Seasonal Songs - "Love Turns Winter to Spring"

 As we transition from Winter to Spring, let's sneak in another seasonal song!

We left off with The Beach Boys singing a Four Freshman-esque arrangement of "The Things We Did Last Summer," so let's hear The Four Freshmen themselves!

I think the Freshmen were the first to commercially record the 1941 Matt Dennis/Frank Killduff song "Love Turns Winter to Spring" on a Capitol single in 1954:

That's just a great record with typically stellar backing from Nelson Riddle. No wonder Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was a fan!

I'm sure that June Christy was also a fan so she probably got the idea to record "Love Turns Winter to Spring" from The Four Freshmen.

"The Misty Miss Christy" included it as a cut on her 1957 Capitol album "Gone for the Day":

That's a great arrangement by Pete Rugolo, who worked with the Stan Kenton band back when June was its star vocalist.

The Four Freshman also worked with Stan Kenton and June Christy at times, but I'm guessing it was just a coincidence that Stan had an arrangement of "Love Turns Winter to Spring" back in 1941.

He played it on radio broadcasts, but did not record it:

That's tenor saxist Red Dorris on the vocal.

Also from 1941 is this "Soundie" of the song featuring former Benny Goodman vocalist Martha Tilton and the Bobby Sherwood band:

That's a lot of fun! 

Martha did not seem to record it for commercial release either. 

In addition to the Liltin' Miss Tilton and the Misty Miss Christy, "G.I. Jo" (Jo Stafford) performed the song on a 1944 radio show:

Jo even includes the verse! She did not record the song, however.

Jo Stafford was friends with composer Matt Dennis and got him a job writing songs for Tommy Dorsey in the early 1940s when she and The Pied Pipers were featured with the band. TD recorded a number of Matt's songs, but not this one for some reason.

Strange that the song had to wait a dozen or so years to get an actual recording!

And in what must be a coincidence, The Four Freshmen, June Christy, Stan Kenton, Martha Tilton, Bobby Sherwood and Jo Stafford all enjoyed success as Capitol recording artists!

"Jingle Bells" Alert Department!

In addition to the many recordings of "Jingle Bells," the song pops up all the time in non-holiday or seasonal movies and TV shows.

Everybody recognizes it from just a few notes and since the song is in the pubic domain, creators can use it wherever and whenever they want without having to get clearances or pay royalties.

For example, it pops up in the 1931 movie "Palmy Days" starring Eddie Cantor.

The set-up is that Eddie's character works for a phony mystic (the great Charles Middleton) and part of his job is doing the sound effects for seances:

There are a  couple things of note...

First, Charles Middleton, best-known as Ming the Merciless in the "Flash Gordon" serials has comic chops!

Also, I'm pretty sure Charlotte Greenwood, who plays Eddie's wacky love interest, sings "Jingle all the day" in the manner of Ella Logan rather than "Jingle all the way."

How much of a thing was that?

And two Ella Logan references in 48 hours! Where else can you get that?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of the holiday, let's listen to some 78s!

First up is Bing Crosby with "St. Patrick's Day Parade" from Decca Records in 1951:

Bing was obviously no stranger to Irish-flavored songs!

We go back a couple of years to 1949 and another Irish lad, Dennis Day, with his hit "Clancy Lowered the Boom" on RCA Victor:

We had previously heard Dennis on an episode of "Suspense" from 1950 and voicing Fred in the 1978 animated version of "The Stingiest Man in Town" but he gets to show off his comic chops on this fun novelty!

And we had heard Ella Logan singing "Jingle Bells" way back in 1937 and we catch up with her ten years later as she was starring in the Broadway musical "Finian's Rainbow."

Here she is with the popular "How Are Things in Glocca Morra" from the cast album released on Columbia Records:

There were a lot of good versions of that song!

We back up to 1942 with Freddy Martin's hit "Rose O'Day" featuring vocalist Eddie Stone on Bluebird:

I heard this song described as an "Irish 'Hut Sut Song'" which nails it!

After a busy holiday, what's better than an Irish lullaby? So, Bing is back with "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" from 1944:

Bing sang that oldie to Barry Fitzgerald in the 1944 Best Picture Winner "Going My Way" and it's been popular ever since!

Enjoy some corned beef, but hold the cabbage!

Bonus Song - "(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time" (1931)

                                                   

As we're now fully into Daylight Saving Time, I'm reminded of a popular song from 1931 that puts a fun spin on the concept: "(There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time."

There were a zillion versions of the song when it was published in 1931, but the most popular was by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians on Columbia Records with brother Carmen on the vocal:

It seems like Guy Lombardo's always in the mix when we're listening to early to mid-1930s songs!

Hal Kemp recorded another popular version of the song for Brunswick Records with a vocal by Skinnay Ennis and some snappy trumpet from Jack Purvis:

Such a song really suits the Kemp/Ennis combination, or is it the other way around?

Before leaving 1931, we'll jump over to England for this version by Ambrose and his Orchestra with vocalist Sam Browne on the His Master's Voice label:

That's a great arrangement! I like those Ambrose records a lot!

There were several other contemporary recordings of "Moonlight Saving Time," but I don't think that co-writer Harry Richman recorded it, despite having other records out around that time.

Then I don't think anyone recorded the song at all in the 1940s, but it made something of a comeback in the 1950s.

I like this one from Ray Anthony from 1952 with Marcie Miller and the Skyliners on Capitol:

We'll sneak in one more version, this one from Jackie Gleason's 1956 album "Music for Lovers Only," also on Capitol:

Gorgeous trumpet from Bobby Hackett on that one!

I would definitely vote to replace Daylight Saving Time with Moonlight Saving Time!

Happy "Pie" Day!

Hall of Fame Pie:

Daylight Saving Time!

While we were sleeping, Daylight Saving Time snuck in again!

I'm not a big fan of having my sleep schedule disrupted, but what're you gonna do?

I'm definitely in agreement with Jerry Colonna:

Of course, agreeing with Colonna on anything is a risky proposition!

And I do sympathize with Grandpa Jones on this 1958 Decca record: 

He's not wrong, but didn't Benjamin Franklin think up DST? Sorry, Grandpa, old Ben was long gone by then!

Seasonal Songs - "The Things We Did Last Summer" - Part 2 - Vocal Groups!

We jump ahead to the mid-1950s and 1960s with "The Things We Did Last Summer" for some vocal group renditions!

First up is The Four Lads with this cut from their 1956 album "On the Sunny Side" which was also released on a single in 1957 on Columbia Records:

I think that's an outstanding version, with The Four Lads sounding great and wonderful backing from veteran bandleader/pianist Claude Thornhill of "Snowfall" fame!

(Obligatory mention that The Four Lads were featured as the carolers in the original 1956 production of "The Stingiest Man in Town," but you knew that too!)

Dig the 1958 beachwear!

There were so many "Four" groups in the 1950s and if we go to 1958, we encounter The Four Preps who released an album titled after "The Things We Did Last Summer" on Capitol Records.

Here's that title track:

We had previously encountered The Four Preps in a clip from "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" TV show with Ricky Nelson singing "Jingle Bells."

We next jump to 1965 with a version by the popular trio The Lettermen, who included "The Things We Did Last Summer" on a single from Capitol Records:

This version is interesting in that it has subtle and not-so-subtle lyric changes throughout. I wonder why?

I also think it's fascinating that The Lettermen were cutting such square records at the height of Beatlemania on the same U.S. label as The Beatles!

We have one more vocal group version on Capitol Records, this one recorded by The Beach Boys in 1963, but not commercially released until its appearance on the "Good Vibrations" box set in 1993 and on a tie-in promo 45rpm record:

It's no secret that Brian Wilson is a huge fan of The Four Freshmen and this arrangement is obviously inspired by them, but I don't think The Four Freshmen ever recorded the tune.

The Beach Boys had recorded the song for an appearance on Red Skelton's TV show. Here's a clip:

That's David Marks at the bottom left, filling in for Al Jardine.

Some solid renditions!

Seasonal Songs - "The Things We Did Last Summer" - Part 1 - 1946

While it's still Winter, let's get to another seasonal song - "The Things We Did Last Summer" from 1946 by the prolific hit-writing team of lyrist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne!

It's a popular standard, but despite it taking place, if you will, in the Winter, it hasn't made its way onto the list of seasonal songs that have been recorded ad infintum over the years, such as another Cahn/Styne song, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

When it was published, "The Things We Did Last Summer" was recorded on all the labels, with some pretty big star power!

My favorite version is by Jo Stafford on Capitol:

There's something in Jo's voice that conveys a wistfulness that really suits this song.

Another popular version was by Frank Sinatra on Columbia:

Frank sings the song well, but it's hard to imagine the skinny 1940s Sinatra being able to ring the bell at the midway!

Big-voiced Vaughn Monroe definitely sounds like he could ring the bell, though, and he cut the song for RCA Victor:

Of course, I "get" that the vocal group is called The Moon Maids because "Racing with the Moon" was Vaughn's theme song!

Decca got in on the action by teaming Bing Crosby with Jimmy Dorsey's band:

Bing and Jimmy went back a long way and always sounded good together.

The smaller Majestic label had Georgia Gibbs record the song:

Georgia's peak of popularity was about a decade later when she had several hits based on popular R 'n' B tunes, but this was back when she was known as "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs," as she was called by Garry Moore on his radio program with Jimmy Durante.

So, some nice recordings!

(Obligatory mention that Jule Styne also composed the songs for "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol," but you already knew that!)