Showing posts with label Frank Loesser. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frank Loesser. Show all posts

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Tin Pan Alley: Top 100 Songs

Tin Pan Alley:

Top 100 Songs

Tin Pan Alley is a reference to a collection of late 19th century and early 20th century music publishers and songwriters in New York City, specifically West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues in Manhattan. The era is generally marked as starting in 1885 when a number of music publishers first set up shop in the area. Some consider the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s to mark the ending – a time when sheet music was no longer the driving force for American popular music, but a time when the phonograph, radio, and movies had more influence. Others consider the movement to have lasted into the 1950s when it was upstated by the rise of rock & roll and the subsequent influence of writers from the Brill Building. Some of the the most significant Tin Pan Alley writers were Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Albert Von Tilzer. The phrase, however, has come to be associated more broadly with commercially successful music of the early 20th century.

This list was creating by aggregating 18 lists and giving extra weight to songs which fell between 1885 and 1933 and were written by one of the significant songwriters specifically associated with the Tin Pan Alley era. Songs are listed with the songwriters and first year the song emerged. These songs have largely become standards; more than half of them appear on the DMDB list of the top 100 American Songbook Standards .

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Irving Berlin “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1911)
2. Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (1908)
3. Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes “Shine on, Harvest Moon” (1908)
4. Shelton Brooks “Some of These Days” (1910)
5. Milton Ager and Jack Yellen “Ain’t She Sweet?” (1927)
6. Leo Friedman and Beth Slater Whitson “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” (1910)
7. Shelton Brooks “Darktown Strutters’ Ball” (1917)
8. Ren Shields and George Evans “In the Good Old Summertime” (1902)
9. Irving Berlin “God Bless America” (1939)
10. Charles K. Harris “After the Ball” (1892)

11. George M. Cohan “Give My Regards to Broadway” (1904)
12. Edward Madden and Gus Edwards “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” (1909)
13. Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson “Hello Ma Baby” (1899)
14. Alfred Bryan and Fred Fisher “Peg O’ My Heart” (1913)
15. George Gershwin and Irving Caesar “Swanee” (1920)
16. George M. Cohan “Over There” (1917)
17. John Schonberger, Richard Coburn, and Vincent Rose “Whispering” (1920)
18. Milton Ager and Jack Yellen “Happy Days Are Here Again” (1930)
19. Hughie Cannon and Johnnie Queen “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home” (1902)
20. Harry Von Tilzer and William Dillon “I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad” (1911)

21. Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks “All of Me” (1931)
22. Walter Donaldson and George A. Whiting “My Blue Heaven” (1927)
23. Edward Madden and Percy Wenrich “Moonlight Bay” (1912)
24. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1930)
25. Spencer Williams and Jack Palmer “Everybody Loves My Baby” (1924)
26. Jimmy Monaco and Joseph McCarthy “You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)” (1913)
27. Irving Berlin “Cheek to Cheek” (1935)
28. Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish “Stardust” (1927)
29. W.C. Handy “St. Louis Blues” (1914)
30. Theodore August Metz and Joe Hayden “A Hot Time in the Old Town” (1896)

31. Ben Bernie, Kenneth Casey, and Maceo Pinkard “Sweet Georgia Brown” (1925)
32. Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell “Georgia on My Mind” (1930)
33. Irving Berlin “Always” (1926)
34. Harry Akst, Sam M. Lewis, and Joe Young “Dinah” (1932)
35. Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon “Bye Bye Blackbird” (1926)
36. Joseph E. Howard, Harold Orlob, Frank R. Adams, and Will M. Hough “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” (1909)
37. Fred Fisher and Alfred Bryan “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine” (1910)
38. Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (1928)
39. Nat D. Ayer and Seymour Brown “Oh You Beautiful Doll” (1911)
40. George Meyer, Edgar Leslie, and E. Ray Goetz “For Me and My Gal” (1917)

41. Harry Von Tilzer and Andrew B. Sterling “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” (1905)
42. Chris Smith and Jim (James Henry) Burris “Ballin’ the Jack” (1913)
43. Scott Joplin “The Entertainer” (1902)
44. Harry Von Tilzer and Arthur J. Lamb “A Bird in a Gilded Cage” (1900)
45. Cole Porter “Night and Day” (1932)
46. George and Ira Gershwin “I Got Rhythm” (1930)
47. Charles B. Lawlor and James W. Blake “The Sidewalks of New York” (1894)
48. Johnny Green, Eddie Heyman, Robert Sour, and Frank Eyton “Body and Soul” (1930)
49. Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson “Carolina in the Morning” (1923)
50. Paul Dresser “On the Banks of the Wabash” (1897)

51. Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1933)
52. Frank Silver and Irving Cohn “Yes! We Have No Bananas” (1923)
53. Turner Layton and Henry Creamer “After You’ve Gone” (1918)
54. W.C. Handy, George A. Norton, Charles Tobias, and Peter DeRose “The Memphis Blues” (1912)
55. Alfred Bryan and Al Piantadosi “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier” (1915)
56. Ray Henderson, Sam Lewis, and Joe Young “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” (1926)
57. Turner Layton and Henry Creamer “Way Down Yonder in New Orleans” (1922)
58. Gus Edwards and Will D. Cobb “School Days (When We Were a Couple of Kids)” (1907)
59. Buddy DeSylva and Louis Silvers “April Showers” (1922)
60. Tell Taylor “Down by the Old Mill Stream” (1910)

61. Joe Burke and Al Dubin “Tip Toe Through the Tulips” (1929)
62. Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” (1925)
63. Cole Porter “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (1936)
64. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, Harry DeCosta “Tiger Rag” (1918)
65. George M. Cohan “You’re a Grand Old Flag (aka “The Grand Old Rag”)” (1906)
66. Isham Jones and Gus Kahn “I’ll See You in My Dreams” (1925)
67. Arthur B Sterling and Kerry Mills “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” (1904)
68. Cole Porter “I Get a Kick Out of You” (1934)
69. Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin, and Larry Shay “When You’re Smiling, the Whole World Smiles with You” (1928)
70. Gus Edwards and Vincent Bryan “In My Merry Oldsmobile” (1902)

71. Victor Young and Will Harris “Sweet Sue, Just You” (1928)
72. George M. Cohan “Yankee Doodle Boy” (1905)
73. Fred Fisher “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” (1922)
74. Johnny S. Black “Paper Doll” (1942)
75. Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar “Tea for Two” (1925)
76. Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn “Makin’ Whoopee” (1928)
77. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart “Blue Moon” (1935)
78. Arthur Johnson and Johnny Burke “Pennies from Heaven” (1936)
79. Irving Berlin “White Christmas” (1942)
80. Jean Kenbrovin and John William Kellette “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” (1919)

81. Richard H. Gerard and Harry Armstrong “Sweet Adeline (You’re the Flower of My Heart)” (1903)
82. Isham Jones and Gus Kahn “It Had to Be You” (1924)
83. Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1933)
84. Irving Berlin “Puttin’ on the Ritz” (1930)
85. Henry J. Sayers “Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay” (1891)
86. Scott Joplin “Maple Leaf Rag” (1899)
87. Herman Hupfield “As Time Goes By” (1931)
88. Daniel Decatur Emmett “Dixie” (1860)
89. Euday L. Bowman “Twelfth Street Rag” (1916)
90. George & Ira Gershwin “Summertime” (1935)

91. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II “Ol’ Man River” (1927)
92. Cole Porter “Begin the Beguine” (1935)
93. Sam M. Lewis, Joe Young, and Jean Schwartz “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (1918)
94. Irving Berlin “Blue Skies” (1927)
95. Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman, and Dan Russo “Toot Toot Tootsie (Goo-Bye!)” (1922)
96. Harry M. Woods “Side by Side” (1927)
97. Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart “My Funny Valentine” (1937)
98. George & Ira Gershwin “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (1937)
99. Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg “Over the Rainbow” (1939)
100. Hoagy Carmichael and Sidney Arodin “Lazy River” (1931)

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First posted 4/17/2021.

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Frank Loesser: Top 30 Songs

First posted 12/8/2019.

image from frankloesser.com

Musical theater composer Frank Loesser was born 100 years ago today on 6/29/1910 in New York City, NY. Best known for Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Died 7/28/1969. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

Top 30 Songs
Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. The recording artist is noted in parentheses. Songs which hit #1 on these charts are noted: United States Billboard Hot 100 pop chart (US), Hit Parade (HP), United Kingdom pop chart (UK), and Australian pop chart (AU).

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Jingle Jangle Jingle (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Julie Conway, 1942) #1 US, HP
2. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (Kay Kyser & the Glee Club, 1942) #1 US

DMDB Top 5%:

3. On a Slow Boat to China (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood, 1948) #1 HP, AU
4. Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting, 1949)
5. Says My Heart (Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey, 1938) #1 US, HP
6. Two Sleepy People (Fats Waller, 1938) #1 US
7. Heart and Soul (Larry Clinton & Bea Wain, 1938) #1 US
8. I Don’t Want to Walk Without You (Harry James, 1942) #1 US, HP
9. They’re Either Too Young or Too Old (Jimmy Dorsey with Kitty Kallen, 1943)
10. My Darling, My Darling (Jo Stafford with Gordon MacRae, 1948) #1 US

11. The Lady’s in Love with You (Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke, 1939)
12. I Wish I Didn’t Love You So (Vaughn Monroe, 1947) #1 HP
13. Small Fry (Bing Crosby with Johnny Mercer, 1938)
14. Let’s Get Lost (Vaughn Monroe with the Four Lee Sisters, 1943) #1 US, HP
15. Say It Over and Over Again (Glenn Miller, 1940)

DMDB Top 10%:

16. Dolores (Bing Crosby, 1941)
17. A Bushel and a Peck (Perry Como with Betty Hutton & Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1950) #1 HP
18. Once in Love with Amy (Ray Bolger with Sy Oliver, 1949)
19. Spring Will Be a Little Later This Year (Morton Downey with Johnny Lytell, 1944)
20. Hoop-Dee-Doo (Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters & Mitchell Ayres’ Orchestra, 1950) #1 US

DMDB Top 20%:

21. Can’t Get Out of This Mood (Kay Kyser with Harry Babbitt, 1942)
22. Luck Be a Lady (Frank Sinatra, 1965)
23. Standing on the Corner (The Four Lads, 1956)
24. How Sweet You Are (Kay Armen & the Balladiers, 1943)
25. The Moon of Manakoora (Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra, 1936)
26. If I Were a Bell (Frankie Laine, 1950)
27. A Woman in Love (Frankie Laine, 1955) #1 UK
28. Sand in My Shoes (Connee Boswell with Victor Young’s Orchestra, 1941)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

29. I’ve Never Been in Love Before (Robert Alda with Isabel Bigley, 1950)
30. I Hear Music (Robert Paige with Peter Lind Hayes, Frank Jenks, & Eddie Quillan; 1940)

Awards:


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Friday, November 24, 2000

50 years ago: Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway

Guys and Dolls

Frank Loesser (music & lyrics)

Cast Album

Stage Debut: November 24, 1950

Recorded: December 3, 1950

Released: January 8, 1951

Peak: 11 US

Sales (in millions): --

Genre: show tunes

Soundtrack

Released: November 3, 1955

Peak: --

Sales (in millions): --

Genre: show tunes

Songs on Cast Album:

  1. Runyonland Music/ Fugue for Tinhorns/ Follow the Fold
  2. The Oldest Established
  3. I’ll Know
  4. A Bushel and a Peck
  5. Adelaide’s Lament
  6. Guys and Dolls
  7. If I Were a Bell
  8. My Time of Day
  9. I’ve Never Been in Love Before
  10. Take Back Your Mink
  11. More I Cannot Wish You
  12. Luck Be a Lady
  13. Sue Me
  14. Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat
  15. Reprise: Guys and Dolls

Songs on Soundtrack:

Song Title (Performers)

  1. Overture (JACK BLACKTON)
  2. Fugue for Tinhorns (STUBBY KAYE / FRANK SINATRA)
  3. Follow the Fold (JEAN SIMMONS)
  4. The Oldest Established Floating Crap Game in New York (STUBBY KAYE / JOHNNY SILVER / FRANK SINATRA)
  5. I’ll Know (MARLON BRANDO / JEAN SIMMONS)
  6. Pet Me Poppa (VIVIAN BLAINE)
  7. Adelaide’s Lament (VIVIAN BLAINE)
  8. Guys and Dolls (STUBBY KAYE / JOHNNY SILVER / FRANK SINATRA)
  9. Adelaide (FRANK SINATRA)
  10. If I Were a Bell (MARLON BRANDO / JEAN SIMMONS)
  11. A Woman in Love (MARLON BRANDO / JEAN SIMMONS)
  12. Take Back Your Mink (VIVIAN BLAINE)
  13. Luck Be a Lady (MARLON BRANDO)
  14. Sue Me (VIVIAN BLAINE / FRANK SINATRA)
  15. Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat (STUBBY KAYE)
  16. Guys and Dolls Finale (JACK BLACKTON)

Singles/Hit Songs:

As was common in the pre-rock era, songs from musicals were often recorded by artists not associated with the musical and released as singles. Here are some of the most notable hit singles resulting from the show:

  • ”A Bushel and a Peck” – Perry Como & Betty Hutton (#3, 1950), Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely (#6, 1950), Doris Day (#16, 1950), the Andrews Sisters (#22, 1950), Johnny Desmond (#29, 1950)
  • ”If I Were a Bell” – Frankie Laine (#30, 1950)
  • ”Luck Be a Lady” – Frank Sinatra (--, 1965)

Rating:

4.428 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined)

Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Show:

“Guys and Dolls, based on the stories of Damon Runyon about New York gamblers, became a stunning success upon its Broadway opening in 1950. While Abe Burrows’ libretto was much praised, the show's main asset is Frank Loesser’s songs, which are unfailingly tuneful and which accurately represent the vernacular of Runyon’s characters, from Fugue for Tinhorns, a trio song full of horse racing slang, to Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat, a revival meeting pastiche in which a gambler claims to have found salvation. Luck Be a Lady, a gambler’s ode to good fortune, became a standard.” WR

“Winning as these are, love songs such as I’ll Know and I’ve Never Been in Love Before are equally affecting. And that isn’t even to mention the songs that became contemporary hits, If I Were a Bell and A Bushel and a Peck.” WR

The show premiered on Broadway on November 24, 1950 and ran for 1200 performances. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It was selected as the winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize, but got vetoed because Abe Burrows had problems with the House Un-American Activities Committee. WK-C WR

The 1955 film adaptation starred Blaine along with Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, and Jean Simmons. Five songs from the stage musical were omitted from the movie and Loesser wrote three new songs for the film: Pet Me Poppa, Your Eyes Are the Eyes of a Woman in Love, and Adelaide. The last was written specifically with Sinatra in mind. WK-S

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 8/11/2008; last updated 12/22/2021.

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Friday, May 7, 1999

Today in Music (1949): “Baby It’s Cold Outside” first charted

Baby It’s Cold Outside

Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer with Paul Weston’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Frank Loesser (see lyrics here)

Recorded: March 18, 1949

First Charted: May 14, 1949

Peak: 3 BB, 4 BS, 3 DJ, 8 JB, 4 GA, 6 HP (Click for codes to charts.)

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

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 6.1 video, 14.64 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Frank Loesser wrote “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in 1944. WK He performed it at parties with his wife, Lynn Garland, as a way to hint to guests that it was time to leave. WK To Garland’s shagrin, Loesser sold it to MGM in 1948 to be featured in the 1949 romantic comedy Neptune’s Daughter. WK In the movie it was sung by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban and reprised by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. It won the Oscar for Best Song and has become a Christmas favorite. It never mentions the holiday but does have a winter theme.

Before the movie was even released on June 9, 1949, a version of the song by Dinah Shore & Buddy Clark (#4) was released. A week later, Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting hit the charts (#3) with what would become the most successful version of the song. Other versions followed that year. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan also took the song to the top 10 (#9) and theirs was named one of the top 100 songs of all time by Time magazine. That same year, there were chart versions by Sammy Kaye’s Orchestra featuring Don Cornell & Laura Leslie (#12) and “a comical country parody” TY1 featuring Homer & Jethro with June Carter (#22). PM

The song was also recorded in 1949 by Bing Crosby & James Stewart, Doris Day & Bob Hope, Frank Loesser & Lynn Garland, Dean Martin & and Marilyn Maxwell. There have also been chart versions by Ray Charles & Betty Carter (1961, #91 BB), Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton (2004, #2 AC), Dean Martin & Martina McBride (2006, #7 AC, 36 CW), Willie Nelson & Norah Jones (2009, #55 CW), the Glee Cast (2010, #57 BB), She & Him (2011, #16 AC), Idina Menzel & Michael Bublé (2014, #1 AC, 58 CN, 51 AU), Seth MacFarlane & Sara Bareilles (2014, #10 AC), and Darius Rucker & Sheryl Crow (2014, #13 AC).

There have been over 400 recordings of the song, including versions by Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton, Eddie Fisher & June Hutton, Sammy Davis Jr. & Carmen McRae, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé, Al Hirt & Ann-Margret, Barry Manilow & K.T. Oslin, Bette Midler & James Caan, Lee Ann Womack & Harry Connick Jr., James Taylor & Natalie Cole, Darius Rucker & Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, John Farnham & Olivia Newton-John, John Legend & Kelly Clarkson, and the Glee Cast. WK

During the #MeToo movement of recent years, the song has come under fire because it focuses on a man pressuring a woman to stay with him. Some radio stations even banned the song in 2018. There have been those, including Loesser’s daughter, who argued that people need to understand that times were different then. However, Time magazine points out that even in 1949 the song was controversial with NBC initially banning it. TM

Resources:

First posted 12/23/2023.

   
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