Tommy Dorsey: Top 100 Songs

Tommy Dorsey Top 100 Songs

Bandleader Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was born on 11/19/1905 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. He died on 11/26/1956. Known as the “Sentimental Gentleman of Swing,” he is considered among the greatest trombonists in jazz history. He and his older brother Jimmy worked in bands led by Jean Goldkette, Vincent Lopez, Red Nichols, Nat Shilkret, Rudy Vallee, and Paul Whiteman. They also worked with the California Ramblers (25-27), Charleston Chasers, and formed their own Dorsey Brothers Orchestra (34-35). Tommy formed his own band in 1935 out of the remains of Joe Haymes’ band. Sy Oliver worked as an arranger for the band and Frank Sinatra (40-42) recorded with Dorsey as a vocalist. “All the Things You Are” and “I’ll Never Smile Again” are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953. Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Tommy Dorsey Other Acts’ Best-of Lists

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. BS = Boswell Sisters, DB = Dorsey Brothers, JL = Jack Leonard, TS = The Sentimentalists, FS = Frank Sinatra, EW = Edythe Wright. According to Joel Whitburn’s Pop Memories 1890-1954, Tommy Dorsey hit the top of the U.S. charts 19 times (#1 songs noted in list). DMDB Top 1%: 1. All the Things You Are (w/ JL, 1939) #1 2. I’ll Never Smile Again (w/ Frank Sinatra & the Pied Pipers, 1942) #1 3. There Are Such Things (w/ Frank Sinatra & the Pied Pipers, 1942) #1 4. Once in a While (1937) #1 5. Lullaby of Broadway (DB w/ Bob Crosby, 1935) #1 6. Alone (w/ Cliff Weston, 1936) #1 7. Music, Maestro, Please! (w/ EW, 1938) #1 DMDB Top 5%: 8. Marie (w/ JL, 1937) #1 9. The Music Goes ‘Round and ‘Round (w/ EW, 1935) #1 10. I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You (1936) 11. Indian Summer (w/ JL, 1939) #1 12. In the Blue of the Evening (w/ FS, 1943) #1 13. The Dipsy Doodle (w/ EW, 1937) #1 14. Alexander’s Ragtime Band (BS w/ DB, 1935) 15. Stardust (w/ FS, 1941) 16. Stardust (w/ EW, 1936) 17. Oh, Look at Me Now (w/ FS, 1941) 18. In the Still of the Night (w/ JL, 1937) 19. Chasing Shadows (DB w/ Bob Eberly, 1935) #1 20. Opus No. 1 (1945) 21. I’ll Be Seeing You (w/ FS, 1940) 22. Our Love (w/ JL, 1939) #1 23. How About You? (w/ FS, 1942) 24. The Lady Is a Tramp (w/ JL, 1937) 25. I Should Care (w/ Bonnie Lou Williams & TS, 1945) 26. This Love of Mine (w/ FS, 1941) 27. Now It Can Be Told (w/ JL, 1938) 28. Satan Takes a Holiday (1937) #1 29. On the Sunny Side of the Street (w/ TS, 1945) 30. You (w/ EW, 1936) #1 DMDB Top 10%: 31. Everything Happens to Me (w/ FS, 1941) 32. Oh, You Crazy Moon (w/ JL, 1939) 33. Imagination (w/ FS, 1940) 34. Yes Indeed! (w/ Jo Stafford & Sy Oliver, 1941) 35. Polka Dots and Moonbeams (w/ FS, 1940) 36. Boogie Woogie (1938) 37. They Can’t Take That Away from Me (w/ JL, 1937) 38. On Treasure Island (w/ EW, 1935) #1 39. It’s Always You (w/ FS, 1943) 40. I Concentrate on You (w/ Anita Boyer, 1940) 41. The Lamp Is Low (w/ JL, 1939) 42. Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread (w/ FS, 1940) 43. Have You Got Any Castles, Baby? (w/ JL, 1937) 44. You’re the Top (DB w/ Ray McKinley, 1934) 45. Stop Beatin’ Around the Mulberry Bush (w/ EW, 1938) 46. It Started All Over Again (w/ FS, 1943) 47. I Hadn’t Anyone Till You (w/ JL, 1938) 48. Will You Still Be Mine? (w/ Connie Haines, 1944) 49. You Are My Lucky Star (DB w/ Bob Eberly, 1935) 50. It’s the Girl (BS w/ DB, 1931) 51. A-Tisket, A-Tasket (w/ EW, 1938) 52. We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, and Me) (w/ FS, 1940) 53. Darn That Dream (w/ Anita Boyer, 1940) 54. Just As Though You Were Here (w/ FS, 1942) 55. Take Me (w/ FS, 1942) 56. Until (w/ Harry Prime, 1948) 57. What Is This Thing Called Love? (w/ Connie Haines, 1942) 58. Honeysuckle Rose (Bunny Berigan & His Orchestra w/ Fats Waller, Tommy Dorsey, and Dick McDonough, 1937) 59. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby (w/ EW, 1938) 60. On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe (w/ TS, 1945) 61. Did I Remember? (w/ EW, 1936) 62. You Couldn’t Be Cuter (1938) 63. Honeysuckle Rose (DB w/ Don Mattison, Skeets Herfurt, & Rock Hillman, 1935) 64. My Cabin of Dreams (w/ EW, 1937) 65. San Francisco (w/ EW, 1936) 66. Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love (DB w/ Bing Crosby, 1929) 67. You Are My Lucky Star (w/ Eleanor Powell, 1935) 68. How Are Things in Glocca Mora? (w/ Stuart Foster, 1947) 69. Manhattan Serenade (w/ Jo Stafford, 1942) 70. Let’s Get Away from It All (w/ the Pied Pipers, 1941) 71. Do I Worry? (w/ FS, 1941) 72. Says My Heart (w EW, 1938) 73. You and I (w/ FS, 1941) 74. Sweet Sue, Just You (w/ JL, 1939) DMDB Top 20%: 75. The Big Apple (w/ EW, 1937) #1 76. I Dream of You (w/ Freddy Stewart, 1944) 77. Dolores (w/ FS, 1941) #1 78. I’ll Be Seeing You (w/ FS, 1961) 79. When I Take My Sugar to Tea (BS w/ DB, 1931) 80. Again (1949) 81. Are You Having Any Fun? (w/ EW, 1939) 82. Be Careful, It’s My Heart (w/ FS, 1942) 83. Say It Over and Over Again (w/ FS, 1940) 84. Our Love Affair (w/ FS, 1940) 85. Only Forever (w/ Alan Starr, 1940) 86. You Leave Me Breathless, 1938) 87. All This and Heaven Too (w/ FS, 1940) 88. Who? (w/ JL, 1937) 89. I Can Dream, Can’t I? (w/ JL, 1938) 90. You’re Lonely and I’m Lonely (1940) 91. I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You (DB w/ Bob Crosby, 1934) 92. Lazy Bones (Mildred Bailey w/ DB, 1933) 93. More and More (w/ Bonnie Lou Williams, 1945) 94. Trade Winds (w/ FS, 1940) 95. Aren’t You Glad You’re You? (w/ Stuart Foster, 1946) 96. I’ll Never Say “Never Again” Again (DB w/ Don Mattison, Skeets Herfurt, and Rock Hillman, 1935) 97. Song of India (1937) 98. I’ve Got a Feelin’ You’re Foollin’ (DB w/ Bob Eberly, 1935) 99. Violets for Your Furs (w/ FS, 1941) 100. Fine and Dandy (DB w/ Scrappy Lambert, 1930) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Tommy Dorsey Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 5/26/2019; last updated 11/17/2023.

50 years ago: Tommy Dorsey landed at #1 with “All the Things You Are”

All the Things You Are Tommy Dorsey with Jack Leonard

Writer(s):Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 16, 1939 Peak: 12 US, 12 HP, 1 GA (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.11 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “All the Things You Are” was introduced in the Broadway musical comedy Very Warm for May in November 1939. SB It was sung by Hirma Sherman, Frances Mercer, Hollace Shaw, and Ralph Stuart. DJ The show was the last hurrah for famed composer Jerome Kern. Despite delivering what some considered his finest score, script rewrites demanded from producer Max Gordon destroyed the play’s plot. It was a commercial failure, closing shortly after New Year’s Day after only 59 performances. By the second night, there were only 20 people in the audience. SB The song is “a ballad of exquisite beauty, but also such melodic complexity” SS along with its unconventional structure and twelve-note range that Kern didn’t have high hopes for “All the Things” being popular. MM He even considered removing it from the show because it was too “musically sophisticated” SS and “the public wouldn’t get it.” SS However, it has been regarded by some as his masterpiece. SS Composer Arthur Schwartz considered it the greatest song ever written. SS Three versions of the song charted in 1940. It became the twelfth of Tommy Dorsey’s seventeen trips to the summit. It featured vocalist Jack Leonard, who would also sing on the chart-topping “Indian Summer,” which hit the charts a week before “All the Things You Are,” but reached #1 after “Things.” This was the last big hit for Leonard with Dorsey’s orchestra. He left in November 1939, succeeded by Frank Sinatra. SS Artie Shaw (#8) and Frankie Masters (#14) also found success with the song in 1940. Four years later, the show was adapted for the film Broadway Rhythm DJ and in 1945 it was used in the romantic comedy A Letter for Evie. WK Tony Martin sang it in Kern’s 1946 biopic Till the Clouds Roll By and it was crooned by Mario Lanza in the 1952 film Because You’re Young. DJ It became a standard covered by Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Placido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton, Wes Montgomery, Willie Nelson, Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. A survey done by JazzStandards.com identified “Things”as second only to “Body and Soul” for appearances on jazz albums. SB Parker said the song contained his favorite lyrics. WK In a 1964 Saturday Review poll, more composers named “All the Things” as their favorite than any other. TY1 Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 8. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 149. SB Songbook1.wordpress.com SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 530-1. TY1 Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. Quill: New York, NY. Page 101. WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 4/10/2023.