"A Lonely Co-Ed" (1939)

Still in 1939, we turn to a somewhat unlikely source for our next college song: Duke Ellington!

What seems unusual to me is that Duke also wrote the lyrics to "A Lonely Co-Ed" in addition to writing the melody as usual. The subject matter seems out of his wheelhouse, so there must be a story!

Whatever the case, here's Ivie Anderson singing with Duke's band on Columbia Records:

Ivie does sound pretty lonely, but all she needs to do is look over to Duke's sax section, as alto man Johnny Hodges is keeping it swinging!

Here's Johnny with a small group of Ellington sidemen (with Duke on piano) with 1939's "Swingin' on the Campus" on Vocalion Records:

Those small group recordings of Ellington musicians are nice additions to the records by the while band.

And for my dough, you absolutely can't beat Johnny Hodges!

While we're swinging on the campus, let's sneak in a song by Artie Shaw that he featured in MGM's "Dancing Co-Ed" from 1939!

Here's Artie and his great band with "Traffic Jam" on Bluebird Records:

Great to hear and fun to see Artie and the boys in the movie with Tony Pastor, Buddy Rich, Georgie Auld and the rest!

Even better to see Lana Turner, who's so fresh-faced and adorable in this movie that you can understand how Artie must have flipped over her!