At Last

Etta James died early this year. She enjoyed a long recording career, cutting her first record on 25 November 1954 and releasing her final CD just over a year ago on 8 November 2011. 
In 1960 she signed with Chess Records in Chicago. Despite having 5 years under her belt as a R&B singer, Phil and Leonard Chess felt she had great pop potential and began recording her doing pop standards with a full orchestra. In October 1960, during a standard 4-song session, she recorded A Sunday Kind Of Love, At Last, Stormy Weather and Trust In Me. At Last was released as a single in early 1961. It did well on the R&B charts, but barely broke the Top 50 on the national pop charts. For some reason the recording seems to have been "re-discovered" about 20 years ago and the song became Etta's signature tune for the rest of her career.

Since her 1960 recording the song has been recorded many times by some very well known singers, all drawing inspiration from Etta's recording. In the 1960's it was done by Brenda Lee, Doris Day, Ben E. King, Mary Wells, Judy Garland, Baby Washington. Diane Schuur and B.B. King did a great version in 1994. Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper, Aretha Franklin, Beyonce Knowles, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera are just some of the people that have recorded the song in more recent times. 

It's also something of a jazz standard, with its slow - bluesy melody it's a good song for musicians to perform that gives them a chance to catch their breath. There's a recording of Miles Davis performing it on 13 September 1953 at the Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, California and that same year another jazz trumpeter, Chet Baker, recorded it. Those are the oldest jazz recordings I'm aware of.

Let's take a look at the song up to the 1960 Etta James recording. The song was written around 1941 by two very successful writers: Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. Mack Gordon is credited with writing the lyrics for songs such Chattanooga Choo Choo, Goodnight My Love, Love Thy Neighbor, Serenade In Blue, The More I See You, You'll Never Know. Composer Harry Warren has credits such as Lullaby Of Broadway, On The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, I Only Have Eyes For You, We're In The Money, September In The Rain, Jeepers Creepers, and the musical 42nd Street.
The song was originally written for Glenn Miller for use in the film Sun Valley Serenade, but only the music was used. In April 1941 production began on another film that would feature the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Orchestra Wives, and this time the song made the final cut. 

On 20 May 1942, the Miller Orchestra recorded the song for record release, sung by Ray Eberle. 

 

About a month later, on 25 June 1942, Connie Haines recorded it with the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra.

 

(Connie's mother passed away here in Clearwater, Florida a couple years ago at the age of 111!)

Also in 1942, it was recorded by Charlie Spivak & His Orchestra featuring the vocals of Garry Stevens & The Stardusters.

 

 The songs seems to have 'left the building' for about 10 years after that. In 1952 it was a hit for Ray Anthony & His Orchestra featuring vocals by Tommy Mercer & The Anthony Choir. It was the success of this record that probably prompted people like Miles Davis and Chet Baker to pick it up.

 

In 1954 it was recorded by prolific King Records keyboardist/singer Bill Doggett. Up to this point, the song was a sweet pop tune. Bill gave it a VERY soulful spin and took the song in a new direction. Many of Bill's instrumental hits have been digitally remastered and issued on CD, but not this recording. I believe Ace Records UK holds the King Records archive now, so hopefully someday we'll be able to get a clean copy of this rarity.

 

Also in 1954, in Los Angeles, Richard Berry & The Dreamers recorded it for the Flair label. Richard, about 19 at the time, did it in the R&B vocal group style of that period, again, taking the song in another new direction. Richard was an interesting man on the LA 1950's R&B / Rock 'n' Roll scene. With a wide variety of styles, good sense of humor, and a strong musical acumen, he left us with some great recordings. Ironically, Richard can be heard on the first song Etta James ever recorded, The Wallflower. And then there's the great 1954 recording by The Robins: Riot In Cellblock #9. The song opens with a siren, followed by a machine gun, then someone says "On July the 2nd, 1953 - I was serving time for arm {sic} robbery......." That was Richard. In 1954 mambo was the big thing and the following year Richard wrote a song in a calypso style called Louie Louie. A couple years later he recorded it, nothing much came of it, but there was a very thriving rock 'n' roll scene in the Seattle - Portland corridor in the late 50's/early 60's and it became a favorite of many of the bands there. As you probably know, the song became a rock standard in the 60's, has been recorded over 1,000 times, however Richard had sold the copyright in 1959 for $750. Many years later, in the mid-1980's, Richard was down on his luck, living on welfare, when he was approached by a company that wanted to use the song in a commercial. He explained that he had sold the copyright many years ago but their lawyer thought he might have a chance to regain control. The publisher settled and Richard became an instant millionaire.   

 

On 28 December 1956, At Last was recorded by Nat "King" Cole for Capitol. The music was arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins who had provided the music for the second ever recording of the song in 1942 by Connie Haines. Nat was a superstar at the time and his recording became very popular.

 

By 1959 it was probably inevitable that At Last would receive a rock 'n' roll treatment. This one, by The Chordells, is excellent.

 

Also in 1959 came this nice version by John Lester & The Mello-Queens.

 

and that brings us up to October 1960 and Etta James classic. 

 

Note: There were a few other songs titled "At Last" in the 50's/60's. One out of New York City in 1951 by The Majors on Derby records. Another one out of New York City in 1953 by The Velvets on Red Robin records and the 1968 Marvin Gaye recording. All different songs.

Little Girl Blue

Who's celebrating its 77th birthday today? Why the song Little Girl Blue is. People may be most familiar with this song as recorded by Janis Joplin in 1969 and this post will take a look at the song up to that point. Her recording was inspired by Nina Simone's 1958 recording as she often introduced the song during performances as being a "Nina Simone song". Janis altered the lyrics a bit and did a very soulful rendering and since then singers either do a "Janis" version or the original. Nina Simone's (1958), Anita O'Day's (1960) and Janis's (1969) recordings are probably the most interesting as the others pretty much did it straight. The song became a jazz standard in the 1950's, but I'm not even going there. I've never heard any recordings that took the song to new places. It just has a nice melody that musicians enjoy playing.

On November 16, 1935 the musical Jumbo opened in New York City at the huge Hippodrome Theatre.

 With songs by the famous Broadway team of Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart, the musical was about a financially troubled circus and featured circus acts and animals during the performance - including elephants, but with the name Jumbo you probably figured that out. Starring Jimmy Durante, Donald Noviss and Gloria Grafton, who in the role of Mickey Considine sang the song Little Girl Blue at the end of Act 1. About the first half of the song is an instrumental run through of the melody and her vocal portion of the song lasts just over a minute.

 

I'm not sure if anything happened with the song over the next ten years. If it was recorded, I'm not aware of it. In 1945 or 1946, Lena Horne recorded it, slowing down the tempo and turning it into the torch song that became its standard form until Anita O'Day's recording in 1960.

 

In 1947, Margaret Whiting recorded it for Capitol. Margaret was one of the early singers signed by Capitol Records when songwriter/singer Johnny Mercer and his two partners started it in 1942. (I believe the first two were Martha Tilton and 17-year-old Ella Mae Morse and I can't believe I haven't managed to get any Ella Mae onto this blog yet.) Martha's father, Richard Whiting, was a composer that wrote songs such as Hooray For Hollywood, Ain't We Got Fun?, On The Good Ship Lollipop.

 

On November 6, 1953, the song was recorded by Frank Sinatra. During the 50's and 60's several singers recorded LP's of nothing but Rodgers & Hart songs, their overall success contributing to the continuing popularity of Little Girl Blue. Even in the 70's both Tony Bennett and Diana Ross did R&H LP's. Anyway, what makes Frank's recording interesting is for the first time we hear the opening verse (When I was very young.......) left off the earlier recordings. It was also used by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Judy Garland. Anita O'Day, Joni James and Yvonne De Carlo all included it on their recordings, but placed it near the end of the song.

 

In August 1956 Ella Fitzgerald did her version.

 

Sarah Vaughan recorded it 29 October 1956

 

Joni James also did it in 1956.

 

Recorded by Judy Garland 6 May 1957

 

Also recording it in 1957 was Yvonne De Carlo. Yvonne was a successful film star in the late 40's and 50's but most likely is best remembered for being Lily Munster in the 60's TV comedy The Munsters.

 

Nina Simone made her first recordings in 1958 and included in that first session was her interesting take on Little Girl Blue. Not only do her vocals offer something a little new and different, her dramatic piano playing starts off with a portmanteau of the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas. It sounds like Lena Horne's 1945-ish recording was the main influence for Nina's recording.

 

Anita O'Day, with the Billy May Orchestra, gave the song an entirely new spin in 1960.

 

Sam Cooke did it in 1961.

 

 

In 1962, 27 years after the musical played in NYC, Jumbo was made into a film starring Doris Day, Martha Raye, Stephen Boyd and - just as in the 1935 musical - Jimmy Durante. It was the last film musical for Doris and the film reportedly lost $4,000,000.

 

 Keely Smith recorded it in 1963.

 

Janis recorded her Little Girl Blue on 25 June, 1969.

 

Since 1969 the song has remained popular being recorded by both singers and jazz musicians. Linda Ronstadt did it on a very successful CD in 1986 (or LP or cassette...1986 was the last year the industry did anything serious with vinyl.) It seems the song gets recorded about a half-dozen times a decade and one of the more recent popular versions was about 6 years ago done by Diana Krall. Happy 77th birthday Little Girl Blue. 

Hot Rod Race - Hot Rod Lincoln

Let's go back 41 years to 1971. FM radio was pushing AM to the back burner, but here in the USA the car manufacturers made a great effort to keep FM radios and cassette players out of cars and succeeded for most of the 70's at keeping them high end products. A pretty big Top 40 hit that year was Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, a popular band on the college circuit. After hearing it for the hundredth time or so I actually took notice of the lyrics that start the song which is something like "well you heard the story of the hot rod race where the Fords and Lincolns were setting the pace? well that story's true, I'm here to say, I was the kid driving that Model A". I suddenly realized I had indeed heard that story many times. When I was a little kid I lived in a house that had a basement with 3 walls above ground and rather than being dark and dingy was actually bright and cheery and a good place for kids to hang out. There was record player attached to an amp with a big speaker cabinet and a pile of 78's and a stack of 45's which were still the new kid on the record block. There was also a player piano and a closet with a couple shelves of boxes containing old piano rolls. One of the records I enjoyed playing, and there was both a 78 and a 45 of it, was Hot Rod Race by Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan on Capitol Records and that was the "story" that Commander Cody was talking about.

In 1950, in Bremerton, Washington, a 17 year old kid named Ron Wilson wrote out the lyrics for a song about a hot rod race. Hot rod culture pretty much went out with the 60's, but was thriving in those post war years. Bremerton is across Puget Sound from Seattle on the Kitsap Peninsula in an area that is home to some big Navy Bases, or at least it used to be and was at that time. Ron showed his lyrics to his father, George Wilson, and he took them to a hillbilly singer named Arkie Shibley.
Arkie, real name Jesse Lee Shibley, was a 36 year old local performer at bars and honky tonks and also had his own radio program. He had recently relocated from Arkansas, thus the nickname Arkie.
Arkie liked the lyrics very much and immediately set them to music. Arkie and his band, The Mountain Dew Boys, began performing the song to enthusiastic audiences at the Peedlewheezer Tavern in Kitsap. The owner of the tavern thought it would make a great record and he financed a trip down to Los Angeles for himself, Arkie and guitarist Leon Kelly. They went to 4-Star Records, a big label at that time, but they turned them down. They recorded the song but 4-Star decided against issuing it but arranged for Arkie to get about 200 copies made on his own "custom" Mt Dew record label so he could sell them at his performances.

The record proved popular and 4-Star decided to issue it on their subsidiary Gilt-Edge label and it became a hit.

 

Ron Wilson, the 17 year who wrote the lyrics, never received a dime for his efforts. His father sold the rights for $500. Welcome to the music business, kid.
Capitol Records picked up on the song right away and on the evening of November 9 had their artist Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan record it with some of their top country studio musicians and with Capitol's slick production, advanced distribution network, strong promotion department and Jimmie's strong vocals, this record became the big hit for Hot Rod Race. Chuck Berry has stated that this record was a big influence on him in writing Maybelline, the 1955 recording that help launch his career and rock 'n' roll.

 

The scan above is the same record I found in the basement and used to play sometime back in the late 50's.
Very quickly the other major labels wanted to get one of their acts in on the deal. Decca Records issued it by Red Foley

 

and Mercury Records in Chicago released it by big band leader Tiny Hill

 

In Tennessee it hit the shelves by Bob Williams

 

and it was released by Arthur Smith & His Crackerjacks

 

a label in Meriden, Connecticut issued it by Rex Turner & The Westerners

 

and it also came out by Bob Sandy & The Rhythm Rangers but I'm going to skip over that as it really was a somewhat lackluster performance. There's a CD available called Hillbilly Sidesteps that lists Hot Rod Races 1, 2 and 3 as being done by Ramblin Lou. Ramblin Lou (Lou Schriver & His Twin Pine Mountaineers) was a guy out of the Buffalo, New York area, who like Arkie was both a performer and a radio guy, but the songs on that CD are not Ramblin Lou as they are the recordings done by Bob Williams and Arthur Smith.
So.....for the most part, Arkie's record ended up being a hit for other people. What would you do if that happened to you? I know what Arkie did. He continued the story and recorded Hot Rod Race No. 2!

 

Well, if it worked a second time for Arkie, maybe it will work again for others too. Bob Williams also did No. 2

 

and Tiny Hill also did No. 2. I've never come across the recording but I know it was done because pictures don't lie

Arkie knew he was on to something good so what did he do next? Hot Rod Race No. 3: Arkie Meets The Judge

 

so back east in Tennessee Bob Williams did No. 3 too.

 

Next up from Arkie came Hot Rod Race No. 4: The Guy In The Mercury

 

and finally the end of the race - Hot Rod Race No. 5: The Kid In The Model A

 

In 1955 a guy named Mick Woodward adapted the song to be about racing Navy ships and called it Hot Rod Race Navy Style.

 

In 1955 an answer song to Hot Rod Race, called Hot Rod Lincoln, was recorded by Charlie Ryan for a small label in Idaho and in 1959 he recorded it again for 4 Star.

 

A cover version of Hot Rod Lincoln was done by Johnny Bond and it became a decent hit in 1960.

 

and 11 years later was revived again by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen

 

and this story is true, I'm here to say, because I was the kid driving that 1963 Ford Fairlane listening to it over and over on WRKO.