Bonus Movie Songs: Johnny Desmond with Glenn Miller!

                                             

I was just saying how we were fortunate to have those a cappella records made during the recording ban to preserve the hit movie songs of 1943 and 1944.

There is another source for a lot of those songs: Glenn Miller's Army Air Force band featuring vocalist Johnny Desmond!

(Obligatory mention that Johnny Desmond portrayed Fred in 1956's "The Stingiest Man in Town," but you knew that!)

That was a terrific band of top musicians (mixing the classic Miller sound with the addition of strings) and Johnny sounded great with them and thankfully a number of non-commercial recordings (radio shows and V-Discs) are available for us to enjoy!

So, here's Sergeant Johnny Desmond singing "How Sweet You Are" from "Thank Your Lucky Stars":

And "Long Ago (And Far Away)" from "Cover Girl":

And here's "Irresistible You" from "Broadway Rhythm":

Then there's "Now I Know" from "Up in Arms":

They called Johnny the "G.I. Sinatra," so it's natural he would take on Frank's songs from "Higher and Higher" along with The Crew Chiefs:

Sounds good!

Johnny and The Crew Chiefs are also featured on Jerry Gray's arrangement of "The Trolley Song" from "Meet Me in St. Louis":

Drummer/vocalist Ray McKinley sings a couple of lines before the amusing second verse!

Let's sneak in the song that started us down this road, "I Love You" from the Broadway show "Mexican Hayride":

So great to have these songs performed by a great vocalist with a great band!