Just for a rainy Friday, the jumpin' jive stylings of Mr. Benny Goodman and his Orchestra doing "Sing, Sing, Sing".I've always been intrigued that this piece, THE number associated with the Goodman band, was cordially disliked by the bandleader himself, who wanted to play more "musical" numbers.
But the pounding tom-tom always says "The Forties" to me, and today it's not impossible to imagine waiting, stopped at the light at Pacific Highway and River Road, as the long convoy of O.D. trucks hisses past in the rain, carrying the young men south to Camp Adair on their way to the gloomy Huertgen Forest or the bloody beaches of Iwo Jima.
Encore?
How about Gene Krupa and the delicious Barbara Stanwyck doing "Drum Boogie" from the 1941 film "Ball of Fire"?Hope you and yours are set to enjoy the weekend...
10 comments:
How can you tell when a drummer is at the door?
He doesn't know when to come in.
Killer diller, daddy-o :)
I love this music.
And a great weekend to you as well.
I got to tell you chief, there are somethings that are just sweet beyond description...the music is simple, the lyrics are fun, and the beat is distinguishable from the horns.
I will confess though that for some reason Led Zep, Deep Purple, Stones, the Animals, Steppenwolf...well, you know...my heart for music still hangs with the late sixties early seventies.
A few earlier pieces, and a few later pieces, but I still get all melancholy when I hear House of the Rising Sun.
Del-Vikings, Dion, the Drifters, and Buddy Holly forever!!!
mike,
Your choices aren't bad, either.
I like just about everything, pre- 1986. After that, I am discriminating.
Thanks, Chief
Brought back great memories. We had V-Discs (USO special pressings of records for the troops) of the grand performers of WWII that I listened to as a youngster in the late 40's and through the 50's over and over again. They had spoken messages to the troops at the beginning of each record.
My dad was a friend of Sherman Billingsley, owner of the Stork Club, and my Mom was the office manager there. I met Krupa, Goodman, Dorsey and many more as a very young child and had no idea, until about age 11 or 12, who they really were!
The music of the late 30's, 40's and then real Rock and Roll of the 50's/early 60's are all we listen to. I made a DVD with 1,500 selections from our collection for a taverna in a nearby village. He has "40's Nights", "50's Nights" and "60's Nights", and it packs the house with locals & tourists, young and old, many of whom don't speak a word of English!
Al
Al: My folks are genuine "Greatest Generation"-ers, Depression kids, Big War adults, and growing up I heard more Goodman, Dorsey, Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella, Nat Cole and Billie Holiday than I ever did the music of my own generation. So while there a a lot of singers and bands of my own era I enjoy, I have always had a special fondness for the big band swing, jazz, blues and boogie of the 30's and 40's.
And Barbara Stanwyck, well, there's a gal who's more woman on screen than an entire pile of 2009-vintage starlets. I'd have been her Stage Door Johnnie anytime...
A given on Stanwyck. That goes for so many actresses (and actors) of yesteryear.
It would seem to indicate something about society, vs. the studio system in which they worked. People had a certain comportment, it seems. Women today don't know what they are, so they are simpering little fripperies, or uber-in-control sorts.
It all seems so inauthentic, because it often is. Since people are playing roles in their real lives with uncertainty, they cannot convince me when they adopt another persona.
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