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Harold's Old Time Radio
Ragtime To Rock And Roll [BBC] 74xxxx 10 Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf
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Ragtime To Rock And Roll [BBC] 74xxxx 10 Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf
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Ryan Seacrest
Ryan Seacrest here. When you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to chumbacasino.com Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino games like spin slots, bingo and solitaire that you can play for free for a chance to redeem some serious prizes. So hop on to chumbacasino.com now and live the Chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply. Sam in this week's episode who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Kenneth Moore examines the first hit song to come from the Walt Disney Studios and talks of the early success of the Boswell Sisters and Al Bodie. He also celebrates Gracey Field's most successful song and goes back to a time when Stanley Holloway's Bloody Tower was considered slightly risque for a great many people. Today, the year 1932 begins to take on just a faint look of modern times, because by now the world was moving into alignments that we're still familiar with today. In America, a frail looking character called Franklin Roosevelt was on the brink of the presidency, and In Germany, a Mr. Schickel Gruber was also within a pace or two of absolute power. Artistically, too, the pattern of performance and exploitation were taking on the forms that would apply right down to the moment nearly eight years later, when the said Mr. Schickel Gruber's horror show took over. By 1932, the public was conditioned to accept broadcasting gramophone records and talking pictures, and as the Great Depression continued to depress people and unemployment figures rocketed in Britain and America, the songwriter was faced with two choices, either to reflect hard times in his music or to provide people with an escape from the hard times. To be frank about it, both schools flourished. The socially conscious songs may have been few and far between, but when they arrived, they made their point, especially with regard to songs about returning war heroes who were ending up on the breadline. Remember my forgotten man. You put a rifle in his hand, you sent him far away. You shouted hip hooray. But look at him today. Remember my forgotten man. You had him cultivate the land he walked behind a plough, the sweat fell from his brow. But look at him right now and once he used to love me, I was happy then he used to take care of me. Won't you bring him back again? Cause ever since the world began a woman's got to have a man. Forgetting him, you see, means you're forgetting me like my. My forgotten. My forgotten man sung there by Joan Blondel came from a musical called gold diggers of 1933, one of the key talking pictures of the whole decade, of which more in a moment. But before we look into the implications of the Gold Diggers, what about the other school of songwriting thought? The one that felt that social consciousness was no subject for popular music? One of the big successes at this point in time was a ballad by British writer Ray Noble, who was in no doubt at all what the function of the composer was. The whole point of songwriting then was that people knew about the social comment when it came to songs. They were trying to get away from it. They didn't want to know anything about social comment. Songs were for relaxation. And listening to popular songs is a form, you call it escape. It's a relaxation for the mind. It's not a means of introducing the mind to what's going on in the world. This is a different thing in of terms. Well, Ray Noble certainly didn't write a protest song with Love is the sweetest Thing. The song became associated with one of the most remarkable crooners in British history, Al Boley. As Noble admits, He of course was very much a character and he fell into New York life. Well, of course, Al was a very well traveled man anyway. He'd been half around the world. He was a great sports lover, used to go to all kinds of sporting events and so forth. The only thing with Al was that he was one of these rather simple chaps. Either a fellow was the nicest guy in the world, in which case he promptly entered his pockets of the well needed money and I've seen him do it. He could have anything. He'd given the shirt off his back, you know. Or he was the dirtiest scoundrel unhung, in which case Al could rip him in part and he could. He was an extremely strong man. He was either black or white within there were no grays. He was an instinct. He laid a trail of female destruction across the United States, which I don't think has ever been beaten. Love is the sweetest thing what else on earth could ever bring such happiness to everything? As love goes Glory Love is the strangest thing no song of birds upon shall in our hearts more sweetly sing and love's old story Whatever hearts may desire Whatever life may say this is a tale that never will tire this is a song without anger the strongest thing the oldest yet the latest thing I only hope that fate may bring love story to you Love is The Sweetest Thing Sam Al Boley singing with Ray Noble's orchestra Love is the Sweetest Thing. And so were the royalties that accrued to composer Noble. As a general rule, Noble's theory about escapist music was a valid one. And even the songwriting team which wrote My Forgotten man would have agreed with it. For the most part. That team was a very remarkable one composed of musician Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. And Warren and Dubin were to the Hollywood musical of those days what Rogers and Hart or the Gershwin brothers were to the Broadway show. With two 1932 productions to their credit, 42nd street and the first of the Gold Diggers series. Dubin and Warren made world famous a new style movie fairy story. The backstage musical where the obscure chorus girl gets pushed onto the stage on opening night. As the producer says to her, you're gonna go out there and when you're come back, you're gonna be a star. The reality was not quite so romantic as Harry Warren remembers the status of the songwriter in Hollywood. I think they thought of it and on the studio lots of lowest form of art. The songwriters were absolutely ignored at the time studio. But if a guy came from New York that had just done the show, he was supposed to be somebody and he could be a songwriter. That's what impressed him. Some of these producers were impressed by fellows that went to college who spoke very good English, you know, and analyzed a script and double talk and they thought it was great. And Buzz Berkley said to the head of the studio, when I asked him, how are you going to do this number, Buzz? And he'd give him a double talk. He said, well, you see, we go this way, have the girls over there and we zoom in and over there, then we move over here we said we break out and we show a big deal. When he keeps on doing all this double talking I say, next time one of these all through. He said, how much is it going to cost? That's the whole history of making pictures. What's it going, Sam? We're in the money we're in the money We've got a lot of quality take to get along we're in the money the sky's the sunny old man Depression you are through you done us wrong we never see a headline but a breadline today and when we see the landlord we can look that guy right in the eye we're in the money Come on LA honey let's stand his landing Sandy's rolling sing along Jack Hilton and his orchestra in the money the words of that song are graceful enough, but the man who wrote them, Al Dubin, appears to have been anything but graceful. He and his partner Harry Warren started pouring out hits from the moment they got to the west coast, and Warren has given us a most vivid word portrait of Dubin. He was a 6 foot 3 or 4 big husky, weighed 300 and some pounds and he ate like Henry VIII. He loved to eat. He'd eat two steaks at one sitting. While he was eating a steak, he'd asked the chef to make him another one. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com it's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba Casino has over a hundred online casino style games, all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now@chumbacasino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other job sites with Indeed sponsored jobs. Your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com Arts just go to Indeed.com Arts right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. There's nothing for him to eat two steaks. He could drink a whole case of Coca Cola. But he used to go. He loved faraway places too. He had a black chauffeur and the black chauffeur had a uniform, wore a uniform off red uniform. You can imagine what he looked like. And he loved to go down to these Mexican border towns down here. And one time when he was down there we were in trouble at the studio and they were trying to get him. We couldn't find him. We finally traced him because he had a habit of auring in big portions, you know, so they would remember him. So I said where are you? Come right Back. They need the lyric to this melody. He says, I've got the lyric. He said, get a pencil and paper. In the shadows let me come and sing to you. Let me dream a song that I can bring to you. Take me in your arms and let me cling to you. Let me ling along. Let me live my song in the winter Let me bring the spring to you. Let me feel that I mean everything to you. Love the sun will be new in the shadows When I come and sing to you. In the shadows let me come and sing. Let me dream a song that I can sing. Take me in yours and let me dream. Let me linger long. Let me live my song, dear. In the winter let me bring the spring to you. Let me feel that I mean everything to you. Will be new in the shadows when I come and sing to you. Here in the shadows when I crow and sing to you. Sometimes writers like Warren and Dubin got their ideas from the scenario, sometimes from the personality of the stars. But there were other ways that successful songs came to be written. For instance, keeping your eyes and ears open. Warren explains. We had a gal at Wonder Lot. We used to kid her a lot about some guy she was going with. And she was real Southern. She had a Southern accent, you know. And he said to her, why do you go around with that guy all the time? She said, I don't know. I guess he's getting to be a habit, you know. And that's how we really get into your habit with me. Every kiss, every hug. Seems to act just like a drug. You're getting to be a habit with me. Let me stay in your arms. I'm addicted to your charms. You're getting to be a habit with me. I used to think your love was something that I could take or leave alone. But now I couldn't do without my supply. I need you for my own. Oh, I can't break away. I must have you every day. As regularly as coffee or tea. You got me in your clutches and I can't get free. You're getting to be a habit with me. Can't break it. You're getting to be a habit with me. I wouldn't break it if I could. You're getting to be a habit with me. I don't really definitely think you all should. You're getting to be a habit with me. Dinah Shaw and Tony Martin getting in the habit now. While writers like Dubin and Warren were turning out hit songs just like that for the movie business, the great New York names were just as busy Doing the same thing for Broadway. As a matter of fact, 1932 was the last time that Fred Astaire would be thought of as a musical comedy star. Soon he, too, was to become part of the Hollywood dream factory. But in 1932, he was still tapping it out on the Great White Way, giving the kind of performance that made him every songwriter's favorite singer. Not perhaps the best singer, but the favorite. When he starred in Cole Porter's the gay divorcee in 1932, Porter went into raptures over the Astaire singing style. And fellow composer Johnny Green explains why. With Astaire's own view of it to follow. Easy to see Fred Astaire walking down the street. That's already a theatrical performance unique unto him. Just the way he moves, the way he walks or uses his hands, everything about him. And it's a very pleasant voice. And he's got. He's the most musical person that ever was. His paws have musicality, you know, and he reads a lyric and he senses the relationship between a melodic line and a lyric and the integration of each with the other in a way that nobody else does, really. And he has no interest whatever in being the composer. He's only interested in being the interpreter. This is one of the malaise, one of the diseases of the last 30 years. The singers who are frustrated composers, they're going to do it better than Cole Porter did it. They're going to improve on Cole Porter's lyric with dropping in those added prepositions and conjunctions. If Cole Porter had wanted those ands and vids and buts and ifs, he'd have put them there. And I'll guarantee, without mentioning any names, including the biggest singers of our time. But Fred Astaire has never done that to any song. My reaction to Night and Day, I just didn't know what it was because it was long and. Well, when you hear any music the first time, you can't get it all in. But that one particularly was a difficult one to get with because I was constantly wondering how I would be able to sing it. I had the feeling that it was a very good song because of what it said and the way it talked about night and day, so and so love and all that kind of business. But the melody is what I was wondering whether or not I could handle. And there were some parts of it that weren't too easy to get. But when I got to working on it, then is what I thought was a really good song. And then, of course, that song became, I think, the reason for the success of the show. We were known as the show that has night and day in it. Like the beat, beat beat of the tom Tom when the jungle shadows fall like the tick tick tock of the stately clock as it stands against the wall like the drip drip drip of the raindrops when the summer shower is grew so a voice within me keeps repeating you, you, you Night and day, you are the one, Only you beneath the moon and under the sun, Whether near to me or far, it's no matter, darling, where you are. I think of you night and day, day and night. Why is it so that this line for you follows wherever I go? In the roaring traffic boom in the silence of my lonely room I think of you night and day, night and day. Under the height of me there's such a hungry yearning burning inside of me and its torment won't be through Till you let me spend my life making love to you Day and night, Night and day it is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com it's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba Casino has over a hundred online casino style games, all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now@chumbacasino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group Void. We're prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. You just realized your business needed to hire someone yesterday. How can you find amazing candidates fast? Easy. Just use Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites with Indeed sponsored Jobs. Your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. According to Indeed data, Sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. Don't wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com Arts, just go to Indeed.com Arts right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Fred Astaire singing one of Cole Porter's greatest songs, Night and Day and you couldn't really get much more escapist than that. But what about those hit songs that you could take either way as downright social preaching or downright evasion. In 1933, a most freakish example of this turned up when a Hollywood artist called Walt Disney, already riding the tide of the Mickey Mouse industry, came up with an animated cartoon called the Three Little Pigs. And ever since then, the musicologists have been arguing whether the song that the three Little pigs sang was an innocuous escapist jingle for tiny tots or a shout of defiance at the gathering storms of unemployment, rearmament, breadlines and dictators with no more territorial ambitions. Well, what do you think? I built my house of straw, I build my house of hay. I treat my flute, I don't give a hoot and play around all day. I build my house on stones, I build my house on bricks. I have no chance to sing and dance. Work and play, don't mix please don't take no time for play sample play, sample play. All he does is work all day. You can play and laugh and fiddle. Don't think you can make me sore. I'll be safe and you'll be sorry. When a wolf comes through your door. Who's afraid of the big bad boy? Big bad bull, Big bad boy who's afraid of the big bad wolf? I'll punch him in the nose, I'll tie him in a knot, I'll kick him in the shingle. I'll put him on the spot. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Big bad wolf, Big bad wolf who's afraid of the big bad wolf? The la la la la It Sam. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? According to Disney and Henry Hall. But who was the wolf? Our four legged friend from the nursery rhymes? Or the wolf at the door of half the homes in the Western world? Perhaps it doesn't matter. All that mattered to the Disney studios at the time was that the song became a vast hit over here as well as in America. The British by now were very nearly a colony of the United States. So far as popular songs were concerned, we had nothing comparable to the American movie industry. But sometimes we did turn up with a song that was widely popular, even if its appeal was strictly local. For instance, this next song and the story that goes with it, it couldn't have meant much to a Texas oil tycoon or a New York shop girl, come to that. Stanley Holloway reminisces about a songwriting team called Lee and Weston and the very peculiar, very eccentric and very British song they supplied him with. Darling Bob Weston was stone deaf, you know. Poor Bob. But he and Bert Lee used to meet every Morning regularly and sit and talk. Bob would give his ideas and Bert Lee would put in what he called the tried and trusted gags. You see, it was old Bert that thought of, you know, gags like how does poor consul same as tonsil with a K. You know that. And so Bob used to ring me up. He could hear on the telephone. Many people who are deaf could hear on the telephone. They used to ring me up and one day the phone went. He said, that your son? I said, yeah. He said, bob West. Hello, Bob. He said, I've got a number I think to suit you. I said, good. He said, when would you like to hear it? I said, anytime you like. He said, today? I said, yes. And at that time I was in a show with Harry Pepper's White Coons. So this particular week, Harry said, what song are you going to sing this week? I said, this one. So he put the music up and played it and I sang it. And he stopped after I said, she Walks the Bloody Tower. Ryan Seacrest here. When you have a busy schedule, it's important to maximize your downtime. One of the best ways to do that is by going to Chumba Casino casino dot com. Chumba Casino has all your favorite social casino games like spin slots, bingo and solitaire that you can play for free for a chance to redeem some serious prizes. So hop on to chumbacasino.com now and live the Chumba life. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void. We're prohibited by law 21 plus terms and conditions apply. Trip Planner by Expedia. You were made to have strong opinions about sand. We were made to help you and your friends find a place on the beach with a pool and marina and a waterfall and a soaking tub. Expedia made to travel. Oh, you can't do that. I said, why not? He said, you couldn't sing that over the air. Well, I say, why? Don't say why not. He said, you can't say bloody over the air. And so we. We called down Royer because he was a director of programs. He came down from the top of the top the of. And he went in the control room and Harry said, sing it again to Rossi. I went straight to the microphone and sang it perfectly straight. When I finished it, I went in the control room and I said, what do you think, Roy? Well, he said, what do you think? I said, I think you should go over. I said, I'm not using an adjective. I'm using a proper noun. You might say the Albert Hall The Tower of London, the bloody towers are all proper nouns. I said, you may have some people who take exception, but you've got a perfect answer. Therefore you've got perfect publicity. He said, right, let it go. And of course, it was a wonderful success. They loved it, but they'd never heard that done over the air. And of course, done with a sort of northern flavor. She walks the bloody tower it was gentle, but when the bad boys started to do it. She walks the bloody tower, you see. Then they stop. Stopped it because it didn't sound quite the same. The BBC stopped the band doing it. I remember a man wrote me a postcard, said, bravo. Stanley said, I haven't laughed so much since my wife broke her leg in the Tower of London. Largest life the ghost of Anne Boleyn walks they declare poor Anne Boleyn was once King Henry's wife Until he met the headsman Bob a hair Ah, yes, he did a wrong long years ago and she comes up at night to tell him so where the head tucked underneath her arm she walks the bloody tower with her head tucked underneath her arm at the midnight hour One night she caught King Henry he was in the canteen bar said he Are you Jane Seymour, Anne Boleyn or Catherine Parr? For how the sweet San Ferrian do I know who you are when you head to your arm. Dear old Stanley Holloway with a bit of English architectural history. Of course, Stanley was, and still is, one of those singers whose background and training make him independent of newfangled inventions like the microphone and amplification. But the truth is that in Britain in the early 1930s, there weren't many people who even grasped the significance of electronic aids to singing, at least if one of our witnesses can be believed. By 1933, one of the most popular recording groups, it was the Boswell sisters, and their lead singer, Connie Boswell, has a really extraordinary tale to tell about how the London Palladium acquired its first amplifying equipment. Now we go to Europe and we play the palladium. In 1933, we took our own mic set. They did not use a microphone in the Palladium or any other theater in 1933. And we brought our own technicians, our microphones and everything. The funny part is, when we left England, they asked us if they could keep the set that we had, and that was the first microphone. And the speaker system that went in the Palladium was our set. When I take my sugar to tea all the boys are jealous of me Cause I never take away the gang goes When I take my sugar duties I'm a rowdy dowdy that's me She's a high hat baby that chief so I never take her where the gang goes When I take my sugar duty Every Sunday afternoon we forget about our care Robin el boat at the risk with those millionaires When I take my sugar duty I'm as rich there as I can be Cause I never take away the gang goes When I take my sugar duty Sam all the boys are jealous of me Cause I never take away the gang goes When I take my chicka duty I'm a roddy daddy that's me She's a hi baby that she so whenever take away the gang goes When I take my chookadoo cheese Rubbing elbows at the wrist with those millionaires where to take my sugar to tea? When Connie Boswell and her sisters got back home from England, minus their microphones in 1933, what did they find? An America profoundly altered from the one they'd left. Because one of the first actions of the new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was to repeal one of the daftest pieces of legislation in modern history. He did away with prohibition. Before 1933, Americans loved to get drunk in defiance of the law. From now on it was quite different. Americans loved to get drunk within the law and with the passing of Prohibition passed also a whole era of tough music sponsored by the gangsters who controlled the drink supply. There were thousands of jazz musicians like Joe Messala, who remembered the whole thing with considerable affection. In most cases in those days when you worked in a place that was selling liquor, you were usually working for some of the boys. A lot of times they were there and a lot of times they weren't there. Except that every now and then you noticed sort of hard looking characters around the place. As a matter of fact, this Cast Club was a favorite hangout of Texas Guy. And she used to love a song called the Basin Street Blues and she liked to have us play it. She paid us a dollar a chorus and when we finished playing it, if we told her we played 50 choruses, she'd give us $50. Tips in Prohibition days were more than the job was worth. For instance, I played in a job and in the band were Wingy Manone, Jack Teagarden, Pepe Benitez on guitar, Dave Tough on drums. And we only got $30 a week and a bottle of gin a night. That was our pay. So in order to add to that, we used to go to the tables and play tunes. For instance, Teegarden would go out with the trombone and he'd come back with a fistful of money and drop it in the kitty. And then Wingy would go out and sing a couple of songs. This is the way we made our money except for the bad Booze was a good time because the booze wasn't too good, really. Well, I'm going way down Basin street, baby But I can't take you well, I'm going way down on Basin street, baby But I can't take you Stay on the way down y and a ugly girl can't do it. When singer musicians like Jack Teagarden stopped working for the mobsters who operated illegal liquor, some of them went into Broadway pit orchestras, some into dance bands, and some into the touring companies. Jack's trumpet playing brother Charlie joined Jack for a time in the comforting ranks of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. A group, as Elephantine has a silhouette of its leader. And perhaps this was the most secure job in the whole of the American music business for a working musician. This is a man that was completely out all by himself. He had so much class, personality. He kind of reminds you of the way Frank Sinatra is today. Just walk into a room and the whole place just lights up. Paul had the same kind of personality. Paul insisted on paying more money than any other band. He would never hear of anybody paying a sideman more salary than he would the minute he heard maybe Fred Waring might hire somebody and pay him X amount of dollars a week. Paul would hear about it and see everybody gets a raise. Fred Waring's not going to cut me, you know, one of these things. So very, very generous, man. We have the best musicians in the business. All the years I was at Paul because he could hire anybody and, well, we always traveled in our own private Pullmans. We had our own private diner. We had our own private baggage cars. We didn't travel on buses or anything like that. If we couldn't hook onto a train going to our next engagement, we had a private train. We'd have our own engine to take us there. And it was the only band that operated that way that I ever worked with. You know, when you got through with the job, all you had to do was just put your horn down on the stand, just leave your music right where it was and just get up and walk off. And when you got to the next engagement, wherever or whatever it might be, you'd walk up on the stand, your instrument would be laying there, the book would be open right where you left it, and you never had to touch a thing. Nobody had to do anything except just sit there and play. That's all they had to do. Sam no one to talk with all by myself no one to talk with But I'm happy by myself A misbehaving saving my love for you I know for certain the one I love I'm through with flirting it's just you I'm thinking of of me Ms. Babing saving my love for you over you like Jack Honor in the corner don't go nowhere why do I care? Your kisses are worth waiting for Believe me I don't stay out late don't care to go I'm home about a just me and my radio A misbehaving saving my love for you Jack Teagarden Singing and Playing Trombone One of the things about Paul Whiteman that Charlie Teagarden didn't mention was his tireless search for new attractions. Unknown talent. After all, it was Whiteman who first gave Crosby his chance and in 1932 he hired a new singer who, as it happens, never made it as big as being in the vocal stakes, but went on to become a world beater as lyricist. His name was Johnny Mercer, who almost before he left Whiteman had written his first really big hit, a lyric called Lazy Burns. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com it's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba casino has over 100 online casino style games all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now@chumbacasino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. Trip Planner by Expedia. You were made to have strong opinions about sand. We were made to help you and your friends find a place on the beach with a pool and a marina and a waterfall and a soaking tube. Expedia Made to Travel One of my favorite collaborators and one of my closest friends is Hoagie Carmichael. I admired him as a singer when I heard him years ago. He sang Washboard Blues and Some Things with Paul Whiteman. And ten years after that and I got to New York, I met him and a fellow said there was a chance to write a song with him. I said, you don't mean it. Could it really be possible? And he arranged this interview and Hoagie and I began to write songs and within a year we had my biggest song up until then, my song that really got me started, which was called Lazy Bones. Long as there is chicken gravy on your rise, everything is nice. Long as there's a watermelon on the vine, everything is fine. You got no time to work, you got no time to play. Busy doing nothing all the live long day. You won't ever change no matter what I say. You're just made that way. Lazy bones sleeping in the sun. How you spec to get your day's work done? Never get your day's work done. Sleeping in the noonday sun. Daisy bones sleeping in the shade. How you expect to get your corn meal made? Never get your cornmeal made. Sleeping in the evening shade when taters eat spraying. Oh, I bet that you, you keep praying that the ladybugs fall off of the fine. And when you go fishing, I'll bet you keep wishing the fish won't rabbit your line. You're just a lazy bone open through the day. I expect to make a dime that way. You'll never make a dime that way. Why look here, he never hurt heard the world I say Lazy Bones sung by Chick Bullock. Music by Hoagie Carmichael. Words by Johnny Mercer, a lyricist who was destined over the next few years to write more than one song that stars like Bing Crosby ended up warbling. But Crosby had more weighty things on his mind. His big hit in 1933 might strike us today is a bit comical. All that hothouse passion, heavy breathing. But in 1933, he was taken seriously enough. I can assure you. You came, I was alone. I should have known you were temptation. You smile luring me on. My heart was gone. You were temptation. It would be thrilling if you were willing. If it can never be, pity me or you were born to be kiss I can't resist. You are temptation and I am your. Here is my heart. Take it and say we'll never apart. I'm just a slave, holy slave for you being singing Temptation, a song that later on came in for some pretty merciless parodies. There were two other songs of the 1933 season that we still sing to this day. One of them had the sort of title that sounds a bit like a reference to the drinking habits that were supposed to have prevailed during Prohibition, but didn't. The title in question, I Cover the Waterfront. And that was a most improbable title dreamed up by the lyricist Edward Heyman. Yeah, I Cover the Waterfront was a book, a famous book. And Referred to a reporter who was covering the waterfront for a newspaper. And when they made a film of it, they wanted a theme song called I Covered the Waterfront. And of course, I realized that it was going to be popular. I couldn't write about a newspaper reporter. So it became a woman who went to the docks looking for her lover, expecting him to come on the next ship. And she would just come day after day after day after. To me, it didn't have to be a woman really looking for her lover. It could have been a man looking for a sweetheart. I covered the waterfront I'm watching the sea Will the one I love Be coming back to me? I cover the waterfront I'm watching the sea Will the one I love Be coming back to me? I I cover the waterfront in search of my love and I'm covered by a starlit sky above Here am I Patiently waiting Hoping and longing oh, how I am where are you? Are you forgetting? Do you remember? Members will return. I cover the waterfront I'm watching the sea for the one I love Must soon come back to me I cover the waterfront somewhat Watching the sea Will the one that I love Be coming back to me I cover the waterfront in search of my love and I'm covered by a starless sky above Here am I lonely Wanting you only oh, how are you? Where are you, loved ones? Come to me, sweetheart say or return I cover the waterfront I'm watching the sea for the one that I love Love must surely come back to me Someday, somehow sometime I cover the waterfront Here, sung by Annette Henshaw, one of the more distinguished songs of 33, but not quite in the class of the really sumptuous ballad that the great Jerome Kern turned out for a show called Roberta. It was the type of song that only a highly skilled and much trained musician could have produced. Not for nothing was Kern known as the great professor of the popular song. He later said that this song, smoke is in your Eyes, was his favorite among all his repertoire. And that's very significant indeed, for there was never a better judge of things generally than Kern. As one of his collaborators, Johnny Mercer, testifies. He was terribly smart, and I think he couldn't stand mediocrity. So he didn't have too much patience with people who didn't understand him. That's what I mean when I say he was autocratic. But he was really very gentle and terribly curious about everything. He collected coins. He collected first editions. He made a fortune on both of those things in selling them. Later on, he wanted to know exactly what did you mean by that? He said, now exactly what do you mean by that? He check you up in conversation they asked me how I knew my true love was true I of course replied Something here inside cannot be denied they said someday you'll find all who love our blind Fill your heart on why you must realize Smoke gets in your eyes so I channel my gaily laugh to things like a dou my love yet today my my love has blown away I am without my love A laughing frenzy ride Tears I cannot hide Smile and say When a lovely flame dies Smoke get in your. Irene Dunn with Jerome Kern's Smoke Gets in youn Eyes from the musical Roberta. This song has become one of the all time standard ballads, an undisputed masterpiece. But by mid-1933, when smoke gets in youn Eyes was beginning to register. The British had come up with a song which in its own way went down just as big. The background story to this local hit was really quite extraordinary and a bit of an object lesson for all aspiring hit songwriters. From time to time in these programs we've heard songwriters from both sides of the Atlantic discussing the golden rule of composing for the popular market, which is never, never, never sell your song outright or all your royalties go to somebody else. Well, one man did sell his song outright and lived to regret it. The unfortunate songwriter who sold his birthright for a mere £30 was Harry Leon. The song was Sally. And I'll give you three guesses who the singer was. Well, of course you're right. First time Gracie Fields. The year I went into films, I made that epic. They call it Sally in Our Alley. It was in this film that my signature tune, Sally was born. I've sung it all over the world since in peace and war, but never in such a nightmare condition as the first time in the film studio. I was supposed to be in a coffee house. And to get the right smoky atmosphere, they burnt brown paper. Well, the fumes made the technicians sneeze. And every time anyone sneezed we had to scrap the recording and start all over again. I remember standing there, my eyes streaming with the smoke and the glare of the lights and the camera crew going red in the face and working like mad to get it in the can before they could either cough or choke. Well, somehow we finished that film and it was a success. The skies were blue when I met you Sally, you were my gals My little pal so true you came along, made life a song Sally, if I knew lost you I wonder what I do Sally, Sally, don't ever wander away from the alley and me, Sally, Sally, Marry me, Sally and happy forever I'll be When skies are blue you'll be dying and when there's rain you're still smiling My smiling Sally, Sally, right on the alley? You're more than the whole world. Ragtime to Rock and Roll was narrated by Kenneth Moore. The program was written by Benny Green, and the research was by Bill Sullivan. The producer was Steve Allen. 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