50 years ago: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” hit #1 - for the first time

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Paul Whiteman with Bob Lawrence

Writer(s): Jereome Kern/ Otto Harbach (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 9, 1933 Peak: 16 US, 2 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes The Platters

First Charted: November 17, 1958 Peak: 13 US, 14 CB, 11 GR, 14 HR, 3 RB, 11 UK, 13 CN, 110 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.7 video, 76.69 streaming

Awards (Paul Whiteman): Click on award for more details. Awards (The Platters): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: According to Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern originally composed “Smoke” for 1927’s Showboat. It was supposed to be an uptempo instrumental which accompanied a tap dance routine while scenery was changed, LW although another account had the song originating as a march for a radio program which never happened. TY Harbach suggested refashioning it as a ballad, at which point it was left out of Showboat. LW The song is filled with challenges – such as the octave-and-a-half range for singers and, for players, a surprising key change at the bridge. MM In addition, Harbach works in unlikely words like “chaffed” and “deride” – all leading toward the song’s conclusion about the end of a love affair – and the final line when the title is mentioned for the first time. MM It resurfaced in 1933 for the Broadway musical Roberta. That same year, Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra charted with it, going to #1 the next year. Leo Reisman (#3), Emil Coleman (#4), and Ruth Etting (#15) also charted with the song in 1934. In 1935, the musical was turned into a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film. Irene Dunne performed “Smoke” in the movie. SB Artie Shaw took the song back to the charts in 1941 (#24). It was also used in the 1946 Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By. MM Roberta was remade in the 1950s as the new musical and movie, Lovely to Look At. LW Then, in 1958, the doo-wop group the Platters took their million-selling version to the top of the US and UK charts, showcasing “the song’s ability to both transcend time and lend itself to varied interpretations and still remain fresh.” LW Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Paul Whiteman DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jerome Kern DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Otto Harbach DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The Platters LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 67. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 181. TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Page 70. First posted 1/20/2016; last updated 11/22/2022.

Billy Joel’s Streetlife Serenade released

First posted 5/9/2011; updated 9/21/2020.

Streetlife Serenade Billy Joel

Released: October 11, 1974 Peak: 35 US, -- UK, 16 CN, 85 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock singer-songwriter

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Streetlife Serenader Los Angelenos The Great Suburban Showdown Root Beer Rag (instrumental) Roberta The Entertainer (11/30/74, 34 US, 13 CL, 30 AC, 30 CN, 89 AU) Last of the Big Time Spenders Weekend Song Souvenir The Mexican Connection (instrumental) Total Running Time: 37:41

Rating: 3.403 out of 5.00 (average of 8 ratings)

About the Album: With his sophomore album, Billy Joel had achieved success with “Piano Man,” but it threw him. Billy Joel was driven “to deliver an album that established him as both a serious artist and a commercial contender.” AMG While critics didn’t love him, his sophomore album had delivered big with the top-25 success of “Piano Man.” Now he needed to quickly release another album to maintain a high profile, but he’d used his best stuff on Piano Man, so he was short on material. The resulting third album, Streetlife Serenade, was, therefore, “a bit of a slump.” AMG Still, “since he has skills, he's able to turn out a few winners – Roberta, a love song in the vein of Cold Spring Harbor, the mournful Streetlife Serenader, and the stomping” AMG and “vigorous Los Angelenos,” DB on which he “rocked an electric piano.” DB “Joel is attempting a grand Americana lyrical vision, stretching from the Wild West through the Depression on ‘Los Angelenos’ and The Great Suburban Showdown.” AMG “Joel’s ruminations on suburban malaise…are at their most overblown.” DB In the end, “it doesn't work, not only because of his shortcomings as a writer, but because he didn't have the time to pull it all together.” AMG “The presence of two instrumentals screamed, ‘Right – I didn’t have time to write songs for my new album.’” DB “Even if Root Beer Rag, yet another sign of The Sting’s influence, is admittedly enjoyable, they're undeniably fillers.” AMG Stylistically, it was a reiteration of its predecessor’s” AMG obsession with Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection, “spiked with, of all things, Rockford Files synthesizers and ragtime pulled from The Sting.” AMG “It’s no coincidence that the record’s single and best song, The Entertainer, shares a title with the Scott Joplin rag that provided The Sting with a main theme.” AMG On that “astonishingly bitter” AMG song, “he not only disparages his own role, but is filled with venom over ‘Piano Man’ being released in a single edit, that made the subtext clear: he’d had enough with California, enough with the music industry, enough with being a sensitive singer/songwriter. It was time for Billy to say goodbye to Hollywood and head back home to New York.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Billy Joel’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine DB David Browne (6/07). Blender magazine. Pages 114-5.