Word Association Wednesday: Another Place

We spin off Duke Ellington’s If You Were in My Place and land squarely in the orbit of the 1941/42 hit Somebody Else Is Taking My Place.

Morgan’s Melancholy Manner

The song was co‑written by bandleader Russ Morgan, and he was the first to record it. Let’s drop the needle on his late‑1941 Decca side:

That’s classic “Music in the Morgan Manner” — the melancholy, sighing trombone, Russ easing into the vocal and The Morganaires wrapping it all in that soft‑focus harmony.

Peggy Perks It Up

But the definitive version arrived almost immediately afterward, when Benny Goodman cut it for Okeh with his brand‑new vocalist Peggy Lee:

The lyrics don’t brighten up any under Peggy’s delivery, but the record sure does. It’s crisp, swinging, and no mystery why it became the hit.

Label intrigue: Benny wasn’t being “demoted” to Columbia’s cheaper Okeh subsidiary. Glenn Miller was selling literal millions on Victor’s budget Bluebird line, so Columbia simply tried the same trick with BG.

Thornhill’s Tongue‑in‑Cheek Take

As 1942 dawned, more bands jumped aboard. Perhaps the wackiest cover of the moment was Claude Thornhill’s Columbia version:

It plays like a gentle send‑up — Claude’s honky‑tonk piano, the wink‑and‑a‑grin vocal by “A Pair of Pairs,” a playful rebranding of The Snowflakes.

Bunny Still Burns Bright

Next comes Bunny Berigan with vocalist Kay Little on the Elite label:

A late Berigan side, recorded just months before his untimely passing. Bunny’s trumpet still gleams, but Kay leans a little hard into the Helen O’Connell style that was popular at the time.

Monroe’s Moments

Vaughn Monroe was still the new kid on the block in 1942 when he recorded his Bluebird version:

Just to keep things interesting, let’s jump ahead to 1958 for Vaughn's RCA Victor remake:

Nothing about this should work — and yet I absolutely dig it!

A Modern Mose‑ment

And while we’re in 1958, let’s close with a snappy instrumental take by pianist Mose Allison from his Prestige album Young Man Mose:

Sounds good!

Turns out Russ Morgan was right all along: everybody was taking his place!

Warehouse Whispers

Apparently Somebody Else Is Taking My Place was composed in 1937 but not recorded until 1941, despite Russ Morgan having a recording contract all along. Hmm...