revuews by Irving Berlin from 1921 to 1925. It was first recorded by Frank Crumit (#5, 1921), SM a “popular entertainer who appeared in several Broadway musicals of the decade and later hosted a popular radio show.” TY2 Ted Lewis’ jazz band recorded the chart-topping version. SM “The famous bandleader…was famous for his half-spoken, half-singing vocals” TY2 but this recording of “All by Myself” was all instrumental. SM In all, six versions of the song charted in 1921 – Aileen Stanley (#5), Benny Krueger (#6), Vaughn Deleath (#13), and Ben Selvin (#14). PM Krueger was the former saxophone player with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. TY2 Deleath was “one of the most famous of the early radio performers” TY2 and “supposedly the first woman to sing on radio.” TY2 Others who recorded the song include Pat Boone, Connee Boswell, Nat “King” Cole, Bing Crosby (for the movie Blue Skies), DJ Bob Crosby, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Connie Francis, Marion Harris, Brenda Lee, Nancy Sinatra, and Kay Starr. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ted Lewis DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 7. SM Sharon Mawer Charts (1900-1968) TY2 Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955. McFarland & Company, Inc.: Jefferson, North Carolina. Pages 115-6. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 469. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/28/2023.

On This Day (1924): Isham Jones “It Had to Be You” hit #1

It Had to Be You Isham Jones

Writer(s): Isham Jones, Gus Kahn (see lyrics here) First Charted: July 19, 1924 Peak: 15 US, 2 GA, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.29 video, 0.58 streaming

Awards (Isham Jones): Click on award for more details. Awards (Betty Hutton): Awards (Frank Sinatra): Awards (Harry Connick Jr.):

About the Song: “This is one of the high points in Tin Pan Alley era songwriting” RCG and “one of the most enduringly popular ballads of the 1920s.” SS-589 Unlike many of its Great American Songbook counterparts, “this effortless classic” RCG didn’t “put love and lovers on a pedestal,” TM but opted for the reality of being “smitten in spite of the significant other’s bossy and cranky nature,” TM and acknowledging that “if we’re lucky, we find somebody who loves us and can’t live without us, in spite of our faults.” TM It was a sophisticated song “with grown-up, often witty lyrics that have stood the test of time, are endlessly revived and still sound as good today as they did then.” LW Kahn “uses simple masculine rhymes and short but potent phrases throughout” RCG and “easily captivates all the romance and humanity in a simple, straightforward love song.” RCG Interestingly, the most successful version of the song is Isham Jones’ instrumental recording. Jones took it to #1, as he did eight times total, including with “On the Alamo,” “Swingin’ Down the Lane,” “Spain” and “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” PM While they were all instrumentals, Gus Kahn provided lyrics for all of them, as he also did for classics like “Carolina in the Morning,” “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby,” and “Makin’ Whoopee.” SS The “perennial nightclub favorite” JA charted six times in 1924 alone. It has been recorded hundreds of times, including versions by Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Nat “King” Cole, Cliff Edwards (#6), Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes (#4), Marion Harris (#3), Earl Hines (#18), Betty Hutton (#5), Vera Lynn, Billy Murray with Aileen Stanley (#8), Harry Nilsson, Kenny Rogers, Artie Shaw (#10), Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Danny Thomas, John Travolta, Paul Whiteman, Andy Williams. The song has been featured in more than 40 films, including Casablanca (1942), Incendiary Blonde (1944), the Gus Kahn biopic I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951), Annie Hall (1977), and When Harry Met Sally (1989). RCG Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Gus Kahn DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Betty Hutton DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Harry Connick Jr. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 103. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 48. RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 589. TM Time magazine (10/24/2011). “All Time 100 Songs” PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 86. Related Links: First posted 9/6/2016; last updated 9/6/2023.