Best Version of “White Christmas” December 16, 2022
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Pop Culture.Tags: 1942, 1947, Bing Crosby, Darlene Love, Drifters, Irving Berlin, White Christmas, WWII
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Let’s play a game. It’s [loosely] called “name the best version of (fill-in-the-blank Christmas song)”. After all, there are but so many Christmas songs out there, some 200 years old (or older), some 150+ years old, some 80+ years old, some 65-ish, some more recent than that. The point is, myriads of recording artists have cut their own versions of many of these songs for almost 125 years. What makes things interesting is that each singer/group/ensemble has had their own “take” on them. So, whose “take” is the best? Let us explore that answer.
Why not start with Irving Berlin’s venerable “White Christmas”? Yes, the man who wrote an estimated 1,500 songs over the course of his 101 years on this Earth, including “God Bless America” and many legendary songs from the Golden Age of the Great American Song Book (“Cheek to Cheek”, “Blue Skies”, “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, “Easter Parade”, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, to name but a few) also gave us “White Christmas”. It is altogether fitting and proper to take a look at this sing, since this year marks the 80th anniversary of its official release to the world.
The context behind the origins of “White Christmas” are multi-layered. Just as Margaret Mitchell’s Civil War-era novel “Gone With The Wind” was a smashing success during the Great Depression, so was “White Christmas” at the dawn of America’s direct involvement in WWII. While accounts vary as to exactly when Berlin actually wrote the song (within the years 1940 or ’41), it has been established that the first public performance of the song was indeed by Bing Crosby on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music hall, on Christmas Day of 1941, only 18 days after Pearl Harbor and 17 days after FDR asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
The song made a larger debut on-screen the following year in 1942 when it was featured in the now-classic movie “Holiday Inn”. Crosby not only sang the song in the film, but also, as was customary at the time, recorded a studio version of the song on the Decca label as part of an accompanying album of songs from the movie. He was accompanied by the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra when they made this recording on May 29, 1942. It took them only 18 minutes to produce a rendition that satisfied everyone.
While the popularity of the 1942 movie Holiday Inn did eventually help propel record sales (it did top the charts by end of October of ’42), a stronger social undercurrent helped make the song legendary. With America having officially joined the fight against the Axis powers after Pearl Harbor, the population was mobilized onto a war footing at an unprecedented scale and pace. Yes, America had been mobilized a generation earlier in the First World War, but this new mobilization made the Allied Expeditionary Forces of old, and the industry supporting it, pale in comparison.
Within months after the fateful events of early December of 1941, many an able-bodied American man would be enlisted into service and deployed to many a spot abroad, or at least, far from home, from the deserts of North Africa to the Aleutian Islands, to air bases in England, to naval flotillas patrolling the South Pacific, and many spots in between.
The song thus spoke to them, and to their families at home, of simpler times, or deep nostalgia. The right mix of melancholy and comforting images of home during the Holidays resonated deeply with listeners during WWII, and the Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests to play this song during that time.
In its first year of recording and release, Bing Crosby’s first version of this song stayed at the top of the charts for 11 weeks. Sales carried well into early 1943, and Decca re-released the song for Christmas seasons of 1945 and ’46. For Holiday Inn, the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song of 1942.
Ironically, the version with which most of us are familiar is Crosby’s re-recording of the song in 1947, also accompanied by both the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers. The addition of the flutes and a slightly more pronounced celesta helps make it audibly different from the first version without being too overtly different.
Readers may or may not be aware that Crosby’s 1942 and ’47 renditions combined add up to the greatest-selling record of all time: more so than any record by Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, or anybody. By 1968, sales had reached 30 Million alone. After much research, the Guinness Book of World Records concluded in 2007 that the record had sold at least 50 Million copies, though some estimates reach as high as 100 Million.
Twelve years after the song’s and the hit flick Holiday Inn’s initial release, Paramount was finally able to make a follow-up film for both, simply calling it “White Christmas”. It proceeded to become the most successful movie of 1954. While not as strong a film as its 1942 predecessor, it nevertheless has earned its place as a Christmas classic movie in its own right. That it was filmed in then-cutting-edge “VistaVision” has helped it translate well onto HDTV screens today. Naturally, the finale number was the movie’s namesake.
To broaden the scope: in the 80 years since it was first recorded, “White Christmas” has been cut more than 500 times, making it the most-recorded Christmas song. As mentioned in the beginning, many artists have offered their own “take” on it. For example, while Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters’ version [also] from 1954 is always a fun listen, it still is not has great as Bing’s original version.
That said, a solid runner-up is Darlene Love’s rendition on the also-classic album, Phil Spector’s “A Christmas Gift For You” from 1963. As the first track of this perennially strong album, Love’s rendition packs much more of a virtual “punch” than people usually expect from the song, aided in part by Spector’s “Wall of Sound” audio effect, but also by the singer’s soulful efforts. Also notable of this version is that it includes the prelude verse that many other artists skip singing.
The real question is, which is really better, Bing’s 1942 version, or the 1947 remake? Most folks would likely side with the latter, since that is the one with which they are familiar. One cannot blame them, for that version is wonderful and timeless. My vote is for the 1942 version: the one that started it all. It has a sharpness that the remake lacks, and the historian in me reflects on how it spoke to people’s hopes, fears, and comforts as we were beginning to take on a worldwide menace on an unprecedented scale.
The lasting legacy of Crosby’s 1942 version is grander than one might expect. Its success on the charts legitimized the market for Christmas music. To be sure, more than a few excellent versions of Christmas songs were recorded before this landmark cut, including notable examples by Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. But Crosby, paired with Berlin’s incredible contribution to the Great American Christmas Songbook, finally opened the recording industry’s eyes to the potential goldmine they were sitting on with regard to recording music for the Christmas season. In short, Crosby and Berlin, with White Christmas, paved the way for the bulk of popular Christmas music we have to enjoy today.
Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” at 60 December 19, 2018
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Pop Culture.Tags: 1958, 1959, Ahmet Ertegun, Atco, Atlantic, Bertold Brecht, Bobby Darin, Brian Setzer, Cole Porter, Dean Martin, Decca, Dick Clark, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Jerry Wexler, Johnny Mercer, Kevin Spacey, Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya, Louis Armstrong, Macheath, Mack the Knife, Michael Buble, Richard Wess, Satchmo, Simon Cowell, That's All, Threepenny Opera, Tony Bennett
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Sixty years ago today – Dec. 19, 1958 – more music recording history was made. Specifically, Bobby Darin cut his biggest hit, “Mack The Knife”. Released first as a single and later on his career-defining album “That’s All”, it was a song that would help define an era just as said era was coming to an end.
The song itself was not new. For that matter, neither was the musical style in which it was recorded. This alone would be an odd juxtaposition in a time when newer car styles and newer technologies were rapidly entering society. Yet this record would go on to win the Grammy for Record of the Year for 1959; in the fall of 1959, it stayed No. 1 on the charts for nine consecutive weeks. Some polls hold it up as the fifth-ranked song of the 1955-1959 Rock Era, despite the song clearly not being rock. And it all started with one legendary recording session 60 years ago today.
The actual, written song was already 30 years old when Darin recorded it on the Atco label, which was an Atlantic Records subsidiary. Indeed, the record’s producers were Atlantic’s usual suspects of Ahmet Ertegun (its founder), brother Neshui Ertegun, and Jerry Wexler.
Kurt Weill wrote the melody and poet/writer Bertold Brecht wrote the original lyrics for “Moriat” (its original title) as part of their musical drama “Die Dreigrosschenoper”, or “The Threepenny Opera” in English. In the musical play, an organ grinder sings the song which tells the tale of Mackie Messer, a murderous criminal who in turn was based on the Macheath character from John Gay’s “Beggar’s Opera” from 1728. So yes, it’s all very derivative.
The word “Messer” means “knife” in German, hence the easy transition from Mackie Messer to Mack the Knife. And yes, the original lyrics to “Moriat” were indeed auf Deutsch.
An English-language version of the opera was first offered to the public five years later (1933), with translated lyrics by Gifford Cochran and Jerrold Krimsky. The production had a run of only ten days. In 1954, though, another English-language production of the Threepenny Opera was staged, and it enjoyed an off-Broadway run of six years. Mark Blitzstein used his own English translation of the murder ballad of Mack the Knife, and these lyrics became the standard we know and love today.
Louis Armstrong actually beat Darin to the punch in having a pop hit with this song, recording his rendition in 1956, and giving it his typical Dixieland-inspired flavor. But despite Satchmo’s first-mover advantage, the song today is associated with Darin, and rightly so.
This is not to say that the song’s success came easily. Recording it was not even an easy sell. Dick Clark advised Darin not to record the song because he feared its perception as an opera song would alienate rock n’ roll-oriented audiences. But rather than repel such audiences, it attracted them instead. Moreover, while Darin’s traditional young target demographics embraced his more mature music, the parents of the young audiences were reassured by the record’s strong Big Band sound (shouts to Richard Wess, who directed the orchestra for this track and indeed, the whole album), and enjoyed the record, too, as a result. In short, this timeless track appealed to a massive range of the buying public, which clearly was a leading factor in its stunning success.
Other notable names soon jumped on the bandwagon with their own versions of “Mack the Knife”, such as Ella Fitzgerald recording a live rendition in 1960, and Dean Martin doing a nice, live version the previous year. Frank Sinatra recorded it with Quincy Jones as part of his 1984 album “L.A. is My Lady”, yet he himself confessed that Bobby Darin did the better version. Other notables offering their respective takes on the tune include Tony Bennett, Brain Setzer, Kevin Spacey, and, not surprisingly, Michael Bublé. Bill Haley and His Comets recorded an instrumental version of the tune in 1959, which would be the last track the legendary singer and group would cut for the Decca label. Other notable acts have recorded variations and instrumentals of the song over the years.
One sterling example of the song’s timeless appeal: superstar music judge Simon Cowell once named “Mack the Knife” as the greatest song ever written. That is a stretch, to say the least, considering the bodies of work of Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, and Jerome Kern, to say nothing of George and Ira Gershwin. But on the other hand, it’s refreshing to hear a current superstar with a credibly discerning ear remind us of what a great song “Mack the Knife” is. It might not be the best ever, but it surely ranks up there.
Cool trivia: both Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin give a nod to actress Lotte Lenya in their respective versions. Lenya was Kurt Weill’s wife, and she introduced the song during the first productions of Die Dreigrosschenoper.
America’s Greatest Music: You’re a Sweet Little Headache September 12, 2013
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Pop Culture.Tags: 1938, 75, American, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, big band, Bing Crosby, Cole Porter, diamond anniversary, Disney, golden age, Helen Forrest, Indiana Jones, Irving Berlin, Last Crusade, Martha Tilton, pop culture, RCA, standard, swing era, The Rocketeer, You're a Sweet Little Headache
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In a slight change of pace, this particular tune does not merit itself into the Great American Songbook. Nevertheless, it is a lovely little ditty, one that a few bands recorded during the Swing Era. The main reason we highlight this tune right now is because it was recorded on this day (Sept. 12) 75 years ago.
One thing is for certain, and that is that Benny Goodman’s “sound” certainly did the tune justice. An uptempo “businessman’s bounce” — something at which Benny’s band excelled — this record is also a good example of the lilting tone effect heard in Goodman’s woodwind section, something he practically perfected that year.
While Benny Goodman did not have a monopoly on this song, his is arguably the definitive version, what with his aforementioned sound, combined with his gutsy style of play. Martha Tilton’s vocals make for a very nice addition, too. With all that said, other prominent recording stars took their stab at this song around the same time, including RCA stablemate Artie Shaw (who recorded it with Helen Forrest singing the lyrics that same year [1938])*, and even Bing Crosby lent his vocal talents to the ditty in question the following year.
A more modern pop cultural reference to this recording can be heard in the ever-popular film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” during the apartment scene in Venice, where one can hear the Elsa Schneider character play the tune on an acoustic phonograph (making the recording sound 10-15 years older than it actually was!).
So while the lyrics do not rate the song itself as highly as a good Cole Porter or Irving Berlin standard, it nevertheless merits our attention as a solid record during the golden age of American popular culture — enjoy!
*The Artie Shaw version one can briefly heard in the very underrated 1991 Disney Film “The Rocketeer,” which also takes place in 1938.
intellectualgridiron 