Reflection on Various Songs - Assignment Example

Harry Dacre, “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)” (1892) (lyrics) I sang this song when I was a child and I remember it being in a Disney Donald Duck cartoon. However, this is the first time I ever hear this version. I think it sounds like a minstrel singing. The song comes from the early days of bicycles and it echoes the mores of the Victorian era, when courting was very romantic and formal. Entertainment was live, so this would have been a very popular parlour song. 2. Jelly Roll Morton, “New Orleans Blues/La Paloma” I have heard both of these before, but not like this. I have listened to Jelly Roll Morton as I like blues and jazz and he plays a mean piano. I like the way the instruments interact. This kind of music reminds me of a book I enjoyed once by Machael Ondatje , Coming Through Slaughter, about a jazz horn player who blew his lip out when he went nuts and played until he could not play any more. La Paloma is an old Mexican folk song I also remember hearing as a child. It is a beautiful melody, and I never expected to hear it played as jazz. I guess the melody lends itself to improvisation. I never thought about it as anything other than a pretty folk song and I sure never dreamed that Jelly Roll Morton ever played it, though I guess it would have been very popular for afternoon parties, a la Stephen Foster. 3. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, “Dipper Mouth Blues” (1923) I have to find more of these guys. I think that’s a real early Louis Armstrong playing the muted trumpet. The clarinetist is really mellow. At the time when this was recorded, the music was real, no digital augmentation and I love the complexity of this jazz, but I do with it had the fuller sound of stereo. My ears like the depth of modern recordings. I wonder how they ever got that name. It sounds like the name of a fish. I wonder how much music we missed, because the players were racially segregated? 4. Original Dixieland Jazz Band, “Tiger Rag” (1917) (on APM CD) I have only heard later versions of this tune, I think by Louis Armstrong’s band,. The chorus is very familiar, but I do not really remember the rest of the music. I went looking and found a version with Art Tatum on piano. I did not know anyone’s fingers could move that fast. 5. Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five, “West End Blues” (1928) Wow, this is one I had not heard. The rhythm is very regular like for dancing, but the instruments are really clear with solos on the horns. I have not heard many trombone solos. It sounds like a low Dixieland, with the combined instruments and voice sort of having a conversation. The piano sounds like one that has tacks on the hammers. I think that was called honkey tonk piano. It is a great sound and reminds one of the places where this music was played. I get a vision of taverns, bars and some upper scale clubs playing this music. Great trumpet solo by Louis Armstrong. I have liked some things I heard with him playing, but I did not know he was such a great musician. 6. Jelly Roll Morton, “Black Bottom Stomp” (1926) It is really great that some people are sharing their old 78 records on Youtube. I would never have heard some of these. This tune really showcases dance rhythm Dixieland. The instruments sound a little strange, like maybe they are using mutes on some of the horns. 7. Guy Lombardo, “We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye” (lyrics) I heard this by Frank Sinatra, but I like the one by Guy Lombardo better. It has more style. The old Sinatra record is a simple dance tune with only an interesting solo on a high pitched xylophone. It is a happy love song., while many of this time were very sad. I guess girls really like sad songs and they bought most of the music. After all, it was girls who wanted to dance in these times. It was an acceptable way to touch. There was no television then, so these radio shows were really popular among middle and higher class people. It was happy entertainment, and I prefer the big band sound. 8. Bing Crosby, “Out of Nowhere” (1931) (lyrics) Wow I thought I knew all of the Bing Crosby songs. When it first started I did not recognize his voice. Maybe it was the fidelity, but also it took his voice very high. I always thought of him as a baritone, not a tenor. This song was probably typical of the time, with just simple lyrics stating his love for her. 9. Big Bill Broonzy, “Worrying You Off My Mind” (1932) (lyrics) I loved the sound of the guitar. He played with a really interesting way of stroking. The strings, sounds in places like a mandolin. I am not sure. The idea off being able to worry someone “off your mind” is an interesting idea. This is a real low down blues, sad song. 10. Mamie Smith, “Crazy Blues” (1920) (mentioned in Stomp and Swerve, pages 211–213) (lyrics) I never heard Dixieland blues before, and I think that is what this is. The lyrics tell a story of lost love and most of the blues songs with lyrics make them sound like a disease. The singer talks about all the things she has done trying to cure the blues. The instruments almost sympathize with her. I do not have any music like this. 11. Ethel Waters, “Organ Grinder Blues” (1928) (lyrics) Without the lyrics this is a wonderfully complex piano piece. Seems like everybody who was anybody recorded it. I listened to one version that started with a sound like an organ grinder would make on his accordion like instrument that he played with a crank, but then it moves into slow boogy woogy and really is rich with nuance. I never heard it before, and I am surprised, since it really is a great tune. 12. Bessie Smith, “St. Louis Blues” (1925) (on APM CD) (lyrics) This blues is one of my favorites. I once watched a movie by the same name that detailed the life of the composer, W.C.Handy, with Nat King Cole and Earth Kitt. I will never forget that story, and it fits here, except that the struggle with music is also included in the story. Handy had a hard time, because secular music was considered to be from the devil by his preacher father. But he heard music everywhere and he just had to play it on whatever instrument he could get. He played piano too. The lyrics of this song would have been typical French-creole blues, and it was a hit for Handy. In those days, the artists were thrilled when sheet music company published their songs, because people bought the music to play at home or in a club. Now more records sell than sheet music. 13. Bessie Smith “Empty Bed Blues” (1928) (lyrics) I heard Bette Middler sing this. She has a great voice. I love the suggestive lyrics in this song. It is very entertaining. Even though our society accepts much more in public, these lyriucs are still funny, because just because we can say things now they could not say in Bessie Smith’s time, does not mean we cannot enjoy the suggestive words like “he’s got his own grind” or “He’s a deep sea diver”. These lyrics bring up images of things that would be not allowed in prime time, or maybe even labeled as porn. It suits the rhythm of this song very well. I loved the line about her girlfriend must have gone and tried it too> 14. Blind Lemon Jefferson, “That Black Snake Moan” (on APM CD) This one has quite a history and I misread the title the first time around and thought it was Man….very suggestive. I guess I have been paying attention to listen to the lyrics closely too long. I have listened and giggled at a lot of these old blues. Funny how the country songs were so opposite, because of the southern Baptist influence I think. 15. Blind Willie McTell, “Statesboro Blues” (1928) (lyrics) I listened to this by the Allman Brothers with a really great electric guitar. When it started I thought that Mama was meaning his girlfriend, but it was actually his mother. So I guess that was not a popular term then. I really do not like this calling a lover like a parent, it seems a little gauche to me. As I listened I could really not be sure he was not referring to his lover. From reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye I know that incest was not unknown at the time in poor black families, so I guess this is one thing that bothers me. 16. Charley Patton, “Tom Rushen Blues” (1929) (lyrics) Some of these lyrics are very strange, and refer to folk tales in the Mississippi Delta, and I do not think this song is particularly interesting in its music quality. I much prefer New Orleans style for its complexity and sound. It was closer to jazz and this is just plain low down blues. However, the lyrics of these songs do give us some of the history of the time that was not written down elsewhere, because most Negros could not read and write then. It was still illegal to teach them. 17. Fiddlin' John Carson, “I'm Going to Take the Last Train to Charlotte” (1924) I really love Bluegrass and Hoedown music. And this one moves. I think these will live forever. Many musical genres will face away, but bluegrass and dizieland, blues and jazz, of the popular genres plus pop and rock will stay for centuries. Funny how they all seem to combine, except bluegrass. It has a sound all its own and does not play well with others in the sandbox. 18. Carter Family, “My Clinch Mountain Home” (1928) (lyrics) This is right out of Gospel singing. Often in Country they took old hymns and revamped them as country songs. I know someone who knew Jack Rhodes and he did thia a lot. My friend cowrote Love Lifted Me with Jack but he died suddenly in his home in Mineola, Texas of a heart attack. My friend say his wife killed him, but there was no proof. He did not have his medicine in his pocket at the time and he always carried it. So the song was stolen and published by a son. 19. Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, “Blue Yodel No. 1: T is for Texas” (1927) (lyrics) Jimmie Rogers could really yodel and these yodels were very popular in country music It set Country apart from other genres. I like Hank Williams versions best of these. 20. Jimmie Rodgers, “Blue Yodel No. 9” (1930) (lyrics) I remember this one and the one by Hank Williams. I think even Hank Junior has rev=cored it. These yodels were typical of the time. Good sound. 21. I really prefer the version on youtube with Johnny Cash and Satchmo, even though they cannot either one of them actually yodel. I like the Mule Skinner Blues by Rogers and it seems that this music is coming back again with Jewel recording some of the yodels. 22. Mississippi John Hurt, “Stack O'Lee Blues” (1928) (lyrics) I was wondering if this was related to Stagger Lee. I think a lot of Rock hits had their origins in earlier blues tunes. The story is the same, but they updated the lyrics and changed the tune making it rock fot the hit. 23. Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra, “Wrappin’ It Up (The Lindy Glide)” (on APMCD) Now we get close to Duke Ellington and Count Basie, two of my idols. It is jazzy swing with a famous Big Band sound. I wonder if he is any relation to Skitch Henderson the drummer. 24. Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra, “Christopher Columbus” I never knew the name of this one. It is wonderful. I love the mellow horns versus the sharp shrill ones at the beginning of each phrase and the wild trumpet solo, followed by trombone, back to trumpet, then sax, and clarinet. These guys made fabulous music. 25. Guy Lombardo, “We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye” (1931) (lyrics) I lost my comment from here, but I remember saying that I likes this version of the song best for the rich sound of Guy Lombardo’s band. I think this was the beginning of the real Big Bands. The song is a happy love song and tells a little story about people who were not really romancing, but they just never split up. I know a couple like that. They lived together for three years and then married because the bank manager frowned when they wanted a car loan. They said they were going to stay together anyway. That was 36 years ago and still counting. 26. Benny Goodman, “Riffin' at the Ritz” (1935) Benny Goodman played the meanest clarinet I ever hears. He was famous for his band, but I love his solos. If I could play a clarinet like that I would be very happy. Him and Pete Seeger are a great pair, and I think he would nave been great at Dixieland too. I can hear a little influence of Dixieland in the great clarinet work of the big bands. 27. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, “In the Mood” (1939) (on APM CD) I know this tune well, because I really like swing. It is great for dancing. I with Glenn Miller had not dies so young and we would have more of his music. This one is almost hypnotic in its power to make you want to dance. I have heard different version of it and I like them all. I suppose it was very popular, partly because it was a great dance tune in the era of the big bands, but also because it is so happy. 28. Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, “A String of Pearls” (1942) String of Pearls is my favorite Glenn Miller tune. I only hear it now when I play my own copy, since most radio stations play the new stuff or the famous rock tunes. I am so glad we can still buy Big Band music and find it on the Internet. String of Pearls was features in the film I watched about Glenn Miller. I just really like his music. This song has been recorded and played by dozens of top musicians and it will still be done in another hundred years. It is a great example of really good improvisational Jazz. It reminds me of the one and only jam session I ever went to. It was amazing. I went in and watched and the musicians were switching chairs for four hours. The music never stopped and they just moved into a different song now and then, and the new arrivals would step in and the players that had been playing moved off stage. It was great! 29. Barry Sisters, “Oh Mama, I'm So in Love” (1940) (scroll down to the bottom left of the page to find the song) 30. I never heard this song, but I am very find of Bei Mir Bist Du Schon, although I always thought it was MY dear Mister Shawn. Nice harmony and great voices. I like this. Never heard it before 31. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, “Steel Guitar Rag” (1936) This is a great tune. I love rags. Their rhythm ans syncopation is so interesting and with the sound of steel guitars it is really pretty. I like this instrument that I guess few people play any more, though it is used still in country music a lot. It has such a sad moaning sound. 32. Glenn Miller and the Nicholas Brothers, “Chattanooga Choo Choo” from Sun Valley Serenade (1941) I never heard this one before. I have heard many version of this, but I like the Andrews Sisters’ version the best for their harmony. I know this is a really old song. Did Glenn Miller sort of adopt it? 33. “I Love to Singa” (Warner Brothers, 1936) I saw this cartoon on TV once. I love the nutty lyrics and the play on words. I know this was a wartime tune and it was happy. Seems like there are dozens of versions. It reminds me of the song "Mairzy Doats", which I fo not think its thew real title. This song plays on words in a different way and it has been recorded my everybody. I think it is even a theme song for an ivy league college. I remember Silly Symphonies and also Lambchops versions. It is a fun song. 34. Louis Jordan’s Tympany Five, “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie” (1946) (on APM CD) (lyrics) I did not think I had heard this tune until I lkistened to it. I think the Andrews Sisters recorde it too. I like the piano on this version and the mutes trumpets.Sounjds like a train and I love the rhythm. Great sax on this version. I hear echoes of “Bee Bobba Luba” here in the transitions. I guess this war time tune was for a lot of lovers who were separated then. 35. Muddy Waters, “Hoochie Coochie Man” (1954) (on APM CD) (lyrics) This is not very much good for dancing, but it has fun and sexy lyrics, borderline for acceptability I guess. I prefer Eric Clapton’s version, but the sound on the old album would have sounded great live. 36. The Dominoes, “Sixty Minute Man” (1951) (lyrics) This one is even suggestive in the title. The Dominoes were never big, but this one made a hit. 37. Bull Moose Jackson, “Big Ten Inch Record” (1952) (lyrics) Some of these , like this one, could only have been done by a black man and managed to become a hit. It just us not the same when the suggestive lyrics do not fit. 38. Ruth Brown, “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (1955) (lyrics) Well this seems to be a combination of blues, jazz and rock with a big band sound.It is a rather odd song, sort of a fusion in between the others. I vaguely heard of this singer, but never heard her sing before. 39. Big Mama Thornton, “Hound Dog” (1953) (lyrics) All this time I thought that Elvis wrote this. It seems it is a lot older than he was when he recorded it. I think this is one that qualified as Rockabilly. It was a combination of Blues and Rock and Country. (hill billy) 40. Penguins, “Earth Angel” (1954) (lyrics) A lot of songs talked about angels in connection with love. This dong talks about the girls being an angel. This was definitely on American Bandstand. One of my grandmother’s friends remembers watching it in black and white on a tiny ten inch television in a huge mahogany console. She said it was made by Zenith and her family got it in 1950, being the first family on their block with a TV. This was the beginning of Rock, called Rock n Roll then, but it was still very danceable. In the time of this song, people were expected to marry after high school and stay married for life. 41. Chords, “Sh-Boom” (lyrics) Ah now this is a rock love song. Life can be a dream, sweetheart (if you will only be my sweetheart.) Courting was still expected then, so the song talks about this and even mentions “heaven” as if the singer thinks it is destined for her to be his girl.The harmony in this song is beautiful. I read that this was a song that everybody was singing, like the other big hits of the time, In the Still of the Night and others that were sung by the popular harmony groups. We don’t seem to have many of these any more. Il Divo is one, but groups like the Four Tops. The Four Aces, The Vandellas, The Supremes, and the Ames Brothers and many more who made a living singing in harmony are gone. Now we have fancy processing of sound and big concerts but no real harmony groups in America. I know there are quite a few in China, and I am hunting down some of that music, because I like the sound of harmony. China CCTV has a lot of music programs on their stations. 42. Little Richard, “Tutti Frutti” (Dec 1955) (lyrics) I never dreamed there were other lyrics to this. After all, Pat Boone also recorded it. Those original lyrics were more than just suggestive. They were over the top. I, personally, do not love this song. I think it is more screaming than music. But it would have been popular at the time with the teens. I wonder though about Ed Sullivan allowing Little Richard on his show. I read that Ed Sullican was really a prude, and only allowed upper chest shots of Elvis on his show to avoid showing the grinding hips of which he did not approve. 43. Pat Boone, “Tutti Frutti” (1956) (lyrics) Pat Boone changed the lyrics again and made a bigger hit, because he was a WASP icon. Even parents liked him. The version of this, and there are many, that I really do like is the one on the California Raisins album. The California Raisins started with an advertisement for California raisins, with the song I heard it Through the Grapevine. I love this song and this version. It has such great syncopation and the animated Claymation if so creative and beautifully done. It is really caricatures of black artists but it did not offend. Even black people love these guys. 44. Big Joe Turner, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” (1954) (lyrics) Musically I prefer Big Joe Turner’s version, better musicians I think. However, I never listened to the lyrics before. I actually had a hard time understanding them on the bill Haley version, which may be the only one I ever heard. I never really considered that there were songs with lyrics that could not be played on the radon, but maybe this is one in its original form. 45. Bill Haley, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” (1954) (lyrics) Ah I hear that this song was on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, a really popular music show in the 50s and 60s or maybe even longer. I think it ran on TV for years, It was a show that had real kids dancing to whatever music was popular. Bill Hailey and the Comets were really popular. My grandparents do not remember Big Joe Turner’s version, but Bill Hailey had a big hit with it. It was an early rock dance hit. 46. Elvis Presley, “Heartbreak Hotel” (1957) (lyrics) My grandparents say that this was a really popular song early in Elvis Presley’s career. It is really country-western in genre, but it has element of pop, and it is a great song for slow dancing. I have some Elvis songs, because I reallyl like some of them, like “In the Ghetto”. I think that song almost symbolized the 1960s in inner cities like New York, Chicago and LA. The lyrics to Heartbreak Hotel are a really good love sone, but this song’s lyrics are fantastic. They are a powerful story of gang member in an inner city, very young man dying on the street. It is a protest song, and beautiful also. The backgraound music is really well done, giving an air of sublime sadness and the voices sound like a choir behind Presley’s strong baritone. Read More