March 30, 2014

20,000 Vinyl LPs 30: Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance




101 years ago today, on March 30, 1913, Francesco Paolo LoVecchio was born in Chicago (Cook County, Ill). His parents were Giovanni and Cresenzia LoVecchio (née Salerno). Francesco grew up to become the world famous singer, Frankie Laine.    




Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
 mono recording - 1955
cover photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®



In 1954, Laine gave a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II which he cited as one of the highlights of his career. By the end of the decade, he remained far ahead of Elvis Presley as the most successful artist on the British charts. See the “Chart of All Time” for details. I Believe is listed as the second most popular song of all time on the British charts as well.



Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
back cover
photo by Styrous®


His hits included That's My Desire, That Lucky Old Sun, Mule Train, Cry of the Wild Goose, Jezebel, High Noon, I Believe, Hey Joe!, The Kid's Last Fight, Cool Water, Moonlight Gambler, Love Is a Golden Ring, On the Sunny Side Of The Street, Lord, You Gave Me a Mountain and the title song for the TV series, Rawhide (1959), that starred Clint Eastwood. I loved this song.   


Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


He was big on Country themes. His version of Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams was terrific. For drama, there was nothing like High Noon from the film of the same name; Tex Ritter sang it in the film. Tennessee Ernie Ford, Bing Crosby and Vaughn Monroe took turns at Mule Train but it was Laine's version that was my VERY favorite when I was nine; I sang along with it, "Clipity clop, clipity clop, clipity cloppin' along". I especially liked the whipcracking sound effects in it. Oh, I drove my mom wild with that tune; (actually, she was lucky I wasn't able to get a hold of a whip; well, perhaps I was the lucky one).     


Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®



I loved, Jealousy, a languid but dramatic tango (I was transfixed while watching my mom and dad dancing to it). Then there is Jezebel, a VERY melodramatic love/hate song. Both songs were hits in the mid '40's. Granada was another dramatic song that enraptured me. But for REALLY histrionic schmaltz, nothing beats, I Believe. I guess drama was a big thing back then and Laine definitely knew how to make the best use of it.  



Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
Side 1
photo by Styrous®



The Gandy Dancers' Ball referred to a time way before the song was written. It's a fun kind of tune with the simple joy of that period about railroad workers. I always like the idea of "Dancin' on the ceiling and the walls," and I always wondered what a 'Jimmy John' was. It wasn't until I started researching for this entry that I found out; it's a corruption of the word demi-john aka a carboy. It's used for transporting fluids (often water or chemicals) or used in fermenting beverages such as wine, mead, and beer; the last seems like the most logical use of the word considering the spirit (pun intended) of the song.    


Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
Side 1 label
photo by Styrous®


On June 12, 1996, Laine was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Songwriters’ Hall of Fame awards ceremony at the New York Sheraton. On his 80th birthday, the United States Congress declared him to be a national treasure. Frankie Laine died of heart failure on February 6, 2007, in San Diego, California.   


 
Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
Side 1
photo by Styrous®




Of all the songs on this album, the one that holds significant meaning for me, though, is, Rose, Rose, I Love You.  I had such a personal involvement with it at the time, I did an entry for the tune (link below).


Frankie Laine ~ Command Performance
side 2 label
mono "nonbreakable" recording - 1955
photo of album label by Styrous®



Tracklist:

Side 1:

1 - Jezebel - written by Wayne Shanklin - 3:10
2 - Jealousy (Jalousie) - written by Jacob Gade, Vera Bloom - 3:16
3 - Rose, Rose, I Love You - arranged by – Langdon* Written By [English] W. Thomas* - 2:31
4 - Granada - written by Agustín Lara, Dorothy Dodd - 2:56
5 - Long Distance Love - written by Hilliard*, Mann* - 2:34
6 - The Gandy Dancers' Ball - written by P. Howard, P. Weston* - 2:28

Side 2:

1 - High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) - written by Dimitri Tiomkin*, Ned Washington* - 2:27
2 - Some Day - written by Brian Hooker*, Rudolf Friml* - 2:37
3 - Your Cheatin' Heart - written by Hank Williams* - 2:29
4 - I Believe - written by Al Stillman*, Ervin Drake*, Graham*, Shirl* - 2:09
5 - The Kid's Last Fight - written by Bob Merrill* - 3:21
6 - One For My Baby (And One For The Road) - written by Mercer-Arlen* - 3:45


Columbia - CL 625

Frankie Laine discography


Other Viewfinder entries about Frankie Laine:

78 RPMs 2: Hue Lee ~ Rose, Rose, I Love You
78 RPMs 3: The Girl In the Wood

Frankie Laine music on YouTube:

Mule Train
Jezebel
Jealousy
Granada 
The Gandy Dancers' Ball
High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)
Your Cheatin' Heart
I Believe
Rose, Rose, I Love You
The Gandy Dancers' Ball



Happy Birthday, Frankie!



Styrous® ~ Sunday, March 30, 2014   


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78 RPMs 3: Frankie Laine ~ The Girl In the Wood

Frankie Laine ~ The Girl In the Wood
78 RPM - 1951
photo by Styrous®



Frankie Laine was born 101 years ago today, March 30, 1913. When I was 11 or 12 I heard the song, The Girl In the Wood, sung by him. Call it an Oedipus Complex if you'd like, but somehow I associated the song with my mom even though her eyes were not green as the lyrics of the song describe and I did not kill my father as the Greek legend chronicles. My mother DID have dark auburn hair that glowed dark red in the sun and she was tiny (4' 8").

It's a beautiful but wistful song with a rapid and flowing tempo that belies the sadness or regret that is inherent in it; it is also VERY dramatic, as are a lot of the songs by Laine. The backup chorus by the Norman Luboff Choir is beautiful and Paul Weston does an admirable job with his orchestra; both add to the drama to the music.

The song hit the charts:
in the UK #11 - Mar 1953 (1 week)
in the US CashBox #18 - Sep 1951 (5 weeks)
        and Billboard #23 - Aug 1951 (2 weeks)



Tracklist:

Side 1: The Girl In The Wood - 3:07   
Side 2: Wonderful, Wasn't It - 3:09



The Girl In The Wood Lyrics

(Remember me, remember me)
(Remember for the rest of your life)

Oh when I was a young boy
And drove my mother wild
I met a maiden in the woods
And she said, "Child,

Look deep into my green eyes
And at my autumn hair
When your a man you'll never see
A girl quite as fair

Remember me, oh, remember me"

(Remember for the rest of your life)

Her eyes were green as grassy pools
Lookin' right at me
Her hair was red and grown with leaves
Just like an autumn tree

She moved her tiny hands
And she made a litle turn
She swayed in the wind
Just like a graceful fern

I swore as she vanished
That when I was full grown
I'd have a girl just like her
To be my very own

And now I am a man
Would I'd marry if I could
For I can't lose the memory
Of the girl in the wood

Remember me oh remember me
(Remember)
Remember for the rest of your life
(Remember)

I wished a hundred times
That she'd never looked at me
With the first wild beauty
That only you can't see

For man cannot find it
When he's lookin for a wife
And he'll end up in bachelorhood
The rest of his life

Remember me, oh, remember me
Remember for the rest of your life
Remember me, remember me

Remember for the rest of your life


Songwriters: Neal Gilkyson Stuart & Terry Gilkyson
Copyright: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.



Frankie Laine ‎– The Girl In The Wood / Wonderful, Wasn't It
Label: Columbia ‎– D.B. 2907
Format: Shellac, 10", Single
Country: UK
Released: 1951
Genre: Pop



Net links:

The Girl In The Wood on YouTube




Thanks for the wonderfully dramatic songs, Frankie; 
I loved them back then and I will
remember for the rest of my life!


Happy Birthday


Styrous© ~ Sunday, March 30, 2014










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March 27, 2014

45 RPMs 4: Bill Haley ~ Rock Around the Clock



45 RPM
photo by Styrous®


There was an event 59 years ago I will never forget if I live to be a thousand: the opening of the film, Blackboard Jungle. From the instant of its sudden count-down (or should I say, count-up) start, I was transfixed as if I had been hit by a lightning bolt. What was this strange, throbbing and exciting sound that was bursting from the screen? It was a sound like none I'd ever heard before and I was struck senseless. I remember after the film was over I had no recollection of how it started (the action of the movie, that is; I had to see the film again to find out). I only remembered that I had heard something new, different, primal yet sophisticated and incredibly fantastic! It took a few minutes for me to come down from the ceiling to finally focus on the movie when the song ended. 







The music was, of course, Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets. Until that moment my entire pop music experience had been Mitch Miller, Johnnie Ray, Frank Sinatra, Vaughn Monroe, Patti Page, The Four Lads, Tony Bennett and on and on. The only thing that came even remotely close to what I was hearing was some of the big band jazz groups I'd heard at the Sweet's or on 78 RPM records that my mom and dad had. This was NOTHING like any of those. It was a completely new breed of music and it snagged me the instant I heard it!

 The Rock and Roll Era is generally dated from the March 25th, 1955, premiere of the motion picture, "The Blackboard Jungle." This film’s use of Bill Haley and His Comets’ (We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock over its opening credits, caused a national sensation when teenagers started dancing in the aisles. I was one of them.

I had already been a collector of music by then with a library of 45's by the aforementioned artists. I immediately ran out and bought the 45 RPM of the song. In the years that followed, when I was at parties with friends and they played their 45's which sounded more like they were being played by cement trucks rather than phonograph players because of the peanut butter 'n jelly and who knows what embedded in the grooves, I never let anyone touch my 45's. If I liked a song, I would buy two copies of it and the crappiest pressing of it (45's didn't have great quality control back then) would go to the parties. Thus mine are almost as good as the day I bought them those 60 or so years ago.

So, back to the artist that created this sensation. Actually, it was a series of artists and events that did the deed but I'm layin' the blame on Haley as he is the one who hooked me, so to speak.

 Bill Haley started out in country and western music with some blues influences. He was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America. I have some of his old 45's from that period on Essex records. After recording a country and western-styled version of Rocket 88, a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll; a term coined by the American disc jockey James "Alan" Freed.

A new name was needed to fit the new musical style. A friend of Haley's, making note of the common alternative pronunciation of the name Halley's Comet to rhyme with Bailey, suggested that Haley call his band The Comets. This event is cited in the Haley biographies "Sound and Glory" by John Haley and John von Hoelle, "Bill Haley" by John Swenson and in "Still Rockin' Around The Clock", a memoir by Comets bass player, Marshall Lytle.
 
 
rehearsing at the 
Dominion Theatre, Camden, London,
in 1957 for their first British show. 
photo by Harry Hammond
(Keystone/Getty Images)


The new name was adopted in the fall of 1952. Members of the group at that time were Haley, Johnny Grande, Billy Williamson, and Marshall Lytle. Grande usually played piano on record, but switched to accordion for live shows as it was more portable than a piano and easier to deal with during musical numbers that involved a lot of dancing around. Soon after renaming the band, Haley hired his first drummer, Charlie Higler, though Higler was soon replaced by Dick Boccelli (a.k.a. Dick Richards). During this time and as late as the fall of 1955, Haley did not have a permanent lead guitar player, choosing to use session musicians on record and either playing lead guitar himself or having Williamson play steel solos.

 In 1953 Haley scored his first national success with an original song called Crazy Man, Crazy, a phrase Haley said he heard from his teenage audience.  Crazy Man, Crazy was the first rock and roll song to be televised nationally when it was used on the soundtrack for a 1953 television play starring James Dean. This is one of the songs I have on Essex records.

 Haley and His Comets then recorded Rock Around the Clock, Haley's biggest hit, and one of the most important records in rock and roll history. Sales of Rock Around the Clock started slowly but eventually sold an estimated 25 million copies (per the Guinness Book of World Records) and marked the arrival of a cultural shift. In 2010, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) listed the soundtrack of the movie on its list of the Top 15 Most Influential Movie Soundtracks of all time.



 photographer unknown


Over 400 titles were recorded and released by Bill Haley and his musicians over a period of forty years, The vocals were sometimes done by other artists, but the back up was Bill's Comets or one of his earlier country-western bands. Haley also recorded over a hundred titles on at least four different Latin American labels: Dimsa, Orfeon, Maya and Dim. Many were sung in Spanish, while others were instrumentals with a strong Spanish flair. Those records sold in the tens of millions thoughout Latin America and South American where "Bill Haley y sus Cometas" remained very popular during the 1960's




Rock Around The Clock lyrics:

One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock
Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock rock
Nine, ten, eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock rock
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight

Put your glad rags on, join me, Hon
We'll have some fun when the clock strikes one
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight
Wer're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight

When the clock strikes two, three and four
If the band slows down we'll yell for more
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight
We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight

[Instrumental Interlude]

When the chimes ring five, six, and seven
We'll be right in seventh heaven
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight
We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight

When it's eight, nine, ten, eleven too
I'll be goin' strong and so will you
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight
We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight

[Instrumental Interlude]

When the clock strikes twelve, we'll cool off then
Start a'rockin' round the clock again
We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
We're gonna rock, rock, rock, 'til broad daylight
We're gonna rock, gonna rock around the clock tonight

Rock Around The Clock
(Max Freedman and Jimmy DeKnigh)



There is a book about Haley titled, "Sound and Glory", by John W. Haley (Bill's son) and John von Hoelle. Published by: Dyne-American Publishing, 2070 Naamans Rd., Suite 103, Wilmington, DE. 19810, 1990.
There's WAY more information available on Wikipedia about Bill Haley and the Comets; it's really worth the time it to check it out.

  

Net links:

 Rock Around the Clock on YouTube
Blackboard Jungle scenes on YouTube
Blackboard Jungle movie credits on IMDb



One, two, three o'clock . . .



Styrous® ~ Tuesday, March 25, 2014




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78 RPMs 2: Hue Lee ~ Rose, Rose, I Love You

   
       






      



Pathé Records
Shanghai, 1941
78 RPM recording
photo by Styrous®



Rose, Rose, I Love You is a song that is dear to me because when I was in Junior High I was seriously in love with a girl named Rose. I was 15 (how serious can a 15 year-old be?). Although the song is about a romance in China, it was our song; however, the theme of the song proved all too prophetic.  Our "love affair" ended when I went off to High School and her folks moved back to the Philippines taking her with them, of course.

Rose was a Chinese popular song, Méigui méigui wǒ ài nǐ (玫瑰玫瑰我愛你), first recorded by Yao Lee (姚莉) in 1940.  The song is also known under the titles Shanghai Rose and China Rose. Yao Lee's Mandarin version was also released in the US and UK in the early 1950s by Columbia Records, catalog numbers 39420 and 2837 respectively. Yao Lee was credited as "Miss Hue Lee" in this release. Other early releases have also credited her as "Yiu Lei." The original Chinese lyrics were by Wu Cun (Ng Chuen; 吳村 Wú Cūn) and the music was credited to Lin Mei (林枚), a pen name for popular song composer Chen Gexin (陳歌辛). 

Rose and I listened to the English version which was recorded by American singer Frankie Laine and the Norman Luboff Choir, with Paul Weston and his orchestra, on 6 April 1951, and released by Columbia Records as catalog number 39367. The English-language lyrics were written by the British radio presenter Wilfred Thomas. The English lyrics have little in common with the original Mandarin, but they pay subtle tribute to the titular Mandarin phrase "méigui méigui" (lit. rose petal) by including the English phrase "make way," with its normal English meaning.


English lyrics:

Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart
What is your future, now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay

Make way, oh, make way for my eastern Rose
Men crowd in dozens everywhere she goes
In her rickshaw on the street or in a cabaret
"Please make way for Rose", you can hear them say

All my life I shall remember
Oriental music and you in my arms
Perfumed flowers in your tresses
Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms

Rose, Rose I love you with your almond eyes
Fragrant and slender 'neath tropical skies
I must cross the seas again and never see you more
Way back to my home on a distant shore

All my life I shall remember
Oriental music and you in my arms
Perfumed flowers in your tresses
Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms

Rose, Rose I leave you, my ship is in the bay
Kiss me farewell now, there's nothin' to say
East is east and west is west, our worlds are far apart
I must leave you now but I leave my heart

Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart
What is your future, now we have to part?
Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away
Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay
(Rose, Rose I love you, I cannot stay)

Songwriters:
Henry Thomas Wilfred, Christian Langdon,  Traditional,


The song reached #3 on the Billboard magazine music charts in 1951. At the same time Columbia released Yao Lee's original Mandarin version in the US and UK under the English title, Rose, Rose, I Love You.  The song was covered by Petula Clark with new lyrics under the title May Kway (I mean, REALLY!) which entered the UK charts on May 5, 1951 and peaked at #16. Hong Kong singer Anita Mui sang the Cantonese cover of the song in 1989 and was featured as the theme song of the Jackie Chan film, Miracles. Mui also sings this song in the 1988 film Rouge. Aneka also covered Laine's version in the early 1980s, adding new original English lyrics with an almost but not quite disco tempo. This single was released by Ariola Records but did not chart. The original Mandarin version of this song was also covered by Taiwanese singer Joanna Wang in her 2009 album Joanna & 王若琳.

Dato' Zainal Alam sang it in English, Malay, Chinese & Tamil (it's a pretty interesting rendition). He began his career in broadcasting as an announcer for the British Radio Station in Penang. Soon after the British returned, he was made Station Manager and sent to England to study Broadcasting Management. Zainal Alam then went to USA to take up a Government Management Program. After the 1957 independence, he was given the task of managing the entire northern states. Just as Malaysia was incorporated, he was appointed the Regional Director of Broadcasting. The 'Whites' refer to him as the Bob Hope of Malaysia and the 'Blacks' as the Bing Crosby. He died on 12th December 1991.


 ~ ~ ~

Rose, Rose I Love You on YouTube:
(listed by interest to me)
Yao Lee on YouTube
Anita Mui on YouTube
Aneka on YouTube
Joanna Wang ~ 王若琳 - Mei Gui Mei Gui Wo Ai Ni on YouTube




I still think with fondness of my lovely Rose from all those many, many years ago.



Styrous® ~ Thursday, March 27, 2014
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March 23, 2014

78 RPMs 1: Kay Kyser ~ The Old Lamp-Lighter


The Old Lamp-Lighter
Kay Kyser  and his Orchestra
Michael Douglas, vocal
with The Campus Kids chorus



The Old Lamp-Lighter is a pop song written by Nat Simon with lyrics by Charles Tobias. The song was published in 1946. Perhaps it is because I've been writing about all those times and worlds in my life that are long gone that the song has been running around in my mind for quite a while. So I photographed my recording and started this new series about 78s.

Several versions of Lamp-Ligher made the best-seller charts in 1946-1947. It was a top 10 hit for Sammy Kaye, Kay Kyser and Hal Derwin. I was a little kid when it came out and I loved the song (lyrics & links to music below). The most popular version was by Sammy Kaye but it was too tinkly and bouncey for me and the vocal phrasing of the Derwin cut turned me off (I know, even as a kid I was finicky, . . . humm, not much has changed). My favorite rendition was by Kay Kyser with vocal by Michael Douglas (that's right, the Mike Douglas TV guy). Douglas had a clear, tenor voice that quietly and nostalgically depicts the beauty of a time long gone (50 years?). I think it was the timbre of his voice, the exquisite harmonies of the Choral background with the muted trombone and quiet orchestra that held me in rapture. Also, it was one of the songs my mom sang to me to put me to sleep at night.

Why did a child love a nostalgic song about a vanished way of life at the turn of the century (1900)? Who knows? Maybe I was an old soul in a kid's body. Whatever, it appears I loved old things even when I was a young boy (Harold & Maude?). It was to be one of my dominant traits for the rest of my life.

Looking back at the song almost 70 years after it was popular is very bizzare on many levels from this point in time. The song is about a lost era not quite 50 years previous to it. The subject of the tune (the lamplighter) is thinking of a long ago time in HIS life. In 1946, the song referred to a period I had no knowledge of other than what my mom had read to me from history books, I had heard on the radio or had seen in movies. Now THAT time period of the song, 1946, is a vanished world and I look back at it with nostalgia mixed with astonishment and gratitude that I had lived it and finally, after seventy years, truly appreciate the message of Lamp-Ligher. WOW! What a circle!






The Kyser/Douglas recording was released by Columbia Records as catalog number 37095. It first reached the Billboard Best Seller chart on November 22, 1946, and lasted 11 weeks on the chart, peaking at number three. 

It was a major country-pop hit for The Browns in 1960, released as a single in March of that year. It went on to become a major top-ten hit on the US pop singles chart, peaking at number five, and country chart.  I've put a link to it on YouTube below.

Teresa Brewer did a version that was released on the 1963 album, "Moments to Remember". And it was performed under the name Luktar-Gvendur, by Icelandic singer, Björk (Björk Guðmundsdóttir), on the album Gling-Gló, in 1990, a century after the time depicted. Interesting. Björk teams up with a jazz trio, Guðmundur Ingólfsson, piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson, drums and Þórður Högnason on bass. 





The Old Lamp-Lighter lyrics:

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

You'd hear the patter of his feet
As he came toddling down the street
His smile would cheer a lonely heart you see
If there were sweethearts in the park
He'd pass a lamp and leave it dark
Remembering the days that used to be
For he recalled when things were new
He loved someone who loved him too
Who walks with him alone in memories

He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago
His snowy hair was so much whiter
Beneath the candle glow
The old lamplighter
Of long, long ago

Now if you look up in the sky
You'll understand the reason why
The little stars at night are all aglow
He turns them on when night is near
He turns them off when dawn is here
The little man we left so long ago
He made the night a little brighter
Wherever he would go
The old lamplighter of long, long ago



The Old Lamp-Lighter music video links:

Kay Kyser and His Orchestra
Sammy Kaye
Hal Derwin
The Browns
Kenny Baker
Teresa Brewer (1963)
Björk ~ Luktar-Gvendur (1990)

~ ~ ~

Perhaps I am still just a little kid at heart; I loved The Old Lamp-Lighter back when I was and I still do, because, after all . . . 

"He made the night a little brighter . . ."



Styrous® ~ Sunday, March 23, 2014













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78 RPMs Archive

 ~    
Méigui méigui wǒ ài nǐ" (玫瑰玫瑰我愛你)
Chinese popular song 
               photo by Styrous®  
78 RPMs 1: Kay Kyser ~ The Old Lamplighter
78 RPMs 9: Paul Whiteman ~ King of Jazz     
78 RPMs 10: Artie Shaw ~ Nightmare     
78 RPMs 12: Dinah Shore ~ Sleepy Lagoon    











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