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A tribute to the finest genre of popular music in history, pop's direct link to the classical tradition, and one of our nation's most important contributions to world culture, the Great American Songbook. Each day (more or less), I'll spotlight a dif
Recent Posts Tagged With '1940s'
White Christmas
By Irving Berlin1941"Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!"Those are supposedly the words Berlin spoke to his secretary when struck with w...
Everything Happens to Me
By Matt Dennis & Thomas Adair1941A brilliant tune written specifically for the Tommy Dorsey orchestra and Frank Sinatra. Dorsey met Dennis through mutual friend Jo Stafford, then a singer for the bandleader. Dennis met Adair at a nightclub gig an...
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
By Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke1940First recorded by the Tommy Dorsey band, this was actually the first hit record from Dorsey's new boy singer Frank Sinatra. An extremely popular jazz standard, it was covered by just about every big band of t...
I Could Write a Book
By Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart1940Written for the original stage version of Pal Joey, where it was introduced by Gene Kelly and Leila Ernst. It did not make it into the Frank Sinatra film version, however. It also was used to great effect in th...
I Concentrate on You
By Cole Porter1940A Porter tune that is typically dripping with class and sophistication. This quiet and moving ballad was written for the film Broadway Melody of 1940, in which it was introduced by Douglas McPhail. This same show featured such other...
I\'m Beginning to See the Light
By Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Don George & Harry James1944One of the Duke's all-time classic compositions, which naturally became closely related with his orchestra. The Ellington band recorded it in 1945, but it was Ella Fitzgerald & The...
I Love You
By Cole Porter1944An amusing composition from the king of amusing compositions. For his musical Mexican Hayride, Porter took a cliche title and deliberately wrote a lyric that would be humorously banal for it. It was introduced by Bobby Clark on stag...
Close to You
By Jerry Livingston, Carl Lampl & Al Hoffman1943Introduced by Frank Sinatra during his early tenure at Columbia Records, this song would remain a regular part of the Chairman's repertoire. He would later re-record it as the title track of his exc...
I'll Be Around
By Alec Wilder1942A gorgeous standard from the classically trained Wilder, who first got the idea for it while riding a taxicab in Baltimore. Said the composer, "I spotted [the title] as I was crumpling up the envelope some days later. Since I was ne...
It's a Blue World
By Chet Forrest & Bob Wright 1940Forrest & Wright were a winning songwriting combo for many years, and this was one of several times they were nominated for the Oscar while working at MGM. This particular song was written for Tony Martin to s...
Full Moon and Empty Arms
By Buddy Kaye & Ted Mossman1945This richly beautiful popular song is one of many whose melody was inspired by a movement from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. In addition to this tune, introduced by none other than Frank Sinatra during...
Moonlight Becomes You
By Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke1942This particular Van Heusen/Burke tune comes from one of the classic Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" comedies. In this case, it was Road to Morocco, in which the song was introduced by Crosby himself. To this day,...
Red Roses for a Blue Lady
By Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett1948Introduced by Vaughn Monroe at the end of 1948, and a strong hit for the singer. It remained the signature version of the song, despite several versions immediately after, and a revival of the song in the mid 196...
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
By Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart1940Originally intended as a blatant expression of female sexuality, from the original production of Pal Joey. It was introduced in its original form by Broadway vet Vivienne Segal, but in later recorded versions i...
Granada
By Agustin Lara & Dorothy Dodd1944This operatic-style number was originally composed by Lara with Spanish lyrics, and was a popular Mexican song introduced in the U.S. in the film Two Girls and a Sailor by Xavier Cugat's orchestra. It would later...
Just Squeeze Me
By Duke Ellington & Lee Gaines1941Although originally written by Ellington for his 1941 "Negro revue" Jump for Joy, the Ellington band didn't make the very first recording of the song until five years later. It would not become a hit until Paul W...
Be Careful, It's My Heart
By Irving Berlin1942For the classic movie musical Holiday Inn, a whole bunch of Berlin songs were assembled, some old chestnuts and others specifically written for the film. This clever love song was one of the latter, written by the composer especia...
The Boy Next Door
By Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane1944This charming tune was written for the one and only Judy Garland, who performed it stunningly in the 1944 classic Meet Me in St. Louis. It has since become a widely performed standard, commonly changed to "The Girl...
Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry
By Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn1945A melodic, romantic favorite by Styne & Cahn, it was introduced at the end of World War II by the Harry James orchestra, and later became a favorite of adult pop singers in the 1950s and beyond. Of particular not...
But Beautiful
By Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke1947This ballad was written for the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope vehicle Road to Rio, and quickly became a favorite of jazz singers, who changed its structure a bit from its original composition. Nancy Wilson used it as ...
It's Magic
By Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn1947The lovely Doris Day introduced this tune, written for her to perform in her debut motion picture, Romance on the High Seas. Ms. Day was one of five people to subsequently record the song the following year, and her ...
I Should Care
By Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston & Sammy Cahn1944Written for the glossy, sentimental World War II movie Thrill of a Romance, this song, written primarily by longtime Sinatra arranger Stordahl (pictured) plays lyrically off a popular slang expression...
Taking a Chance on Love
By Vernon Duke, John Latouche & Ted Fetter1940An infectiously rhythmic melody by Duke (pictured) and clever lyrics make it easy to understand how this song became a standard shortly after being introduced by Ethel Water and Dooley Wilson in the a...
Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe
By Harold Arlen & E.Y. "Yip" Harburg1940The same duo that composed the score for The Wizard of Oz wrote this song the following year for another MGM musical, this time the first all-black musical committed to the silver screen. It was written for...
Tangerine
By Victor Schertzinger & Johnny Mercer1941Director Schertzinger collaborated with Mercer on this song for his 1942 musical film The Fleet's In, in which it was introduced by Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra, featuring Helen O'Connell & Bob Eberly on ...
To Each His Own
By Jay Livingston & Ray Evans1946One of the timeless love songs. Introduced in the classic Olivia de Havilland film, this was a huge hit in 1946. It was first recorded by Eddy Howard, and that same year saw recordings by The Ink Spots, Freddy Mar...
Hit the Road to Dreamland
By Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer1942If ever there was a movie intended to warm the hearts of Americans shocked by the onset of war, it was The Star-Spangled Rhythm, and if ever there was a song intended to do that as well, it was this one, the cen...
Moonlight in Vermont
By John Blackburn & Karl Suessdorf1943A beautiful song about a beautiful state, "Moonlight in Vermont" was introduced by the incomparable Margaret Whiting. Rare for a pop song, it contains a subtle meter which features no end rhyming. Also, each ...
Let's Get Lost
By Jimmy McHugh & Frank Loesser1943One of several successful collaborations Loesser took part in with different composers before turning to solo composition, this song was introduced by Mary Martin in the movie Happy Go Lucky. Bandleader/vocalist...
Don't Take Your Love From Me
By Henry Nemo1941Introduced by the lovely Lena Horne, perhaps the last great living pre-WWII vocalist, this song was composed by Henry Nemo. Songwriter Nemo, strangely enough, also happens to have been the inspiration for Charlie Tuna, created in 196...
