Showing posts with label Three O'Clock in the Morning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Three O'Clock in the Morning. Show all posts

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Paul Whiteman: A Retrospective

Paul Whiteman

A Retrospective

Overview:

Big-band leader Paul Whiteman was born on 3/28/1890 in Denver, Colorado, to musical parents. His mother was a former opera singer and his father supervised music for the Denver Public Schools for 50 years. He died 12/29/1967. The media called him "The King of Jazz" although critics said his music lacked the improvisational techniques associated with the genre. In Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954, he's called "the most popular bandleader of the pre-swing era."

Whiteman joined the Denver Symphony Orchestra as a viola player in 1907 and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1914. In 1918, he conducted a 12-piece U.S. Navy band. He moved to New York City in 1920 and directed groups up to 35 at a time when most dance bands consisted of 6-10 men. He worked with RCA Victor (20-28, 31-37), Columbia (28-30), and Capitol. He produced more than 600 recordings and provided music for six Broadway shows. He launched the career of Bing Crosby, who sang with the orchestra from 1925 to 1930.


Links:

Awards:

Compilations:


Top 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.

HB = Harry Barris, BC = Bing Crosby, JF = Jack Fulton, CG = Charles Gaylord, AR = Al Rinker, AY = Austin Young. Songs which hit the top of the U.S. pop charts are noted (#1). Click for codes to charts.

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Whispering (1920)
2. Ol’ Man River (w/ Paul Robeson, 1928)
3. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1933)
4. Three O’Clock in the Morning (1922)
5. Rhapsody in Blue (w/ George Gershwin, 1924)
6. My Mammy (1921)
7. Valencia (A Song of Spain) (w/ Franklyn Baur, 1926)
8. What’ll I Do? (1924)
9. Lover (w/ JF, 1933)
10. The Japanese Sandman (1920)

11. Somebody Loves Me (1924)
12. The Birth of the Blues (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1926)
13. Wang Wang Blues (1920)
14. Stumbling (1922)
15. Say It with Music (1921)
16. Among My Souvenirs (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1928)
17. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (1923)
18. Side by Side (w/ BC, AR, & HB, 1927)
19. Lover, Come Back to Me (w/ JF, 1929)
20. Willow, Weep for Me (w/ Irene Taylor, 1932)

DMDB Top 5%:

21. Oh, Lady Be Good (1925)
22. Linger Awhile (1924)
23. Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz) (1922)
24. Great Day (w/ BC, 1929)
25. In a Little Spanish Town (‘Twas on a Night Like This) (w/ JF, 1927)
26. You’re the Top (w/ Peggy Healy & John Hauser, 1934)
27. My Angel (Angela Mia) (w/ JF, CG, & AR, 1928)
28. Do It Again (1922)
29. I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (1922)
30. Bambalina (1923)

31. Without a Song (w/ BC, 1929)
32. Ol’ Man River (w/ BC, 1928)
33. My Heart Stood Still (w/ AR, JF, CG, & AY, 1928)
34. Body and Soul (w/ JF, 1930)
35. Together (w/ JF, 1928)
36. Song of India (1921)
37. Anything Goes (w/ Ramona Davies, 1934)
38. My Blue Heaven (1927)
39. Crinoline Days (1923)
40. My Romance (1936)

41. Cherie (1921)
42. Last Night on the Back Porch (w/ the American Quartet, 1923)
43. Limehouse Blues (1924)
44. You Took Advantage of Me (w/ BC, JF, CG, & AY, 1928)
45. I Love You (1924)
46. All Alone (1925)
47. Bright Eyes (1921)
48. Indian Love Call (1925)
49. Wagon Wheels (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1934)
50. April Showers (1922)

51. It All Depends on You (1927)
52. Trav’lin Light (w/ Billie Holiday, 1942)
53. Rose Marie (1925)
54. Just a Memory (1927)
55. Ramona (w/ AY, 1928)
56. All of Me (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1932)
57. Rise ‘N Shine (w/ Ramona Davies, 1933)
58. Moonlight on the Ganges (w/ AY, 1926)
59. Carolina in the Morning (1923)
60. I’m Coming, Virginia (w/ BC, AR, & HB, 1927)

61. St. Louis Blues (1926)
62. Wonderful One (1923)
63. There’s Yes! Yes! In Your Eyes (1924)
64. Manhattan (1925)
65. When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1931)
66. Learn to Smile (1921)
67. Charleston (1925)

DMDB Top 10%:

68. When Buddha Smiles (1922)
69. Three on a Match (w/ Red McKenzie, 1932)
70. It Had to Be You (1924)

71. When Day Is Done (1927)
72. All Through the Night (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1934)
73. Broken Hearted (Here Am I) (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1927)
74. The Man I Love (w/ Vaughn DeLeath, 1928)
75. How Deep Is the Ocean? How High Is the Sky? (1932)
76. I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody Like I’m Loving You (1921)
77. Mandy, Make Up Your Mind (1925)
78. My Man (Mon Homme) (1921)
79. It Happened in Monterey (w/ JF, 1930)
80. I Get a Kick Out of You (w/ Ramona Davies, 1934)

81. Journey’s End (1923)
82. Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep (w/ Red McKenzie, 1932)
83. Make Believe (w/ BC, 1928)
84. Get Out and Get Under the Moon (1928)
85. I’ll Never Be the Same (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1932)
86. Chiquita (w/ JF, 1928)
87. Dearest, You’re the Nearest to My Heart (1923)
88. Changes (w/ BC, AR, HB, JF, CG, & AY, 1928)
89. Do You Ever Think of Me? (1921)
90. That Certain Feeling (1926)

91. My Moonlight Madonna (w/ JF, 1933)
92. C-O-N-S-T-A-N-I-N-O-P-L-E (w/ AR, HB, JF, CG, & AY, 1928)
93. Farewell to Arms (w/ JF, 1933)
94. Canadian Capers (1921)
95. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (1923)
96. I’m Just Wild About Harry (1922)
97. Whispering (new version, 1954)
98. After You’ve Gone (w/ BC, 1930)
99. Chansonette (1923)
100. You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me (w/ BC, 1930)

Masterpieces

Paul Whiteman


Recorded: 1920-1927


Released: December 17, 2015

Peak: --


Sales (in millions): --


Genre: big band jazz


Rating:

4.658 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks in Chronological Order:

  • Whispering (10/30/1920, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • The Japanese Sandman (11/13/20, 1 PM, 2 GA)
  • Wang Wang Blues (12/4/1920, 1 PM, 5 GA)
  • Grieving for You/Feather Your Nest (2/5/1921, 3 PM)
  • Bright Eyes (4/23/1921, 2 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • My Mammy (5/7/1921, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • Say It with Music (11/21/1921, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • Do It Again (6/3/1922, 1 PM, 5 GA)
  • Stumbling (7/1/1922, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz) (9/9/1922, 1 PM, 2 GA)
  • Three O’Clock in the Morning (11/18/1922, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (12/9/1922, 1 PM, 8 GA)
  • Nuthin’ But (recorded 3/1/1923)
  • Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (4/7/1923, 1 PM, 3 GA)
  • Wonderful One (5/19/1923, 3 PM, 2 GA)
  • Bambalina (6/2/1923, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • Linger Awhile (2/16/1924, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • What’ll I Do? (7/5/1924, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • Somebody Loves Me (11/1/1924, 1 PM, 5 GA)
  • All Alone (1/17/1925, 1 PM, 1 GA)
  • Valencia (A Song of Spain) (6/26/1926, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM)
  • The Birth of the Blues (11/20/1926, 1 PM, 6 GA)
  • My Blue Heaven (10/15/1927, 1 PM, 1 GA)


About the Album:

Although it was released after the Beatles’ 1 and Elvis Presley’s 30 #1 Hits, consider this their predecessor. Those two collections are considered the ultimate assemblages of chart-topping hits, but Paul Whiteman’s Masterpieces is right up there with them, gathering twenty songs which topped the charts decades before the rock era took hold.

Resources and Related Links:


First posted 5/13/2024.

Thursday, June 1, 1972

50 years ago: Paul Whiteman “Three O’Clock in the Morning” hit #1

Three O’Clock in the Morning

Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Julián Robledo (music), Dorothy Terriss (lyrics) (see lyrics here)


First Charted: June 1, 1922


Peak: 18 US, 13 GA, 17 SM (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 3.5 US, 1.0 (sheet music)


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

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The music for “Three O’Clock in the Morning” was composed as a piano solo in 1919 by a Spanish composer named Julián Robledo who moved to Argentina in the early 1900s. SM In 1921, Theodora Morse, under the pseudonym of Dorothy Terriss, added lyrics which “changed it from a ribald drinking song to a ballad.” TY2 The singer says he wants to dance “forever, dear, with you” or at least until three in the morning.

It was incorporated into the Greenwich Village Follies of 1921. It was notable for its use of a chiming clock which opens and closes the song. During the stage presentation, Richard Bold and Rosalind Fuller sang the song while ballet dancers Margaret Petit and Valodia Vestoff rang the chimes. WK

Frank Crumit (#5, 1921) was the first to record a vocal version of the song. Carl Fenton (#5, 1922), Joseph C. Smith (#5, 1922), and Ben Selvin (#8, 1923) were among those to helm full orchestral versions, but Paul Whiteman had the biggest hit version (#1, 1922). His version was one of the first 20 recordings in history to sell more than a million copies, WK ultimately selling 3.5 million copies of the record and another million of the sheet music. The song was revitalized in 1930 by Ted Lewis (#2) and again in 1953 by Monty Kelly (#21). PM

Others who have recorded and/or sung the song include Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Harry James, Bert Kaempfert, Guy Lombardo, Mitch Miller, Thelonious Monk, and Oscar Peterson. WK The song was used in several movie musicals including Presenting Lily Mars (1943), Margie (1946), That Midnight Kiss (1949), and The Eddy Duchin Story (1956). F. Scott Fitzgerald referenced the song in his novel The Great Gatsby and it was used in the 1974 movie version of the book. It has also appeared in Belles on Their Toes (1952), When Brendan Met Trudy (2000), and The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001).


Resources:


Related Links:


First posted 1/29/2023.